The story so far. Manchester City end the 2003-04 season relieved at having narrowly escaped relegation. There've been highs and lows, but the lows have been desperate and the highs restricted to minor triumphs of promotions and occasional derby wins. Meaningful silverware hasn't been delivered since 1976. Kevin Keegan looks like he's lost the will to live, let alone manage City, and the transfer kitty is bare. Eight years later, they've won the Premier League in the final seconds of the most dramatic match in the history of football. From Balti Pies to The Biggest Prize relives the journey from perpetual also-rans to champions, from laughing stocks to a team to be feared, fuelled by the injection of unimaginable finance. The money has changed the calibre of the team on the field but how much has it changed its fanbase, its culture, its soul? Steve Mingle's book gives a unique perspective on exactly how it feels to be City today.

Lows, Highs and Balti Pies comprises vivid, colourful and highly individual recollections of City's most memorable games over the past 37 years. One hundred matches are featured, starting with a 5-2 drubbing of Sheffield United in 1967 and ending with the 4-1 triumph in the first derby at the cursed City of Manchester Stadium. Not all of the games in between provided quite as much pleasure. The book contains affectionate portraits of the City greats down the years, together with forthright appraisals on the rich assortment of blundering buffoons which the club has seen fit to inflict upon its famously loyal supporters. However, even when describing the club's darkest moments and the individuals responsible for them, humour is never far away - be it biting, dry, self-deprecating or just plain daft. This approach capture perfectly the essence of what it is to be a City fan. The book also embraces diverse elements of popular culture over the period. Musical reference points abound, whilst the likes of Sid Waddell, Curly Watts, Ian Hislop, Tony the Tiger and Cyanide Sid Cooper all somehow find themselves featuring in the story. And how the hell did Albert Pierrepoint get in there? All long-term followers of football causes will be well familiar with the emotional peaks and troughs described so strikingly in this book. Most, like the author, will have experienced more troughs than peaks. But it's the range of imaginative, often scarcely credible, ways in which City have brought both highs and lows into the lives of their fans which truly sets them apart. It's a remarkable story, vibrantly and entertainingly told.

In Who Ate All the Pies?, the gonzo sports journalist explores and celebrates the things we love about the whole culture of the game, tries to explain how we got to where we are now and speculates where we the game is headed. Amongst other things, he explores the history of the football shirt in style and design; how and why sponsorship became the norm; the culture of food inside the ground, around the stadium and in the pubs and clubs, and how the culture of pies and the modern trend of fine dining changed the match day experience (and why prawn sandwiches are the perfect expression of the class-politics of football); why booze is so important to football; how football is used by people to vent their everyday frustrations and emotions and how this is managed by the clubs. He also describes the history of football on TV and how it changed perceptions of teams and countries (in particular, the 1970 World Cup TV revolution); the role of international football in national identity and the intricate complexities of being a Teessider, Northern and English, in that order!

WINNER of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2015 In the last two decades football in Britain has made the transition from a peripheral dying sport to the very centre of our popular culture, from an economic basket-case to a booming entertainment industry. What does it mean when football becomes so central to our private and political lives? Has it enriched us or impoverished us? In this sparkling book David Goldblatt argues that no social phenomenon tracks the momentous economic, social and political changes of the post-Thatcherite era in a more illuminating manner than football, and no cultural practice sheds more light on the aspirations and attitudes of our long boom and now calamitous bust. A must-read for the thinking football fan, The Game of Our Lives will appeal to readers of Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby and Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson. It will also be relished by readers of British social history such as Austerity Britain by David Kynaston. 'Brilliantly incisive. Goldblatt is not merely the best football historian writing today, he is possibly the best there has ever been. Goldblatt's book could hardly be more impressive' Sunday Times

Managing Sport Facilities, Third Edition, continues the tradition set by its predecessors of providing future and current sport facility managers with the knowledge they need in order to make the proper decisions in all areas of facility management. Like the previous two versions, the third edition provides a comprehensive understanding of crafting a career in running a sport facility. The third edition of Managing Sport Facilities engages students with a clear writing style, extensive real-world examples, and information on managing a range of facilities, from smaller health clubs, colleges, and recreational environments to professional sport stadiums. Because managers require current information to meet the needs of new facilities and audiences, this edition has been updated to include the following: • A new chapter on green facility management • Updated Sport Facility Management Profiles featuring industry experts introducing applied connections for each chapter • Expanded Facility Focus sidebars presenting facts and strategies used by real facilities • An updated instructor ancillary package, now including instructor videos that feature professionals in the field offering advice and insight In response to its increasing importance over the last decade, the newest chapter in this text focuses on implementing and maintaining green facilities. This chapter details items that should be considered during the construction of new environmentally conscious facilities as well as information on retrofitting and updating older facilities with green technology, such as recycling initiatives and solar panels. A facility built according to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards may lose its certification if not properly maintained over time, so tips for preserving green facilities are also included. In Managing Sport Facilities, Third Edition, students will learn the history of the sport facility industry and the primary goals and objectives of facility managers; how to build and finance a facility; facility operation; administration of marketing, finance, and other critical areas; and event administration and management. A comprehensive approach to understanding the wide-ranging job of sport facility managers has been applied, with a structure that builds from general to specific, and finally to practical knowledge in the final chapter. In addition, the text offers updated content in the Sport Facility Management Profiles, Facilities Trivia, Behind the Scenes, and Facility Focus sidebars in each chapter, which bring the theories and concepts to life by citing specific examples of strategies used in making a facility—and the facility manager—more successful. New instructor videos that can be shared during class provide students with a glimpse into the lives of real-world professionals as they provide insight and advice. Managing Sport Facilities, Third Edition, contains extensive textbook learning aids, including real-world checklists and forms that allow students a glimpse of some of the tools and guidelines that professionals use in their work. Each chapter begins with objectives and an overview and concludes with a summary and discussion questions and activities. The instructor ancillaries will help instructors prepare for and teach classes, and the text itself has an engaging style that makes the reading cogent and easy to remember. Starting from its already-solid foundation, the new material, updates, ancillaries, and practical learning aids make this third edition the most complete and up-to-date text on the subject. Students using this text will learn what it takes to blend leadership, operations management, and creativity in promotions as they begin their journey to being top-notch sport facility managers.

Popular Mechanics inspires, instructs and influences readers to help them master the modern world. Whether it’s practical DIY home-improvement tips, gadgets and digital technology, information on the newest cars or the latest breakthroughs in science -- PM is the ultimate guide to our high-tech lifestyle.

Lows, Highs and Balti Pies comprises vivid, colourful and highly individual recollections of City's most memorable games over the past 37 years. One hundred matches are featured, starting with a 5-2 drubbing of Sheffield United in 1967 and ending with the 4-1 triumph in the first derby at the cursed City of Manchester Stadium. Not all of the games in between provided quite as much pleasure. The book contains affectionate portraits of the City greats down the years, together with forthright appraisals on the rich assortment of blundering buffoons which the club has seen fit to inflict upon its famously loyal supporters. However, even when describing the club's darkest moments and the individuals responsible for them, humour is never far away - be it biting, dry, self-deprecating or just plain daft. This approach capture perfectly the essence of what it is to be a City fan. The book also embraces diverse elements of popular culture over the period. Musical reference points abound, whilst the likes of Sid Waddell, Curly Watts, Ian Hislop, Tony the Tiger and Cyanide Sid Cooper all somehow find themselves featuring in the story. And how the hell did Albert Pierrepoint get in there? All long-term followers of football causes will be well familiar with the emotional peaks and troughs described so strikingly in this book. Most, like the author, will have experienced more troughs than peaks. But it's the range of imaginative, often scarcely credible, ways in which City have brought both highs and lows into the lives of their fans which truly sets them apart. It's a remarkable story, vibrantly and entertainingly told.