Gordon Williams

Terry Venables

Investigating the death of a man on the underground at Tottenham Court Road, newly established private investigator Hazell becomes involved with a team of con men working a three-card trick. Was the death a case of suicide, or was it murder? Hazell sets out to get to the bottom of the mystery for the poor, grieving widow. But is she so poor? There are so many questions to be answered as he tracks down the gang and encounters their leader, Stanley Collins, a chirpy, little cockney, who has at least two aliases and his finger into more than one pie.

Hazell and the Three-Card Trick

Gordon M. Williams

Hazell and the Three Card Trick

After a playing career that spanned more than 15 years, and took in golden spells in the sixties with Chelsea and Spurs, it was almost inevitable that Terry Venables would move into management. Following early success with Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers, he was appointed to the plum job of managing Barcelona, one of the biggest clubs in Europe. The Spanish giants had been struggling, but he soon turned them around and brought them trophy success, which inevitably earned him the nickname 'El Tel'. He returned to England to take charge of Spurs, where he helped save the club from financial troubles, and formed an ill-fated partnership with Alan Sugar. Again there was trophy success, as Venables worked with top England stars such as Paul Gascoigne, Gary Lineker and Chris Waddle, and when the England job fell vacant, he was the obvious choice for the role, leading the nation to the semi-finals of Euro 96 where they lost out on a place in the final after a penalty shoot-out. After leaving the England job, he has subsequently worked in numerous different roles. A charismatic and gregarious personality, Venables is widely viewed as one of football's great tacticians and is the most successful English manager of recent years. His story is sure to fascinate and entertain all followers of the game, providing a unique insight based on more than 50 years at the top.

The Autobiography

Born to Manage

Ian Macleay

Brian Mears

In the blistering high summer of 2003, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich acquired Chelsea Football Club. It was a sensational event that sent shock waves reverberating around the global village that is celebrity football in the twenty-first century. Chelsea, the institution, was transformed overnight into arguably the most powerful club in the world by virtue of the vast fortune bestowed upon them by their benefactor. This was an amazing twist to a story that started almost a century before on a piece of wasteground in west London. The genesis of Chelsea, founded in 1905, was pioneered by the Mears family, who would remain at the helm for more than two-thirds of that century. Brian Mears was a particularly significant figure in his role as chairman throughout the colourful period from the end of the swinging '60s until the early 1980s. In this follow-up to the seminal Chelsea: Football Under the Blue Flag, Mears and Macleay recount the events that have engulfed London's most glamorous club over the years. Its exciting major players, including Hughie Gallacher, Roy Bentley, Jimmy Greaves, Peter Osgood, Alan Hudson, Kerry Dixon, Dennis Wise, Gianfranco Zola and Frank Lampard, have become creatures of myth. Meanwhile, managers such as Tommy Docherty, Dave Sexton, Glenn Hoddle, Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri and Jos Mourinho have proved to be some of the most flamboyant and controversial in the history of the game. Chelsea: The 100-Year History is peopled with unforgettable characters like the peerless Terry Venables and the late Matthew Harding. It is an embodiment of Mears' own passion for the club as he traces some of the most important matches and crises in its sometimes tragic trajectory from glory to impoverishment and back again to a glorious 100th season.

Terry Venables

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