Issues remain but positives highlighted as Lionesses move into the mainstream

The Roar of the Lionesses – Women's Football in England by Carrie Dunn

£9.99, published by Pitch Publishing – pitchpublishing.co.uk

There are as many books on football as there are matches in a year, the vast majority of them on the men’s game. Those who do explore the women’s side of the sport – deservedly in the spotlight owing to the England team's efforts at the Euro 2017 finals – tend to be relentlessly positive, bordering on fanatical. That is not what Carrie Dunn has done with The Roar of the Lionesses and it is an excellent read because of it.

A freelance journalist with nine books to her name – this is her third on the subject of women in football – Dunn maintains a positive position on a sport with so much potential and edging ever closer to breaking into the mainstream, while exploring the issues undermining its development.

From funding to the fixture list, to the treatment of players and coaches and the incredible influence of the men’s game, Dunn takes the reader to places others would rather she glossed over.

England’s wonderful World Cup performance in Canada, at which they finished third, is the starting point from which the reader is taken on a journey via the events of the 2015-16 season – from the Super League right down to regional level – via the sport’s biggest issues.

Dunn deals with things as they occur, coming back to many issues in greater detail as they repeat throughout the season. It means no issue is dealt with singularly, instead the picture builds as the season progresses. While this can make it hard for the reader to know exactly how things stand, it also acts as a guided self-discovery.

There is plenty of stardust from those World Cup heroes, but there is just as much grit from those for whom the sport is a passion bordering on compulsion. The unpaid hard work of these keen amateurs is keeping an entire sport afloat and it helps bring a real sense of why those imperfections at the top end need to be ironed out.

The Roar of the Lionesses is a thorough examination of a sport trying to turn professional but built on amateur foundations and a compelling read for anyone to whom the subject matter appeals.
Stuart Riley

Compelling analysis of the hows and whys

The Mixer – The Story of Premier League Tactics, from Route One to False Nines by Michael Cox

£16.99 (hardback), published by HarperCollins – harpercollins.co.uk

We live in a country where more than two million people tune into Love Island on a nightly basis but it's good to know there is still an appetite for intelligent thinking with the publication of Michael Cox's The Mixer.

Cox is a rare breed of football journalist in that he actually analyses why and how football teams win and lose rather than the often-reported dull supposed war of words between opposition managers, who prefer to trade minor insults when they are not blaming referees for defeats.

So if you like Match of the Day and the bland pundits "giving credit" to some striker who has just scored a hat-trick, this book won't be for you, but if Monday Night Football is more your thing – and frankly why would it not be? – then you'll enjoy it.

You are taken on a tactical tour of the Premier League's development from the start through to Chelsea's title success of last season, where Cox notes Antonio Conte was the first manager to win England's top league with a three-man defence since Everton's Harry Catterick in 1953.

Myths are debunked – Kenny Dalglish's Blackburn champions bottled it almost as much as Kevin Keegan's labelled chokers at Newcastle and Liverpool's mocked zonal marking system under Rafael Benitez was statistically the best at defending set-pieces – while many awards are dished out.

Most influential Englishman of the Premier League era? Rio Ferdinand. Most unique tactical weapon? Rory Delap's long throws at Stoke. Most underrated player? Derby's Aljosa Asanovic.

It could possibly have done with some of the tactical diagrams that made Cox's Zonal Marking website so popular and a few pictures, particularly of the retro variety, would have gone down a treat but these are minor gripes in what is an astonishingly well-researched book that saved me from a summer of Love Island.
Mark Langdon

Chronicle of the ups and downs of capital game

Turf Wars – A History of London Football by Steve Tongue

£9.99, published by Pitch – pitchpublishing.co.uk

Chelsea may have run away with the Premier League, with Tottenham claiming second and Arsenal failing to make the top four for the first time in more than two decades. However, the outlook for the capital's clubs has not always been rosy – as Steve Tongue captivatingly outlines in this history of London football.

Fortunes swung – often dramatically so – throughout the course of the 20th century, and the wild ups and downs experienced by clubs now firmly established as Premier League giants makes for fascinating reading.

Covering the period from the formation of the Football Association in 1863 right up to the present day, this book has plenty of nostalgia-inducing nuggets and pieces of trivia sure to impress your mates down the pub.

The chapter entitled 'Greed Is Good', focusing on the 1990s, when Sky's coverage transformed the sport's finances and encouraged an influx of world-class foreign players, is particularly enjoyable, and brings back fond memories of the likes of Bergkamp, Ginola and Zola lighting up the league.

No reference is more pleasing, however, than that of Leyton Orient manager John Sitton's infamous 'bring your dinner' dressing-room dressing down, which is sure to send readers scurrying to youtube to look back on an astonishing piece of footage.

The book does not simply provide the opportunity to reminisce, however. The author expertly explains the complex and convoluted leagues in the early days of the sport, while a great deal of time has evidently gone into researching all of the capital's clubs in such depth. This labour of love provides an insightful, enjoyable, good-value read.
Tony McFadden