'When The Kop is roaring it really is like having a twelfth man out there on the pitch. They're the best fans in the country - by miles.' Jamie CarragherThe Spion Kop is one of the most famous, emotive and atmospheric vantage points in all of sport. The one-time terracing that could 'suck the ball into the net' - in Bill Shankly's immortal phrase - still inspires and intimidates today. Once the home of more than 25,000 swaying, singing, standing Kopites, it's now seated and can hold merely half that number, but its magic still remains.In this fully revised and updated edition, Stephen F Kelly uses eyewitness testimonies from Kopites, policemen, cleaners and referees as well as newspaper reports and the recollections of players and managers to trace the history of this amazing and fascinating stand - each anecdote wonderfully evoking the spirit of the changing times the Kop has experienced.Stirring, emotional and marvellously readable, The Kop is a must for any Liverpool fan and anyone interested in what it means to be a supporter of any football club.
Jim Baxter was one of the greatest footballers Scotland has ever produced. But his career was over by the time he reached 30 and in 2001 he died at the early age of 61, the victim of a lifestyle that ultimately destroyed him.
Slim Jim Baxter charts the great man's rollercoaster years, his emergence at Ibrox as a world-class midfield player and the rapid decline as he pressed the self-destruct button and blew away his life as a footballer. Team-mates and friends tell how Baxter lived by his own rules and how he finally faced up to death with a courage and dignity which impressed all who saw him in his last few tragic months.
Above all, Ken Gallacher's biography is the story of an extraordinary footballer who was touched by genius, and of a young man from the Fife coal-fields who could not always cope with the fame his skills brought him.