Michael Beale

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER ‘Pacy, witty, and affectionate,’ Guardian. ‘A very funny book,’ Jonathan Ross ‘A fantastic read…so warm, so honest, so affectionate,’ Chris Evans Rob Beckett never seems to fit in. At work, in the middle-class world of television he’s the laddie, cockney geezer, but to his mates down the pub in south-east London, he’s the theatrical one, a media luvvie. Even at home, his wife and kids are posher than him. In this hilarious exploration of class, Rob compares his life growing up as a working-class kid to the life he lives now, trying to understand where he truly belongs. Will he always be that fat kid who was told he’d never be a high-flyer? Why does he feel ashamed if he does anything vaguely middle class? Will he ever favour craft beer over lager? What happens if you eat 50 olives and drink two bottles of champagne? Why is ‘boner’ such a funny word? In search of answers, Rob relives the moments in his life when the class divide couldn’t be more obvious. Whether it’s the gig for rich bankers that was worse than Matt Hancock hosting the GQ Men of the Year Awards, turning up at a swanky celebrity house party with a blue bag of cans from the offy or identifying the root of his ambition as a childhood incident involving soiled pants and Jurassic Park, Rob digs deep. A Class Act is his funny, candid and often moving account of what it feels like to be an outsider and the valuable (sometimes humiliating) life lessons he’s learned along the way. Rob Beckett's book 'A Class Act' was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 18-10-2021.

1982 tells the story of football's most exhilarating and entertaining World Cup side. This scintillating Brazil team - blessed with Zico, Sócrates, Falcão, Éder and Júnior - lit up the 1982 World Cup with a brand of football that was 'futebol arte'. Playing to the accompaniment of a samba soundtrack from their supporters in the stands, the side scored 15 goals in five games and enchanted the world, but their dream fell apart in the Sarrià Stadium against Italy. Even so, it was a match considered one of the greatest World Cup fixtures of all time and it changed the way the game was played forever. The Brazilian 1982 World Cup side have become a cast of mythical characters. Despite failing to reach the semi-finals, they made the football world hold its breath every time they stepped on the pitch. Told through the eyes of a young boy who fell in love with the men in yellow, and the memories of those who were there to witness Brazil's most glorious failure, 1982 is the definitive account of the greatest team never to win a World Cup.

Martí Perarnau was given total access to Bayern Munich during season 2013–14, and this book represents the first time in the modern era that a writer has got this close to one of the elite teams of world football. At the invitation of Pep Guardiola, he shadowed the Catalan, his staff, and his superstar players during training and on match days. Bayern smashed domestic records on their way to the double, but were humiliated by Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal. Martí was with them every step of the way. Perarnau is with Guardiola as he is courted by the world’s greatest clubs during his sabbatical in New York. We hear Guardiola explain in detail the radical tactical moves which transform Bayern’s season and reprogram the players who will win the World Cup with Germany. Perarnau talks exclusively and in fascinating detail with an array of players, including Arjen Robben, Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Thiago Alcântara, and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Pep Confidential is much more than the story of a season—it is also a lasting portrait of one of the greatest coaches in sport.