Manchester Football Writing Festival: 50 Years Of Hurt Calendar

5 September 2016 - 5 September 2016
7pm

Another major tournament has ended, for England, in disappoitment. A new manager takes up the challenge of getting (some) new players to restore national pride in 2 years' time. Meanwhile the countries that 'we' taught how to play the seem to be stretching ever further ahead than the country who codified the global game. And all the while, the people who The FA banned from playing the game for half a century are growing in confidence; new supporters, new success and new stories could mean the Three Lions can learn something from the Lionesses...

BBC 5 Live's Caroline Barker chairs a debate with three of England's top sports writers, who have each published new titles with unique looks at England's international story. Henry Winter (The Times) is one of football's best-respected football writers. His book Fifty Years Of Hurt: The Story of England & Why We Never Stop Believing was released just before Euro 2016. It's detailed look at the highs and lows of England's national team offered hope, but also some vital ways The FA could help turn things around before another tournament passes us by.

Rory Smith has written for The Times, The Independent and The Telegraph, and is now becoming the New York Times' Premier League correspondent. His book Mister: The Men Who Gave The World The Game looks at the pioneers of the game who took football across the world, and how England fired the revolution that would remove its own crown.

Carrie Dunn is freelance writer for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and many more. She spent a year with the famous, and not-so-famous, faces of women's football in England. Her book The Roar of The Lionesses: Women's Football In England is the first major book published in the wake of England's bronze medal winning performance at the Women's World Cup in 2015. Is it now our women who carry more realistic hope of winning a World Cup than our men?