The Big Book of City [Hardcover]

The book includes two main themes - goalkeepers and Europe - and carries profiles of ever City league `keeper and every European game played by the Blues. There's also the story of the Trawler Twelve, as told by one of the intrepid City explorers.

The book reveals for the first time exactly where the name "Maine Road" actually came from - it's a surprising tale - and the incredible story of City in Berlin in 1937 when the Blues took on the German propaganda machine. There are also golden goals, daily season reminders, City managers, quizzes, obscure history and a timeline of City's history.

The book also includes many rare images from the birth of the Blues through to goals by Adebayor and Tevez this season.

"May I congratulate you on another fantastic book. My problem is actually putting the darn thing down! There seems to be something on virtually every page that is of interest - I really am enjoying picking through it...though I guess that one day I will actually attempt to read it through more properly. Well done - it's a super achievement and I am delighted with my copy." Roger Reade, an early purchaser of the book. -- Manchester City Match Programme

James' book is bursting with fascinating old stories, including a profile of every one of City's 69 goalkeepers, from William Douglas in 1890 up to Shay Given.
--Manchester Evening News

Most of my books over the years have been detailed, in-depth histories or biographies and while I love writing those books and they have proved popular over the years, I have realised that most of us do not always get the right amount of time to dedicate to reading books of that type.

Every so often we simply want to dive into a book for a few minutes.

"The Big Book Of City" developed out of a desire to provide a mix of entertaining information in an easy to read format. However, I was also keen to ensure that the book provided new or newly discovered information and within these pages you can read for the first time how Maine Road actually got its name. Previous books have guessed, but now "The Big Book Of City" provides the answer.

Similarly, I wanted to take some of the simple facts and provide the story behind those facts, so City's highly political visit to Berlin in 1938 is covered in more detail than ever before. Hopefully the story, as told in this book, explains why City's match in the Olympic Stadium is such a significant moment.

Alongside all of this was a desire to ensure the book was not simply a miscellany of information. I wanted it to provide valid, readable content alongside some of the more trivia based material. I decided there had to be a couple of key themes to the book. These are Europe - the 2008-09 season reminded us all of the stage City should be competing on - and Goalkeepers. City have a great reputation for producing talented `keepers and within the
pages of this book I have written profiles of every `keeper to appear in the League for City up to date of publication.

If I am fortunate enough to write future editions of "The Big Book Of City" then I would like to ensure this approach continues with each book including two significant themes alongside more trivia based material.

Gary James