THE BLACK BOOK
Secrets from the Heart of Football
Five decades at the heart of football. Now Harry Harris, award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster, reveals the stories behind the stories.
Harry Harris didn't simply report football. Sometimes, he became part of the story.
As chief football writer of the Daily Mirror for 18 years, followed by eight years at the Daily Express, Harry built one of the most extraordinary contacts books in football journalism. Players, managers, chairmen, agents, administrators, and owners trusted him with the stories behind the headlines.
Now, in his 100th book, Harry opens that Black Book.
From Sir Alex Ferguson, David Beckham, George Best and Diego Maradona to Roy Keane, Roman Abramovich, Ken Bates and Robert Maxwell, The Black Book takes readers behind the headlines and into a football world rarely seen by supporters.
Five World Cups. Managerial sackings. Multimillion-pound transfers. Boardroom battles. Fleet Street wars. Investigations. Legal confrontations. And moments of glorious absurdity.
For five decades, Harry Harris operated where football and Fleet Street collided. He knew the players, drank with the managers, argued with the chairmen, cultivated the agents, and protected the sources whose secrets produced some of the biggest headlines in the game.
The Black Book reveals how major exclusives were uncovered, how transfers and deals were negotiated behind closed doors, and how relationships built on trust gave one journalist extraordinary access to the people running football.
It is also the story of a revolution in football journalism — from hot metal, typewriters, telephone boxes, and ferocious newspaper rivalries to today's internet, social media, and 24-hour news cycle.
There is laughter and absurdity, but darker stories too — racism, hacking, investigations, legal battles, and Harry's deeply personal memories of Hillsborough.
Illustrated throughout with photographs, documents, and memorabilia from Harry's own archive, The Black Book is part memoir, part football history, and part masterclass in investigative sports journalism.
WHY READ THE BLACK BOOK?
Because you've read the headlines
Now discover what really happened behind them
HARRY HARRIS' 100th BOOK
Published to mark an extraordinary milestone in a remarkable career spanning five decades at the heart of football.
HARDBACK EDITION— £25
464 pages | Publication: 1 November 2026
COLLECTOR'S EDITION — £75
Strictly limited to 100 individually numbered copies, personally signed by Harry Harris.
HARRY'S 100th BOOK. 100 NUMBERED COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS.
There will never be a 101st copy.
PRE-ORDER THE HARDBACK — £25
RESERVE A COLLECTOR'S EDITION — £75
To order, email DAVE@LEGACY11BOOKS.CO.UK
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT HARRY
“Harry’s black book is in my opinion the biggest and best there has ever been from any journalist at any time that I can recall. If you’re not in his black book you don’t count.’”
LORD ALAN SUGAR
“Harry has been around for decades, which means his contact list, is as big as any”
ALAN SHEARER
“Harris’ series on the Bung and Betting stories were examples of popular sports journalism at its best”
JOHN HUMPHRYS