Englischer Fussball

Oct 1, 2024 11:41 AM

Author:Raphael Honigstein

Englischer Fussball

Wembley, 1966. 1-5, Munich, 2001. Mexico '72 and Italy '90.

Bobby Moore and Franz Beckenbauer, Paul Gascoigne and Jürgen Klinsmann.

Forty years of hurt, tabloid rabble-rousing and 'Don't mention the war'.

But what do the Germans really think of us? Do they even care?

In Englischer Fussball, respected journalist Raphael Honigstein gives us a German's-eye view of our national game.

Starting with the origin of the modern game in the late nineteenth century, Honigstein traces the development of English football from its public-school origins to the glory years of Ramsey and beyond. Is English football really about manliness, hard work, fair play and a never-say-die attitude? Why is there so little room in our game for individual brilliance? And just why are we so hung up on beating the Germans?

Provocative, incisive and ever topical, Englischer Fussball is a book that explores the difference between how we see ourselves and how the rest of the world sees us. From hooligans to sex scandals, Wayne Rooney to Stanley Matthews, it asks what football can teach us about the English national character.

'Honigstein offers a perspective on England's football and its culture that is stimulating and rather fascinating' Observer

Reviews

Enlightening and entertaining... The holy trinity of football, fashion and music has rarely been written about so well and it takes a writer from the borderland between cultures like Honigstein to open our eyes to it

—— Guardian

Honigstein offers a perspective on England's football and its culture that is stimulating and rather fascinating

—— Observer

Hugely entertaining

—— Independent

Meticulously researched

—— Brian Viner , Independent

Marcotti has an unrivalled network of contacts, and writes with authority and style... an intriguing portrait

—— Liam Doyle , The Bookseller

Informative, entertaining

—— When Saturday Comes

Easily the most successful club manager ever to coach England, Fabio Capello won Italy's Serie A seven times with AC Milan, Juventus and Roma, and Spain's La Liga twice with Real Madrid - nine league titles in 15 seasons. So what led him to oversee a national team without a major trophy for more than 40 years? One of the strengths of this expertly researched biography is that such enigmas are pondered in a very Italian way, which revels in the availability of several answers rather than grasping for a single truth. In this case, Marcotti suggests managing Italy did not appeal, and points to Capello's long-standing affection for English football and his love of big cities. Other puzzles (was he really unaware that Juventus's boss was fixing matches?) receive similarly complex examination. Capello emerges as a pragmatic imitator rather than an innovator, a mix of sophisticate and martinet - padding around art galleries on his days off, but a believer in "putting a razor blade up against players' arses" if they let him down.

—— John Dugdale , Guardian

Excellent... an irreverent, entertaining resume of cricket's long history

—— Choice

Brilliantly retold

—— Mark Perryman , Socialist Unity

If you haven't bought Tom English's book about the 1990 match - The Grudge - then do yourself a favour and get it now. It's terrific

—— Alex Massie , Spectator

Tom English's excellent book, The Grudge, revisits an occasion when sport and politics and ancient rivalry came together

—— Chris Foy , Daily Mail

True tales: great stuff

—— Frank Keating , The Guardian

Shudderingly good ... English has a rare talent for getting to the core of a person

—— Rugby World

Thatcherite politics and rugby come crashing into contact in this rich and textured account

—— i

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