HH: Helenio Herrera is the compelling story of football’s most notorious coach, and one of the finest minds in football, nicknamed “IL Mago” (The Wizard) after bringing European Cup glory to Inter Milan in successive years. The explosive book explores the enigma of the incredibly charismatic HH a philanderer, charlatan, thrash-talker and serial winner mired in controversy. His stellar career was halted by the death of one of his star players and his subsequent trial for manslaughter.

He revolutionised football coaching. Preparing his teams meticulously, he was obsessed with his players’ mental toughness and introduced idiosyncratic psychological techniques. Herrera began coaching in France in 1944. He made his name as coach in Spain, winning the Copa del Generalisimo (now known as Copa del Rey), and La Liga twice with both Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, but it was his move to Inter Milan in 1960 that propelled him to stardom. His team won three scudetti in the mid-1960s and were denied a third European Cup by Jock Stein’s Celtic in 1967. On the pitch he changed Barcelona’s style from languid and elegant to shift and direct. To abet his intense game plan, Herrera supplied amphetamines, which he insisted were plain vitamins. Two years after his arrival in 1960, he left Barcelona in disgrace, chased down La Rambla by fans who believed he had taken a bribe to lose to Real Madrid. Herrera joined Inter Milan where, despite fines and suspensions, he continued doping. He also kept winning – Serie A three times and the European Cup twice. He led Spain at the 1962 World Cup where they were knocked out following a controversial 2-1 defeat to the champions Brazil. According to Fitzpatrick, Herrera was a coaching pioneer, transforming players diets, and revolutionised tactical preparation- he kept a personal record of players’ weight, and conducted detailed analysis of future opponents and even sometimes attended their matches in disguise. He developed player psychology, and exerted hypnotic influence. He was reckless with player health, and when striker Giuliano Taccola died of heart failure in 1969, Herrera was charged with involuntary manslaughter. “ I want players to bomb forward at great speed, with no more than three passes to get into the box” Herrera said. 

Richard Fitzpatrick in HH tells the story of elite sport, arrant misconduct and exorbitant ego and reveals how Herrera was the first original master of the game’s dark arts. In Spain he introduced a regime of performance-enhancing drugs, and he continued this practice in Italy, which led to his downfall.  HH is a fascinating story of deceit and intrigue, bloodshed, sex and glorious football, featuring interviews with those knew Herrera well- including Fabio Capello, Sandro Mazzola, Ian St John and Denis Law. Herrera was notorious, wearing three-piece suits, alligator shoes and a black cape that evoked Dracula. He practised yoga -naked- every morning for 50 years. His managerial style combined the strictness of Alex Ferguson with the antics of José Mourinho. He mixed the energy of Jürgen Klopp with the attention to detail of Pep Guardiola, with ethics of Lance Armstrong. Herrera was born in Buenos Aires in 1910, but grew up in French-controlled Casablanca, in a wooden shack on stilts. As a player he was unspectacular. His qualities were speed and endurance -traits he would lionise as a manager. 

HH: Helenio Herrera- Football’s original Master of the Dark Arts by Richard Fitzpatrick, Bloomsbury £20, 304 pages.