
HH
Helenio Herrera - Football's Original Master of the Dark Arts
Richard Fitzpatrick(Author)
Bloomsbury Sport (Publisher)
Published on 12. February 2026
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-3994-2510-0 (ISBN)
Description
'A gripping, unsettling and authoritative portrait of football's original dark genius - brilliantly researched and superbly told.' GUILLEM BALAGUE
A wonderfully compelling biography... This is a story that, once read, you can't forget.' DUNCAN HAMILTON, THREE-TIME WILLIAM HILL AWARD WINNER
'One Hel of a story... uncovers the explosive truth behind a man who went further than anyone else in his fierce desire to win.' THE SUN
'Assiduously researched... tells Herrera's outrageous story with verve' FINANCIAL TIMES
THE STORY OF FOOTBALL'S MOST NOTORIOUS COACH
Nicknamed 'Il Mago' (The Wizard) after bringing European Cup glory to Inter Milan in successive years, Helenio Herrera was hailed as one of the finest minds in football.
This explosive book explores the enigma of the incredibly charismatic 'HH': a philanderer, charlatan, trash-talker and serial winner mired in controversy. His stellar career was halted by the death of one of his star players and his subsequent trial for manslaughter.
'HH' revolutionised football coaching. Preparing his teams meticulously, he was obsessed with his players' mental toughness and introduced idiosyncratic psychological techniques. He made his name as a coach, winning La Liga twice with both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, but it was his move to Inter in 1960 that propelled him to stardom. His team won three scudetti in the mid-1960s and were only denied a third European Cup by Jock Stein's Celtic in 1967.
HH reveals how Herrera was the original master of the game's dark arts. In Spain he introduced a regime of performance-enhancing drugs, and he continued this practice in Italy, which eventually led to his downfall.
Featuring interviews with those who knew Herrera well - including Fabio Capello, Sandro Mazzola, Ian St John and Denis Law - HH is a fascinating story of deceit and intrigue, bloodshed, sex and glorious football.
A wonderfully compelling biography... This is a story that, once read, you can't forget.' DUNCAN HAMILTON, THREE-TIME WILLIAM HILL AWARD WINNER
'One Hel of a story... uncovers the explosive truth behind a man who went further than anyone else in his fierce desire to win.' THE SUN
'Assiduously researched... tells Herrera's outrageous story with verve' FINANCIAL TIMES
THE STORY OF FOOTBALL'S MOST NOTORIOUS COACH
Nicknamed 'Il Mago' (The Wizard) after bringing European Cup glory to Inter Milan in successive years, Helenio Herrera was hailed as one of the finest minds in football.
This explosive book explores the enigma of the incredibly charismatic 'HH': a philanderer, charlatan, trash-talker and serial winner mired in controversy. His stellar career was halted by the death of one of his star players and his subsequent trial for manslaughter.
'HH' revolutionised football coaching. Preparing his teams meticulously, he was obsessed with his players' mental toughness and introduced idiosyncratic psychological techniques. He made his name as a coach, winning La Liga twice with both Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, but it was his move to Inter in 1960 that propelled him to stardom. His team won three scudetti in the mid-1960s and were only denied a third European Cup by Jock Stein's Celtic in 1967.
HH reveals how Herrera was the original master of the game's dark arts. In Spain he introduced a regime of performance-enhancing drugs, and he continued this practice in Italy, which eventually led to his downfall.
Featuring interviews with those who knew Herrera well - including Fabio Capello, Sandro Mazzola, Ian St John and Denis Law - HH is a fascinating story of deceit and intrigue, bloodshed, sex and glorious football.
Reviews / Votes
A wonderfully compelling biography of someone so unbelievably eccentric and darkly maverick that no fiction writer would dare invent him. This is a story that, once read, you can't forget. -- Duncan Hamilton, three-time William Hill award winner A brilliantly captivating book - breathlessly paced and teeming with detail - about the life and times of a man who makes Jose Mourinho look like Mother Teresa. -- Tom Williams, author of DO YOU SPEAK FOOTBALL? HH - what a character. A deeply disturbed, malevolent, brilliant man... A superb book. I absolutely loved it. -- Paul Howard, five-time Irish Book Award winner A transfixing, twisting documentary of a book as befits the Herrera story. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, like all great football books it goes way beyond the game -- Daniel Gray, author of the acclaimed SATURDAY, 3PM Richard Fitzpatrick has finally written the book we've all been waiting to read - about the man Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "His Holiness". A brilliant story; brilliantly told. -- Sid Lowe, GUARDIAN Spanish football correspondent Helenio Herrera insisted his catenaccio system - which gave us the sweeper - should be attractive, with full-backs overlapping and joining attacks. Yet it was perceived as cautious and defensive. It was also hugely successful and Richard Fitzpatrick, a fine story teller and diligent journalist, unpicks this fascinating man who changed football -- Andy Mitten, editor-at-large for FOURFOURTWO Helenio Herrera - HH, so complex they named him twice. A man from everywhere and nowhere, who took football somewhere it had never been before, setting the framework - good and bad - for much of what has come since. With the manic determination of HH himself, Richard Fitzpatrick has hurled himself into a quest to educate and entertain us with the life and times of this extraordinary man. -- Tim Vickery, BBC Sport South American football correspondent A fascinating book about a fascinating man. Richard Fitzpatrick has eloquently captured one of football's most enigmatic figures. -- Richard Whitehead, acclaimed author of VICTORY IN AUSTRALIA One Hel of a story... uncovers the explosive truth behind a man who went further than anyone else in his fierce desire to win. * The Sun * Assiduously researched... tells Herrera's outrageous story with verve'. * FINANCIAL TIMES * A brilliant book. -- Eamon Dunphy A fascinating read. * Hawksbee & Jacobs, TalkSport * Compelling * The Sun * Remarkable * Scottish Daily Mail * A brilliant book * Off the Ball - BBC Scotland * I adored the book from start to finish... A very good piece of work. -- Neil Atkinson * The Anfield Wrap * One of the most significant coaches in the history of the game. -- Tim Vickery A fascinating way to write a book... Great story. -- Dotun Adebayo A real page-turner, and one which deserves to take its place among the 'classics' of football writing... brilliantly explored.... a compelling read -- Jimmy Burns * La Revista * Richard Fitzpatrick's remarkably detailed research, alongside interviews with those who crossed paths with Herrera throughout his career, helps to illustrate something of a Shakespearean tragedy: a man who was consumed by the desire to succeed at all costs, making modern managers' obsessive behaviours seem tame. * The TLS *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
399 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3994-2510-0 (9781399425100)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
01/2026
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Sport
€16.99
Available for download

E-Book
01/2026
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Sport
€16.99
Available for download
Person
Richard Fitzpatrick is a football writer based in Barcelona. He has written and reported on football for the BBC, Bleacher Report, The Blizzard, Business Post (Ireland), El Pais, the Guardian, Howler, The Herald (Scotland), Irish Times, New York Times, Panenka and talkSPORT. His books include the bestselling El Clasico: Barcelona v Real Madrid, Football's Greatest Rivalry. He makes podcasts and radio documentaries, including The Man Who Played Offside. He also writes on arts and culture for the Irish Examiner newspaper. @Richard_Fitz.
Content
Prologue
I Rise (1910-58)
1. A Disease of the Bones
2. Good Men Who Lost Their Way
3. Scent of Cut Flowers
II: Barca (1958-60)
4. Thou Shalt Not Kill
5. Crazy About Money
6. People Should Talk About You Even if It Is Good
7. The Face You Saw Everywhere
8. Their Tongues Were "Dirty"
9. Sodom and Gomorrah
10. A Cancer in the Team
11. Barca of the Hungarians
12. Speed
13. Don Santiago
14. "He Could Have Played With a Tuxedo On."
15. A Murder of Crows
III: Inter (1960-68)
16. The Sweet Life
17. Angel With a Dirty Face
18. Great White Nights
19. Team of a Million Stars
20. When a Bad Man Behaves Well
21. Medici
22. Vienna
23. "There Is a Small Annoyance."
24. "Made it, Ma! Top of the World!"
25. Voices in the Head
26. Man in the Middle
27. A Ninth Circle of Hell
28. Szobel's Show Girls
29. The Pits
30. Cooked
IV: Roma (1968-70)
31. The Red Lady
32. "How Can an Athlete Die Like That?"
33. Tuscany
34. Inquest
Epilogue
Dramatis personae
I Rise (1910-58)
1. A Disease of the Bones
2. Good Men Who Lost Their Way
3. Scent of Cut Flowers
II: Barca (1958-60)
4. Thou Shalt Not Kill
5. Crazy About Money
6. People Should Talk About You Even if It Is Good
7. The Face You Saw Everywhere
8. Their Tongues Were "Dirty"
9. Sodom and Gomorrah
10. A Cancer in the Team
11. Barca of the Hungarians
12. Speed
13. Don Santiago
14. "He Could Have Played With a Tuxedo On."
15. A Murder of Crows
III: Inter (1960-68)
16. The Sweet Life
17. Angel With a Dirty Face
18. Great White Nights
19. Team of a Million Stars
20. When a Bad Man Behaves Well
21. Medici
22. Vienna
23. "There Is a Small Annoyance."
24. "Made it, Ma! Top of the World!"
25. Voices in the Head
26. Man in the Middle
27. A Ninth Circle of Hell
28. Szobel's Show Girls
29. The Pits
30. Cooked
IV: Roma (1968-70)
31. The Red Lady
32. "How Can an Athlete Die Like That?"
33. Tuscany
34. Inquest
Epilogue
Dramatis personae