The Books Pitch | 13th November 2026

THIS WEEK'S TOP BOOK / NEW NOVEMBER 2026 HARDBACK

Beyond the Goals. Inside the Legend.

Epic: The Many Lives of Pelé BY ANDREW DOWNIE | VIKING HARDBACK A footballer who needed only one name. Three World Cups. A childhood in Brazil. A career at Santos that made him an international sensation, followed by a new chapter with the New York Cosmos. But behind the familiar statistics was a far more complicated life than any trophy cabinet could explain. In Epic: The Many Lives of Pelé, journalist Andrew Downie looks beyond the goals and the glorious photographs to examine Edson Arantes do Nascimento as a player, public figure and private man. Drawing on nearly eight years of research, more than 250 interviews, family accounts, former teammates and archival material, this substantial biography revisits the victories while exploring the pressures, contradictions and costs of global fame. For collectors of football history, it is a chance to revisit the astonishing career of the only man to win three men's World Cups — and to discover the stories that took place away from the stadium floodlights. Publisher: Viking (Penguin Random House) Publication date: 5 November 2026 Hardback: 528 pages ISBN-13: 9780241754795 SoccerBooks price: £24.99 ROYAL MAIL TRACKED 48

CHRISTMAS GIFTS / 2027 SOCCER ANNUALS

A Christmas Morning Tradition

OVER 50 NEW ANNUALS — A GREAT CHOICE FOR FOOTBALL FANS

Football annuals have been part of Christmas morning for generations, a tradition stretching back to the early 1900s. Packed with football stories, facts, photographs and memories, the 2027 Soccer Annuals continue that much-loved tradition.

This year there are over 50 new annuals to choose from — a great choice covering clubs, players, competitions and the wider game. Whether it is a favourite team under the tree or a traditional football annual for Christmas morning, there is something for football fans young and old.

FOOTBALL ANNIVERSARIES / FROM THE ARCHIVES

Forty Years Since Ferguson Walked Into Old Trafford

6 November 1986 — the beginning of an era nobody could have imagined.

Last Friday marked exactly 40 years since Alex Ferguson was appointed Manchester United manager. He arrived from Aberdeen in November 1986, at a club longing for a return to sustained success. The trophies did not come overnight. That first FA Cup triumph arrived in 1990, and the league title followed in 1993. By the time Sir Alex retired in 2013, he had collected 13 Premier League titles and two Champions League trophies. Forty years on from his appointment, it makes an irresistible contrast with the modern managerial merry-go-round: one manager got the time to build a dynasty; others barely get time to finish the tea in their new office. NEW BOOK / OCTOBER 2026 HARDBACK Games of Life — Sir Alex Ferguson Written with Sir Michael Moritz, Ferguson's new book revisits 21 defining matches from his life in football, using them to explore leadership, teamwork, rivalry and the decisions that shaped his extraordinary career. It also includes previously unseen photographs and memorabilia. Published: 8 October 2026   |   Hardback: 336 pages ISBN: 9780241726716   |   SoccerBooks: £29.99

Forty years since the appointment — a reminder that football history is rarely written in a fortnight.

FROM THE ARCHIVES / FEBRUARY 1988

The Day Vinnie Got a Grip on Gazza!

A goalless draw, an unforgettable photograph — and a rose and toilet brush after the final whistle.

On Saturday 6 February 1988, Wimbledon and Newcastle United played out a goalless First Division draw at Plough Lane, watched by 10,505 spectators. Few remember the football. Almost everyone remembers the photograph.

Wimbledon's hard man Vinnie Jones had been given the job of keeping Newcastle's 20-year-old magician Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne quiet. When the pair jostled as a Newcastle free-kick was about to be taken, Jones decided that ordinary man-marking simply would not do. His infamous grab — and Gascoigne's startled reaction — were caught in a split second that became part of football folklore.

The aftermath was almost as ridiculous. According to Jones, Gascoigne sent him a red rose after the final whistle. Jones returned the favour with a toilet brush delivered to the Newcastle dressing room. Not exactly your standard post-match handshake.

The scoreline was 0–0, but the photograph remains unforgettable: one of English football's most gifted entertainers confronting the Crazy Gang's most determined enforcer. It was football in the 1980s, with absolutely nothing left to the imagination.

Wimbledon 0–0 Newcastle United • Plough Lane • Saturday 6 February 1988

THE WEEKLY PANEL / WEEK #46 / 11 NOVEMBER 2026

The Sack Race — The International Break

The managers are looking for a holiday. The chairmen are looking for the departure gate.

With the international break arriving, the latest football managerial drama is still refusing to take a day off. Manchester United's extraordinary 4–4 draw with Aston Villa, Crystal Palace's 3–1 defeat to Liverpool, Sunderland's 1–0 victory over Chelsea and managerial changes at Aberdeen have all helped keep the Sack Race running.

Wednesday also brought Singles' Day, prompting a special Blind Date appearance from Cilla Black and our decidedly fishy fictional dating app, Bucket of Fish. Add a nostalgic nod to the Cadbury Flake Girl, and romance has rarely looked so hazardous. The bookmaker's lapel carries a single red poppy in respectful recognition of Remembrance Day.

“There's plenty of fish in the sea — but the managers keep getting thrown back!”

AND FINALLY.....

FOOTBALL'S GREATEST PARTNERSHIPS / MANCHESTER CITY 1965–1972

Gentleman Joe & Big Mal — Football's Odd Couple

One calm diplomat. One fedora-wearing firework. Together they conquered English football.

Some partnerships are made in heaven. Others are made in Manchester, with one man quietly holding the reins while the other threatens to take football to Mars.

When Joe Mercer arrived at Manchester City in 1965, the club was languishing in the Second Division. The Ellesmere Port-born former Everton and Arsenal captain had known glory as a player and a serious setback as a manager: a stroke at Aston Villa had interrupted his career. He needed a younger, energetic coach. Enter Malcolm Allison, the former West Ham defender whose playing days had been cut short by tuberculosis, but whose ideas were years ahead of their time.

“Genial Joe” was dignified, diplomatic and loved by his players. “Big Mal” was a cigar-smoking, fedora-wearing showman with opinions loud enough to fill Maine Road. Mercer supplied steadiness; Allison delivered daring training methods, attacking ambition and no shortage of headlines.

The results were magnificent: promotion in 1966, League champions in 1968, FA Cup winners in 1969, and both the League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. Their Manchester City included Colin Bell, Francis Lee, Mike Summerbee, Tony Book and Neil Young.

Allison once boasted that City would be “the first team to play on Mars”. Mercer, meanwhile, called him “the best football coach in the world”. When Mal proposed something particularly outrageous, Joe reportedly responded that they could try it at training the following week — a masterclass in politely changing the subject.

Ultimately the partnership fractured amid ambition and boardroom tensions, but the trophies and memories survived. Theirs remains one of the game's most unforgettable managerial partnerships.

For readers who fancy returning to Maine Road’s glory years, Ian Penney’s Manchester City: The Mercer-Allison Years explores the story with recollections from those who lived it. A softcover copy is available from SoccerBooks.

IN STOCK AT SOCCERBOOKS / SOFTCOVER Manchester City: The Mercer-Allison Years Ian Penney • Breedon Books • 2008 paperback edition A compelling record of Joe Mercer and Malcolm Allison's golden age, with recollections from Tony Book, Neil Young and Big Mal himself.