Author:Mark Pougatch
***FOREWORD BY FABIO CAPELLO***
Since their first appearance in the competition in 1950, England's World Cup story has been one of broken dreams, bad luck, shock losses and penalty nightmares, with one shining exception in 1966, when they famously won the Cup after beating Germany 4-2.
In Three Lions Versus the World, Mark Pougatch talks to those who have shaped England's World Cup odyssey, from Brazil 1950 when England lost to the amateurs of America, through the triumph of 1966 and the subsequent failure to retain the Cup in 1970, to the spirit-sapping quarter-final defeats in Japan 2002 and Germany 2006.
Household names such as Sir Tom Finney, Don Howe, Martin Peters, Trevor Brooking, Gary Lineker, Tony Adams, Glenn Hoddle and Danny Mills share their personal recollections of playing for England both on and off the pitch in the World Cup. Some reveal how they were affected by the demands placed upon them and by the mounting pressure of expectation from the English public. Others comment candidly on the myriad controversies to befall the England squad over the years. Massive highs are recounted and crushing lows painfully recollected. The contributors are united in the pride they shared in wearing the Three Lions shirt for their country in this most special of tournaments.
The players' stories and anecdotes woven around the narrative of the World Cup itself, this is an unbeatable, entertaining and enlightening journey through half a century of English World Cup action that no football fan can afford to miss.
Pougatch has done a tremendous job of tracking down participants in every World Cup finals England have played in
—— Independent on SundayGraham Ratcliffe has experienced triumph but also tragedy . . . and for the very first time tells of his remarkable journey
—— Daily ExpressA welcome addition to the history of mountaineering . . . an absorbing read
—— Boardman Tasker PrizeI was completely engrossed . . . this is pretty serious stuff . . . the writing is forthright and precise and the book gallops along at a riveting pace . . it's a must read
—— The Climber, New Zealand Alpine ClubReads like a detective thriller . . . a book that pulls no punches and tells it how it was
—— SA Mountain SportDiscovers important omissions, bordering on deception, in a number of authoritative accounts such as Krakauer's Into Thin Air and Breashears' High Exposure . . . provides greater understanding of the key factors behind the decisions made that led to the tragic deaths
—— Wild MagazineA blow-by-blow account that puts the reader at the heart of the drama (****)
—— News of the WorldThrows a whole new light on the disaster
—— Weekly NewsAmong the Thugs is, by some distance, the best book ever written about football violence. Intelligent, succinct, and always in the thick of it, it reads as a blood-fuelled ode to English football, and as a primer for what will be when Russia hosts the World Cup. It grabs the readers attention like a headbutt to the cakehole.
—— Tony ParsonsSizzling writing to rival the best of white-heat gonzo journalism
—— New StatesmanAn extraordinary and powerful cautionary cry.
—— KirkusBrilliant. . . one of the most unnerving books you will ever read
—— NewsweekBuford creates with the majesty of a Tom Wolfe the ultimate price paid by so many for this footballing fever - the Hillsborough disaster, recalled with electrifying eloquence and power
—— Time OutA grotesque, horrifying, repellent and gorgeous book; A Clockwork Orange come to life.
—— John Gregory DunneA very readable, often funny, book.
—— The EconomistHis prose is tough and vivid
—— IDBuford pushes the possibilities of participatory journalism to a disturbing degree . . . Among the Thugs does severe damage to the conventional wisdom that England and Europe are bastions of civilization.
—— New York TimesBuford's book is important in that it offers a far more compelling explanation for the football violence than any offered by the pundits of Left and Right . . . Had Buford's account been written by a tabloid reporter or an academic sociologist it might be more easily dismissed. That is comes from a highly intelligent observer, and a neutral outsider with no axe to grind, makes his book all the more powerful and yet troubling.
—— Michael Crick , IndependentBuford’s accounts of the thugs he moved with are by turns amazing, repugnant, stunning, horrid and exhilarating.
—— HowlerThe defining book on England’s hooliganism
—— Simon Parkin , Guardian