Mad for It

Those longtime readers of the blog will recognize this theme. I used to have a Summer Book series to tie me over until the season started. The summer hits, there's no football on the air and the nights get hotter and hotter, reading about Bill Shankly or Herbert Chapman kept me sane. That would go one until suddenly the temperature at night starts to drop, a slight chill hits and you know that football is almost there. Well, it almost is: August is like Christmas to me.

I realize this book review is a little late in the Summer to really appreciate as an intro, but I stumbled upon it and I highly recommend it. The book as you see by the cover above is by Andy Mitten, who has written loads of Manchester United propaganda, I mean fan appreciation material, but this is as even handed as it comes. The book is called Mad for It: from Blackpool to Barcelona Football's Greatest Rivalries and it was written for Four Four Two Magazine and it features some of the more intense rivalries in World Football.

The big ones are all there: Liverpool v ManU, Boca v River, Milan v Inter, Rangers v Celtic, Madrid v Barca and the authors really pull them off well, but the really interesting one's are the smaller ones like Hapoel v Maccabi in Tel Aviv, or one of the more heated rivalries in World Football in Galatasaray v Fenerbahce.

The chapters are short and very interesting, loaded with little details about the derbies' history annd the major players involved. I hate to call this bathroom reading, but it really is and in a very good way. Highly recommended, hope to have him on soon.

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