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The 1995-96 season would see the birth of the greatest football team Britain has ever seen but it began with a crisis at Old Trafford and rebellion within the ranks of supporters. The Manchester United behemoth had stirred in 1993 to win the title their fans craved and they retained it a year later playing dynamic counter-attacking football. Yet by August 1995 fans were calling for manager Alex Ferguson's resignation following the sales of Mark Hughes, Paul Ince and Andrei Kanchelskis. A defeat at Aston Villa in their first league game of the season prompted former Liverpool player Alan Hansen's to utter the immortal words "You can't win anything with kids" and he was not the only one to dismiss a title challenge for Ferguson's men. With Eric Cantona still suspended following his attack on a Crystal Palace fan earlier in the year and Newcastle storming into a 10 point lead, United's young team looked anything but champions. Yet by season's end Hansen was left looking shame-faced as United powered to their second League and Cup double in three seasons, overcoming nation's sweethearts Newcastle in the league and Liverpool's over-hyped youngsters in the FA Cup final. Four seasons later the same players would win an unprecedented treble to underline their status as the finest English club team of all time. Wayne Barton recalls the twists and turns of a season that saw controversy, mind games, television outbursts, divine interventions and the return of a legend.

In the past 100 years Old Trafford has hosted World Cup and European Championship matches, FA Cup Finals and a Champions League Final and has witnessed countless United wins, draws and defeats. Yet it endures, above all, as a monument to the vision of the club's founder and first patron John Henry Davies. Recognising football's exponential growth in the 1900s and the need to safely house vast numbers of supporters, Davies recognised that the champions of England and 1909 FA Cup winners needed a more spacious home than tatty old Bank Street, in Clayton, a ground with few facilities and a capacity of less than 25,000. A brewer by trade, the chairman found a spare plot of land in Old Trafford and, bolstered by the club's success, appointed famed football stand architect Archibald Leitch to construct a 100,000 capacity stadium on the site. Built in 1909 and officially opened in February 1910 for the league visit of Liverpool, Old Trafford was instantly acclaimed by one reporter as "the most handsomest [sic], the most spacious and the most remarkable arena I have ever seen. As a football ground it is unrivalled in the world, it is an honour to Manchester and the home of a team who can do wonders when they are so disposed." Unfortunately the stadium arrived at just the wrong time for the club as United were about to begin a 37 year trophy-free run, the longest in the club's history. Consequently, United's average attendance before the war rarely topped the 30,000 mark, in a ground with a capacity of over 70,000. The luckless stadium suffered further blows on the nights of the 8th and 11th March 1941 when it was bombed during The Blitz. And so for four seasons after the war United were forced to play their 'home' fixtures at Maine Road. Now in its second 'life' Old Trafford was no longer alone as a large capacity stadium, yet United's resurgence under Matt Busby filled it more often than not. The arrival of floodlights and European football heralded a new chapter: the stadium is widely regarded as at its best on such occasions and from the first game against the immortals of Real Madrid in 1957 the ground hosted continental opposition and became renowned across Europe. In the sixties the ground had a new cantilever stand added to the west in preparation for the 1966 World Cup Finals and, later, more seats were added at the Scoreboard End and behind the Stretford End. However these improvements were as nothing compared to the dramatic changes brought about in the wake of the Taylor Report. The birth of the Premier League and United's domestic dominance helped transform the ground - first into an all-seater stadium, then steady season-by-season growth saw it swell to hold over 75,000. For a period during the protracted construction of Wembley, the ground even became the national stadium hosting twelve England matches. In 'Old Trafford' Iain McCartney updates his original 1996 book. Featuring the original site plans, never-seen-before pictures of the ground's construction, development and, of course, the great matches hosted there. Almost alone now among the grounds built during the first football boom in the early 20th century, Old Trafford has become an essential part of the English football landscape to the extent that it is inconceivable that any future World Cup bid would not feature it prominently. A century on, it is still 'an honour to Manchester', and the north's prime football arena.

Tottenham Hotspur has always been the purists' club of choice and the roots of their association with the beautiful game runs through the club like a stick of Blackpool rock. From Arthur Rowe to current manager Ange Postecoglou, Spurs are synonymous with some of the most attractive teams England has ever produced without quite getting the trophies that their football deserves - supporting Spurs is an honour as well as a burden at times.With over 150 years of following the ups and downs of the Lilywhites between them, former Daily Mirror Chief Sports Writer Harry Harris and Paul Trevillion, the acclaimed artist behind Roy of the Rovers and You Are The Ref, have combined forces to produce a personal history of their beloved club since the war.Paul first attended a Tottenham game in 1934, and was instantly attracted to the great Dixie Dean appearing for Everton at White Hart Lane in a famous FA Cup tie. Paul went on to draw the great striker hundreds of times and eventually got to meet his hero. Harry started following the club as a child in the early 1960s and his early obsession was with Jimmy Greaves, spending all his pocket money on old press photographs of the record-breaking Spurs striker. Perhaps these early obsessions set the pair of them on the way to their respective careers?On The Pitch and Off The Drawing Board is packed full of anecdotes and behind the scenes stories from Spurs' past, from the time Harry Harris challenged then manager Terry Neill to a race around the White Hart Lane pitch to Paul helping Gazza with his shooting training at Wembley just months before that free-kick in the FA Cup semi-final.This book is a must for all Tottenham fans.

Duncan Edwards, who hailed from Dudley in the Black Country, played for Manchester United and England. He was one of the Busby Babes, the young, brilliant United team formed under manager Matt Busby in the mid-1950s. Even in such esteemed company Duncan stood out, noted for his skill, physical strength and toughness. Tragically he was one of the eight players who died as a result of the Munich air disaster in February 1958. Many of Duncan''s contemporaries described him as the best player they had played with, played against, or had seen play.David Barratt who, like Duncan, is from the Black Country, has spent a lifetime researching Duncan''s history. He brings together in this book -- with the help of his life-long friends David Harrison and Alan Hughes -- the outstanding, but sadly brief, life of the great footballer.

Arthur Rowe was an innovator at a time when English soccer was wedded to the tactics of Arsenal''s Herbert Chapman, whose style bypassed the midfield and much-depended on expensively imported talent. When other clubs who lacked similar spending power adopted Chapman''s approach, the English game morphed into a heavy dependence on longball football, beef-and-muscle, luck, and the defensive frailties of opponents. Rowe''s approach, with which he gained instant success wherever he coached, depended instead on short, first-time passing to feet.Before injury ended Rowe''s Spurs playing career he had captained the club into the First Division and was also capped by England. Then, on the eve of the Second World War, the FA selected him to visit Hungary where he passed on his soccer beliefs to locals such as Gusztáv Sebes (who would utilise a very similar style to Rowe''s when coaching Hungary to two punishing defeats of England in the 1950s).When selected as manager of his boyhood side in 1949 Arthur immediately won successive Championships, yet his thrilling ''push-and-run'' style was oddly disparaged by certain of his club directors. Unable to rebuild, Rowe''s ageing side gradually faltered until poor health saw him step down in 1955. However ''pupil'' Bill Nicholson, benefiting from a level of financial support Arthur could only dream of led Spurs to their glories of the early 1960s.Simultaneously Arthur, with ''push-and-run'', was leading high-scoring and entertaining Crystal Palace into the of the decade. Sadly, further ill-health would see Rowe revert to a backroom role, but, contributing to youth development he saw Palace reach the First Division in a year earlier than his prediction. The club has rarely looked back since.''Push-and-run'' had pre-dated ''Total Football'' by two decades and the tactics of Sebes, Cruyff, Arteta, Guardiola and others can legitimately be traced back to this unfairly overlooked visionary.

The ''On Top of the World'' Project is a community programme run by Anne Finnegan and Tina Cribbin who work with older people in tower blocks in Hulme in Manchester, giving them a sense of community and looking after their needs, be it physical health, help with mobility or loneliness. We are proud to present this book which is a collection of stories that describe the residents'' journeys to Hulme and how this special place became home. The residents share memories of the Hulme of their youth; charabancs, local characters, terraced streets and old pubs and the evolution of the area into deck-accessed flats and concrete play parks. Like its residents, these stories are full of guts, joy and courage. The tales fly off the page, land on your heart and allow you to relive Hulmes past from a residents perspective. It also includes The Hopton Hopefuls, a play written by Tina Cribbin which centres on the only remaining pub in Hulme and some of the old boys relationship with it. The aim of Thirsty Scholars was to give a voice to a generation that helped build this country but are now largely forgotten. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: The authors are the residents of Hulme whose stories have largely been forgotten. Hulme is a district close to Manchester City Centre, famous for social upheaval over the past 70 years. From the infamous Crescents, originally based on the Georgian architecture of Bath but which were poorly made and stood for less than 20 years but which later turned from family homes into squats, to the gentrification of the area in more recent years as Manchester''s Universities expanded into the area - driving rents up and pushing residents out. This project aims to give voice to the dispossessed and tell the stories of people who can recall a time before the crescents and the story of the area first-hand.

When the single-engined Piper Malibu plane carrying Cardiff City''s record £15m signing, Emiliano Sala, crashed into the English Channel on 21st January 2019 killing both the footballer and the pilot, David Ibbotson, it shone a light on the murky world of football transfers. Using his unrivalled contacts in the game, award-winning journalist Harry Harris helped the resulting investigation in the Daily Telegraph to uncover the way in which agents and clubs work. Emiliano Sala was a relative unknown for most of his career, the Argentinian had been at half a dozen clubs in French football without making much of an impact, but when he hit a goalscoring hot-streak in the autumn of 2018 his timing was perfect as the January transfer window approached. When Mr Fix It'', agent Willie McKay, approached his club Nantes for an agreement to handle the sale of their striker promising a deal in the region of 20m Euros, their chairman Waldemar Kita leapt at the chance; the French club had bought Sala a few years earlier for just 1m Euros. Meanwhile, newly-promoted Cardiff City had struggled to adjust to life in the richest league in the world. Manager Neil Warnock desperately needed a striker and pinned his hopes on the gangly, good-natured Argentinian as the man who could keep the Bluebirds among the elite. The player, finding himself in demand for the first time in his career, may have been initially reluctant to move to the Welsh capital but a new weekly wage offer of £50,000 and the agent''s promise that it might lead to a move to one of the top six clubs was far too tempting to turn down. It was a life-changing amount of money for him and his family. Controversial agent Willie McKay manoeuvred himself into position to exploit the situation, helping his son to negotiate a ten percent cut of the eventual transfer fee and lucrative bonus payments. Many deals are conducted in this way during every transfer window. Unfortunately for those involved here, this was the one that ended in tragedy and sparked investigations by more than one UK police force, the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau, FIFA, the Premier League, the FA, and the FA of Wales. It has already led to the imprisonment of two people with the potential for many more to find themselves in the dock. As the research of investigative journalist Harry Harris shows here, The Killing of Emilano Sala was no accident.

Musical Snobbery has been around since Mozart was appalling audiences in the eighteenth century but now, with most music available to listen to for free on Spotify or YouTube, there really is no excuse not to give an artist another listen, even if you have fore-sworn them for most of your life, fell out of love with them or never even heard of them. Music obsessive Ian Moss has written over 100 dense and amusing mini-essays on a selection of some of the uncoolest (but musically superb) records ever released. From famous albums which have since become uncool such as Sgt. Peppers to unhip bands such as Status Quo and Queen who were deemed uncool at some point in the past. Then there are the unfavoured folk, soul and jazz artists who were criminally overlooked and the downright obscure bands who put out superb records only to disappear without trace. Ians amusing and fact-drenched book is a must for anyone in need of new sounds to spice up their listening pleasure!

From being the butt of jokes to domestic treble winners, Manchester City fans have endured more ups and downs than most football supporters over the past 30 years as they journeyed down the divisions before bouncing back in spectacular style under a new owner with unlimited wealth. Yet throughout this long rollercoaster journey City fans stayed loyal to their club -- averaging over 25,000 most seasons when other large clubs have seen attendances slump well below that in bleak times. Don Price follows up his naval memoirs and last year''s ''We Never Win at Home...'' with a final collection of memories from is travels with City alongside fanzine editors Dave Wallace, Phill Gatenby and Sean Riley, a City fan who has missed just one game in 35 years and that through no fault of his own! What emerges is a support still in disbelief that after years of their team being the punchline for jokes by their neighbours and rivals they now hold the upper hand and rule the roost in English football.

"On Thursday 7 July 2005, four bombs were detonated in London killing 52 people (including the bombers) and injuring a further 700. It was the first successful suicide bomb attack on British soil and the biggest terrorist atrocity since the 1988 Lockerbie bomb which brought down Pan Am flight 103. The four suicide bombers were named as Mohammed Sidique Khan, aged 30 of Beeston, Leeds; Shehzad Tanweer: aged 22 of Leeds; Germaine Lindsay: aged 19 from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire and Hasib Hussain, 18, from Holbeck in Leeds. Hasib Hussain was my son." In the immediate aftermath of the bombing there was much media attention focussed on Hasib''s father. Mahmood Hussain was a hardworking Pakistani immigrant who had lived and worked in Leeds for almost 30 years by the time of the bombing. He was as astonished as anyone else that his son was one of the first UK suicide bombers. he also reveals that it was his amateur detective work that tracked down the terror cell of which his son had been a part. Prior to him mentioning the names of the other two local men involved, the police had no idea what they were dealing with. Here he tells the story of Hasib''s upbringing and the facts behind many misreported aspects of Hasib''s brief life from his trips to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to his education and his discussions with his father, just days before the attack, about his future plans and marriage.

When Manchester United were relegated in 1974, just six years after winning the European Cup, it was front page news. How could such a thing happen to the biggest club in Britain? Such a scenario would be even more unthinkable today than Leicester City winning the league. The story is one of the most dramatic in football history and yet, still, largely unexplored. Based on a BT Sport film being developed alongside the book, Too Good to Go Down examines the demise of Manchester United, from the moment Bobby Charlton described the club not winning Division One in 1968 as the best thing that could have happened, through the turbulent reigns of Sir Matt Busbys successors, to the crushing blow of relegation which, ironically, came at a time when the clubs young team were just about to bloom and win over a whole new generation. With brand new, in-depth and exclusive interviews with Tommy Doherty, Sammy McIlroy, Alex Stepney, Stuart Pearson, Lou Macari, Pat Crerand, Willie Morgan, Gordon Hill, Martin Edwards and Paddy Barclay, the most controversial story in the history of footballs biggest institution is fi nally told in full detail.