Author:Maarten Meijer
So who is Louis van Gaal? An inflexible ex-PE teacher who only knows how to act like a dictator or a footballing visionary that has made him one of the greatest ever European managers?
Wherever he has gone, Van Gaal has been accused of being a domineering disciplinarian and a control freak. He is certainly, by his own admission, a man who leaves nothing to chance. A disciple in the 1970s of Rinus Michels’ Total Football philosophy, he is a fascinating contradiction – an ultra-individualist utterly devoted to the collective effort. He believes in the team over the individual, in always having a plan and a team prepared to follow it. Van Gaal led the young Ajax team he moulded to Champions League glory in 1995, went on to win titles across Europe with Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern Munich and served two stints as national coach of Holland. It is a career that has never been short on colour and drama – from fallouts with players to rants at the media wherever he has managed.
Dutch football commentator Maarten Meijer’s has written the definitive biography of van Gaal – both the man and his methods. It offers the best psychological insight so far – from his earliest roots to his greatest triumphs – into the man given the task of returning the glory days to Manchester United.
**New chapter on Louis van Gaal's first season with Manchester United**
Explosive… Lifts the lid on the Dutchman they call the Iron Tulip
Meticulously studied… Offers more insight into his fellow countryman’s thinking
—— Manchester Evening NewsBulges with fascinating van Gaal insight. While reading, you can’t help but once again be drawn to the man
—— Johan Derksen , Voetbal InternationalOne of the most moving stories I've ever read... I was completely blown away by it.
—— Paul Cuddihy, editor of Celtic ViewSo moving, I love it.
—— Damian Barr, author of Maggie and MeA moving, masterful tome.
—— Back Page PressThe strength of the book lies in the way Dickinson has been able to go beyond football and find Moore’s real character… Dickinson’s achievement has been to honour the memory of Moore while also allowing us to understand that he was far from perfect
—— Mark Segal , When Saturday ComesAbsorbing
—— SpectatorThis should be essential, sobering reading for anyone who cares about West Ham, England or English football
—— Julian Shea , MetroBobby Moore will rightly be forever remembered as the champion of his era, the most serenely masterful footballer ever to have hailed from these shores; “The Man in Full”, not shying away from human fallacies, serves as a reminder that he was the same as every one of us
—— Jack Gaughan , Mail OnlineFull marks to Matt Dickinson
—— Steven Howard , SunDickinson makes Moore sound more human… One suspects this excellent biography comes close to describing the real Moore
—— UK Press SyndicationExcellent
—— Jon Wise, 5 stars , Weekend SportOutstanding
—— UK Press SyndicationDickinson manages to bring balance to this incredibly well-researched book
—— 4 stars , FourFourTwoDickinson is tender to the memory of the Essex lad who, for a breathtaking instant, was glorious
—— Ain Finlayson and Kate Saunders , Saga MagazineMatt's work is the most impressive West Ham book of the year, a genuine and sincere attempt to get to the root of the man. It is an excellent, thought-provoking book
—— Knees Up Mother BrownA compelling and complete account
—— SportIn The Man in Full, acclaimed football writer Matt Dickinson traces the journey of this Essex boy, peeling away the layers of legend and looking at Moore’s life from all sides – in triumph, in failure, in full
—— Bert Wright , NudgeOutstanding... this excellent biography comes very close to describing the real Bobby Moore
—— PostAn exquisitely written study of light in the works of various poets and painters.
—— Daily TelegraphA wonderful literary meditation… This book is suffused with vivid personal memory and precise, delicate observation of Nature. Wroe’s feeling for landscape is both sensitive and acute; her style is lyrical and precise.
—— Hugo Davenport , Resurgence and EcologistA book for winter.
—— Honor Clerk , Spectator, Books of the YearPeople of faith talk a great deal about light, and we would do well to learn more about it from Wroe’s quick-eyed love of it.
—— Mark Oakley , Church TimesWroe passes her elusive subject, light itself, through the prism of her dazzlingly well-read mind, and the resulting rainbows fairly dance across the page… An utterly original book that will leave you, in every sense of the word, enlightened.
—— Claire Lowdon , Sunday Times, Book of the YearAnn Wroe’s Six Facets of Light is a fascinating and original meditation [on light]. Six Facets of Light is an exquisite collage of relations, a prose poem to “what escaped” absolutely everyone – and to how madly, brilliantly, they tried to “be in step”.
—— Joanna Kavenna , Times Literary Supplement