Required reading for those in love with the game

Need something to read on your next holiday? Of course, you don’t - there’s a recession on, and only Coleen Rooney can afford to lay around on a beach all day. Regardless, here’s our five favourite books written about the beautiful game…

Fever Pitch
by Nick Hornby

In his autobiographical account of attending Arsenal matches between 1968 and 1992, Nick Hornby eloquently evoked the irrational thoughts, hopes and fears of being a football supporter. The faithful account of countless hours spent at Highbury is augmented with details about Hornby’s personal life - the breakup of his family, his love life and his well-documented passion for music. We haven’t seen the British film version, but the American film, in which the protagonist loves the Boston Red Sox, is utter poo.

My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes
by Gary Imlach

Journalist and broadcaster Gary Imlach immortalised the memory of his father Stewart in his superb 2005 biography. Imlach snr was a left winger for various sides in the fifties and sixties before moving in to coaching, and the book captures his career highlights from the perspective of his adoring football-mad son. If only every member of our Mercenary XI were forced to read about the humble working conditions and £20-a-week wages…