Kerry Dixon Knihy

A must-read biography of one of the greatest football managers of all time

When the single-engined Piper Malibu plane carrying Cardiff City's record £15m signing, Emiliano Sala, crashed into the English Channel on 21st January 2019 killing both the footballer and the pilot, David Ibbotson, it shone a light on the murky world of football transfers.A combination of Sala’s upturn in form for his club Nantes, the desperation of Cardiff City to find a striker to avoid relegation from the English Premier League and the opportunism of football agent Willie McKay smoothed the way to the £15m transfer. It was a deal that seemed to suit all parties until tragedy struck...Sala’s death sparked investigations by more than one UK police force, the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau, FIFA, the Premier League, the FA, and the FA of Wales. It has already led to the imprisonment of two people and the arrest of another for manslaughter, with the potential for many more to follow.In the aftermath of the footballer’s death the Daily Telegraph investigated the roles of Willie McKay, his favoured pilot David Henderson and the two clubs. Investigative journalist Harry Harris assisted the Telegraph team using his unrivalled contacts within the game to gain a fuller picture of this tragic transfer. What he and the Telegraph team uncovered will reverberate throughout the world of football for years to come because, as Harry makes clear here, the killing of Emilano Sala was no accident.

The death of Diego Maradona in November 2020 sent shockwaves through the football world, leaving behind a legacy filled with extraordinary moments on the pitch and controversy off it. Award-winning football journalist Harry Harris offers a personal perspective on Maradona's life, having been one of the few British writers granted access to the legendary player. He collaborates with World Cup winner Ossie Ardiles, a close friend of Maradona, who first witnessed Diego's talent in 1975 during a warm-up for an international match. Harris captures Ardiles' vivid memories of their friendship and includes a selection of tributes that flooded in after Maradona's passing. As the chief football writer for the Daily Mirror and a leading sports journalist, Harris followed Maradona's career closely, witnessing pivotal moments such as the Azteca stadium's iconic goals during the World Cup and the press conference in Dallas after Maradona's positive drug test in 1994. He also recounts the unique experience of securing a one-on-one interview with Diego, detailing the remarkable circumstances that surrounded this exclusive encounter.

From the loveable Claudio Ranieri winning the Premier League with the 5,000\-1 underdogs to Brendon Rodgers lifting the FA Cup five years later this is the story of football’s romantics, the archetypal underdogs biting the so\-called Super League elite. If ever there was the perfect riposte to those inflated egos who wanted to take the game away from the people and claim it as their own, then the exploits of Leicester City epitomises the right of the true fans to dream the impossible dream. First Ranieri fulfilled those dreams with he broke the mould of the Big Five and claimed the title, and then, perhaps even more remarkable, to prove it wasn’t just a one\-off, Rodgers ended a long run of FA Cup Final heartaches by claiming the club’s first ever victory in the world’s oldest and most prestigious cup competition. In so doing he became the first manager since Sir Alex to win the cup both side of the border. Between the two highly unpredictable episodes came untold tragedy when the club’s adored owner was killed in a helicopter crash leaving the King Power Stadium. Aiyawatt \x27Top\x27 Srivaddhanaprabha took over the running of the club after his father Vichai died in that tragedy in 2018. The Thai family bought the club in 2010 and have transformed it from a provincial outfit to a global entity.

If three months has seemed like a long time to wait for Liverpool fans to finally, officially, win the Premier League title, it is nothing compared to the 30 years since the Reds last lifted the old First Division trophy back in April 1990.In this, one of the strangest seasons football has known, the identity of the next champions of England has never really been in doubt since; Jurgen Klopp's men have been unstoppable, winning 26 of their first 27 games and stretching into a 25 point lead before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus epidemic. The impact of Klopp on the Anfield club has been nothing short of remarkable. When he arrived in 2015, the club seemed to be in the doldrums and a title seemed decades away with the mega-rich owners of Chelsea and Manchester City set to dominate for years.Now he has won four trophies in just over a year!In 'Champions At Last' former Daily Mirror Chief Football Writer Harry Harris has followed the career of Klopp and analyses what makes the former Borussia Dortmund boss tick and how he has managed the transformation of the club to the extent that he is now seen as a modern incarnation of legendary Liverpool boss Bill Shankly.