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For most supporters of Sunderland AFC, the history of their club would probably be best represented by the names of the mid 1930s team, particularly Gurney and Carter, undoubted Wearside football legends. The name of Charlie Buchan also looms large even today in the tale of a football club whose history can be cut like a knife. Although Charlie Buchan might still be a revered fi gure on Wearside, his team mates aren't and yet the 1912/13 season, which is the subject of this book, produced arguably the fi nest Sunderland team ever to grace the famous red and white striped shirts. It came the closest the club has ever come to winning the double, almost became the first English football club to achieve it in the 20th century, yet the names of Albert Milton, Frank Cuggy, Jackie Mordue and the rest of Sunderland's league champions and FA Cup finalists that season have long since been cast into the annals of the club's history. Even the football club's near talismanic and perhaps finest ever captain Charlie Thomson is seemingly forgotten. The was team guided by Bob Kyle, Sunderland AFC's longest serving manager, he too also forgotten. This book looks at the matches and the characters that shaped an immensely successful 1912/13 season. Although they were crowned league champions, perhaps an enduring highlight, although it ultimately ended in defeat, was the now legendary FA Cup final which took place at The Crystal Palace in April 1913, before a world record crowd. For the first time in the 20th Century England's top two football teams contested for the most coveted domestic knockout cup competition in world football and what a tale it tells; an iconic match. Finally, to give the book a social context and a flavour of the times, we have captured the main news stories of the 1912/13 period which includes some momentous incidents such as the sinking of the Titanic; another iconic event.

Trapped in a loveless marriage Victoria soon discovers her husband's late nights at the office are excuses to engage in sado-masochistic sex. Bewildered, she falls in with a lesbian overseas property developer who comes up with a big plan to make them both very rich. . . Karen Woods' third novel deals is sexy, saucy and very, very naughty.

There wasn''t much to cheer about for Manchester City fans during the mid-1980s. With the club''s coffers empty following a disastrous series of signings at the start of the decade, City seemed in decline as attendances dwindled and interest waned. The only relief from the gloom came in the form of a talented crop of youngsters that arrived at the club from 1983 onwards. Fourteen teenagers who would go on to accomplish something supporters had waited 33 years to achieve. Producing one''s own players has always been an emblem of pride for football supporters. Established in 1953, the FA Youth Cup has always been the litmus test of a club''s youth policy. Until 1986 Manchester City had reached the final twice but actually winning the trophy had proved to be a step too far. Teenage Kicks is the story of how ''The Class of 1986'' won the prestigious trophy for the first time in the club''s history and using both exclusive and archive interviews, it describes how the team came together and details what became of each of the fourteen teenagers from that point onwards.

For any normal individual, a round the world trip of a lifetime would mean abandoning all thoughts of everyday life and embracing a jetset lifestyle. Not so David Blatt. While his long-suffering wife Helene embarked upon a 90,000 mile global odyssey with thoughts of ticking-off as many of the world''s wonders as possible, David felt the magnetic pull of the other love of his life, Manchester United, and the prospect of a whole year without watching Eric''s Disciples on Earth. As David proves in "The Red Eye", it is now possible to watch the world''s most famous club from almost any part of the globe, with the honourable exception of the Galapagos Islands. From India to Brazil via most points in between, he catches The Reds on dodgy internet streams, at the back of beachside cafes, in restaurants, Aussie pubs and overcrowded hostel reception areas, while Helene plans the next day''s breathtaking trip to the likes of the Taj Mahal or Machu Picchu. What emerges is a sharply humorous and insightful account of a trip across four continents with the protagonists often at odds over the purpose of the day: Magnificent Utopia or Manchester United...No contest!

With evil Gordon locked up in Strangeways for 5 years, the characters from Karen Woods' debut novel 'Broken Youth' come to terms with life without him. Misty, now married to Dominic, gives birth to Gordon's child, Charlotte. Her former best friend Francesca also gives birth to one of Gordon's children, Rico, while staying with Gordon's heroin addicted brother Tom. Meanwhile, as the clock ticks down on his sentence, Gordon broods on the injustice of his situation and plots sweet revenge on those on the outside.

Gerry Blayney has been through highs and lows supporting his beloved Liverpool Football Club. From the glory of watching the reds win countless trophies to the death of relatives and friends, he has seen it all. Here he recounts his exploits following 'the redmen' all over the country and into Europe, with typical Scouse wit. From a young lad watching his heroes battle their way out of the Second Division to the glory of the all-conquering Liverpool team of the 70s and 80s to the improbable glory of Istanbul, Gerry has seen nearly all of it in a Liverpool 'career' stretching back to 1956. He also lost his son in the Hillsborough disaster and his best mate in a car wreck on the way back from an away game. Somehow has soldiered on and as Gerry himself states, he would not have been able to get through it without the help and support of the Liverpool football family.

Updated with new photographs. Colin Blaney''s "Grafters", originally published in 2004, was a ground-breaking expose of the links between criminal gangs and football hooliganism. In the intervening period the book and the phrase have become part of the lexicon, defining a generation of professional thieves who used the cover of their fellow football fans to earn a fortune. Eight years on author Colin Blaney returns with an updated version of his criminal memoirs and recounts his experiences as a personality in the murky media world that accompanies public relations -- principally his shady dealings with tabloid journalists, TV producers and researchers. In Colin''s words he was thrown in at the deep end to "Swim with the sharks". It''s all a far cry from Colin''s adolescence in the council fl ats of North Manchester. As a child he burgled warehouses and factories. As a youth he joined the bootboys of Manchester United''s Red Army, rampaging across the country. As an adult he learned to dip with the Scouse pickpocket gangs, sell dope to Rastas in the Moss Side shebeens and sneak-thieve from shop tills with his mad Collyhurst crew.But Continental Europe offered the greatest lure. The gang moved to Amsterdam which became their HQ for the next twenty years. They stole Rolex watches in Switzerland, peddled Ecstasy in Spain, kited credit cards in Belgium, flogged bootleg tee-shirts in France and snatched designer clothes in Holland. Blaney and his Wide Awake Frim served time in half the jails in Europe and then went back for more. They were on a riotous, non stop roller-coaster ride -- until they finally hit the buffers.