Rock 'n' Roll Soccer (Paperback)

The Short Life and Fast Times of the North American Soccer League

Ian Plenderleith

Rodney Marsh

Share this book

Superstars, hype, cheerleaders, razzmatazz – the North American Soccer League in its 1970s heyday was a league way ahead of its time. It lured the biggest names of the world game, like Cruyff, Best, Beckenbauer and the greatest of them all, Pelé, to play football as it was meant to be played – without inhibition, to please the fans.

It experimented with rules and innovations that upset purists, and liberated players from the negative tactics of the muddy, hooligan blighted grounds of Europe; then it crashed back down to earth like a rock star’s private jet, bankrupt but laughing all the way.

Acclaimed football writer Ian Plenderleith reveals in all its glory the colour and chaos of the world’s first truly international league.

Ian Plenderleith is a US-based British football writer and journalist. He has been writing about football for the past twenty years for publications including the Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, When Saturday Comes and Soccer America. He lives just outside Washington DC.

Rodney Marsh won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973 and was best known, in the UK, for playing for Manchester City and Queen's Park Rangers. In the USA he played for the Tampa Bay Rowdies between 1976 and '79, later coaching the club after spells coaching New York United and Carolina Lightnin'. He worked as a pundit for Sky Sports until 2005.