Following the success of Red Machine and Men in White Suits, books which depicted Liverpool FC’s domination of the 1980s and its fall in the 1990s, Simon Hughes’ Ring of Fire, focusing on the 2000s, is the third in a bestselling series based on revealing interviews.
For Liverpool, this was an era that began with modernization and trophies under manager Gérard Houllier, and it was underpinned by improbable Champions League glory under Rafael Benítez. But that is only half the story. The decade ended with the club on the verge of financial collapse after the shambolic reign of American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
In Ring of Fire, Hughes’ interviewees take you through the gates of Melwood’s training ground and into that inner sanctum – the Liverpool dressing room. Each one delivers fascinating insights into the minds of the coaches, boardroom members and players. Amongst them, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher and Fernando Torres talk frankly about the exhilarating highs and excruciating lows, from winning cups in Cardiff and Istanbul to the political infighting that undermined a succession of managerial reigns.
Ring of Fire tells the real stories behind the headlines, those never told before by the key players who lived through it all.