Product Description

The world over, no sportsman - and maybe no other individual - provokes more fascination, argument and interest than the Londoner with the film-star looks, David Beckham. No sports team exudes more glamour, has won more competitions or possesses a more dazzling collection of superstars than Real Madrid. The fusion of the two has gripped the attention of millions and changed the face of the world's favourite sport, making a clear divide between the Old Football and the New. "White Angels" is the insider's look at what happened to make the historic deal. John Carlin has had unprecedented access to the Real Madrid team, travelling with them to matches and conducting extensive interviews with the players and its charismatic and driven chairman Florentino Perez. "White Angels" describes how Beckham's transfer took place, and the machinations and intrigue behind it. It details Beckham's first year at Real, and how he fared on the field alongside such global stars as Figo, Zidane, Carlos, Raul and Ronaldo.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #566945 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-21
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 396 pages

Review
'Perhaps no other journalist - certainly no Anglophone journalist - can better Carlin's access inside the kingdom of Real Madrid ... Delves deep into the exquisite and often impractical world of football' GQ 'The pick of the bunch. It conveys the astonishing turnaround in the club's fortunes from early March. It describes with admirable firsthand detail the conceit of Florentino Perez and the Galactico transfer policy that so nearly struck gold. It details the marketing master plan of Jose Angel Sanchez and his belief that, so long as the team remain competitive, the brand is more important than the results' The Times 'Readers here who are curious about this phenomenon the rest of the world knows as "the beautiful game" have an energetic and enthusiastic guide in Carlin' Boston Globe 'Excellent' Paul Hayward, Daily Telegraph (best sports writer in UK)

The Times
‘The pick of the bunch. It conveys the astonishing turnaround in the club’s fortunes’

About the Author
John Carlin has lived in Spain for the last five years. He is half-Spanish, half-British and bilingual. He has worked as a foreign correspondent for The Times, the Independent, the Observer and the Daily Mail in such diverse places as Washington, South Africa and Nicaragua, and in recent years has written extensively on football. He has scripted a Channel Four documentary on Diego Maradona.

Customer Reviews

A Great Book for any Football Fanatic
White Angels, an autobiography of another sort, takes the reader through the high priced, fast paced world of football. It not only delivers an eyewitness account of the international game, but also delivers it on a club level. The setting is Spain. The club is Real Madrid: the most flashy, prestigious and successful club in the world. The winner of more cups and leagues than any other, it tirelessly documents the arrival of the world's most popular player, David Beckham at the club and the effect he has had on the team, and his adoring public. Carlin has spent years covering the game as both a fan and reporter for tabloids and magazines alike, and it shows in this title. Though highly entertaining, with Carlin adding bits of Spanish and wry English humor where he can, the theme runs well with the title. It documents the White Angels of Real Madrid, through interviews, ever-present rumors in-depth research, and first hand accounts. Carlin does lack in areas, the most present being his depth to each chapter. The chapters are holders of comical names, but some do nothing short of boredom.

Carlin, having spent years covering the game is not perfect in his details. He takes matters that to the college-educated public seem like single page print into lengthy discussions about opinion after opinion. But on the other side of Carlin's flaws is his long list of qualities. He deploys metaphors that bring life to dry details of play-by-plays, and high priced salary discussions. Real Madrid wanted the world's most recognizable player and were ready to pay a fortune to get their man. They couldn't believe their luck when England's Manchester United named their price.

Peanuts, was the only word that came to Jose Angel Sanchez, Real Madrid's exuberant director of marketing. No word in his native language of Spanish could be translated to what United had given their precious jewel away for.

Critics of the Beckham-mania strongly disagree with Carlin's work, and the many stories of Beckham's trophy less first season at the Santiago Bernebeu. In the writing of this book he has enjoyed unprecedented access to the team, traveling with them to matches conducting extensive interviews with the players. So it's not so much about how Beckham fared but how the team assimilated this marketing phenomenon, the philosophy behind the 'Galactico' policy and the continuing intrigues in the dressing room and boardroom of the world's most successful club.

written in the bernabeau
Admittedly i bought this book without reading the write-up for it, hoping to get a similar type to Jimmy Burns's Barca, which i loved. what i got was a book, filled with detail on the couple of years which the author spent within the confines of Florentino Perez' inner circle, but so biased and awe struck by the players and the senior management that at times i felt ill. A good side the Galacticos were, albeit very briefly, but this book lauds them as if they were on some mystical higher plane. The descriptions of Reals' 6-5 aggregate victory over United rightly hold both games in high esteem, however Real take all the credit for the beautiful football and United are unfairly stereotyped as 1950's English cloggers (Salgado is likened to Garrincha compared to Gary Neville). There are many examples of this bias throughout the work and i get the feeling that the author is more of an awe-struck fan than serious impartial viewer of events which he was so closely and luckily privvy. I dont want to criticise too much because i did find the book entertaining and filled with insight into one of the worlds largest sporting organisations, if only it could have been tempered by an impartial viewpoint.