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I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It
I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It
May 1, 2025 12:43 PM

Author:Tony Evans

I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It

I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It by Tony Evans - Liverpool and the most unlikely success story in football

'Evans tells the story with gusto . . . the anecdotes are apt, and the blood on the streets and the boots on the field are as dramatic and black-humoured as on a battleground' The Times

Dalglish. Souness. Rush. Hansen. And, of course, Grobelaar. They rank with the very greatest players in one of the greatest teams of all time.

But the heroes of 1984 were an unlikely group to make history.

Led by a 63-year old first-time manager and a captain show-off better known for his moves on the dancefloor, Liverpool's greatest season was a booze-fuelled journey to three trophies: the first division title, the League Cup and the European Cup, won on a remarkable night in Rome. The team's theme song was even a much-derided Chris Rea hit.

Eye-watering, hilarious, and utterly unbelievable, this is the story of how they did it, and how their season was the last year of innocence in English football. This book is essential reading for fans of Red or Dead, 43 Years With The Same Bird: A Liverpudlian Love Affair and the memoirs of Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Kenny Dalglish.

'Superbly paced...full of riveting anecdotes' Mirror (Book of the Month)

Tony Evans has been football editor of The Times for five years and was born a Liverpool fan. He writes a weekly column for The Game, The Times' weekly football supplement.

Reviews

Evans tells the story with gusto . . . the anecdotes are apt, and the blood on the streets and the boots on the field are as dramatic and black-humoured as on a battleground

—— The Times

Superbly paced...full of riveting anecdotes

—— Mirror (Book of the Month)

The emphasis is not on Ali the warrior. His triumphs are touched on, but it is a softer side of the man that shows through... This book affirms the essential decency we always saw in the man

—— Library Journal

The noted boxer offers words of inspiration and reflection on his long career... There are insights here from Ali on his obstacles and heartbreaks, as well as his well-noted victories

—— Ebony

This is a motivational book in which Ali uses his life story to illustrate the importance of humanity, self-belief and love. It possesses humour and at times is also moving. Ali maintains an honesty, speaking for example about his regrets for turning his back on his friend Malcolm X in the 1960s, as well as his over-the-top verbal badgering of Joe Frazier

—— Sunday Times (South Africa)

Fascinating for any sports fan and truly a gold mine for Arsenal supporters

—— Alan Davies

A fascinating and engrossing read from start to finish. Provides wonderful insight and anecdotes as well as revealing the dynamics and determination from within the dressing room

—— John Cross , Daily Mirror

I picked it up and couldn't put it down. Brilliantly depicts a piece of football history

—— David Dein, Arsenal Vice-Chairman (1983-2007)

This is research at its riveting best. My only complaint about the book is that it had to end

—— Patrick Barclay, author of The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman

If you were there in 71 and/or 2004, buy the book. If only now do you appreciate that we probably had four of the six best payers on the planet back then, buy the book and read their words. Let me make it simple. If you are an Arsenal supporter, buy the book

—— Goonerholic

This is a book that contains some of the most evocative prose I have encountered in a book about football and without doubt solidifies Lawrence's place in the very top tier of sports writing in English. The story and characters are fascinating enough, but it is how they come to life and dance in Lawrence's writing that makes this book such a wonderful telling of an incredible tale

—— Huffington Post

Lawrence is a writer who will help the reader to appreciate the football on the pitch with an understanding of how the game is played few can match. At the same time she never fails to appreciate the passion that makes us fans

—— Morning Star

A gripping account of Arsenal's undefeated title winning season of 2003/4

—— Owen Gibson , Guardian

Hooked: from opening lob to final shot

—— Kevin Mitchell , Observer

Skidelsky explores the evolution of modern tennis, the role of beauty in sport and the psychology of fandom, weaving his own past into the story

—— Gransnet

Excellent

—— Andy Bull , Observer

One of the areas in which Lister really does a fantastic job is balance of opinion. The author has his own views, some more common sense than others, but he gives column inches to all sides of a story and allows everyone a chance to state their case… here's an excellent balance between sport and life. It gives great insight into some fascinating individuals and doesn't shirk the big issues. It's comprehensive, an easy read and never overstays its welcome… This book is a must read for the cricket fan out there, full of interesting stories, tales from the tour and a really close look at one of the best sporting outfits of all-time.

—— Wexford People

Cowen is without doubt one of our best current writers on landscape, on a par with Roger Deakin, Richard Mabey and Robert MacFarlane

—— Solitary Walker blog

Wonderful … An eerie haunting book … rendered with hair-raising, almost hallucinogenic, lyricism. Cowen moves on through the seasons of the year and the creatures of the edge land, feeling, more than observing, how the improving circumstances of animal life mirror his own climb out of darkness.

—— Brian Bethune , Maclean's

Blending natural history with a novelistic approach, Cowen revives his connection to the evocative, mysterious power of the natural world.

—— Sunday Express

A luminous nature book

—— Arminta Wallace , Irish Times

Very beautiful indeed... [Cowen] has all the alliterative grace and fresh metaphors of a poet

—— Rebecca Foster , New Books

[A] poetic memoir... This apparently scrappy and overlooked piece of wasteland - a tangle of wood, meadow, field and river - proves to be, under [Cowen's] forensic and magnifying gaze, brimming with riches.

—— Ruth Campbell , Northern Echo

He is engrossed by his landscape, enthralled by the minutiae and evokes the same fascination in the reader

—— Daily Mail
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