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The Names Heard Long Ago

Shortlisted for Football Book of the Year, Sports Book Awards
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( 494 ratings, 48 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Jonathan Wilson's The Names Heard Long Ago unravels the profound impact of Hungarian football, focusing on the legendary Mighty Magyars of the 1950s. Beyond their famous victories and near misses, the book explores how Hungarian football philosophies spread globally through managers who fled political turmoil. Spanning from Budapest's coffeehouses to world football stages, this richly researched narrative reveals the intertwined history of sport, war, and revolution in Central Europe.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for sports enthusiasts, historians, and readers interested in 20th-century European history and football's global evolution.

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From the author of Inverting the Pyramid, a tour de force revealing the secret history of modern football.

From the author of Inverting the Pyramid, a tour de force revealing the secret history of modern football.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

"Beautifully written and immaculately researched. Jonathan Wilson is the finest sports writer of his generation" - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads

In 1953, the Mighty Magyars beat England 6-3 at Wembley, a result that echoes through the history of football. A year earlier, this Hungarian team had won Olympic gold. A year later, they lost agonisingly in the final of a World Cup that they dominated. This is the beginning, middle, and end of Hungarian football in the popular imagination.

Only, how come the ideas from this team spread around the world? Why do Hungarian managers spring up in Italy, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, across Europe and the Americas, bringing their secrets with them? And what are the incredible stories they have to tell, of escaping the Nazis and the Soviet communists?

How did the history of modern football come to be born in the Budapest coffeehouses of the early twentieth century?

Fifteen years in the making, this new book from bestselling football historian Jonathan Wilson is the missing piece of the jigsaw; the forgotten story in football's history, lost in war, in revolution, in death and tragedy.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Praised as "beautifully written and immaculately researched," this book is hailed as both a captivating football history and a moving chronicle of Central European triumph and tragedy. Critics highlight Wilson's storytelling prowess, with endorsements from History Today and When Saturday Comes emphasising its fascinating and emotional depth. Peter Frankopan calls Wilson "the finest sports writer of his generation."

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781788702997

Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 05 March 2020

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: BLINK Publishing

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 302g

Pages: 400

About the Author

Jonathan Wilson is the editor of The Blizzard. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Sports Illustrated and World Soccer and his work also appears in the Independent and the New Statesman. He is the critically acclaimed author of a series of sports titles, including Inverting The Pyramid: A History Of Football Tactics, which was football book of the year in the UK and Italy and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year.

Follow Jonathan Wilson on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jonawils

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