Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Scottish writer who has been obsessed with soccer from an early age. I devour books, new or old, on any topic related to the game and have an extensive collection of books, old and new, that keeps outgrowing my bookshelves. I love learning more about the history of the game and especially new soccer cultures.


I wrote

Connecting the Continent: The Birth of the European Cup and Football's Golden Age

By Gavin H. MacPhee,

Book cover of Connecting the Continent: The Birth of the European Cup and Football's Golden Age

What is my book about?

I traveled back to the divided and recovering Europe of the mid-50s to shine a light on the humble origins…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of How Football Began: A Global History of How the World's Football Codes Were Born

Gavin H. MacPhee Why did I love this book?

I loved this book and learned so much about how all the major football forms evolved in the late 19th century, not just soccer.

The writer tells the tale of how a dying folk game revived by private schools in England exploded in growth over a couple of decades to become the pre-eminent form of recreation.  

The book also recounts the schisms that saw ‘football’ evolve into the numerous codes we know today throughout the world. Incredibly well-researched, I found it an essential and fascinating read on the game’s origins.

By Tony Collins,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked How Football Began as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This ambitious and fascinating history considers why, in the space of sixty years between 1850 and 1910, football grew from a marginal and unorganised activity to become the dominant winter entertainment for millions of people around the world.

The book explores how the world's football codes - soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian and Gaelic - developed as part of the commercialised leisure industry in the nineteenth century. Football, however and wherever it was played, was a product of the second industrial revolution, the rise of the mass media, and the spirit of the age of the masses.…


Book cover of Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics

Gavin H. MacPhee Why did I love this book?

I’ve read this book 3-4 times, and every time I’ve picked up something new.

The writer focuses his entire history of the game on how the tactics have evolved from its beginnings to the modern day, showing how the global nature of the game created melting pots of ideas.  

The book is peppered with interesting anecdotes and trivia, which I love, and made me a much more informed viewer of soccer matches.

By Jonathan Wilson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Inverting the Pyramid as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In INVERTING THE PYRAMID, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning when chaos reigned. Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport and probes why the English, in particular, have 'proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract'.

This fifth-anniversary edition of a football modern classic has been fully updated to include an investigation of the modern-day Barcelona and how their style of play developed from Total Football, which itself was an evolution…


Book cover of The Story of the World Cup: 2018

Gavin H. MacPhee Why did I love this book?

I spent many years of my youth flicking through history books on the World Cup and learning about legends like Beckenbauer and Cruyff, Pele, and Maradona, and have always been obsessed with the greatest event in sport. This book tells the definitive story of every event from Uruguay in 1930 up to Russia in 2018. 

Glanville’s style brings out the unique nature of every tournament and the teams, players, and coaches within them, making it much more than a series of brief match reports, which can be a challenge in chronological histories.

By Brian Glanville,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Story of the World Cup as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Brian Glanville's dramatic history of the world's most famous football tournament has become the most authoritative guide to the World Cup. His classic, bestselling account is a vivid celebration of the great players and legendary matches in the competition from Uruguay in 1930 to Brazil in 2014 - as well as a bold attack on those who have mismanaged the 'beautiful game'. Fully revised and updated in anticipation of Russia's hosting of the event in 2018, this is the definitive book on the World Cup for football fans and novices alike.


Book cover of The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer

Gavin H. MacPhee Why did I love this book?

At 1,012 pages, this is certainly not for the faint-hearted, but it remains the most amazing football book I’ve ever read. It is unrivaled in its scope, with chapters focusing on every continent, even those for which soccer may not have fully won the public over (like the USA). 

Much more than a chronicle of who scored where and when, it is also a book about politics and society and the wider forces that shape football. The Ball is Round can be dipped into with the chapters you find more interesting, but I find it more rewarding to tackle from start to finish. It will take some time, but the joy is in the journey, not the destination.

A footballing reading rite of passage, our version of The Power Broker.

By David Goldblatt,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Ball is Round as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this extraordinary tour de force of a book, David Goldblatt describes the rise of football, from a chaotic folk ritual to a sector of the global-entertainment industry. It's the story of players and managers, fans and owners, clubs and national teams; a chronicle of who won and who lost. But it's also a history of states and markets, money and power. And, above all, how all these forces interact. It is a history which attempts to locate where the line between the realm of glory and the realm of power has been crossed, that celebrates the love of the…


Book cover of Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Soccer

Gavin H. MacPhee Why did I love this book?

It’s tricky to recommend one book that just covers one footballing culture, but when a book is this good, it’s hard to leave out. The justification is that the Dutch have had an enormous influence on modern soccer, and it is their ideas of soccer and manipulation of space that are present in all of today’s top teams.

I bought this book as a 17-year-old, and it was a defining moment in my youth. I read it every five years or so. It is so thought-provoking and illuminating.  I learned about art, politics, land reclamation, and, of course, the master Johan Cruyff.

By David Winner,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brilliant Orange as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

If any one thing, Brilliant Orange is about Dutch space and a people whose unique conception of it has led to the most enduring arts, the weirdest architecture, and a bizarrely cerebral form of soccer―Total Football―that led in 1974 to a World Cup finals match with arch-rival Germany, and more recently to a devastating loss against Spain in 2010. With its intricacy and oddity, it continues to mystify and delight observers around the world. As David Winner wryly observes, it is an expression of the Dutch psyche that has a shared ancestry with Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie, Rembrandt's The Night…


Explore my book 😀

Connecting the Continent: The Birth of the European Cup and Football's Golden Age

By Gavin H. MacPhee,

Book cover of Connecting the Continent: The Birth of the European Cup and Football's Golden Age

What is my book about?

I traveled back to the divided and recovering Europe of the mid-50s to shine a light on the humble origins of the European Champion Clubs' Cup, now known as the Champions League, the competition that laid the foundations for the creation of modern European soccer and the building of the sport’s biggest brands.

Covering each season from 1955 to 1969, the book recalls the exploits of legends including Di Stefano, Rivera, Eusebio, and Best and the iconic coaches who masterminded the early dynasties and etched their clubs into immortality.

Book cover of How Football Began: A Global History of How the World's Football Codes Were Born
Book cover of Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Soccer Tactics
Book cover of The Story of the World Cup: 2018

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Book cover of Adventures in the Radio Trade: A Memoir

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Joe Mahoney Author Of Adventures in the Radio Trade: A Memoir

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Broadcaster Family man Dog person Aspiring martial artist

Joe's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Adventures in the Radio Trade documents a life in radio, largely at Canada's public broadcaster. It's for people who love CBC Radio, those interested in the history of Canadian Broadcasting, and those who want to hear about close encounters with numerous luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, J. Michael Straczynski, Stuart McLean, Joni Mitchell, Peter Gzowski, and more. And it's for people who want to know how to make radio.

Crafted with gentle humour and thoughtfulness, this is more than just a glimpse into the internal workings of CBC Radio. It's also a prose ode to the people and shows that…

By Joe Mahoney,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Adventures in the Radio Trade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"In dozens of amiable, frequently humorous vignettes... Mahoney fondly recalls his career as a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio technician in this memoir... amusing and highly informative."
— Kirkus Reviews

"What a wonderful book! If you love CBC Radio, you'll love Adventures in the Radio Trade. Joe Mahoney's honest, wise, and funny stories from his three decades in broadcasting make for absolutely delightful reading!
— Robert J. Sawyer, author of The Oppenheimer Alternative''

"No other book makes me love the CBC more."
— Gary Dunford, Page Six
***
Adventures in the Radio Trade documents a life in radio, largely at Canada's…


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