August

Outside the Box: A Statistical Journey through the History of Football by Duncan Alexander (Century) – 10th Aug 2017

As the co-founder of the OptaJoe Twitter account, Alexander has the best football data at his fingertips. So, he’s perfectly placed to tell the story of the first 25 years of the Premier League through facts and figures. If OptaJoe’s Football Yearbook 2016 is anything to go by, Outside the Box should make fascinating reading.

Keegan & Dalglish by Richard T. Kelly (Simon & Schuster) – 10th Aug 2017

In 1977, Kenny Dalglish became Liverpool’s replacement for Germany-bound Kevin Keegan. Despite never actually playing together, these two British football legends have been intricately linked throughout their careers as players and managers. Kelly is best known for his novels but this looks like a fascinating joint biography.

The Billionaires Club: The unstoppable rise of football’s super-rich owners by James Montague (Bloomsbury) – 24th Aug 2017

Thirty-One Nil: On the Road with Football’s Outsiders was named Football Book of the Year at the 2015 Cross British Sports Book Awards. Two years on, Montague is back with a book about the super-rich owners of the football clubs we love. The Billionaires Club is more travel football investigative journalism from the man who invented the genre.

September

On The Brink: A Journey Through English Football’s North West by Simon Hughes (De Coubertin Books) – 7th Sept 2017

Hughes is one of the most prolific and insightful football writers around, so this book comes with a quality guarantee. On The Brink is his personal and geographical journey through England’s most successful football region and its characters, places and changes. Think Michael Walker’s brilliant Up There, but for the North West rather than East.

 

Hijacking Laliga: How Atletico Madrid Broke Barcelona and Real Madrid’s Duopoloy on Spanish Football by Euan McTear (Pitch Publishing) – 22nd Sept 2017

McTear’s first book, Eibar the Brave: The Extraordinary Rise of la Liga’s Smallest Team, came out in 2015. For his second, he looks at a success story on a bigger, European scale. This is the story of Atlético Madrid’s unbelievable rise from mid-table mediocrity to La Liga champions and Champions League finalists.