Charlie Hurley

Robin Friday was an exceptional footballer who should have played for England. He never did. Robin Friday was a brilliant player who could have played in the top flight. He never did. Why? Because Robin Friday was a man who would not bow down to anyone, who refused to take life seriously and who lived every moment as if it were his last. For anyone lucky enough to have seen him play, Robin Friday was up there with the greats. Take it from one who knows: 'There is no doubt in my mind that if someone had taken a chance on him he would have set the top division alight,' says the legendary Stan Bowles. 'He could have gone right to the top, but he just went off the rails a bit.' Loved and admired by everyone who saw him, Friday also had a dark side: troubled, strong-minded, reckless, he would end up destroying himself. Tragically, after years of alcohol and drug abuse, he died at the age of 38 without ever having fulfilled his potential. The Greatest Footballer You Never Saw provides the first full appreciation of a man too long forgotten by the world of football, and, along with a forthcoming film based on Friday's life, with a screenplay by co-author Paolo Hewitt, this book will surely give him the cult status he deserves.

Charlie Hurley was not only a great player, he was one of the characters who illuminated football in the 1950s and ’60s. His story will attract great coverage in the papers as he tells of clashes with another footballing great, Jim Baxter, his disputes with the board at Reading when he became a manager and the uncompromising attitude of players and managers during his playing days.Born in Cork, but raised in Essex from the age of seven months, Charlie started his playing career with Millwall before joining Sunderland in 1957. He was to make 400 appearances before leaving for Bolton Wanderers in 1969.Nicknamed “The King”, Charlie made forty appearances for the Republic of Ireland and but for injuries early on at Millwall would have made many more.Fans of both Millwall and Sunderland chose him as their greatest ever player.On his 70th birthday in October 2007, Sunderland renamed the Chairman’s Suite in his honour and the chairman Niall Quinn, also from the Republic, said: “Charlie Hurley still has such an influence on this football club it’s incredible. The hold he has over the region and its football is immense and it’s getting stronger as he gets older.”

The classic text on the struggle for independence in Cork

Tom Barry: IRA Freedom Fighter chronicles the action-packed life of the Commander of the Third West Cork Flying Column, including the decisive Kilmichael ambush and the controversy regarding sectarianism during the 1920–22 period. Author, Meda Ryan, details his involvement on the fringes of the Treaty negotiations; his Republican activities during the Civil War; his engagement in the cease-fire/dump-arms deal of 1923; his term as the IRA's Chief of Staff and his participation in IRA conflicts in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and right up to his death in 1980. Includes an extensive body of primary source material, including Tom Barry's papers,

With the IRA in the Fight for Freedom offers eyewitness and first hand accounts of Ireland's struggle for independence in various parts of the country. It presents a representative picture of the fight by the IRA for independence and of the reign of terror endured by the civilian population. Only idealism and courage on the part of the freedom fighters and the steadfast support of the Irish people could have carried such an unequal struggle through to the end.With barracks attacks, ambushes and shootings, it brings to life a conflict that is fading from the collective memory of county and country and offers a fascinating perspective on the struggle for independence, directly from the men who took part in the actions themselves.

Known as The Singing Winger for his ability both out wide on a football field and centre stage at a concert hall, Colin Grainger had the privilege of sharing a changing room with Duncan Edwards and Stanley Matthews and a bill with The Beatles. Starting out in 1950, Graingers professional football career spanned sixteen years, taking in all four divisions, and after Nat Lofthouse persuaded him to perform while on England duty, a successful singing career was born alongside. Grainger continued to marry his passions in the years to come, and this tale tells the story of life on the road as a professional in two industries and the joy of forging friendships with icons of a bygone era.

Did you know that an Irish manager did not pick the Irish football team until 1969? Do you know who that manager was? Contrary to popular opinion, Irish football management did not begin with Jack Charlton! From the early days when Irish footballers travelled across the Irish Sea on ships through to today's high-flying superstars, the role of the Irish soccer manager has changed and this book charts their experiences as both players and as managers in the dugout. The Irish Football manager is a high profile and prestigious position with many dramatic highs and lows. Including over 55 personal interviews from the key personalities and the people who knew them best, this book gives a long overdue insight into what it's like to be the manager of the boys in green. For lovers of statistics (and there are plenty!), the book lists results for all the managers during their time in charge as well as their win/loss ratio, so we can finally decide who was the greatest manager Ireland ever had.

Into the Light reveals the full thrilling story of Sunderland Football Club - charting the club's progress from being the first great team to dominate the Football League, to the squad which returned to the top of English soccer at the dawn of the new millennium. Hutchinson traces a journey from Newcastle Road to the Stadium of Light by way of Roker Park. The early days of the Team Of All The Talents - the side in red-and-white stripes which took the English League by storm, breaking records and their opponents' hearts year after brilliant year - are brought vividly to life for the first time. Great goalscorers like Johnny Campbell and Jimmy Gillespie and sensational goalkeepers such as the legendary Ned Doig stride out of the pages of Into The Light; and the figures whose brilliance made Roker roar - from Len Shackleton and Brian Clough to the modern greats - are vividly portrayed. League successes came easily and early to Sunderland. Into The Light explores the club's devotion to winning trophies with style. The long - and finally triumphant - quest for FA cup victories is followed game by game. The heartbreaks and disappointments are also here in this see-saw ride through 120 years of English football, which ends as it began - right at the very top. This is the history of a football club and more - it is the tale of British soccer.

Do you know the only English league club not obliged to change their strip in the event of a colour clash? The four Bolton Wanderers players who played for Brazil during the 1966 World Cup? The team which, in 2020, contained five players whose name was the same as the club they played for? How about the only English league club never to have played a game on their home ground? Or, the player who scored with a header from his own cross? You can find the answers, along with over 5,000 other amazing and little known football facts in ‘Denied Promotion By A Tree’, the definitive football fact book that will entertain, inform and be a talking point for football fans of all persuasions. There is no place for the common-place in ‘Denied Promotion By A Tree’. Every current and former English/Welsh and Scottish club is mentioned at least twice. There are multiple entries relating to most clubs, so, plenty of amazing facts about the club(s) which you cover. Discover the only club (British) to have played both legs of a European tie at home. The two team mates who left Port Vale, one to manage Juventus, the other, Real Madrid. The club drawn away from home in 19 successive Scottish FA Cup ties and...the club denied promotion by a tree. Packed with images of football memorabilia relating to the entries, this is a book which captures the spirit of affection and belonging keenly felt by all lovers of football.

A novel and interdisciplinary perspective on post-war church building In the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of churches were built across Europe in an attempt to keep up with the continent's rapid urbanisation. This book addresses the immense effort related to the planning, financing, and construction of this new religious infrastructure. Going beyond aspects of style and liturgy, and transcending a focus on particular architects or regions, this volume considers church building at the crossroads of pastoral theology, religious sociology, and urban planning. Presenting the rich palette of strategies and methods deployed by congregations, dioceses, government bodies, and private patrons in their attempt to secure a religious presence in the rapidly modernising world, Territories of Faith offers a broad view of the practice of religion and its material expression in the fast-evolving (sub)urban landscapes of post-war Europe.