Ian Herbert

*** SHORTLISTED IN THE SPORTS WRITING CATEGORY AT THE 2024 SPORTS BOOK AWARDS ****** LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ****** ONE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ****** ONE OF THE TIMES' SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ***The remarkable inside story of how two Hollywood A-listers, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, stunned the football world by buying a non-league club in North Wales.'astute, lovingly detailed ... so entertaining ... so charming' Victoria Segal, the Sunday Times'A superb account of a modern-day success story, told beautifully by one of the best writers in the business. This is one of the great football stories of recent years. No matter who you support, if you love football, you will love the story of Tinseltown.' Daniel Taylor, The Athletic'This is a compelling, multi-layered, page turner, underpinned by a real sense of both place and connection with the eclectic characters involved. It will appeal to anyone with even the slightest interest in the game's enduring place in a changing world.' Louise Taylor, Guardian'...the best sports book I've read all year for many years... It's full on factual but funny, exhaustive but not exhausting and well written and wonderful.' Paul Ross, talkSPORT'terrific ... A richly layered and fascinating story of a club and community reborn' FourFourTwo'This book comes from the heart. It tells the story of how Wrexham, the club I love, has always been special and achieved so much in the past, as well as the present. I really enjoyed it.' Mickey Thomas, Wrexham FC legend and 1992 FA Cup heroIt was one of the most extraordinary takeovers British football has known. In February 2021, Ryan Reynolds joined with Rob McElhenney to buy Wrexham FC, a non-league team in North Wales. Wrexham, a former coal and steel town dealing with its post-industrial legacy, suddenly found itself at the centre of global attention, with broadcast networks around the world descending to discover what was going on. The club became the subject of a smash hit Disney+ docu-series, Welcome to Wrexham. Tinseltown tells the story of this extraordinary, unpredictable and often surreal football takeover and the remarkable events that followed. Written with the full cooperation of Wrexham FC, it is the inside story of what happened when Hollywood met a dot on a map. How a town was transformed when its football club, aspiring only to survive on the fifth rung of the British football ladder, was sprinkled with gold dust and found ambition again. With unique access to key figures, the book charts the club's attempts to climb up the pyramid, providing a vivid sense of what it is like to play for this 'Hollywood' team and the pressure and spotlight that comes with it. At their only press conference since buying the club, nobody laughed when Reynolds and McElhenney said the Premier League could be an aspiration. 'Couldn't we theoretically make this happen?' McElhenney asked. 'Why not dream big?' added Reynolds. 'If you don't dream big, you will never go there, so why not?' Tinseltown is the story of how they did just that.

*** SHORTLISTED IN THE SPORTS WRITING CATEGORY AT THE 2024 SPORTS BOOK AWARDS ****** LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 ****** ONE OF THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ****** ONE OF THE TIMES' SPORTS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2023 ***The remarkable inside story of how two Hollywood A-listers, Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds, stunned the football world by buying a non-league club in North Wales.'astute, lovingly detailed ... so entertaining ... so charming' Victoria Segal, the Sunday Times'A superb account of a modern-day success story, told beautifully by one of the best writers in the business. This is one of the great football stories of recent years. No matter who you support, if you love football, you will love the story of Tinseltown.' Daniel Taylor, The Athletic'This is a compelling, multi-layered, page turner, underpinned by a real sense of both place and connection with the eclectic characters involved. It will appeal to anyone with even the slightest interest in the game's enduring place in a changing world.' Louise Taylor, Guardian'...the best sports book I've read all year for many years... It's full on factual but funny, exhaustive but not exhausting and well written and wonderful.' Paul Ross, talkSPORT'terrific ... A richly layered and fascinating story of a club and community reborn' FourFourTwo'This book comes from the heart. It tells the story of how Wrexham, the club I love, has always been special and achieved so much in the past, as well as the present. I really enjoyed it.' Mickey Thomas, Wrexham FC legend and 1992 FA Cup heroIt was one of the most extraordinary takeovers British football has known. In February 2021, Ryan Reynolds joined with Rob McElhenney to buy Wrexham FC, a non-league team in North Wales. Wrexham, a former coal and steel town dealing with its post-industrial legacy, suddenly found itself at the centre of global attention, with broadcast networks around the world descending to discover what was going on. The club became the subject of a smash hit Disney+ docu-series, Welcome to Wrexham. Tinseltown tells the story of this extraordinary, unpredictable and often surreal football takeover and the remarkable events that followed. Written with the full cooperation of Wrexham FC, it is the inside story of what happened when Hollywood met a dot on a map. How a town was transformed when its football club, aspiring only to survive on the fifth rung of the British football ladder, was sprinkled with gold dust and found ambition again. With unique access to key figures, the book charts the club's attempts to climb up the pyramid, providing a vivid sense of what it is like to play for this 'Hollywood' team and the pressure and spotlight that comes with it. At their only press conference since buying the club, nobody laughed when Reynolds and McElhenney said the Premier League could be an aspiration. 'Couldn't we theoretically make this happen?' McElhenney asked. 'Why not dream big?' added Reynolds. 'If you don't dream big, you will never go there, so why not?' Tinseltown is the story of how they did just that.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR, SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2018The full story of the man who brought unprecedented – and since unmatched – success to Liverpool FC. Bob Paisley was the quiet man in the flat cap who swept all domestic and European opposition aside and produced arguably the greatest club team that Britain has ever known. The man whose Liverpool team won trophies that dwarf Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievements, and who remains the only Briton to lead a team to three European Cups. From Wembley to Rome, Manchester to Madrid, Paisley’s team was the one no one could touch. Working in a city which was on its knees, he delivered a golden era which made Liverpool synonymous with success and won them supporters internationally. Based on interviews with Paisley’s family and many of the players whom he led to an extraordinary haul of honours between 1974 and 1983, Quiet Genius is the first biography to examine the secrets of Paisley’s success. It inspects his man-management strategies, his extraordinary eye for a good player, his uncanny ability to diagnose injuries in his own players and the opposition, and the wicked sense of humour which endeared him to so many. Quiet Genius is the story of how one modest man from the North East accomplished more than any other football manager ever did. Even though his attributes were largely unrecorded and undervalued, he did not seem to mind, instead preferring to succeeded on his own terms. Now three decades on from his death, it is a football story that demands to be told.

Managing Your Placement provides business and management undergraduates with a comprehensive guide to making the most of the opportunities available to them on a work placement. The book will guide students through everything, from the questions to ask to admission tutors on university open days, to selecting the best placement and securing a job upon graduation. Managing Your Placement will provide business students with the tools to assess their own skills and critically evaluate their career options. A must read for anyone about to embark upon a business course in Higher Education, about to make a placement selection or looking for their first job after graduation. Also available is a companion website with extra features to accompany the text, please take a look by clicking below - http://www.palgrave.com/business/herbert/index.asp