Longlisted for the FT and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award 2015In September 2008, HBOS, with assets larger than Britain's GDP, was on the edge of bankruptcy. Its collapse would have created the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s and a major political disaster for the Labour government. With the help and support of Gordon Brown, HBOS was rescued by Lloyds TSB, one of the country's strongest banks, in circumstances that have since become the stu...

The inspiring account of how Philip Harris took on the near-impossible challenge of turning around failing state schools.In 1986, the Harris Academy in Crystal Palace was a broken school, with a pass rate of 9 per cent, truancy of 60 per cent and teachers who seldom lasted longer than six months. Today, the Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is hailed as one of the best in the country.This transformation was the blueprint for a national education revolution...

From humble beginnings in wartime Peckham, where his first memories are of being carried down into the air-raid shelter by his mother, Phil Harris would go on to transform his father's market stall into Britain's biggest carpet retail chain, himself becoming one of the richest people in the country, a member of the House of Lords and a passionate supporter of charitable causes.An extraordinary retailer, largely instinctive with an exceptional feel for what the customer wanted, Harr...

It would be hard to invent a group of personalities more extraordinary than the British Royal Family – known as 'The Firm' by Prince Philip. With an eye on the past, present and future, this book takes a look at how the family really operates and reveals how they behave behind closed doors.This ebook is made from the 2009 edition.With showbiz stars and sporting celebrities now attracting the adulation once afforded to royalty, The Firm questions what monarchy is for.

Multimillionaire at 32Youngest Premier League football club owner at 36His club and a fortune lost at 42Owning your childhood club - that's the dream, isn't it?Simon Jordan made his fortune building a mobile phone company from scratch. When he sold it for £75 million, he bought Crystal Palace FC, the club he'd supported as a boy, and led them into the Premier League.Ten years later Palace was in admi...

One second in time may separate the great athlete from the merely good. Seb Coe has made every second count. From an early age he has been driven to be the best at everything he does. Since the moment Coe stood alongside a 'scrubby' municipal running track in Sheffield, he knew that sport could change his life. It did. Breaking an incredible twelve world records and three of them in just forty-one days, Seb became the only athlete to take gold at 1500 metres in two successive Olympic Games...

DISCOVER THE SHOCKING TRUTH BEHIND THE BUSINESS AND LIFESTYLE OF SIR PHILIP GREEN'Superb' Evening Standard**'From the glitzy parties to the threatening phone calls, the larger-than-life characters to the speedy downfall, this real-life tale of hubris has all the elements of a Greek tragedy' City AM'Entertaining stuff, pacily written. Filled with colourful characters - and expletives' The Times**

'Excellent . . . an in-depth excavation of the murky and mysterious world of football business. Smith's candid and often shocking book reveals the true workings of football business that take into account things few of us even could even imagine . . . The Deal answers some of those questions and leaves you wanting more. It is an educational tool that most fans could do with researching' Joe Short, ExpressFootball analysis has grown at the same exponential rate as ...

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDA poignant and moving account of the author’s search for the man his father was and the life he led as a well-known footballer, blending the personal and the historical into an unforgettable storyStewart Imlach was an ordinary neighbourhood soccer star of his time.A brilliant winger who thrilled the crowd on Saturdays, then worked alongside them in the off-season; who represent...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE GORDON BURN PRIZEFEATURED IN THE OBSERVER'S SPORTS WRITERS' BOOKS OF THE YEAROn 15 April 1989, 96 people were fatally injured on a football terrace at an FA Cup semi-final in Sheffield. The Hillsborough disaster was broadcast live on the BBC; it left millions of people traumatised, and English football in ruins.And the Sun Shines Now is not a book about Hillsborough. It is a book about what arrived in the wake of unquestionably the most ...

Sir Alan -- or Lord Sugar as he now is -- has the power to inspire anyone to succeed. His story is a template for all who want to achieve. An incredible story, told in a way that will provide maximum tips for those who want to follow him -- how Sugar grew up in an East End council flat and boiled beetroots for the local greengrocer, built his empire, became Sir Alan Sugar and a fixture on the Sunday Times Rich List and television star. Brimming with piercing insight and entertaining anecdo...

Football is at the heart of British culture – yet never has it been in greater turmoil.Once, football stood for passion, community, honour, even beauty. The game is in danger of losing its lifeblood - and its soul.In The Beautiful Game? David Conn, the game's most respected investigative journalist, sets out on a journey through the heart of our national game, exploring how the sport has failed - and who is to blame. This is a book for those who ke...