Books by football legends make for a literary kick-off

The literary season in football is here with Luis Suarez, Roy Keane and Rio Ferdinand discussing their controversial careers. A sympathetic portrait of England’s World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore and a third update of Alex Ferguson’s memoirs complete a high-scoring start

The relatively new season of European football has not only bought new players and managers to the limelight but a plethora of new books too, few of which are short on controversy.

Perhaps none has been more awaited this year than Crossing the Line by Luis Suarez, one of the finest strikers in world football today and also among the most controversial. In case anyone needs reminding, he’s the Uruguayan who famously bit Italy’s Giorgio Chellini during a 2014 World Cup match that led to his prolonged ban from football — he marked his return only last weekend at the El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the club to which he made a £65 million transfer from Liverpool this summer.

Luis Suarez's Crossing The Line

Suarez attracts controversy like a flame attracts a moth and can’t seem to stay away from the headlines — whether it is his sublime goals or his inexplicably awful behaviour on the pitch. To his mates and fans, he’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma, not least because, unlike many other footballing stars, he’s a stand-up bloke off the pitch. He doesn’t indulge in the kind of loutish behaviour for which footballers have become famous, spending most of his off hours with his wife and kids.

Yet, this buck-toothed star has a serious problem — he has been banned no less than three times for biting opponents, for which the press has nicknamed him the Tooth Fairy. He has also been banned for racist abuse of Manchester United defender Patrice Evra and is accused quite regularly of diving and “simulation” to win free kicks and penalties.

Crossing the Line — the title pretty much sums up his career in more ways than one — tackles these issues head on. Candid and revealing, what comes through is a flawed genius with a passion so strong that he ends up doing both silly and great things on the pitch.

Indeed, some of his explanations are interesting, explicable perhaps only to the dedicated football fan. For instance, one of the reasons he says he initially declined help for his propensity to bite other players is that he thought it would diminish his passion and hard-driving commitment (apparently that’s why he bites them in the first place!). As for the World Cup contretemps, had he netted the chance minutes earlier to put Uruguay one up, he would never have bitten Chiellini in the first place — or so he says.

One of the more poignant aspects of this readable book is Suarez’s relationship with his wife, Sofi. He plainly adores her and their children and her opinion counts for a lot. It was at her urging after the Chiellini bite that he finally agreed to take psychiatric counselling for his problem — though his uncharacteristically underwhelming performance at El Clasico suggests there may have been some merit in his original reservations.

Roy Keane's The Second Half

Roy Keane is a very different personality from Suarez, though his commitment and drive also caused him to lead a footballing life of almost perpetual controversy. The Second Half is as explosive as his first book Keane: The Autobiography.

As with the first book, the former Manchester United captain and one of the team’s most talented midfielders, takes no prisoners and is brutally honest about most people, including himself. In this book, he brands United’s legendary manager, Alex Ferguson, a liar, spills the beans about a fist-fight with team-mate and  goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and recalls how leaving United was an extremely bitter episode in his life.

Although the headlines have been all about Keane’s irreparable relationship with Ferguson, the book certainly provides some fascinating insight into one of modern-day football’s most complex characters. Keane has always been blunt in his assessment of people around him — be it as a TV pundit or an ex-manager — and The Second Half is full of such anecdotes and stories that will make you laugh, cringe and judge the man. It’s certainly a riveting read and a book that is extremely different from the sanitised way most footballers write about their lives.

English journalist Matt Dickinson’s book on legendary England captain Bobby Moore delves into what happens to great footballers when their lives drift into obscurity. The Man In Full is a well-researched book on Moore and talks about the player’s battle with alcoholism, his failed business ventures and how English football treated one of its true heroes shabbily. Moore was England’s captain when they lifted their maiden World Cup in 1966 and is often talked about as one of the best defenders the game has seen. The Man In Full does justice to Moore the footballer and Moore the person.

The Man In Full is on Bobby Moore

Another English defender, Rio Ferdinand, has come out with a book that talks about his trophy-filled career at Manchester United. #2Sides is Ferdinand’s second autobiography and looks in detail at the second half of his career, which saw him win six Premier League titles and a Champions League. But the interesting parts of Ferdinand’s book are about his last year at United when David Moyes took over from Alex Ferguson. Ferdinand provides an insider’s look at a tumultuous and forgettable year for United — they finished 7th in 2013 after being defending champions — and how Moyes wasn’t suited for the job. He also talks about the incident when Chelsea’s John Terry allegedly racially abused his brother Anton, which led to severe repercussions on his England career.

Alex Ferguson, by far and away English club football’s most successful manager, has just released an updated version of his much-feted memoirs, My Autobiography which hit the stands last year. The updated version talks about how he is coping with retirement and life outside football. The most interesting bits, however, are reserved for why he chose Moyes as his successor and how he wasn’t to be blamed for United’s abject surrender of their title in 2013. Which makes you wonder why he chose a manager who had never won major silverware as his successor in the first place!

CROSSING THE LINE
Author: Luis Suarez
Publisher: Hachette
Pages: 320, Price: Rs 950

THE SECOND HALF
Author: Roy Keane with Roddy Doyle
Publisher: Weidenfeld and Nicolson Pages: 286, Price: Rs 1,499

BOBBY MOORE: THE MAN IN FULL
Author: Matt Dickinson
Publisher: Yellow Jersey
Pages: 384, Price: Rs 1,542

#2SIDES
Author: Rio Ferdinand
Publisher: Blink
Pages: 350, Price: Rs 1,418

ALEX FERGUSON: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Author: Sir Alex Ferguson
Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton
Pages: 416, Price: Rs 1,050

 

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