The story, by FA-qualified football coach David Fuller, who coaches a youth team in Brighton, manages to tap into not only the enduring popularity of football but also of Harry Potter-style fantasy, which is still very much in vogue.

Young Alfie is desperate to win a starting place in his local under-nines team, but is continually thwarted by the nasty, bullying coach, Keith, and his even less appealing son, Jasper – until a chance encounter with a fortune-teller called Madam Zola changes everything. It soon becomes clear that this is no ordinary tale of jumpers for goalposts.

It cracks on at a blistering pace – even most adults reading the book would struggle to put it down. Fuller manages to leave a cliffhanger at the end of every chapter, each of which is roughly the same length, and the structure and pace are ideal for encouraging youngsters to read more. Aside from a couple of minor grammatical niggles (“where Keith was stood”), Fuller’s writing is refreshingly readable, engaging and free of clichés. He demonstrates a keen understanding of the worries and issues faced by children of Alfie’s age, and his footballing experience also shines through. The references to Alfie’s little sister always getting preferential treatment are subtly dealt with throughout, giving just a small insight into Alfie’s family life, which many boys with younger sisters can identify with. The story also accurately reflects the diversity of society and of youth football; even though the main character is a little boy, there’s no doubt the book will be of equal appeal to girls. Indeed, one of Alfie’s team is a girl – Chloe – and this is hardly even an issue; she is treated just the same as the other boys.

Without giving the game away too much, the story hinges on Alfie’s encounter with Madam Zola, who tells him it is his destiny to become a professional footballer – but he must stay with his local team, the Kingsway Colts, if this is to happen. However, Alfie’s father, seeing his son desperately unhappy about hardly ever getting a game, had previously agreed with Alfie that he would switch to another club if the situation hadn’t improved by Christmas. Therefore, Alfie has to ensure he stays with the Colts, otherwise his destiny will never be fulfilled. This isn’t all about waving a wand and everything being rosy, though – the point is that, despite the old witch’s intervention, Alfie still has a lot of hard work to do to prove he is up to the task, and the reader is left wondering until the very end whether he will prevail.

The book is also well-illustrated by Rob Smyth, who has an original style and creates memorable images of not just the intriguing Madam Zola, but also the children themselves. Alfie Jones is a great character, and one who children are sure to engage with. The series has much promise and it’s worth looking out for the follow-ups. If you have a young football-mad boy or girl, and want to encourage them to read more, then you can’t go wrong with introducing them to Alfie.

For more information, and to read the first chapter as a taster, visit the Alfie Jones website.

Review by Sam Hawcroft

Everyone loves Jeff Stelling, right? Well, if you do, you’ve got to check out Jeffanory: Stories from Beyond Soccer Saturday, in which the award-winning host of Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday and former Countdown presenter returns with a collection of what is billed as “the funniest, weirdest, most tragic, most heart-warming, under-the-radar stories of the football season”. Sounds a bit like an entertaining bog book or something to flick through on those long away days, but it might be good for a laugh.

Among the more interesting-sounding biographies is Thanks for the Memories: The Roger Eli Story, which insists it is not about money or sensationalist tabloid revelations, but is “just the story of a player who had his dreams but never made the big-time, and met no end of hurdles and injuries along the way”. Eli encountered a number of football legends throughout his career, including Brian Clough, Billy Bremner and Eddie Gray, and his story would appear to be the antidote to the bilge trotted out by the ghostwriters of most modern football millionaires.

Also worth looking out for is the story of the late Gary Ablett, who sadly lost his battle against cancer in January 2012. In the months before his death he wrote The Game of My Life with Paul Joyce, which tells of his time playing for both the red and blue sides of Liverpool, his foray into management and, latterly, the illness that would end his life prematurely.

There are also new biographies of Andy Carroll and Jack Wilshere… well… meh. The latter is just 20 years old, for God’s sake.

Club-wise, Norwich fans will no doubt be interested in Iain Dale’s When Football Was Football: Norwich City: A Nostalgic Look at a Century of the Club. In the same series, David Instone gives Wolves the same treatment.

One of the most interesting of the recent crop of new football books, though, is the acclaimed Up Pohnpei, by Paul Watson, which is rather lengthily subtitled “A quest to reclaim the soul of football by leading the world’s ultimate underdogs to glory.” It tells the tale of two Brits who coached the worst football team in the world to their first ever victory. The island of Pohnpei is a small dot in the Pacific ocean with a population of 36,000 people. It’s one of the wettest places on earth and two thirds of the population suffers from obesity. But, Matt and Paul helped overturn the “worst team in the world” moniker by coaching them to their first victory, avenging a 16-1 defeat to neighbouring island, Guam, ten years before.

The pair were on Soccer AM recently talking about the book, and are making a film about their adventures – see the trailer here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2028948731/the-soccermen.

Keep a lookout here for more updates – hopefully we’ll be able to report on the book and future projects soon. The film project needs to raise $35,000, so do visit the Kickstarter website to find out more.

Spitting in the Wind

As a collection of fanzine articles (some previously unpublished and others with updated comments added with the benefit of hindsight), it is a haphazard and outspoken volume. At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking it’s just another one of those badly produced, badly written amateur books in dire need of a proofreader and editor. While some of this may be true, certainly with reference to the production (which Furious’s website admits is “irreverent, sweary, often drunk and lacking in a basic understanding of any punctuation that [isn’t] a exclamation mark”), don’t let that put you off – this Billy bloke has a way with words that had me hooked from the start, and I’m not even a Magpies fan.

“I live in Newcastle, I go to the match. I don’t drink brown ale down the Bigg Market on a Friday neet-oot. I’m not a racist, homophobe, sexist, or, worse, have Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero as the ringtone on my phone. I wouldn’t rather my team lost 4-3 than won 1-0, I don’t think Kevin Keegan is particularly God-like, I don’t think Alan Shearer is the Lord Jesus Christ himself…” I am going to like this book, I thought, on reading that.

One thing that particularly tickled me was the consistent spelling of “sunderland” with a lower-case “s”. At first, I thought that this was a punctuation error, something to be expected of a fanzine production. But when it appeared again, and again, I realised it was in fact an excellent putdown – much cleverer and more refreshing than simply asterisking the word out, or refusing to write it. A great way to convey disdain without resorting to cliché.

The style is very stream-of-consciousness, but the ranting is coherent, sharp and often highly amusing. It demonstrates that the lot of a football fan is largely one of despair and frustration, with the occasional high point. Obviously, as a non-Newcastle fan I enjoyed the general rants perhaps more than the club-specific ones – for example, Furious goes off on one about DIY more than once in the book, but still managing to link it to football. In “If you stop going to the match you might DIE!!!” he warns of the dangers that await on Saturday afternoons when you’ve not bothered to go to the game, and idle hands turn to the dreaded do-it-yourself and a whole manner of potential injuries. He’s got a point. He also talks a lot of sense about the hysteria that led to football matches being cancelled after the death of Diana in 1997, and offers an interesting perspective when he meets the New York City Mags on a trip to the US.

I also found myself saying “Yes! You’re dead right!” on reading “The 1980s were bollocks”, which attacks the rose-tinted view a lot of people seem to have adopted of this most depressing decade. “Kids, don’t be taken in by the lies,” Furious says. “All TV except Hill Street Blues and Dangermouse was fucking garbage and there was no such thing as Playstations. Being a football supporter meant you got treated like a leper with a chainsaw by the police and general public and we had to spend games peering through fences at shit footballers with skinny arms and big hair.”

The book has a “parental advisory: explicit content” warning on the front, and I wonder whether this is more to attract attention than to really warn youngsters (who hardly read at all nowadays). I reckon young people (well, ok, not small children) should be encouraged to read this book, as it might prevent some of them becoming herd-following knuckle-trailers in later life.

If you’re a Newcastle fan with a brain, then this book is certainly worth spending twelve quid on. Even if you’re not a Newcastle fan (but still have a brain), I would recommend it – it’s great to dip in and out of. I also think it would be good as an audiobook – I’m sure that hearing Furious’s rants spoken in a Geordie accent would make his voice even more distinctive.

For more information about Billy Furious and to buy the book, visit the Billy Furious website.

Review by Sam Hawcroft

Taylor starts with the origins of association football, which lie “in the chaotic and unregulated forms of folk football popular throughout Britain from the Middle Ages”, before discussing the split between the amateur and professional games.

It’s interesting to note the perception of early 20th century footballers as drunk and disorderly, compared to the ‘gentlemen’ of the 1950s. Nowadays, of course, the reputation of top-flight footballers is arguably on the decline once more, the difference being that they are vastly overpaid as well as out of control. Another fascinating insight is that in the early days, the game wasn’t seen as a profit-making business, and many clubs with large wage expenditures soon saw themselves in dire straits. Much may have changed in the modern game, but there are some startling parallels with football 100 years ago.

What is also evident on reading Taylor’s account is that the sense of community in relation to football has been much eroded over the years, as clubs have increasingly turned themselves into brands, with the supporter becoming more of a consumer who can pick and choose who they want to support like any other commodity on the shop shelf. And no book on football history would be complete without a reference to the Hillsborough disaster and its impact on modern football.

Taylor’s commentary is incisive, managing to cover an impressive number of events and issues within so few pages, and it is well supported by some excellent illustrations, archive photos and pictures of other artefacts such as cigarette cards. Given that Taylor is professor of history at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at Leicester’s De Montfort University, it’s understandable that there is a higher proportion of Leicester City memorabilia among the illustrations.

This book is an excellent introduction for anyone with a passing interest in the origins of football as well as those looking at studying the game in more detail. It has been put together with a great deal of care and thought, with much to look at as well as read. It’s almost like taking a short trip through a football museum.

Review by Sam Hawcroft

As Norwich City continue, at the time of writing, to make good progress in the Premier League, Edward Couzens-Lake’s new book takes a look back at past seasons in the top flight. Fantasy Football: Reflections of Norwich City’s Astonishing Premier League Seasons reflects, game by game, on the 1992/1993 season and what followed, including new and exclusive interviews from the players and officials involved with the club then, as well as the supporters.

Meanwhile, the story of how Brighton overcame decades of homelessness to finally play in their own purpose-built stadium is told in We Want Falmer: How Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, and Its Fans, United to Build a Stadium (Build a Bonfire).

Scottish fans will no doubt be interested in the new edition of The Encyclopaedia of Scottish Football, three years after it was first released. The second edition not only contains an entry for every club that has ever participated in the Scottish League, it includes entries for each club in the Highland League, East of Scotland League and South of Scotland League, and even gives information about fondly remembered teams from years gone by such as Glenbuck Cherrypickers, Inverness Citadel, Tarff Rovers and Vale Ocoba. Phil Jones and David Potter’s painstaking research includes all of Scotland’s international matches, Scottish Cup finals and Scottish League Cup finals are detailed, as well as Scottish caps, regional trophies, amateur leagues and the record of Scottish clubs in Europe.

Staying with Scotland, Hibernian: From Joe Baker to Turnbull’s Tornadoes begins in the turbulent 1960s with the club in serious decline, culminating in relegation only being avoided at Easter Road on the final day of the 1963-64 season. The appointment of Jock Stein in 1964 saw an immediate improvement and the Hibs team of the mid-1960s featured an all-Scottish international forward line. The return of player Eddie Turnbull as manager in 1971 saw the emergence of possibly Hibs greatest-ever side. Aberdeen FC Who’s Who profiles every one of the post-war players to have featured in competitive action for the Dons’ first team as well as delving further into the past to examine a select band of the leading lights in the pre-war era.

Kit fans – and Chelsea kit fans in particular – will enjoy Blue Is The Collar (nice pun there, although it is in some ways unfortunate as blue-collar workers can no longer afford the extortionate prices it costs to get in to Stamford Bridge these days). The book takes fans on a journey from the very first Eton Blue strip in 1905 to the famous Royal blue jerseys of today, featuring some wonderfully colourful away shirts along the way.

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Tim Quelch’s Underdog: Fifty Years of Trials and Triumphs with Football’s Also-Rans, published on October 14, looks back over a lifetime of watching struggling teams around the country, including some non-league teams. It’s a personal tale that also highlights the changing times and has been hailed as “a major work” by Backpass magazine.

Talking of changes, leading football writer Ian Ridley looks at how the Premier League “has moved football from a state of unprecedented crisis against a backdrop of recession, strikes and hooliganism to a global sport of unimaginable riches” in There’s a Golden Sky: How twenty years of the Premier League has changed football forever. Manchester United celebrate another landmark anniversary with Sir Alex Ferguson: The Official Manchester United Celebration of 25 Years at Old Trafford. Leading Hull City writer David Bond, meanwhile, picks his top 20 Tigers stars in 20 Legends: Hull City AFC – and, somewhat controversially, there is only one from the (albeit brief) Premier League period who makes the list: Dean Windass.

Staying with nostalgia, Neil Roberts’ Blues & Beatles, published on October 14, is another personal story that seeks to tie in the author’s love of football with his love of Liverpool’s most famous export (possibly to the ire of those from the red half of the city who may not appreciate the Fab Four being linked so closely with Everton). The jury is most certainly out on whether any of the Beatles supported either club, although Paul McCartney has reportedly mentioned that his uncles used to support the Toffees.

Now is also the time that people are starting to think about Christmas presents, and the younger football fan might be pleased to unwrap the Match Annual 2012, which was released on October 7. It’s packed full of Match‘s best-loved features as well as all the usual quizzes, games and posters of top players and teams – perfect for long away trips on the coach. Meanwhile, Manchester United fans may enjoy the annual-style The Big Book of United: Goalscorers & Champions, which is a “a joyful celebration of the players, games, goals and supporters from Manchester United’s earliest beginnings to the modern era”. Elsewhere, Leeds, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea and many more have released their annuals as usual. Who Are Ya?: The talkSPORT Book of Football’s Best Ever Chants is a last-minute stocking filler if ever there was one.

Biographies published in October include: Pepe Reina, Dominic Matteo, Cardiff City’s Phil Dywer, Chris Sutton, Dennis Tueart, and John Robertson, European Cup winner with Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest.

The book opens with a look towards the future under new owner Craig Whyte, then goes right back to the beginning, telling the story of the four young lads who decided to form Glasgow Rangers way back in 1872. Jardine himself has done much to discover more about the four teenagers from the Gareloch – Moses and Peter McNeil, Peter Campbell and William McBeath. Interestingly, the book also explains that an early history of Rangers, published in 1923, caused much confusion by incorrectly stating that the club was founded in 1873 – so much so that the club actually celebrated its centenary in 1973.

Bill Struth emerges as a central figure – “if one individual has come to personify Rangers above all others it is William ‘Bill’ Struth”. Between 1920-21 and 1953-54 he led Rangers to 18 league championships, 10 Scottish Cups, two Scottish League Cups and many other trophies, and it is clear his words and deeds live on to the present day, still being an incredible influence on the club and its fans.

Those not from Glasgow are most likely to be interested in the chapters describing Rangers’ American tour in 1928 and the wartime relationship they struck up with Moscow Dynamo, as well as the accounts of the Ibrox Stadium Disaster of 1971 (in which 66 fans lost their lives), and previous tragedies in 1902 and 1961.

The book also does not shy away from the inevitable discussion surrounding sectarianism among certain sections of Rangers and Celtic fans, and it acknowledges that the Irish troubles in the 1920s were a “key factor in the deepening antipathy”, and the Northern Ireland Troubles “entrenched some fans’ prejudices more deeply”. The authors add, however, that the “fusion of football with religion and politics was – and is – a matter of profound regret” for many fans. “The social costs were high and as time went on Rangers’ reputation suffered on account of the club’s de facto adoption of a ‘Protestants only’ signing policy of players.”

This is a comprehensive and well-written account of a fascinating and often troubled club history, and, while obviously aimed at the partisan Rangers fan, there is much of interest to the neutral reader. If the reader-added tags on Amazon are anything to go by, though (“made-up pish”, “fairy stories” and “gay fiction”), the majority of Celtic fans aren’t going to touch it with a bargepole. This would be a great shame, as in a perfect world rival fans would strive towards mutual understanding – but such petty, ignorant hatred only serves to encapsulate a lot of the points made by the biography’s authors.

Review by Sam Hawcroft

Buy this book from Amazon

Meanwhile, a new book by Denis Law was released on September 15. Interestingly, the latter also has a Scottish edition, which sees the cover change from one with Law in a red shirt to one with him sporting the national blue. This month also saw the release in paperback of Patrick Barclay’s Football – Bloody Hell!: The Biography of Alex Ferguson, having been originally published in hardback in October 2010.

Away from the Red Devils, for Fulham fans there was When Football Was Football: Fulham: A Nostalgic Look at a Century of the Club (Sep 1), and for Black Cats devotees, Into the Light: A Complete History of Sunderland Football Club, which was originally published in 2001, was released on Kindle on September 23.

Dave Moor’s The Worst Football Kits of All Time (Sep 30) offered a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the most “outrageous strips foisted upon the poor players and the loyal fans”. Nostalgia lovers will no doubt lap up Got, Not Got: The A-Z of Lost Football Cultures, Treasures and Pleasures (Sep 30), while John Crace’s memoir Vertigo: One Football Fan’s Fear of Success (Sep 1), ploughs the familiar furrow of the highs and lows of the obsessive supporter.

Reference-wise, the UEFA European Football Yearbook 2011/12 and FIFA World Football Records 2012 were both released in September.

Click on the book images to buy from Amazon…