Iain McCartney – författare

Rising from the Wreckage is the definitive story of Manchester United’s resurgence, from the ashes of a German runway to a balmy May evening at Wembley and the pinnacle of European football.Jimmy Murphy arrives back in Manchester unaware of the disaster at Munich, but soon discovers that he is now at the helm of a shattered club. Distraught but a fighter, the Welshman uses the resources at hand and supervises the necessary rebuilding of Manchester United from scratch, and as Matt Busby returns to the fore, together they begin to create yet another outstanding United team.As relegation threatens, the FA Cup is won and becomes a springboard for further success, with a team boasting of not one, but three European Footballers of the Year. Being crowned European Champions was always the ultimate dream and this became a reality ten years after Munich. It was arguably the most memorable decade in the history of Manchester United, with numerous highs and lows, and here for the first time in print is the story of Manchester United rising from the wreckage.

Rising from the Wreckage is the definitive story of Manchester United's resurgence, from the ashes of a German runway to a balmy May evening at Wembley and the pinnacle of European football. Jimmy Murphy arrives back in Manchester unaware of the disaster at Munich, but soon discovers that he is now at the helm of a shattered club. Distraught, but a fighter, the Welshman uses the resources at hand and supervises the necessary rebuilding of Manchester United from scratch, and as Matt Busby returns to the fore, together they begin to create yet another outstanding United team. As relegation threatens, the FA Cup is won and becomes a springboard for further success, with a team boasting of not one, but three European Footballers of the Year. Being crowned European Champions was always the ultimate dream and this became a reality ten years after Munich. It was arguably the most memorable decade in the history of Manchester United, with numerous highs and lows, and here for the first time in print, is the story of Manchester United rising from the wreckage.

Over the years, the history of Manchester United has been well documented. This publication, however, is a Manchester United history book with a difference. It takes you beyond the pages of any previous publication, and indeed, beyond the walls of the club's excellent museum situated within the bowels of Old Trafford itself. It takes you out onto the streets of Manchester and beyond. You will discover the exact location where the original railway workers kicked that first ball in earnest on North Road, Newton Heath. This book follows them from their beginnings at Clayton all the way through to Old Trafford today. Ever wondered what the connection between Manchester United and Bramhall Hall is? Do you know the exact location where the Professional Footballers Association was founded? Where does the first captain of Manchester United to lift a major trophy lie at rest? The answers are to be found in this book, which takes you on the United Tour of Manchester. Who knows what you will discover?

SIR ALEX FERGUSON is one of the most admired and respected managers in the history of the beautiful game. Sir Alex Ferguson: Fifty Defining Fixtures presents a completely new perspective on the longest-serving manager of Manchester United. Covering his complete career as a player and a manager, this book highlights the games that projected the boy from the Glasgow district of Govan to the worldwide phenomenon that was Manchester United. From his Scottish Football League debut with the amateurs of Queens Park at Stranraer to his final game as manager of Manchester United at West Bromwich Albion, this fascinating book recaptures the many highs, and also a few lows, of a memorable and trophy-strewn career. It is the Sir Alex Ferguson story with a difference: fifty fixtures that defined the career of an ordinary footballer, who went on to become the most successful British manager ever.

Having won the European Cup in 1968, Matt Busby had achieved his dream, completing the job that he had begun with his 'Babes' back in 1956. But it was also to signal the beginning of the end. Despite reaching a second successive European Cup semi-final, performances began to deteriorate and soon Busby was stepping down as manager, handing over the reins to youth team coach Wilf McGuinness. Despite having progressed through the United ranks, the lad from Collyhurst failed to rekindle the flame and, despite reaching two semi-finals, he lost his job, with Busby once again taking the reins. Next into the hot seat was Frank O'Farrell, who also failed to lift the club to its previous heights, with his former Preston North End teammate Tommy Docherty soon becoming the next manager of Manchester United. While O'Farrell was a quiet-spoken Irishman, Docherty was a brash Glaswegian and, in his own imitable style, saved the club from the jaws of relegation, only to see the club drop into the Second Division twelve months later.Amid a backdrop of Football Association hearings, player retirements, free transfers, countless signings, unruly supporters and the saga surrounding George Best, the six-year period between 1968 and 1974 could be compared to a soap opera. But it was real, a notable period in the history of Manchester United and one covered here in great detail for the very first time.

Few, if any, who have pulled on the red jersey of Manchester United can have made a greater impact to the club’s glorious history than the boy from the Cregagh estate in East Belfast. Best brought joy and tears – often in equal measures during the final days of his Old Trafford career – to those who sang his praises from the sprawling terraces, or who worshipped from afar. His talents were numerous, blessed with a brilliance that left defenders a quivering wreck and the crowds who flocked to see him singing his name in unison. He was the epitome of the ‘swinging sixties’ both on and off the pitch. A player who could do things with a ball that most could only dream of. A player whose moments of individual brilliance helped Manchester United to glory time and time again.There have been many books on the ‘Belfast Boy’ – too many some might say – but while telling the story of the player who many believe to have been the ‘best ever’, they have merely skirted round many of the games when he laced up his boots, pulled on the jersey, and went out and caused havoc in opposition defences. He brought delight to the thousands who stood in awe. Here, however, within the pages of this volume, those games come to life; his bewitching skills come under the microscope as Iain McCartney selects fifty defining fixtures from the career of the footballing legend that was George Best.

For many, supporting Manchester United Football Club is much more than the ninety minutes out on the pitch. Away from the stadiums around England and abroad, fans’ interest can also extend to collecting items of memorabilia relating to the club and its players. Some simply collect programmes from the games they attend, along with the match ticket if they had one, but there are others so engrossed in the club’s long and illustrious history that they have created their own personal Manchester United museum, with countless other items relating to the games and the individuals who have worn the red shirt.Here, Iain McCartney, long-time collector and editor of the Manchester United Review Collectors Club, looks at some of the items that these supporters scour the footballing world for.

Football fans love nothing more than to read about their favourite teams. Although this books is aimed at young teenagers they will delight all ages with their mixture of funny and enlightening stories and will give hours of pleasure discovering quirky facts about your favourite team. Each title is also augmented with a selection of sketches by the young sketch artist Becky Welton that depict some of the stories within. A percentage of net profits from this title will go to the children's charity ChildLine Rocks

Soul music remains the biggest 'underground' music scene in the world with each weekend, pre-Covid19, seeing countless soul nights and weekenders fill the diaries. Records, on often obscure labels, change hands regularly for four figure sums, while many artists come to Britain countless years after they first stepped into a recording studio to sing tracks that they had to re-learn the words to as it had been so long since they last sung it to an appreciative audience.But for many to learn about those 'four-figure' tracks and those who recorded them, they have had to rely on countless diehards on the scene, the 'anoraks' so to speak. Those who seek out details of an artist's career and compile discographies of the labels on which they recorded and then take the time to put it all into print in the form of a fanzine, or if finances allow, a fully-fledged magazine.Some of those publications failed to last beyond one issue, others slightly longer, and although they do not command the same monetary value as the records, many will fetch considerably more than the music publications found on magazine shelves today.There have been books on the artists, the record labels and the venues and now 'Soul In Print' fills a gap, covering the fanzines and magazines which did much to keep the scene alive and maintain the interest which continues today?