The Official Football Yearbook 2009-10 The ACTIM Statistical Guide Release date: 01st July, 2009 Publisher: A & C Black List Price: £17.99 Our Price: £11.69 You Save: £6.3 (35%) Buy Now

Perhaps football's greatest spin-off is not the overpriced, sponsor-emblazoned polyester replica shirt but the quiz question that gets fans thinking. You immediately know when you've heard one because it's obviously been well researched and once you eliminate the possibility of it being a trick question, you're almost inclined to applaud the questioner - assuming you know the answer. Football's penchant for the spontaneous quiz, which generally take place in the car after the game, invariably comprise questions posed by a self-appointed chairman and usually asked in between him devouring his chips. Across the land at ten to six most Saturdays as traffic lights turn red and cars lurch to a halt, people can be heard asking, "Who scored Watford's first league goal of last season?" (Will Hoskins in their first home match against Bristol Rovers) or "Which Premier League referee showed more yellow cards than any other last term?" (Mike Dean - 123*). Granted, there is a mountain of unsubstantiated information available online, but accessing the internet while eating your chips, arguing whether their second goal was offside and wondering whether you'll ever make it through the red lights ahead is, well, difficult. Which is why we should applaud the people behind this season's Official Football Yearbook, published in association with the New Football Pools. Doubtless every one of the stats and records referred to in The Official Football Yearbook is available online, but nowhere will they be as professionally displayed or as well arranged as in this marvellous book. It's a joy to browse through (obviously, you start with your own team and fan out from there) because you inevitably happen upon a fact which is noted and stored for future use - ideally as an alternative to the one posed by your regular post-match chairman. Not only is the OFT exceptionally well produced, unlike a number of other yearbooks in this burgeoning market, it benefits from the liberal use of colour. There's enough data to satisfy the most dedicated statto. In addition, fans will discover little-known facts here safe in the knowledge that unlike much unverified online material, what you read in the OFY is accurate. And as any budding quiz-meister knows, that is hugely important if your Saturday evening quizzes are to have any credibility at all. *Dean also showed more red cards (8) than any other top-flight ref.