{"title":"Sports Classics Ser","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"the-unforgiven-book-rob-bagchi-paul-rogerson-9781781312728","title":"The The Unforgiven","description":"In 1961, when Don Revie became manager of Leeds United, they were a struggling Second Division club. By 1974 they had won two League Championships, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (twice), the FA Cup and the League Cup; players like Jack Charlton and Billy Bremner were household names. The Unforgiven is the definitive history of the most defiantly unconventional team in British football. This was a team that inspired neither admiration nor grudging respect, but rather a deep and visceral loathing - matched only by the bellicose devotion of their own supporters. The undeniable artistry of players like striker Allan Clarke was overshadowed by a ruthless professionalism, epitomised in the scything tackles of Norman Hunter. Still, when Revie's Leeds United side were let off the leash - the 7-0 humiliation of Southampton is enshrined in Match of the Day mythology - their brilliance was compelling. At the heart of their outlaw status was the eccentric personality of Don Revie himself. Clad in his lucky blue suit, a man for whom team-building meant rounds of carpet bowls, here reigned less a football manager than, in his own estimation, the 'head of the family'. The aftermath of the Revie era is explored, including Brian Clough's infamous 44 days at the helm of the 'Damned United'.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49526221701393,"sku":"GOR005841279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1781312729.jpg?v=1764928791"},{"product_id":"social-history-of-cricket-book-derek-birley-9781781311769","title":"A Social History of Cricket","description":"Winner of the William Hil Sports Book of the Year and acclaimed as a magesterial, classic work, A Social History of English Cricket is an encyclopaedic survey of the game, from its humble origins all the way to modern floodlit finishes. But, it is also the story of English culture, mirrored in a sport that has always been a complex repository of our manners, hierarchies and politics. Sir Derek Birley's survey of the impact on cricket of two world wars, Empire and 'the English caste system', will, contends Ian Woolridge, 'teach an intelligent child of twelve more about their heritage than he or she will ever pick up at school'. Superbly witty and humorous, peopled by larger-than-life characters from Denis Compton to Ian Botham, and wholly forswearing nostalgia, A Social History of English Cricket is a tour-de-force by one of the great writers on cricket.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49530448281873,"sku":"GOR005583643","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50476396577041,"sku":"CIN1781311765G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52723244400913,"sku":"GOR009394655","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53633482227985,"sku":"CIN1781311765VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1781311765.jpg?v=1750723211"},{"product_id":"the-bluebird-and-the-dead-lake-book-john-pearson-richard-williams-9781781311721","title":"The The Bluebird and the Dead Lake","description":"In 1964, in Australia's remote outback, on the dazzling saltpan of Lake Eyre, Donald Campbell set out to drive his Bluebird car at over 400 miles an hour - faster than any man in history. Things went wrong from the start: unseasonal rains, a sodden lake bed in which every high-speed run slewed dangerously, money running short...even an Aboriginal curse. WIth death shimmering on the horizon before him, the lonely Campbell tried to hold his nerve until he broke the record. Campbell would lose his life eventually on Coniston Water, with over thirty years passing before his body was recovered in 2001, but this strangest - and greatest - of all his world record attempts was witnessed by a young reporter. John Pearson's classic book about Donald Campbell is an extraordinarily compelling and moving portrait of a modern tragic hero, fighting a battle with inhospitable elements and the outer limits of technology - and, above all, with himself.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50478069481745,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50478069874961,"sku":"GOR005090238","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51544001315089,"sku":"GOR007087899","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53402989101329,"sku":"GOR010324887","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53650038063377,"sku":"CIN1781311722VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1781311722.jpg?v=1750962052"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/sports-classics-ser-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}