Podcast: The Greatest Football Books

In this episode, I discuss the best football writing out there with Paul Hatt from FootballBookReviews.com. We look at how Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch changed the perception of football books in 1992 and opened the door for more academic exploration of football. We divide this podcast into history, autobiography/biography, and politics.

Just a heads up that I’ve got a new book out on the roots of the game – Origin Stories: The Pioneers Who Took Football to the World. If you like football history, please check it out!

Here’s a list of some of the books we discuss in the podcast:

Fever Pitch, Nick Hornby

Breaking Ground, Neville Gabie and Jason Wood

A Straggling Life, Llew Walker

Football’s Black Pioneers, Bill Hern and David Gleave

Angels with Dirty Faces, Jonathan Wilson

The Ball is Round, David Goldblatt

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro, Joe McGinniss

A Season with Verona, Tim Parks

1312: Among the Ultras, James Montague

A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke, Ronald Reng

Football Against the Enemy, Simon Kuper

Where the Cool Kids Hung Out, Steven Scragg

A Tournament Frozen in Time, Steven Scragg

The People’s Game, Alan McDougall

My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes, Gary Imlach

St. Pauli, Another Football is Possible, Carles Vinyas and Natxo Parra

We release a new podcast every Monday, so be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcast platform. We’re on Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, Player.FM and Anchor. Look for us in Google Podcasts too. We’d really appreciate a rating or view if you like what we’re doing as it helps others discover our podcast.