Top Ten Football Books

In no particular order,

1. The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw: The Story of Robin Friday

Robin Friday was an exceptional footballer who should have played for England. He never did. Robin Friday was a brilliant player who could have played in the top flight. He never did. Why? Because Robin Friday was a man who would not bow down to anyone, who refused to take life seriously and who lived every moment as if it were his last. For anyone lucky enough to have seen him play, Robin Friday was up there with the greats. Take it from one who knows: 'There is no doubt in my mind that if someone had taken a chance on him he would have set the top division alight,' says the legendary Stan Bowles. 'He could have gone right to the top, but he just went off the rails a bit.' Loved and admired by everyone who saw him, Friday also had a dark side: troubled, strong-minded, reckless, he would end up destroying himself. Tragically, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, he died at the age of 38 without ever having fulfilled his potential. This book provides the first full appreciation of a man too long forgotten by the world of football, and will surely give him the cult status he deserves.

2. Gazza My Story

Almost as soon as the young Geordie burst onto the scene at Newcastle United, Gazza was the centre of attention: Vinnie Jones's notorious ball-handling showed the lengths people would go to try to stop him. Then, with England on the verge of possibly reaching the World Cup final in 1990, came Gazza's tears - the moment that brought a whole new audience to the sport and helped set the football 1990s boom on its way. But then came a career-threatening injury, mental health problems, self-confessed alcoholism and family disputes, as life in the full glare of the media spotlight became too much. Now, at the end of his career in football, Gazza is finally ready to tell his own story in his own words for the first time - and it is even more amazing than you would have thought.

3. Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino

Full Time: the Secret Life of Tony Cascarino is the most praised football autobiography in a very long time. Reviewers' jaws dropped at "the searing honesty ... and the breathless style" (The Saturday Times); The Observer Sport Monthly gasped "It's Angela's Ashes with half-time oranges ... a footballers autobiography like no other. The most astonishing sports book of the year."

4. Clough The Autobiography

Brian Clough was the most charismatic manager in football. Though his talent has earned him a fortune, he remained a working-class hero. As a player he was one of the most gifted forwards of his day. As a manager his record was full of superlatives. He took both Derby County and then Nottingham Forest out of the doldrums of the Second Division and made them world-beaters. Tactically brilliant, Clough had an unmatched ability to motivate players. He was the best manager England never had.

5. El Diego: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Footballer

Diego Armando Maradona: hero or villain? One thing is certain: he was the greatest footballer of his generation - and perhaps of all time. A poor boy from a Buenos Aires shanty-town, his genius with a ball took him to the heights of European and world football, and his struggle with the pressures of life inside and outside the game pulled him right back down again. Never before has Maradona given us his extraordinary story in his own words. Until now.

6. Keane: The Autobiography

The most talked about, written about and argued over sports autobiography of 2002, Keane: the Autobiography does not disappoint. This story of Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane's brilliant and controversial career, written in collaboration with Irish journalist and former professional footballer Eamon Dunphy, crackles with score-settling vigour.

7. The Miracle of Castel di Sangro

Castel di Sangro Calcio is a football club from Castel di Sangro in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Their moment of greatness came in 1996, when they were promoted to Serie B, a noteworthy accomplishment for a team coming from a town of only 5,500 residents. Even greater, they were able to survive in that league another year. The story of their first season in Serie B is chronicled in the book The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss.

8. Bobby Robson: My Autobiography - Farewell but not Goodbye

Bobby Robson is a legend in British football, and his autobiography, Farewell but not Goodbye, is a lively and dramatic picture of a life lived in and for the Beautiful Game. While Robson has been granted almost godlike status in Newcastle and the North East, his career has touched on every aspect of the national sport. The book describes his days as a player for Fulham and West Brom in the 50s and 60s, the 20 England caps he collected over the years and (of course) his spectacularly successful career in management (all 40 years of it); there is no career quite like this in English football.

9. Blessed - The Autobiography of George Best

George Best needs little introduction. A legend in his own lifetime, he is undoubtedly the greatest footballer the UK has ever produced. Blessed with an extraordinary gift he brought a beauty and grace to the game never before seen. But Best was unable to cope with the success and fame his genius brought. His fabled story is littered with tales of women and sex and, of course, alcohol. Much has been written about Best, but very little substantiated by the man himself. That is until George Best opened his heart and engaged us in one of the most exhilarating life stories for years, Blessed.

10. Back from the Brink: The Autobiography of Paul McGrath

Paul McGrath is Ireland’s best loved sportsman and also its least understood. An iconic football presence during a professional career stretching over 14 years, he played for his country in the European Championship finals of 1988 and the World Cup finals of 1990 and 1994. But, behind the implied glamour of life in the employ of great English clubs like Manchester United and Aston Villa, McGrath wrestled with a range of destructive emotions that made his success in the game little short of miraculous. That story has until now never been told. It is a story that runs from a hard, hidden childhood spent in Dublin’s orphanages all the way to the pain of two marriage break-ups and the struggle to cope with life after football. Quite apart from his all too public struggle with alcoholism.