Practical pocket guides for quick & easy reference any time anywhere. Football Skills" is a handy pocket-sized instruction manual covering the fundamentals of football with step-by-step illustrations & clear bite-sized tips. It offers everything you need to know to get started along with a wealth of expert tricks & tips to improve skills & techniques from ball control & kicking skills to mastering the concept of the offside-rule. It progresses from the very basics for beginners through all the elements essential to becoming adept at football to advanced techniques to keep you ahead of the game. Ideal for anyone looking to take up football
- this new series offers perfect at-a-glance reference to keep with you at all times."
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When youre done explaining the offside rule shouting at the ref & perfecting your ball skills treat yourself to a hearty half-time chuckle with this goal-scoring collection of footy wise-cracks. No matter if your team win lose or draw Football Wit" will keep you smiling through all the own goals & red cards that come your way. Because at the end of the day theres nothing quite like a funny football one-liner." ...

Football is a funny old game & as this little book shows it has inspired many laugh-out-loud jokes. Illustrated in full colour Footballs Funniest Jokes" is guaranteed to raise a laugh at half-time or even when your team loses on penalties." ...

* From bestselling author Andrew Ward. * Over a century's worth of fascinating football stories & tales. * The perfect gift for the football fanatic in your family! The world's favourite sport has certainly given us its fair share of strange moments. Author Andrew Ward has trawled the sports pages of history to create Football's Strangest Matches a fascinating collection of bizarre-yet-true tales from more than a century of the beautiful game. From Blackburn Rovers' one-man team to Wilfred Minter's seven-goal haul in which he still ended up on the losing side there are goals & gaffes galore drawn from all levels of the football world whether high-profile internationals or the lowest tiers of domestic football. This extraordinary book makes a great gift for any football fan & certainly proves the old adage beloved by football commentators
- 'it's a funny old game'... Other titles in the series: Rugby's Strangest Matches (9781907554063) Cricket's Strangest Matches (9781907554094) & Golf's Strangest Rounds (9781907554070).
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In the good old days of association football there was no such thing as WAGs the balls were made from rhino hide & players made their way to the ground by tram. & the rudest thing you could say to a referee was: Hoy referee! Do you need spectacles?" Those Were The Days: Football journeys back through the photo archives to find photos of pre-war footer accompanied by a sparkling commentary delivered in a Pathe news style that wouldnt go amiss delivered by Mr Cholmondley-Warner (of Harry Enfield fame). Those were the days when you could still smoke while playing centre forward when games often ended 6-6 & a broken leg was no excuse to miss the second half. Find even more humourous nostalgia in: When I Were a Lad... (9781907554001) When I Where a School Lad... (9781907554148) When I Were a Nipper... (9781907554360) & Those Were the Days: Golf (9781843400002)." ...

Without football we were strangers under the same roof. With it we were father & son. Longlisted for the 2012 William Hill Sports Book of the Year Hamilton tells of how he was inspired by his fathers devotion to Newcastle United & the heroes of yesteryear such as Jackie Milburn Bobby Charlton & Duncan Edwards Hamilton recreates a distant bygone age & charts the progress of post-war British football to the present day. From the hardscrabble 1940s & the never-had-it-so-good 50s right through to how the dowdy-looking First Division of the 80s transformed itself into the slick money-driven Premiership that is so familiar to us today. Hamilton writes about the some of its most sublime players from George Best to Lionel Messi & some of its most respected managers from Bill Shankly to Sir Alex Ferguson. But at the heart of The Footballer Who Could Fly is Hamiltons exploration of the bond between father & son through the Beautiful Game & how football became the only live connection between two people who apart from their love of it were wholly different from one another. From the two-time winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year comes a personal & affecting story that beautifully captures one of the most important three-way relationships in a mans life. Father & son & football. ...

' Without football we were strangers under a shared roof. With it we were father & son.' Inspired by his father's devotion to Newcastle United & the heroes of yesteryear Duncan Hamilton brings to life a bygone age telling the story of British football from the hardscrabble 1940s & the 'never-had-it-so-good' '50s right through to the dowdy First Division of the '70s & '80s & today's slick Premiership. Hamilton recalls some of football's most sublime players managers & characters from Bill Shankly & Jackie Milburn to George Best & Lionel Messi. But at the heart of The Footballer Who could Fly is Hamilton's relationship with his own father. Here he tells how football became the only real connection between two people who apart from their love of the beautiful game were wholly different from one another. ...

On the surface of it glamour girl Charly Metcalfe finally has it all. Shes officially a W.A.G having bagged premiership footballer Joel Baldy to be her boyfriend
- & she has the lifestyle to go along with the title. She lives in a million-pound penthouse. She gets invited to the most glamorous parties & Joel will buy her anything she wants. But behind closed doors life as a footballers other half isnt as perfect as it seems. Joel has a temper & when he & Charly argue he lets his fists do the talking. Charly knows she should get out but theres one problem...she loves him. In fact she loves him enough to marry him in spite of their problems
- & her own familys objections. But having married in haste is Charly going to regret her decision all too quickly...?

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All Kelly Smith ever wanted to be was a footballer. Blessed with brilliant talent which she honed with hours of practice it was soon clear to all who saw her that Kelly was the best women's footballer that this country had ever produced. Yet for this shy girl from Watford it would be a long & difficult journey to the pinnacle of the world game & one which would involve the hardest of challenges. After starting drinking to mask her loneliness thousands of miles from home at college in the United States a series of career-threatening injuries led to severe depression & a battle with alcoholism. But with the fighting spirit that was so essential on her path to be Britain's first women's professional player Kelly bounced back to inspire Arsenal to countless trophies & become England's record goalscorer. Footballer: My Story is the inspirational tale of a woman with a drive to succeed despite all the obstacles thrown in her way. It is the unique inside story of a star in a sport enjoyed by millions yet often not granted the recognition it deserves. & as she nears the end of a glittering playing career it is the story of how Kelly Smith became what she always wanted to be. A professional footballer in a professional league. ...

All Kelly Smith ever wanted to be was a footballer. Blessed with brilliant talent which she honed with hours of practice it was soon clear to all who saw her that Kelly was the best women's footballer that this country had ever produced. Yet for this shy girl from Watford it would be a long & difficult journey to the pinnacle of the world game & one which would involve the hardest of challenges. After starting drinking to mask her loneliness thousands of miles from home in the United States a series of career-threatening injuries led to severe depression & a battle with alcoholism. But with the fighting spirit that was so essential on her path to be Britain's first women's professional player Kelly bounced back to inspire Arsenal to countless trophies & become England's record goal scorer. Footballer: My Story" is the inspirational tale of a woman with a drive to succeed. It is the unique inside story of a star in a sport enjoyed by millions yet often not granted the recognition it deserves. & as she nears the end of a glittering playing career it is the story of how Kelly Smith became what she always wanted to be. It offers a professional footballer in a professional league." ...