The Footy Book 2009 is the third of Bobby Dazzler’s football books, following on from Torquay United: A Dramatic Year In The Life Of The Gulls and Everton: True Blue. (then why have you printed it in red? Derr!)

Open the cover and you'll find a wide mix of fun reading and activities:

The month by month diary traces the ups and downs of the season for all of the 20 Premier League clubs. The pain of defeat, the late goals that clinch dramatic victory, the ins and outs of transfer dealings, the behind the scenes shenanigans that result in managers being sacked, players being dropped and clubs being taken over by millionaire / billionaire / zillionaire businessmen.

Sandwiched between are features on a variety of aspects of football:

Explore the way that the laws of the game have evolved: from the rugby-style battle of the 1860s, where each region had its own laws and rules had to be agreed by captains before each game, to the sophisticated, FIFA controlled sport of the 2000s. Our text and timeline will give you an in-depth insight into the changes over the years.

You may take the humble football for granted, after all you can pick a brand spanking new shiny multi-coloured one from your local sports shop for £4.99 (hurry, while stocks last). But it hasn’t always been that simple. Take a humorous trip back in time as we look at some of the less glamorous objects blokes have been booting around in the name of football over the centuries. Heads, skulls, pigs' bladders. Would you have survived a twelfth century kickabout?

Fancy yourself as a bit of a Premier League know-it-all? You’ll get plenty of chance to prove it by taking on our many quizzes and puzzles. Why not click on the Picture Puzzles link on the right and try your hand? But beware: there are plenty more where they came from, and some branch out into European football as well – Ay caramba! 

If you’re bored with school (well who wouldn’t be? After all it’s full of teachers) there’s another way to practise your Maths and English: work your way through our challenge sections. Every task is related to the Premier League, so you might even enjoy studying. Come on, it’s got to be better than school, surely. You actually get to sit on a comfy chair and eat chocolate biscuits while you’re working.

And for those anoraks out there, who like nothing better than to reel of fact after fact until their friends mysteriously disappear, having suddenly found more interesting things to do (watering the plants, watching their dad put up shelves, even doing their homework!!!), there’s a whole wodge of stats to chew your way through (please don’t take that literally – I won’t welcome lawsuits from readers claiming severe stomach pains brought on by paper poisoning).

Author Adrian Bradbury has over twenty-five years experience of teaching in countries all over the world. As well as football books he writes educational texts for Oxford University Press and HarperCollins. His scheme is to help stimulate reading amongst the youth of the country by giving them enjoyable material that will grab them and get them coming back for more. The text of The Footy Book 2009 is enhanced by the whacky humour of his partner in crime, illustrator Julia Hill.

 

Also by Bobby Dazzler:                      Up for a laugh?  Then click on the links below to look at some of the samples from our latest football book     English Premier League: The Footy Book 2009