White Angels
-
- £12.99
-
- £12.99
Publisher Description
The world over, no sportsman - and maybe no other individual - provokes more fascination, argument and interest than the Londoner with the film-star looks, David Beckham. No sports team exudes more glamour, has won more competitions or possesses a more dazzling collection of superstars than Real Madrid. The fusion of the two has gripped the attention of millions and changed the face of the world's favourite sport, making a clear divide between the Old Football and the New.
White Angels is the insider's look at what happened to make the historic deal. John Carlin has had unprecedented access to the Real Madrid team, travelling with them to matches and conducting extensive interviews with the players and its charismatic and driven chairman Florentino Pérez. White Angels describes how Beckham's transfer took place, and the machinations and intrigue behind it. It details Beckham's first year at Real, and how he fared on the field alongside such global stars as Figo, Zidane, Carlos, Raúl and Ronaldo.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
While most Americans are clueless about it, there is a sport played by the rest of the world that inspires such widespread and ferocious fanaticism that busboys, journalists, sultans and taxi drivers can all expound on its details for hours, no matter their nationality. Football (called "soccer" by unknowing Americans) is the closest thing to a lingua franca that the world has, Carlin says, and no team inspires more speculation, or takes up more ink, than Spain's Real Madrid. Since the 2003 acquisition of David Beckham, the celebrity player who came from Britain's Manchester United, Madrid is at the top of the world's game. European sports journalist Carlin details the whole story in loving detail. He deploys endless metaphors and brings to vivid life the sometimes dry details of high-salaried sports figure trades and the play-by-plays of a game that doesn't lend itself well to such descriptions. With chapters on Beckham's celebrity (including some fun stuff about his famous marriage to former Spice Girl Victoria Adams), the history of the Spanish team, the roles of the other players and the impact the game has on the rest of the world, this is an engaging story of how the union of one player and one team has changed the way a sport is played and discussed.
