{"product_id":"three-lives-of-the-kaiser-1","title":"Three Lives Of The Kaiser","description":"Franz Beckenbauer – known as ‘the Kaiser’ – is \u003cb\u003eGermany's greatest-ever footballer\u003c\/b\u003e and one of the game's biggest icons of all time, a World Cup winner as player and manager. But what is often described as a blessed life has in fact been a rollercoaster ride with \u003cb\u003estunning highs and bitter lows.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e He rose to fame at the \u003cb\u003e1966 World Cup\u003c\/b\u003e in England, where after West Germany’s final defeat the British press marvelled at the grace of a ‘beaten but proud Prussian officer’. Yet there was nothing Prussian about the Bavarian boy who flouted authority, disregarded rules and viewed the traditional German work ethic with the disdain of someone to whom everything comes naturally.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e After a glittering early career at \u003cb\u003eBayern Munich\u003c\/b\u003e – captaining them to\u003cb\u003e three European Cup\u003c\/b\u003e victories and pioneering the playmaking \u003ci\u003elibero\u003c\/i\u003e role in central defence – Beckenbauer made a controversial move to the recently formed New York Cosmos in 1977. \u003cb\u003ePraised as ‘the greatest’ by none other than Muhammad Ali\u003c\/b\u003e, he gently warded off overtures from Rudolf Nureyev and partied the night away with Mick Jagger and Grace Jones at Studio 54.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Back home, though, people often wondered what to make of this most famous German athlete who was so un-German. Beckenbauer’s country had finally learned to love him by the time he managed the national side to World Cup glory in 1990, but \u003cb\u003eallegations of corruption surrounding Germany’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup have made him a controversial figure all over again.\u003c\/b\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Three Lives of the Kaiser\u003c\/i\u003e, leading football writer Uli Hesse gives us the \u003cb\u003edefinitive biography of this truly remarkable legend.\u003c\/b\u003e","brand":"MediaPlace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57317390844286,"sku":"NW9781471189128","price":11.34,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1379\/1261\/files\/9781471189128.jpg?v=1778721900","url":"https:\/\/mediaplace.com\/products\/three-lives-of-the-kaiser-1","provider":"MediaPlace","version":"1.0","type":"link"}