Joe Mercer, OBE - Football With A Smile

Copies are currently unavailable to individual purchasers via the publishers. 

Most quality bookshops should have supplies. 

The Big Book of City

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We have currently sold out of copies of this book.  Many bookshops still retain supplies however.

 

 

The chapters contained within "Joe Mercer, OBE: Football With A Smile" are:

A Football Life; Born Into Football; Happy Days At Everton; Man Of The Match; For Honour's Sake Be Fit; Everton's Loss, Arsenal's Gain; Superstitious Gunners; Footballer Of The Year; Honour In Defeat; Time To Retire; End Of An Era; We're Going To Sheffield; The Move To Villa; The Push For Promotion; League Cup Villans; Joe Without Football?; Restoring Faith; Mancunian Style; The Blue Ballet; Mars Next Stop; The Glory Continues; Franny's Grand Slam; If He Goes, I Go; End Of The Road; The Fun Returns; Retirement; The Mercer Legacy. 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Big Book of City is the latest Manchester City book by Gary James. In the style of a traditional football annual/yearbook, the Big Book contents are: 

 

Writer and City historian Gary James’ latest book is designed to entertain readers. Rather than a ‘heavy’ history of the Club the Big Book of City will provide readers with the ability to read entertaining features by dipping in and out of the book. 

 

This will be the perfect gift for a parent, partner, friend or relative with a passion for City. 

 

The Big Book of City contains 296 pages (size 248x174mm) with photographs throughout and retails at £19.95. 

 

Extremely positive reviews have appeared in a variety of publications, including the August issues of Four-Four-Two and When Saturday Comes.  The following is a sample:

 

For all the ink that has been spilled in the name of Manchester United, only now do we learn the definitive - some say fateful - date on which the planet's most famous sporting institution spluttered into life, as Newton Heath FC was consigned to history.

 

Even Old Trafford's mighty United Opus tells us it was on 26 April 1902 that the struggling former railwaymen's team, facing a winding-up order, was superseded at the New Islington public house in Ancoats by United, in what might today be called a re-branding exercise, and it says everything about his immaculate piece of scholarship that James reveals the club to be two days older than it seems to think it is. The meeting was on the 24th. Hard to believe also, in the age of the global brand, that the name "United" may well have been selected for no other reason than clubs' proclivity back then for seizing on the name of the moment. Sheffield United may have been the inspiration, having reached the FA Cup final seven days earlier.

The early histories of Manchester City and United provide some of the most fascinating elements of a story James relates without hype. The clubs' close bonds, much discussed at the recent 50th Munich anniversary, are an intriguing thread. City were keen to sell United (rather than southern sides) their best players, Bill Meredith included, when strapped for cash and reeling from a match-fixing scandal in 1907. The two also joined forces to prevent the newly- founded Manchester Central club being elected to the Football League and threatening their own fan bases in the early 1930s.

The periodic scandals - the collusion of Liverpool and United players to fix a league game United won 2-0 in 1915 is particularly well related - remind us that little is new in football.

Except money of course. This story is unimpassioned enough not to make judgements about the game's evolution in the Premier League era but the seamless interweaving of Stockport, Rochdale and Bury's narratives - not overshadowed, for once - with those of the Manchester giants tells more subtly what a toll that big money is taking on the lesser lights.

 

Sir Alex Ferguson might detest FC United of Manchester, the club established in the teeth of the game's corporatisation, but James also attends to that club's ethos and relatively unknown recent splits with a level of detail befitting its significance. His story of City's beginnings - when a Manchester rector's daughter set up a club to distract the working men prone to drinking and violence, then known as "scuttling" - is also poignant amid Thaksin Shinawatra's search for global brand awareness.

 

This excellent 520 page book has been published to coincide with the UEFA Cup final (staged at the City of Manchester Stadium) and to mark the 400th anniversary of football being banned in Manchester (that is correct - football was banned in Manchester in 1608!).

This well illustrated book provides the stories of Manchester's greatest footballing achievements, while also answering questions such as:  Why did football in Manchester develop the way it did?  How do the Manchester sides compare in terms of local support, trophy success, and so on. 

 

It is surely the definitive story of football in the Manchester region.  Writer and football historian Gary James' latest gem details the story of Mancunian football from the Middle Ages through to the modern day.  He reveals many new and interesting stories and also tries to spell out many significant events that have shaped the region's football development.

The author focuses on the League clubs of Bury, City, united, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale and Stockport County, plus former League Club Stalybridge Celtic; but he also takes a look at all the local clubs (such as Ashton, Fairfield Athletic, Manchester North End, Salford United and, not least, Altrincham) who have at some point in their history attempted to join the Football League.  Interestingly, the records section includes a full list of Manchester Cup winners from the first (Hurst in 1885) to the 2007 winners Manchester City.

This is an absorbing book that will appeal greatly to a wider audience than just supporters of the 'Manchester' clubs.  

 

The pleasure I have received from reading this book has left me morally obliged to do my first ever Amazon Review. Whilst I will attempt to wax lyrical, a little story first that will probably be more convincing in its way than any words of praise that I can muster:-

Although a Manchester City fan, I joined a coachful from our pub to go and give Stockport County a cheer in their play-off game at Wembley against Rochdale. The coach was fair mix of County (obviously), City and United fans. I took Gary James's book to while away the journey. Suffice to say that others took an interest in it and were blown away with the 'differentness' of it. By the time we returned, I'd taken a total of 11 orders for copies!

The book clearly has a 'wow' factor. I think one of its main qualities is the author's refusal to merely compartmentalise each Manchester club's history. Instead it is largely chronological and dwells many times on the relationships between clubs rather than just significant events in their individual past. Whilst United and City inevitably figure prominently, there is due credit given to the likes of Bury who were Manchester's first truly successful club. At the other extreme, newcomers FC United are given respect for their efforts to return affordable football to the grassroots supporter. In between, every club from the area has its roots explained and its triumphs and tribulations related accurately and entertainingly.

One of my favourite sections is the rise and unfortunate demise of Manchester Central FC. If United and City had not combined and connived to keep this fledging club out of the League in the late'20's / early '30's, then either there would have had three city centre teams or an ailing United could have gone to the wall.

Gary James has researched so deeply that many errors have been found in clubs' official histories. Whilst such fine detail is to be commended, the narrative never lapses into a tedious list of dates that only the 'anorak' would appreciate. Instead it flows and has you wondering what happened next, even when on some occasions you were fairly sure you knew your football history.

As the guys on the coach found, this is a 'once seen - must have' book and I for one will be buying several more copies, as I have absolutely no doubt that as a Christmas or birthday present it will received with total delight. 

Those of you who have read any of Gary’s books about Manchester City will know that his

works are always detailed and well researched, and this one is no different. Gary spent

a decade working on the book, and as part of his research he interviewed players, fans,

broadcasters, journalists and other figures from many aspects of the game in his quest to

create the definitive story of football in the Manchester region.