The World Cup is almost upon us so we are looking back at some of the great World Cup stories we have featured since "Talking Sports Books" began and we go back to "Brazil 1982 The Glorious Failure" with author Stu Horsfield they were the team that had it all the team everyone thought would win the world cup yet on July 5 82 Italy destroyed the dream .

Dave Hannigan joins us today to talk about his new book "We Need To Talk About Roy"

None has had more of substance to say for himself. Across nearly four tumultuous decades, from callow teen prospect to grey bearded influencer, Roy Keane has transcended sport, redefined the parameters of fame and captivated the nation. Our hopes, dreams and sometimes our despair have been wrapped up in him, his exploits and outbursts. Oscillating between national treasure and national argument, he put the manic in talismanic, bestriding Lansdowne Road one minute, getting booed there the next.

If the sporting heroes of every era offer a window into a society, We Need to Talk About Roy is a fascinating portrait of who and what we were in the age of Keane, showcasing our vices and virtues, our fortunes and foibles. The best of us, the worst of us. Drink. Religion. United. Begrudgery. The Celtic Tiger. Tabloidization. Saipan. Touching on all the major themes and teams, this remarkable book is a refreshing and entertaining look at how the life and times of our greatest footballer is the story of modern Ireland itself. His progress and pitfalls, revolutions and evolution uniquely intertwined with those of the country that made him.

He is of Ireland. Ireland is of him.

Welcome back to the new series of "Talking Sports Books" and on this edition we will hear from Tottenham Hotspur's record holding captain Steve Perryman about what happened to him and the club when they were last relegated to what was then division 2.

The main book featured this month is "Escape From Holland" Just before dawn on May 10, 1940, German parachute troops rain down on Holland. Watching from his home on the Dutch coast is former international footballer Billy Marsden. It is ten years to the day since the Germans saved his life in a Berlin hospital after he suffered a devastating injury while playing for England - and now it is the German invasion of Holland that is putting his life in jeopardy. In The Hague, Margot Fonteyn and the Sadler's Wells Ballet watch the dogfights from the roof of their hotel. In Amsterdam journalist David Woodward and his American wife, NBC war correspondent Margaret Rupli, are trying to find a way to file the story of the invasion, while young British diplomat Peers Carter attempts to organise an evacuation just eight months into the job.

Set across one weekend in May 1940, this is the story of how these people came together to escape with the last official boatload of British evacuees out of Holland before the country capitulated. This is not just the tale of their escape, but the story of why these fascinating characters were in Holland to begin with.

On the new edition of "Talking Sports Books" I am joined by author and journalist Jonathan Wilson to talk about his just released book "The Power and the Glory" .

The time is nearly upon us, just moths left to go until the greatest show on earth gets underwayAuthor Jonathan Wilson will join us in November to talk about his new book "The Power and the Glory.The football World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. It has become a global obsession: 211 nations initially entered the 2022 edition. It has been running for almost a century. Yet there has never been a comprehensive history of the World Cup that has considered not only the matches and goals, the players and coaches, the tales of scandal and genius, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, but has also placed the tournaments within a socio-political framework. The story of the World Cup is also the story of the world; this book tells its definitive history.

Talking Sports Books" here is the video edition of the new show with Manchester journalist Dom Farrell talking about his new book release "Glory Days For The Waifs And Strays" On 12 May 2019, Manchester City became the first team to retain the Premier League title for a decade. Twenty years earlier, the same club was slogging its way out of Division Two, having sunk ignominiously to the third tier, its glory days well behind it.Ordinarily, the tale of a sleeping giant awaking to stomp over the competition would be celebrated far beyond the core fan base. But City’s success is tied inextricably to its takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group in 2008, an event that altered the club’s horizons beyond any plausible recognition. The injection of billions of pounds into the club amid accusations that Abu Dhabi is ‘sportswashing’ its reputation tarnished City’s treble-winning season in 2022/23, as have serious charges of financial impropriety from the Premier League.Glory Days for the Waifs and Strays charts this route from noble rags to uncomfortable riches and unpacks what it means when a team’s lowest lows and highest highs occur improbably within a generation. It amounts to a story like no other in modern football: the distance travelled from there to here, the greats on either side of the white line and the uniquely divisive means by which this has been achieved.Manchester City have defined an era in English football. This is the tale of how that happened and why it matters.ORDER HERE https://amzn.to/3LGbclL

On this edition of the show I am joined by award winning writer and journalist Don Stradley to talk about his new book "Immortals of American Boxing" so who are they who were the fighters who transcended the sport in this edition we will focus on a selection of ring legends.

Welcome to "Talking Spots Books"

Twenty-Two Football Shirts that explain the world, geopolitics and the biggest stories of our timeFootball is the world's most popular sport, and the shirts worn by teams and their supporters are its greatest means of cultural expression. Every year clubs launch new kits with increasingly extravagant marketing campaigns and convoluted explanations of how their designs reflect their history and local community. But football shirts are much more than just a symbol of which club we support. A seemingly innocuous combination of colours, sponsor logos and materials can all reflect the social values, financial struggles and political ideologies of the day, as geopolitical issues increasingly seep into every aspect of the game.Investigative journalist Joey D'Urso has travelled across the globe, combining on-the-ground reporting with unparalleled analysis to collate a list of the twenty-two football shirts that best explain the modern world.  More Than A Shirt will take fans on a journey from Birmingham to Belgrade and onto Medellin and Mumbai, outlining how we can see the war in Ukraine in the shirt of Schalke in Germany or China's foreign policy in West Bromwich Albion's; how the shirts of state-owned clubs are used for sportswashing; and why the French national kit embodies worldwide migration patterns.A compelling and eye-opening exploration, More Than A Shirt is essential reading for any football fan and will change the way you think about the beautiful game's most universal symbol

Coming up on this edition of "Talking Sports Books"The Scouting Game brings us the inside story of the hidden world of top-level football scouting from a man with 30 years’ experience in the professional game, and more than a decade in the recruitment team at Chelsea FC’s renowned academy.Chris Robinson reveals how scouts work, what they look for and how they report on players, giving practical examples. He sets out the ideal characteristics that scouts search for in every position, and examines scouting at all levels – grassroots, academy, first team and opposition scouting.Chris explains how scouts interact with agents and what parents can expect from scouts and the professional academies, including how trials work and the developing role of data in scouting. He also considers scouting as a career, pointing out the pros and cons and explaining how to get started.

Postcards from Santiago tells the extraordinary true story of George Robledo, the pioneering Chilean footballer whose name has largely been forgotten—despite rewriting the history of English football. Long before the likes of Haaland, Henry, or Cantona made headlines as international stars in England, Robledo was blazing a trail as the first foreign-born player to top the English scoring charts.

Abandoned by his father and uprooted from Chile to a Yorkshire mining village, Robledo's youth was shaped by war and hardship. He toiled underground as a Bevin Boy during WWII before launching a football career that would see him rise from Barnsley to Newcastle United stardom. In the 1951–52 season, his record-breaking 33-goal tally made him the most prolific overseas scorer in English football—a record that quietly endures, often overlooked by official statistics.

From the searing landscapes of the Atacama Desert to a Wembley FA Cup triumph, and from representing Chile at the 1950 World Cup to appearing on a John Lennon album cover, Robledo’s life was nothing short of extraordinary. Through interviews with those who knew and admired him, Postcards from Santiago offers a vivid portrait of a forgotten icon—an immigrant who became both a national hero in Chile and a quiet legend in England.

This compelling biography not only reclaims Robledo's rightful place in football history, but also celebrates the resilience, identity, and impact of one of the game’s earliest global stars.

On this edition of the show

In “The Last Bell,” award-winning author Donald McRae reflects on six tumultuous years in boxing, grief, and redemption—featuring Tyson Fury, Canelo Álvarez, and more it is more than just a boxing book — it's a raw, emotional ringside journey through six years of triumph, tragedy, and truth. From Tyson Fury’s comeback to the heartache of Patrick Day, this is sport at its most human.