Pitch Publishing
Pitch Publishing is the UK's leading and most-prolific independent sports publisher, with a vast catalogue covering football, cricket, rugby, boxing, golf, athletics and other sports. Founded on the Sussex coast in 2002 Pitch was recently described by the Sports Bookshelf website as a "beacon of hope for aspiring or established sports authors" - and has now published hundreds of successful sports books, with a number being recognised nationally as outstanding written work.
2026
Sunshine after the Rain - The story of Aston Villa 2009 to 2023
From misery in Moscow to beating Brighton
Aston Villa Football Club. The aristocrats of English football and one of the founding members of the Football League and the Premier League. They are steeped in the finest traditions and woven into the fabric of football in England, winning 21 major trophies including the pinnacle of being crowned Champions of Europe in 1982.
Aston Villa’s standing cannot be underestimated, and they have shone lights whenever and wherever they have played for many decades. However, those lights dimmed and turned to darkness during the second decade of the 21st century after the untimely departure of Martin O’Neil just days before the start of the 2010-2011 season. It hit hard, especially after three consecutive top-six finishes and regular European football.
What followed were several seasons of decay that ultimately led to relegation in 2016. The core of the book centres around the three seasons that the Villa played in the Championship - but it is so much more than that.
It was a time when the ownership of the club, and the managerial helm changed hands on several occasions: a time when the club experienced mid-table finishes, play-off heartbreak and coming close to folding. All this before finally getting back to the ‘promised land’ and top-flight football once more under Dean Smith and bringing European football back to Villa Park under the stewardship of Unai Emery who took over when Villa was just one point above the relegation zone and transformed them in a matter of months.
From the misery of Moscow in 2009 to beating Brighton and Hove Albion on the final day of the 2022-2023 season, the book will document how it all happened, the matches that mattered and will feature contributions from the players, managers and most importantly, the supporters.
The book will be a MUST-READ for all Villa fans of all ages who witnessed the fall and rise and how the rampant Lion roared once more!
2025
Five Years (Cinque Anni) - The Story of the Italian national team: 2017 ~ 2022
When it comes to international football, Italy dine on the finest tables. Crowned FIFA World Champions on four occasions. The ‘Azzurri’ have also won the coveted UEFA European Championships on two separate occasions as well.
They are the only nation to ever win both competitions at the first time of asking as well as the first to successfully retain the World Cup.
The last time that they had not qualified for the World Cup Finals was 1958, so for the Italians to not qualify for two consecutive finals in 2018 and 2022 sent seismic shock waves through the world of football. What made this even more fascinating was that sandwiched in-between these two failures, was success in the European Championships set to the backdrop of a world severely impacted by one of the deadliest pandemics on record.
The book will tell the story of how all this happened. The agony and the ecstasy. The tears and the laughter.
It begins with the history of the game in Italy and how the national team was formed. It will detail the journeys to Glory on the World and European stages and how and why the fall from grace to resurrection and back again happened on the pitch in those five years.
It will be a must read for not only fans of the Italian game, but to anyone with an interest in the fine line in Sport that separates winning and losing!
2024
Under the Floodlights:
The history of the English Football League Cup from 1960 ~ 2024
Under the Floodlights – The story of the English Football League Cup is the fascinating story of a new competition formed in 1960 that was born out of rejection from a new and radical league format. It was called the League Cup and originally an idea from Sir Stanley Rous. The competition began under the guidance of the then, Football League Secretary, Alan Hardaker. The idea was to play midweek cup matches under the floodlights and would serve to be an alternative competition to the FA Cup. However, it was originally met with indifference from clubs and derision from the Fleet Street journalists.
Not all teams entered the competition in its early years, and it did not capture the imagination of the football fan up and down the land. The format of the competition went through several changes, and it wasn’t until 1967, that it really picked up traction when the final was moved to Wembley. Before then, the final was a two-legged affair between teams played home and away during a time when it was feared that the competition would not survive. However, it then went from strength to strength with all 92 clubs competing over the next few years with a European place given to those to explore new lands.
Unlike the FA Cup, it has featured clubs in the final from the bottom tiers of the Football League and it has given opus to those clubs who have never appeared in the final of the more prestigious FA Cup, let alone win it.
As the competition celebrates its 65th anniversary in 2025, the book tells the complete story of the first 64 seasons and features contributions from the people that were there – the players, fans, managers, journalists and match officials.
