BOOK REVIEW: "Who Put the Ball in the Munich Net?"

Bolton Wanderers fan Chris Flanagan has, in my opinion, written the most engaging and enjoyable book to feature the Whites in a long, long time.

"Who Put the Ball in the Munich Net?" is a game by game, blow by blow account of Bolton Wanderers and their assault on the UEFA Cup in 2005/6 and 2007/8.

Researched to within an inch of its life, the book offers a unique behind the scenes picture of the club's preparations for the competition and even manages the feat of making Gary Megson look like a regular human being.

We gave away a copy of the book last week and I can guarantee that the winner of the competition will find it as enjoyable as I did.

Personally speaking it was great to relive the Bayern Munich game as I confess that memories of that day are somewhat hazy. Having visited Munich itself again on my recent stag do I can only attribute that to the wonderful German ale.

Memories of the games against Atletico Madrid, Sporting Lisbon, Marseille and Vitoria Guimaeres remain fresh in the mind and to read of the perspective of fellow fans was a great way to spend a couple of evenings. I even dug out my DVD copies that the club released at the times and gave them another airing.

I still can't work out why Franck Ribery was substituted.

It was a bit depressing actually given the recent hardships that we as Wanderers fans have experienced.

The book combines anecdotes and stories from the key players. You can read about a naked Jay-Jay Okocha, told with great gusto by Nicky Hunt - you can learn of the behind the scenes fight between Gary Speed and Abdouleye Meite. I hope Speedo battered him.

You can also hear of the time that Nicolas Anelka was headed to Manchester United, before a late Chelsea bid took him to London. Read of Gary Megson's chase of Miguel Veloso and how close he came to signing Phil Jagielka and Blaise Matuidi and despair!

I thoroughly recommend this 224 page tome to all Bolton Wanderers fans.

You don't have to have been a Wanderers fan at the time of the games to enjoy this book - it serves as window in time back to when we were a top six Premier League side with aspirations to go even higher.

You can pick it up at all good (and no doubt some bad) bookshops as well as the usual online retailers such as Amazon by clicking here.

You can also follow the author on Twitter @CFlanaganLT.

Well done Chris, a thoroughly enjoyable read.