With sports fever running (you see what I did there?) amok, I thought it was only wise to bring you the best of our sports titles for book of the week, with one football club in particular making several appearances after they were promoted to the Premier League last week...
An Irrational Hatred of Luton, by Robert Banks
Laugh-out-loud funny, and devastatingly poignant, An Irrational Hatred of Luton is an odyssey through the world of a committed West Ham supporter. A real-life Fever Pitch, and with a Hornby-esque deftness of tone, Banks' book shows how intricately football interconnects with the everyday for the most committed of fans. Banks' friendships, relationships, work, emotions of joy and despair all take place against a backdrop of claret and blue. Then Saturday comes and he watches his team get thumped again. A compelling and hilarious journey into the nature of obsession.
Mr Moon Has Left The Stadium, by Jeremy Nicholas
Jeremy Nicholas is West Ham United’s stadium announcer. A supporter since the age of six, Jeremy’s blood runs claret and blue. In the summer of 1998, after decades in the stands, he became the voice of his club – announcing the players, the substitutions, the trials and tribulations, and best of all the goals. Mr Moon Has Left the Stadium is the hilarious tale of one man’s obsession with football and doing things the right way. Part love story, part autobiography, part nostalgia, it will make you laugh and cry.
There’s Only One Stevie Bacon, by Steve Bacon and Kirk Blows
He has never scored a goal, lifted a trophy, worn the captain’s armband or even played for the club – but the man is considered a genuine Hammers legend. Indeed, as the fans have repeatedly chanted for the last three decades, ‘There’s only one Stevie Bacon.’ As West Ham United’s popular official photographer for more than 30 years, Steve Bacon has become a cult hero at Upton Park. Packed with terrific tales, amusing anecdotes and controversial characters, There’s Only One Stevie Bacon offers an intriguing insight into life at the Boleyn Ground and one that no West Ham United fan will want to miss.
I suppose I’d better tell you about some of our other sports titles whilst I’m here...
Wayne Rooney: Boots of Gold: a tarts-and-all biography of England's most famous sportsman and the iniquities of some of those who have sought their pound of flesh, from John Sweeney
We Ate All The Pies: John Nicholson’s William Hill Sports Book of the Year longlisted tale of why football is Britain's big love and has totally consumed the nation...
Not The Best Looking Bird: Grant Tucker brings together the wit and wisdom of legendary football boss, Ian Holloway...
The Biteback Dictionary of Humorous Sporting Quotations: literary quotations legend, Fred Metcalf, has the best selection of humorous sporting quotations there is...