Product details
- ISBN 9781836801696
- Dimensions: 144 x 222mm
- Publication Date: 29 Sep 2025
- Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Bill McCracken, the Offside King is the first biography of a football pioneer and Newcastle United legend who forced a fundamental change to the rules of the game.
Written by former Newcastle United official club historian Paul Joannou, this gripping book is a must-read for all Magpies fans and anyone interested in football history or nostalgia.
Brought up in Belfast, Bill was a much-wanted talent at full-back and became a key figure in Newcastle’s great Edwardian line-up. Read how:
- McCracken was the most talked about player in the years before and after World War One as Newcastle United’s defensive master in a line-up at the very top of the game – his playing career spanned more than 20 years
- He claimed notoriety for his perfect execution of the offside trap, a tactic which caused uproar on the terraces and was widely copied, earning him the nickname ‘the Offside King’
- Something of a rebel with a cause, the likeable, yet at times controversial Irishman fought a long-running feud with the Irish FA over payments
- Later he was a respected manager with Hull City, with whom he got within a whisker of the FA Cup final, before taking charge of Gateshead, Millwall and Aldershot
- Afterwards, as a celebrated talent scout, he remained active in the game into his 90s
Bill’s fascinating career and huge influence on football are explored in detail in this superbly researched biography, published a century on from when ‘McCrackenism’ changed the face of football.
Newcastle United official club historian Paul Joannou has penned several definitive histories of the club, including the acclaimed Newcastle trilogy The First 100 Years & More, The Ultimate Record and The Ultimate Who’s Who. He also wrote the authorised biography The Hughie Gallacher Story and Shirt of Legends, a lively tale of Newcastle’s centre-forward tradition. Paul has a deep interest in the wider history of football.
