Books by Dave Bowler, Video by Luke Bainbridge

BOOKS

HARRY REDKNAPP: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHY
With Derek McGovern (Collins Willow, £16.99)
Harry's cunningly-titled autobiography is interesting enough as these things go, but leaves you feeling a bit uneasy about the direction of the game. To his credit, Redknapp is a football man through and through, still in the game because he needs to be. He gives a more accurate feel of just what it's like to manage a football team than the recent crop of managerial memoirs in this well-written account. Sadly though, he doesn't seem to enjoy football as once he did. Harry's no fan of the changes wrought by the Premiership and, though he doesn't attack the players for their inflated salaries, he does question whether they actually earn their money. More than that, he argues "the players are not gods, after all. They're only football players. Big deal." Dead right, but how many agents will agree? 3/5


LOST IN FRANCE: FRONTLINE DISPATCHES
FROM WORLD CUP 98
Christian Smyth (Mainstream, £9.99)
A book of two halves. Smyth starts out making incisive and intelligent observations about England, its team, staff and supporters. Then, post-Colombia, he starts to admire John Sadler's rabble-rousing rubbish, comes over all Little Englander and generally loses the plot in an orgy of chauvinism. He shares the popular delusion that England are unlucky or victims of conspiracy in major tournaments, a dropped bollock that masks our inadequacies and prevents them being addressed. Ultimately, Smyth regains some sanity and, once again, it's bad news for Glenn. In spite of his best efforts to shift any blame away from himself, Smyth ain't buying it. So he's not a bad judge! 3/5


IN THE WAY! GOALKEEPERS - A BREED APART?
Nick Hazlewood (Mainstream, £7.99)
Revised and updated, Hazlewood has produced an entertaining and informative read, despite a tendency to go down the way-too-easy 'goalkeepers? They're a bit mad aren't they?' route. The harsh truth of goalkeeping is best expressed by Peter Bonetti, who knows a bit about injustice: "you could be playing well for 89 minutes and make a mistake in the last minute and they'll remember you for it. Whereas a forward can do the reverse… and be the hero because you've won 1-0." Life's hard, but as Ruud Gullit says "goalkeepers are only there because they can't play football." Altogether now: "Nayim from the halfway line…" 4/5


STAYING UP
Rick Gekoski (Little Brown, £16.99)
Following a middle-of-the-road season with Coventry doesn't sound too thrilling - there wasn't even the adrenaline rush of their usual last minute escapology act last season. But from unpromising raw material, Gekoski has culled something of a classic. Given the backing of chairman Bryan Richardson, the writer was foisted onto a reluctant Gordon Strachan. He came away with some wonderful insights into the mind of Premiership Man, such as John Salako's crumpled spirit having missed a handful of sitters at Newcastle, sloping off with a final comment: "I think I'll go home and commit suicide". There's Steve Ogrizovic, who reckons at least 20% of players "have no interest in football at all". And finally, the unnamed player whose opinion of his paymasters is "players hate fans". If you think your family's dysfunctional, try living with a bunch of footballers. 5/5


VIDEO

THEY THINK IT'S ALL OVER - BELOW THE BELT
(BBC Video, £12.99)
'Below The Belt' is a pretty apt title. It's a bit much to expect punters to cough up more hard cash for the out-takes from a series which has already spawned two video releases. Along with the mandatory digs at Gower and Lineker though, there are some undoubted highlights here. Graham Taylor explains that England were defeated against Sweden because "Sweden were physically stronger than us - the Scandinavian countries are of an outdoor pursuit". Chris Eubank naturally gets some ribbing when the Lord of Brighton guests on the same show as the well-endowed Randy The Horse and Nick Hancock cracks the obvious when he states that there's "Two massive pricks on the show this week". The best-selling comedy videos from the past two festive seasons have been 'They Think It's All Over' releases and 'Below The Belt' will probably make it a hat-trick for the team. Just don't think for a minute that it is actually all over. They'll milk plenty of money from this cash cow yet. 3/5