Matt talks to SCOTT MURRAY about football before the Premier League in his book THE TITLE. It's a detailed history of the first division from its inception and is illuminating in how much has changed and how much has stayed the same. The league format of every team plays each other home and away now seems so obvious and is used by sports around the world but was not the only option considered when the league began. Also, why they were switching fixtures in the 1930s at a day's notice and why substitutions were initially viewed with suspicion. Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss future episodes and follow us on @SportsBookPod.

The old joke goes that the best way to make a million from owning a football club is to start with ten million. That's clearly no longer the case but just what is attracting the super-rich to football - from Russian oligarchs to Saudi sheikhs, American businessmen to Chinese state officials? JAMES MONTAGUE sheds light on the backgrounds and practices on people who would prefer to be in the shadows in his examination of THE BILLIONAIRES CLUB - the unstoppable rise of football's super-rich owners. Do fans care who owns their club? Should they? Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode and follow us on Twitter for all the latest @SportsBookPod.

We're back after a short summer break and we've got tons of titles and authors lined up for the coming weeks to take us into the busy autumn season. Starting with RICHARD T KELLY who's written about 2 titans of British football KEEGAN AND DALGLISH. How their playing and managing careers intertwined and why both players at times stood apart from their teammates. Is it true that Dalglish's talent was innate while Keegan had to work at his as the cliche has it? Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss any of the titles in the coming weeks and follow us on @SportsBookPod.

This week Matt explores the dark side of boxing with ELLIOT WORSELL in his excellent book DOG ROUNDS. Elliot is a boxing fan who's covered the sport as a journalist and writer but also worked closely with fighters as a promoter. But he has been troubled by the nature of the sport that pits 2 people to hit each other until one of them can't get up. He was working as a promoter for the fight between Chris Eubank Jr and Nick Blackwell that left Blackwell in a coma. He talks to fighters whose opponents have died in the ring or shortly afterwards. He also addresses his concerns about the pre-fight hype or "trash talk". A compelling read - thoroughly recommended. Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss an episode. Follow us on Twitter @SportsBookPod.

As The Tour de France enters its final week, Matt looks back at the very first staging of the race with PETER COSSINS in his book BUTCHER BLACKSMITH ACROBAT SWEEP. Most people can tell you the race began as a result of a newspaper circulation war but Peter has found the infamous Dreyfuss affair was also at the centre of it. He looks at how they went about staging something even more complex than the Olympics from scratch. And, even in the first race, there were allegations of cheating and doping. Hit subscribe for the latest episode to drop straight onto your device. Follow us on Twitter @SportsBookPod

The Tour de France is well underway and so Matt this week speaks to JEREMY WHITTLE about one of the iconic stages of the Tour - Mont Ventoux. Although it's not the tallest or steepest climb on the Tour, VENTOUX is the most iconic. This is primarily because of the death of Tom Simpson on its slopes 50 years ago. Jeremy explores why this stage is the one that renders the peloton silent as soon as they see it. We also talk about Chris Froome, who famously ran the final stretch after problems with his bike, Nicole Cooke, the first Briton to win the Tour on Ventoux in the yellow jersey and also about Lance Armstrong who Jeremy meets in his hometown of Austin and the 3-word phrase that Armstrong peppers through their conversation "I don't care". Hit subscribe to get the latest episode as soon as it drops and follow us on Twitter @SportsBookPod.

A real treat this week as Matt meets SAM WALKER to talk about his groundbreaking book on what makes good teams great. Sam spent ten years looking at which were the best teams across all sports in all time. And then he looked at what made these teams stand out. It wasn't money or infrastructure. It was captains - THE CAPTAIN CLASS looks at the difference a captain makes to a good team. What traits does a great captain need to demonstrate and, again, it's not what you're thinking. It's not strength, talent or even rousing oratory. A fascinating must-read book that deserves to be seen alongside Moneyball and The Numbers Game in changing the way you think about sport. Subscribe to us keep the episodes coming. Follow us on Twitter @SportsBookPod.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Tom Simpson while competing in the Tour de France. A controversial rider and the circumstances of his death have passed into myth - in particular his (unlikely) final words and the fact that alcohol and amphetamines were found in his system. ANDY MCGRATH puts his achievements and shortcomings in context, exploding some of those myths along the way in TOM SIMPSON: BIRD ON THE WIRE. Hit subscribe to make sure you don't miss the next titles coming out this summer. Follow us on Twitter @SportsBookpod.

In the latest episode Matt talks to MALCOLM FOLLEY (Mail on Sunday) as he explores the history and stories linked to arguably the most famous and certainly the most glamorous race in motorsport's calendar - the Monaco Grand Prix. In MONACO he looks at what makes this race stand out. Why, when you get the same number of points for winning here as you would at Silverstone or Magny Cours, does it mean so much more to drivers to win the Monaco GP than any other? Is it the toughest track? Is it the tunnel that thrusts you from darkness to daylight in the blink of an eye? Or is it that it's the only race where spectators are watching, literally, from the decks of their yachts? Hit subscribe for more great titles in the build-up to the summer. Follow us on @SportsBookPod.

This week Matt marks 50 years since the Lisbon Lions - when Celtic became the first British side to win the European Cup. That achievement is documented in GRAHAM MCCOLL's book A YEAR AND A DAY. We talk about this side that were, famously, all were born so close to Celtic Park, we hear how Jock Stein made 2 predictions before the final and got both of them wrong, whether Celtic can ever again win the European Cup and there's also the most startling fact that Graham uncovered about what happened at the final whistle! Don't forget to hit subscribe - more great titles on their way very soon! Follow us on Twitter @SportsBookPod.