The Totally Football Show with James Richardson

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va va voom it's out right now.

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It's about the modern history of French football and it's available to buy now from all good booksellers.

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It does feel like a cruel question but Tom Williams is grinning as the author of the celebrated book Va-Va-Voom about French football.

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If I have our boom a modern history of French football zooming its way up the best-sellers charts, Brackett's Football Category, I'll notice this morning.

Hello Matt, yes, yes, Brackett's Football Category.

Brackett's European Football Leagues.

It's doing well in that on Amazon but it's not quite on the top yet.

If you haven't listened to Tom talking to me and Macintosh all about the book, have a look on your podcast feed, it's probably somewhere there just below this one.

There's also an extract on theathletic.com today.

There is indeed the Marseille chapter.

And you might well have to add another chapter if PSG win the Champions League this season.

I mean you it would mean a second edition and probably more money and that's no bad thing I mean my one regret at the moment is that the PSG chapter is about you know the modern PSG era and I had to leave it as open-ended as possible because I knew it was going to come out you know end of April and I didn't know when you know we sort of finally sent it to the printers like what PSG were we're going to achieve so I've kind of you know kind of fudged it as best as possible.

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So yeah, Vavavuum, the modern history of French football does pretty much what it says on the tin in that it recounts the last sort of 40-45 years in the history of French football.

It's a nice loose read as well, you get some history books which are very almost prescriptive in the way that they tell them. In 1961 this happened, in 1962 there's none of that here.

I mean I think my initial idea when it came to writing a book about French football history was that you'd have to write about the whole thing, you'd have to go back to the late 19th century and explain how everything came together and ultimately had a conversation with my literary agent Melanie and she suggested that why don't you just start in the early 80s?

So I mean Giroud is renowned above all for being a disciplinarian and some of the stories about him are ridiculous and one of the things that he told me about was how in the 60s when he was trying to keep tabs on his players he would check the the mileage is on the dashboards of their cars to see whether there were any kind of great fluctuations and he also knew that there was a very popular local orchestra that the players liked to go and see you know when they were playing at local dances and he would calculate the mileage between where the player you know where the player lived where he parked his car and where the most recent dance was and then we then go back the following morning and if there was say you know 127 kilometers on the clock he you know quickly made the calculation that was you know whatever is there and back and so he you know he basically basically caught them.

There's a chapter in the book dedicated to the the British and Irish players who went over to France in the late 80s and the early 90s and he was yeah quite comfortably the most successful and such an extraordinary thing to stand out in that team where you've got a Betty Palais who arguably the best player Africa's produced at that point Jean-Pierre Pappin who I don't want to say this and sound me but not the most technically brilliant striker but worked so hard and became Europe's most potent striker you've got Basil Bully at the back as this absolute warrior they should be the biggest team in Europe for the next five years they're not as you said earlier it all comes falling down very quickly yeah.

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Now, Michael, you've written the definitive history of the Premier League, The Mixer.

You picked this season out as one of your favourites tactically.

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Michael, in your book, The Mixer, you note the similarities between Kevin Keegan and Kenny Duglish, the fact they were both Liverpool, they both won promotion a season after taking charge of their clubs, the fact that both enjoyed or endured late slumps in their title campaigns.

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Tom's father boom is available on April the by the way can I just say I've just spotted the quotes from the front yeah it is beautiful book

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Also, Jane Austen fans to Mansfield Town.

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he looks like he'd be carrying a staff in a Lord of the Rings kind of film something like that

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Raphael Honigstein is the Athletics German football correspondent and the author of Das Reboot.

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I remember writing a book about Portuguese football history.

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You might want to dig out a copy of One Night in Turin to see how that went

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Ant is appointment he's a prodigious podcast whose book The Beautiful Poetry of Football Commentary is described by one review on amazon as like an a-star english language gcse paper but with more football drink it in and take a boot sun for Charlie air cool shower so nearly yet so far in 2022 Charlie's another tough first round draw but if you're gonna go all the way you're gonna be the best in a way yeah I'd rather just have an easier draw but yeah need to have that runner-up 2022 got to go one better this year that's the hope.

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Vava Voum the modern history of French football will be available on April 25th

April 25th making sure that all the. I said it comes cover in a nice spine as well

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Tom, have you brought a copy of your new book, Vavum?

I have not but will be getting my hands on it shortly within the next couple of weeks.

So it's out April 25th.

Oh right.

Available for pre-order already.

Becoming out in ebook and audio book.

Actually convened, I convened a brainstorming session about the title a few months back.

What were the other options?

Totally favourites.

So the book is about, it's a history of French football.

It is the modern history of French football, which would be a great title in itself.

But what was the subtitle?

OK, what were the other options?

There were many.

A Duncan's contribution.

But it has many as big farmer,

which did not, did not make the final shortlist.

Sadly for Duncan.

But there's many options as French wins and you can come to the campaigns.

Oh, it's slightly more, slightly more options than that.

But Vavum, that's catchy.

It's kind of speaks to the slightly enigmatic,

racy sides to French football.

I think it's not a nostalgia, which is kind of what the book is all about.

Oh yeah.

Nice.

And yeah, hitting the shelves in just over a month.

That's now two books you've written, Tom.

Is it more?

Yes, two.

All right.

Raffa, how many of you on there?

Too many to count, James.

That's happening.

James, this is a little bit...

Three. He's got it.

He's three.

Five.

Five books.

Plus one translation.

Wow.

That's insane.

And Duncan, you've written the book as well.

Two, I'm on two.

You're on two?

Yeah, I'm on two.

What are your ones?

There was the up to Joe Yearbook and then...

Don't have a yearbook counts.

Well, it was written by me.

Yeah.

So...

What was it?

Yeah, so yeah.

Obviously, the best thing here is that Alex Ferguson actually wrote more books than the Bronte sisters.

So...

Always.

Always with the stats.

The Defines, the subject.

Excellent.

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There was the up to Joe Yearbook and then...

Don't have a yearbook counts.

Well, it was written by me.

Yeah.

So...

What was it?

Yeah, so yeah.

Two, I'm on two.

You're on two?

Yeah, I'm on two.

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Chris Wilder's book after the match if I sound people are writing them off as the worst team in primary league history and at the time they who's been doing that I wonder well I wonder I wonder which art that he has been reading in the media this past week but yeah she I mean like Sheffield United or a championship team and I think Chris Wilder as well it's really I actually is really interesting whatever Sheffield United went up in 2019 he was viewed as a sort of tactical revolutionary always in terms of this asymmetric fool yeah and then overlapped and central by attempted offenders and this is like it was a really exciting team and then they finished in the top half comfortably and despite everyone predicting that we're going to go down and if so like Chris Wilder was viewed as it could be a really managerial yoke contender but everything that has happened since for him hasn't gone particularly well I don't I don't know why but obviously Sheffield United team just just just on top to the level it would be on a primary league team unfortunately all right

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One of my biggest books was in modern footballers, you get people very high up in UA from FIFA and all over the place you'll say modern kids they don't like watching football they do you just they just can't afford maybe to see it on TV or go to games and if you if you take them to games they would really like it they'd really do the thing that's so problematic as well this is how exploitative it is because we're such addicts we're so hooked the product is so good and they know that like and there's not a particularly revolutionary or insurrectionist culture in this country I don't think like we do keep going to games very few people don't go to games but also because it's so tied up with their family with their friends we might be you know loved ones that there's a sentimental value like it's so exploitative people sit around the table and have chats and eat food but we can't do that here so we have to go to football to play yeah yeah people will be lost this series that is it's it's so huge for people and yeah the products too good so we can never probably turn away from it like you're stepping on that product yeah yeah 3.25 girls are game yes oh good anyway that's villa spurs one o'clock but a clock on Sunday yeah

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Do you remember that section in All Played Out where Pete Davis gets towards the end of the tournament and he just he has kind of just a moment in his hotel room where he's sweating and just falls asleep.

No I don't think so. I think every day that basically every chapter is I have my 11th espresso. He had his coffee and he didn't get more than like two hours sleep but he just he reached about the quarterfinal stage and that was it.

His body just gave up and that kind of I grew up with that as a sort of the archetypal tournament experience.

So when did you read that book? I read it first.

From the context of England and English football now. It's from another galaxy. I suppose I read it I can't remember when I first read it but I read it for a second time probably around 2000. I think I might be wrong.

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Well the other great one from that tournament was the Bill Buford one Among the Thugs where he ends up in Sardinia where it all kicks off ahead of the Netherlands game which is one of the most, I mean people know that stuff happened that day but from someone that was actually on the ground it was pretty extraordinary.

There was a documentary series that came out not that long ago about England's experience the 1990 World Cup and there was a lot about the thuggery in there and it was you know quite an entertaining watch.

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One man who's going to be watching the game in Berlin is the author of England the Official History, our big friend Daniel Storey.

Daniel Storey heading to the game. How are you feeling?

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The best one was that Verna Herzog one, which has gone viral anyway, but it's an amazing book.

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Harry Potter had a new adventure with The Order of the Phoenix and at the movies, The Lord of the Rings trilogy finally had its ending and then another five minutes later and then another.

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I've written it, it's done, it's at the press, it's there, it's called the Magic Balloon, it'll be out for World Book Day for three and up.

if I can do anything to get more books into schools and get more children reading I will try and do anything I can.