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Arsenal All 4-1
Arsenal All 4-1
Oct 17, 2024 6:03 PM

Author:Bernard Azulay

Arsenal All 4-1

The 2003-04 football season was a landmark in the Gunners' already illustrious history. Consolation for the Arsenal's costly Cup exits could come in the form of an achievement the like of which might never again be repeated. as they remained undefeated in the Premiership right to the end of a triumphant red-and-white roller-coaster ride.

Once again, Arsène Wenger's side have raised the bar to a point beyond anything that has ever been seen before in British football. Sport lovers everywhere have been regularly left absolutely agog in admiration of the sublime skills and athletic grace that have brought some much-needed beauty back into our not-so-beautiful game.

Aresenal All 4-1 is a week-by-breathtaking-week account of the Gunners undefeated exploits. A blow-by-blow description of the season's legion of snakes and ladders; sending offs and resultant suspensions; mad refereeing decisions (both misjudged and misappropriated!); gobsmacking game-changing goals; and heart-stopping howlers. It is a tale of ten tantalising months of trains, planes and automobiles, over land and sea (and Leicester), from one of the privileged few Gooners who witnessed every game in this wonderful odyssey from the terraces.

Relive this scintillating season of total football as revealed in the sort of charismatic reports that could have only come from a Gooner who cut his teeth on the tedious triumphs of the Arsenal's infamous flat back four.

Reviews

A legend of the sport... I got tired of people telling me I wasn't as fast as him

—— Chris Hoy

This book is compelling... Dineen has explored all facets of Harris's character and gets right to the nub of a man who lit the fuse which ultimately led to today's cycling explosion in Britain. With enough attention to detail to satisfy the cycling afficionado and enough insight to engage anybody who has ever paused to consider the human condition, this deserves a wide audience.

—— The Irish Post , The Irish Post

A fascinating read

—— Sport

The first superstar of British cycling

—— Daily Telegraph

Revelatory

—— Mail on Sunday

Well worth reading.

—— UKCycleSport.com

'A great book... an incredible saga. Read's accomplishment in recording a struggle both physical and spiritual is superb'

—— Philadelphia Inquirer

A landmark publication... absolutely brilliant. The Secret Race stood out because it fundamentally changed the sport it described. I wish it hadn't had to be written, but it is a book that has to be read.

—— John Inverdale

The insight into the sporting mindset is uncanny; the detail unforgettable. A gruesomely compelling instant classic.

—— Sunday Telegraph, Sports Books of the Year

The book inspired in me not surprise so much as the occasional jolt of shock at the grimy practicalities and the odd drop of my jaw at the means Hamilton says that he, Lance Armstrong and others used to stay ahead of the testers and the police... A deep insight into the evidence that Armstrong refused to confront when he opted out of arbitration in the case that the US Anti-Doping Agency had built against him and his associates.

—— William Fotheringham , Observer

Eye-popping revelations... The strength of Hamilton's testimony lies in the forensic detail with which he describes how the doping system operated and how riders managed to cheat the testers for so long.

—— Simon Redfern , Independent on Sunday

A searingly honest piece of work, a forensic and hugely important study of how a sport turned rotten.

—— Tom English , Scotland on Sunday

Brilliant... Daniel Coyle and Tyler Hamilton finally lay bare an awful truth and back it up with hard forensic evidence. The result is a book of searing honesty, the clearest possible description of what had been going on behind the scenes at many pro cycling teams for decades. The Secret Race draws the curtain back on cycling's cheating and corruption with admirable ferocity.

—— Burton Mail

Gripping... extraordinary

—— David Runciman , London Review of Books

I wasn't expecting to be moved by Hamilton's book. He broke my heart in 2004 and he's a self-confessed cheat after all. But it is an honest, harrowing, eye-opening account that is a must-read for anyone interested in competitive cycling in the late '90s and the early 2000s. I came away with a better appreciation of the professional cyclist, under pressure to succeed. I came away with a renewed respect for Tyler Hamilton despite his misdemeanours. But most surprisingly of all, I came away with a renewed love of the sport. For underneath all the talk about things he did wrong - and he points the finger at himself more than any other - there runs a passionate dialogue about cycling. A sport that defines him. A sport that ruined him. But ultimately, a sport that is all the better for Tyler Hamilton's candid portrayal of life in the peloton.

—— Julia Stagg , Freewheeling France

A valuable document and a well-timed one.

—— Gary Imlach , New Statesman

A gripping tale.

—— Chris Maume , Independent, Books of the Year 2012

2012 was the year in which a handful of books changed what we thought we knew about the games we love to watch and play. None more so than the recent William Hill Sports Book of the Year, The Secret Race. Cyclist Tyler Hamilton's confessional of his time on Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service Team, written with Daniel Coyle, is a fascinating insight. It revealed in such incredible detail the culture of systematic doping, in which Hamilton took part, that the whole sport was changed forever. Within a month of its publication, combined with the damning USADA report, Armstrong had been stripped of his Tour de France titles.

—— Ben East , Metro, Books of the Year

A courageous act of witness.

—— The Economist

An obvious choice, ultimately. A book that went beyond entertainment or education in their normal senses. This is the book that opened the world's eyes to the incredible doping scandal in cycling and the crimes of Lance Armstrong. A book that will be on almost all awards lists for books this year, and will surely migrate to the lists of all-time great books as its impact becomes more apparent over time.

—— Newstalk, Sports Book of the Year

Explosive... a stunning and sometimes sickening account of the doping pervasive in the pro peloton.

—— Sports Illustrated

Haunting... takes readers deep inside the gory cult of back-alley phlebotomy that ruled cycling as Armstrong launched and nurtured his Livestrong brand.

—— New York Daily News

Rich, magisterial account...Other books on Hemingway have tended to focus on his post-1930s literary decline and his machismo. The portrait that emerges from these pages is altogether more human

—— Ed Caesar , Sunday Times

He has a tremendous feel for Hemingway, as both writer and man

—— Sarah Churchwell , Guardian

This is a portrait of the author which is likely to leave one feeling more warmly disposed towards him

—— Herald

More a portrait than a biography, this book is a dazzling late example of "New Journalism"...the result is touching, revelatory and utterly absorbing

—— Independent

Unmissable

—— The Lady

While much of Hemingway’s life may have been hellish, Hendrickson’s writing is a delight. A fine work

—— Fachtna Kelly , Sunday Business Post

Very well told

—— William Leith , Scotsman

An album of fascinating snapshots of Hemingway

—— Simon Shaw , Mail on Sunday

Paul Hendrickson writes with a great deal of passion…

—— Nudge

A terrific and fresh approach to the man

—— Daniel Woodrell , Financial Times
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