{"title":"Books by Gary Thacker","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781785318467","title":"Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje","description":"Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje: The Unfulfilled Glory of Dutch Football is the story of a dazzling football dream. Built on the club successes of Ajax and Feyenoord, it's a utopian ideal that blazed with a bright but ephemeral Oranje flame, scorching the football pitches of the world in the 1970s. Although Dutch clubs dominated the European Cup from 1969 to 1973, until 1974 the Oranje had failed to qualify for a World Cup for 36 years. Two finals then followed in successive tournaments, as 'totaalvoetbal' burst from its chrysalis, proudly revealing to the world its wings adorned with vivid shades of Oranje. The winners were the brides. It was their day, but the Dutch sides were more beautiful, yet so fragile, and football loved them for it. This isn't merely a tale of bridesmaids who came so close yet failed gloriously. It is the celebration of a footballing counter-culture, a revolution, a flame that burned so brightly, but so briefly. It's the story of those Beautiful Bridesmaids Dressed in Oranje.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305486070133,"sku":"9781785318467","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781785318467_12cb551e-3336-42fd-a832-b0679e19af56.jpg?v=1786025719"},{"product_id":"9781801500814","title":"Out of the Blue","description":"By the early months of 2012, it was clear that the appointment of Andre Villas-Boas as head coach at Chelsea wasn't delivering the required success. Instead, the club was spiralling towards its worst season of the Roman Abramovich era. On 4 March, Villas-Boas was dismissed, with his former assistant Roberto Di Matteo made interim head coach until the end of the season. Struggling in the league and with their place in the Champions League in peril, it was an appointment designed to make the best of things until a permanent replacement could be sought in the summer. Instead, under Di Matteo's guidance, Chelsea embarked on a run of performances that not only led to an FA Cup triumph, but resurrected their European hopes with improbable victories over Napoli, Benfica and Guardiola's all-conquering Barcelona before, against all odds, winning the Champions League by defeating Bayern Munich in their own stadium. This is the story of a triumph that came out of the blue.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56306796102005,"sku":"9781801500814","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781801500814_c7b6a3a0-cd98-44bd-bfd9-23bb5fe27734.jpg?v=1786026921"},{"product_id":"9781801504416","title":"Dutch Masters","description":"\u003cp\u003eAcross the history of football, a select group of teams have achieved iconic status. Sometimes it's through sheer success. For others, their stature is built by star performers. On occasions, it's because a team has gifted a new way of playing to the world. Most rarely it's because of all three. The Ajax teams that conquered Europe with their enthralling 'totaalvoetbal' are one of those rare cases. Those Dutch artists used the pitch as their canvas, the skills of the players provided a palette of gloriously bright colours and their totaalvoetbal inspired the brushstrokes that delivered masterpieces of football creativity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDutch Masters\u003c\/i\u003e is the entrancing tale of how that iconic white shirt with a broad red band down its centre not only became synonymous with the beautiful game of totaalvoetbal, but also symbolised the success of the club that created a new paradigm of play. It's the story of how Ajax came to dominate the European game as the epitome of footballing perfection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682897666421,"sku":"9781836804802","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56307430490485,"sku":"9781801504416","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781801504416_d81617e3-5b91-4cae-b7f4-cda50251b6f6.jpg?v=1792511731"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-gary-thacker.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}