It’s a World Cup year and England have qualified so, as you’d expect, publishers are looking to cash in. Respected Italian journalist Gabriele Marcotti’s book Capello: The Man Behind England's World Cup Dream should be an interesting and entertaining read, even if it looks like being little more than a clever repackaging of his earlier book on Fabio for a pre-World Cup release. For less demanding readers there will be plenty of titles like Parragon Book’s England Heroes 2010 on offer. Wisely, they’ve chosen to release it in May, meaning they can benefit from the wave of patriotism sure to sweep the nation in the build up to the tournament and avoid the small chance there may not actually be any English heroes in South Africa.

Like any year for football books, biographies of managers and players are thick on the ground and from a book about the life of Mr Unbelievable, Chris Kamara to one telling the story of Trautmann's Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend and plenty in-between just about every fan is catered for. Among the other biographies coming up in 2010 is Super Frank!: Frank Lampard - The Biography of England's Greatest Footballer, available in February for Chelsea fans who want a hard-hitting look at Frank Lampard. If it’s a first-hand account of life at Stamford Bridge they want though, they’ll be waiting for Joe Cole’s autobiography, due out in August and imaginatively titled Joe Cole - My Autobiography. If reading the life story of a 28-year-old doesn’t appeal though, there are books about Harry Redknapp and Martin O’Neill on the way as well as'Football - Bloody Hell!': The Story of Alex Fergusonby Times journalist Patrick Barclay about the dominant figure in English football over the last 20 years, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Plenty of works examining the beautiful game itself are coming our way in the next twelve months. Anoraks can look forward toYou are the Ref: The Ultimate Illustrated Guide to the Laws of Football, out in June and based on the Guardian feature, it’s sure to provide the rules-obsessed fan hours of enjoyment (if that’s the right word). If you’re among those fans more interested in the game than the rules however, then the football book to get excited about this year is The Anatomy of England: A History in Ten Matches from Jonathan Wilson, author of the fascinating and insightfulInverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics. Wilson’s books are packed full of information, but never dull, and if this effort matches up to his last, it will be a must-have for any fan of the three lions wanting to understand the history of the team. Just don’t expect that learning why England have underperformed down the years will make it any easier to accept.