Oct 5, 2020
Ellis Bacon’s career as a cycling journalist began in 2003 when he joined Procycling Magazine as a Deputy Editor. Since then, Ellis has covered the Tour de France each year for Procycling and, as of 2010, Cycle Sport Magazine. He has also written about cycling for a number of national newspapers including The Times and The Guardian. Ellis is fluent in Danish and French and has translated a number of books, most recently the autobiography of Bjarne Riis, published by Vision Sport in May 2012. His book, World’s Ultimate Cycle Races, was published by Collins in September 2012. Volume Five of The Cycling Anthologies which Ellis edits with Lionel Birnie was published in November 2014 by Yellow Jersey. Ellis’ most recent book, Great British Cycling: The History of British Bike Racing (Bantam Press), was published in August 2014. It was shortlisted for the Cycling Book of the Year at the Cross British Sports Book Awards 2015. (DL)
Mar 17, 2021
Rob Bagchi has worked on the sports desk at The Telegraph since 2013 as a writer and editor, mostly covering football and cricket. Before that he spent 11 years in a similar role at The Guardian, for whom he wrote a weekly sports column. He has also written for The Times, The Cricketer, Blizzard, The Nightwatchman and Cricket Monthly. Rob is the author of four sports books, including the Sunday Times sports bestseller, The Unforgiven: The Story of Don Revie’s Leeds United, published in 2002 and reissued in 2009 and 2012, Frank McLintock’s autobiography True Grit (Headline, 2005) and Norman Whiteside’s Determined (Headline, 2007). The Biography of Leeds United, was published by Vision Sports in October 2020. More recently, Rob worked with Paul Merson on his memoir, Hooked.
Twitter: @unforgivenrb
Jul 3, 2026
Grant Bage’s latest book is a ground-breaking biography of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning manager, Alf Ramsey. The Unseen Sir Alf: A Different Kind of Hero (Pitch Publishing) attracted national media attention when published in September 2025. The paperback edition, which added fresh twists and exciting new material, came out on 1 June 2026. Articles, programmes and interviews featuring the book and its revelations have appeared in The Times, The Daily Mirror, BBC Radio4 (‘Archive on 4’), TalkSport, and several other regional BBC news networks. The Unseen Sir Alf has also been positively reviewed and featured in popular football publications and websites such as When Saturday Comes, BackPass, FourFourTwo and The Game Of The People.
Grant’s first book about football was published by HarperCollins in 2016 (The Story of Football) and, like five other of his titles, was written for Primary School children. Other books for professional educators and teachers include Narrative Matters (Taylor & Francis 1999) and Teaching History 4-14 (Routledge 2000). Grant has also published numerous popular and academic articles, is an Honorary Fellow of the Historical Association, and holds MLitt and PhD degrees in history by research.
Website: theunseensiralf.com
Instagram: grantbage
Facebook: The Unseen Sir Alf
Oct 5, 2020
Patrick Barclay was one of the UK’s most highly respected journalists and writers. Former Chief Football Commentator for The Times and Sports Journalist of the Year, he previously worked for The Sunday Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent and The Observer. He also appeared regularly on Sky Sports and TalkSPORT. In 1994 Patrick was voted Britain’s leading sports writer.
Barclay travelled widely during his career, covering seven World Cups, eight European Championships, and four African Nations Cups. Educated in Dundee he remained a lifelong supporter of Dundee FC. He wrote a number of highly successful and critically acclaimed books including Football – Bloody Hell: The Biography of Alex Ferguson (Yellow Jersey, 2010), Mourinho: Anatomy of a Winner (Orion), which was updated and republished in 2015, The Life and Times of Herbert Chapman: the Stories of One of Football’s Most Influential Figures (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2014) which was shortlisted for the Football Book of the Year at the Cross British Sports Book Awards 2015. His last book, Sir Matt Busby: The Man Who Made a Football Club (Ebury, 2017) was shortlisted for the Cross Football Book of the Year at the Sports Book of the Year awards 2017. (DL)
Apr 8, 2021
Born in Galloway, Scotland, Stuart Barker graduated from Strathclyde University in 1996 and began working as a motorcycle journalist for Motor Cycle News. Freelance since 2001, he has written for most of the major motorcycling titles and was editor of the Isle of Man TT programme for eight years. He has written eight books including a best-selling biography of Barry Sheene and a biography of Evel Knievel which is set to be made into a major Hollywood movie. Other woks include biographies of Niall Mackenzie, Steve Hislop, David Jefferies, Valentino Rossi and Marc Màrquez. Barker has also written a history of the Isle of Man TT races (‘TT Century’) and penned the best-selling ‘Ragged Edge: The Brutal True Story of the Isle of Man TT – The World’s Most Dangerous race.’ His latest book ‘Win, Lose or Die: Inside the Lethal Sport of Motorcycle Road Racing and the Isle of Man TT’ was released by Bonnier Books in May 2026. He lives in Kettering, Northamptonshire.
Mar 28, 2022
Wayne Barton is an author, ghost-writer and producer based in Manchester. He has written numerous books on Manchester United and was described by former United chairman Martin Edwards as ‘the pre-eminent writer on the club’, and by the Independent as ‘the leading writer on Manchester United’. His biographies of Eric Cantona and George Best were best-selling titles. Barton produced and co-wrote BT Sport Films adaptations of his books Too Good To Go Down and True Genius. In 2022 his book True Genius was long listed for The Sunday Times Football Book of the Year award. Wayne’s next book to be published was Eternal: An Intimate Portrait of Manchester United’s Lost Genius – Duncan Edwards in 2023.
He has also worked as a ghost-writer to musicians and actors in the US.
In March 2025, Wayne wrote Football, Taught by Matt Busby which was published by Reach Sport and his latest book is Manchester United After Munich: How Tragedy Forged One of the World’s Greatest Football Clubs. Published by Bloomsbury Sport in November 2025.
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