August Highlights

• 8th Aug 2007 at 13:01:58 BST by Liam Doyle
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The highlights of August including Football annuals, biographies of Ferguson and Wenger and a cracking boxing release in Fight Town.

In case you didn't know and, of course, the papers have hardly mentioned it, the football season is upon us. That means that publishers' schedules are packed full of football releases, ranging from the interesting, to the obscure, to the stat obsessed to the plain crap. We'll try to cut through the numerous releases to offer our selection of the month's highlights.

Football

You can't start a football round up in August without considering the annuals. The usual suspects - Sky, PFA Footballers' Who's Who, Match of the Day, News of the World, Playfair and Racing & Football Outlook - all appear again. You probably know them inside and there's not too much to add other than whilst Sky still is the daddy, I quite like the general overview that MOTD offers. In addition to the above, there's also able support from Aerofilms and the Supporters' Guide.

There's one potential new kid on the annual block and that's in the form of The Vodafone Guide to The Champions League. There's been a few attempts at finding a Champions League companion but none have really established themselves. We'll see if this is the one to do it. On the subject of European Football, don't forget that the first batch of country specific previews such as Kicker, Don Balon and A Bola will be available at the end of August.

New football autobiographies this month are represented by Norman Whiteside, Neil Warnock, Paddy Crerand, Marcus Hahnemann, Graham Poll and Barry Davies. Yes, I know the last 2 are stretching the definition a bit, but you know what I mean. There's also a plethora of paperback versions including Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Perry Groves, and Alan Mullery and a further bunch of unofficial releases including Mourinho, Rafa and Paul Le Guen.

A particularly welcome release is that of Ferenc Puskas. The most recent book on Puskas - Rogan Taylor's Puskas on Puskas - has been out of print for such a long time and is continually requested by customers so I hope that this, an official autobiography when he was at Honved, will find favour.

Other football highlights include the reissue of Eamon Dunphy's acclaimed portrait of Matt Busby, A Strange Kind of Glory. This has been out of print for years so it's a welcome release and hopefully there'll be a new generation able to enjoy. Two managers with more in common than either would probably be happy to admit are Ferguson and Wenger and both are profiled in new books entitled This is The One and Wenger. No prices for guessing which is which. Ferguson also forms part of a managerial study by Oliver Holt in the shape of If You Are Second Your Are Nothing, an assessment of the managerial careers of Ferguson and Shankly.

Italian football comes under the spotlight in three releases - Forza Italia, Calcio and The Italian Job. David Goldblatt's monumental The Ball is Round receives a paperback release and for those who may have missed the doorstepper of a hardback, ensure you take a look at this. It really is essential stuff.

The increasingly impressive Jonathan Wilson, fresh from the critical acclaim of Behind the Iron Curtain, turns his attention to Sunderland and the story of their transformation under Roy Keane. There's also Up Pompey in which an American author with no previous football experience adopts the team and follows them for a year. What is it with American journos and "doing" football - Miracle of Castel di Sangro and Staying Up both spring to mind. Let's hope the Pompey version is more in the spirit of Miracle than Staying Up, although perhaps without the relentless self promotion that marred an otherwise fantastic book.

Motor Sport

Motor Sport and Formula 1 in particular, is receiving enormous coverage in the wake of Hamilton's record breaking debut season. But what of those who went before him? David Coulthard, now the grand old master of the pitt lane, spills the beans on his career and going back further still, former Formula 1 stars Denny Hulme and the Rodriguez brothers are represented with new releases. The Rodriguez book carries an enormous price tag but looks like it could (and should be for the money!) wonderful. It's reputed to contain over 3000 photos and so should at least win the coffee table award. There's also an interesting looking release on the glory of the old Goodwood circuit between 1948 and 1960 - Goodwood Remembered.

Lily Publications released TT100 in January which was a celebration of the impending Centenary version of the race. Following the success of that edition they've decided to release a review of the 2007 race - TT 2007 - and, if it's as good as the first one, it should be a treat.

American Football

The build up to the American Football season continues. We've still got some of the season previews available, including Street and Smith's Pro and Athlon Pro, but if you're looking for something a bit more weighty, then there's the paperback releases of Blind Side and Johnny U which are both worth considering. Original hardback releases which should be on your list include Carlisle vs Army, Bear's Boys and Saturday Rules.

Boxing

Las Vegas hosts its latest epic in December when Mayweather and Hatton do battle. If you want to celebrate the atmosphere and style of boxing in Vegas then take a look at Fight Town. The hardback edition of this was quite superb and this long awaited paperback releases should also be a treat, providing that the superb imagery translates properly into the paperback format. Despite the skills of Mayweather, what passes for boxing today might not be enough to impress the old timers. If they really want to celebrate the "golden age", then The Onion Picker, the story of Carmen Basilio and boxing in the 1950s should find favour.

And finally.....

Finally the ubiquitous Sid Waddell offers his take on Darts with Bellies and Bullseyes. It's part history, part autobiography which is potentially a bit of a confusing mix, but I'm sure he'll be able to pull this off. Waddell is definitely from the marmite school of commentary - in that you either love him or hate him - but personally, I enjoy his banter and am looking forward to this.