HH

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 *