It takes two special talents to get into "Bad Boys of Football". First, you have to be a top footballer, so that rules out 99 per cent of the population; then you have to be a very, very bad lad. How bad? Well a little bit of drunk and disorderly isn't enough. Prepared to put it about a bit on the field? That won't work either. We are talking seriously flawed, but outstanding talents. What a line-up we have here: Harald Schumacher in goal; central defenders Marco Materazzi and Claudio Gentile, which suggests going down to the wing...to encounter Stuart "Psycho" Pearce or Pedro Monzon; it's a quiet midfield with Roy Keane, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Wise and George Best on patrol; and angels such as Eric Cantona and Diego Maradona up front. Just think, there are only places on the bench the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Hristo Stoichkov, Jose Luis Chilavert, Wayne Rooney, Diego Simone, Zinedine Zidane, Gennaro Gattuso and Paul Breitner. Seriously, this is a collection of biographies of footballers who make or made as much news for their attitude and off-field behaviour as their skill and outstanding feats on it. Filled with quotes from the players themselves and their contemporaries, "Bad Boys of Football" goes in hard, and a bit over the top!

There are three sections, in descending order of malcontent: there are eight "Wayward Geniuses" (George Best, Paul Breitner, Eric Cantona, Paul Gascoigne, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Hristo Stoichkov and Zinedine Zidane). These are the longest biographies, not only because of their greatness on the pitch, but because of their exploits off it. These are followed by a dozen "Wind-up Merchants" (Nicolas Anelka, Jose Luis Chilavert, Luis Fernandez, Gennaro Gattuso, Oliver Kahn, Jens Lehmann, Mido, Stuart Pearce, Jean-Marie Pfaff, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Wayne Rooney, Dennis Wise); biographies of players who made a career of getting under opponents' skin. Completing this rogues' gallery are 14 biographies of the "Crazy Guys" (Patrick Blondeau, Eric Di Meco, Raymond Domenech, Claudio Gentile, Vinnie Jones, Roy Keane, Marco Materazzi, Pedro Monzon, Jose Carlos Mozer, Kevin Muscat, Cyril Rool, Harald Schumacher, Diego Simeone and Patrick Vieira).