Football managers are at the center of today's commercially-driven football world, scrutinized, celebrated and under pressure as never before. This book is the first in-depth history of the role of the manager in British football, tracing a path from Victorian-era amateurism to the highly paid motivational specialists and media personalities of the twenty-first century.
Using original source materials, the book traces the changing character and function of the football manager, covering:
- the origins of football management - club secretaries and early pioneers
- the impact of post-war social change - the advent of the football business
- television and the new commercialism
- contemporary football - specialization and the influence of foreign managers and management practices
- the future of football management

"The Football Manager" examines the influence of Britain's traditionally pragmatic and hierarchical business management culture on British football, and in doing so provides a new and broader perspective on a unique management role and a unique way of life.
For those interested in the history of football and for those interested in management more generally, this book is a valuable new resource.

Major sporting events hosted by Germany have historically been highly charged and culturally significant occasions. 2006 sees the Football World Cup return to Germany, where much has changed since the previous Finals there in 1974. This collection, edited by an internationally regarded sports sociologist and German Studies scholar, examines the history and significance of football in German culture and society. Includes discussion of: The cultural history of football since its popular German origins during WWI The effects of Unification, European integration and immigration in contemporary Germany The German football economy Women in German football and society Germany's role in the politics of global sports institutions Media coverage and perceptions of German identity and Germany's relationship with traditional 'enemies' Media representations of football and changing fan cultures...

WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR 'This is a masterfully written history of the world's greatest football club. Mes que un book!' - GARY LINEKER From the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance. Barca is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the club's business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the club's two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi. Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Barca as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon. "I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barca's rise to greatness, and I have, but I've also ended up charting the decline and fall."

IT'S A ROCKY ROAD! Game Changer is the eighth book in the football-tastic Roy of the Rovers illustrated fiction series, and the second Rocky of the Rovers story. Part of the third season, this exciting series is written by award-winning author Tom Palmer. The newly formed Melchester Women's team are going from strength to strength in their first full season of professional football, lead by the tenacious Rocky Race. But behind the scenes, the morale of the club is low. After a shocking incident in a men's European game, and the recent Race family tragedy, Rocky, her brother Roy, and the whole club is struggling to deal with the aftermath. What's more, she's fighting with Ffion her friend! Can she maintain her match-winning performances? How is she supposed to deal with everything that's happened? And just where does her footballing future lie? Enjoyed this title? Pick up The GBP100 Million Game next to continue the story! Praise for the Roy of the Rovers series: EPIC! - Match of the Day Magazine I love the way that they are about so much more than football: they are about heart, values and family. Both graphic novel and fiction titles are compelling, engaging and a lot of fun. Lace up and get reading. - Jim Sells, Programme manager for Sport & Literacy, National Literacy Trust. Read with my 7 year old who is football mad, really enjoyed it and left us wanting to read the next one in the series! - GoodReads Review

"The Work of Professional Football: A Labour of Love?" presents unique long-term studies and provides rare insights into to the precarious careers and ordinary working culture of professional soccer footballers. Away from the celebrity-obsessed media gaze, the work of a professional footballer is infrequently glamorous and for most players a career in football is insecure and short-lived.
As a former professional soccer player turned academic, Martin Roderick's familiarity with the world of football is foundational to this privileged research into a world that is typically both 'closed' to the public gaze and ignored by media reportage and academic research which prefers to focus on a small, unrepresentative group of elite players. Key themes explored within the text include:
- The culture of work in professional soccer football
- The changing identity, orientation and expectations of players during their career
- The fragile and uncertain nature of careers in professional sport
- The performance and drama of a career under public scrutiny
- The role of relationships with managers, owners, support staff and partners
- The insecurities inherent in a football career such as injury, aging, performance and transfer
The text deals with a wide range of issues for sports students and academics, particularly those with a focus on the sociology of sport but also including sport development, sport management and coaching studies. The text will be of interest to researchers in sport studies, careers, industrial relations and the sociology of work.

As the digital revolution continues apace, emergent technologies and means of communication present new challenges and opportunities for the football industry. This is the first book to bring together key contemporary debates at the intersection of football studies, leisure studies, and digital cultural studies. It presents cutting edge theoretical and empirical work based around four key themes: theorizing digital football cultures; digital football fandom; football and social media; and football (sub)cybercultures. Covering topics such as transnational digital fandom, online abuse, and gender, Digital Football Cultures argues that we are witnessing the hyperdigitalization of the world's most popular sport. This book is a valuable resource for students and researchers working in leisure studies, sports studies, football studies, and critical media studies, as well as geography, anthropology, criminology, and sociology. It is also fascinating reading for anybody working in sport, media, and culture.

Appealing to a wide audience, this ground-breaking handbook takes an in-depth look at soccer match analysis, highlighting the latest in match analysis research and the innovative technologies now being used by professional soccer clubs around the world.

Bridging the gap between research, theory and practice, these methods can be used by coaches, sport scientists and fitness coaches to assess and improve:

• styles of play, technical ability and physical fitness
• objective performance feedback to players
• the development of specific training routines
• use of available notation software, video analysis and manual systems
• understanding of current academic research in soccer notational analysis.

This is the first book to focus exclusively on football, and is based on the authors' extensive experience in academic and professional match analysis.

Football managers are at the center of today's commercially-driven football world, scrutinized, celebrated and under pressure as never before. This book is the first in-depth history of the role of the manager in British football, tracing a path from Victorian-era amateurism to the highly paid motivational specialists and media personalities of the twenty-first century.
Using original source materials, the book traces the changing character and function of the football manager, covering:
- the origins of football management - club secretaries and early pioneers
- the impact of post-war social change - the advent of the football business
- television and the new commercialism
- contemporary football - specialization and the influence of foreign managers and management practices
- the future of football management

"The Football Manager" examines the influence of Britain's traditionally pragmatic and hierarchical business management culture on British football, and in doing so provides a new and broader perspective on a unique management role and a unique way of life.
For those interested in the history of football and for those interested in management more generally, this book is a valuable new resource.

The word disaster is much used in the world of soccer - conceding a penalty, a sending off, an untimely defeat. Comparing these with real life disasters puts things into perspective and the results of the games become insignificant. Soccer is not more important than life or death!
For the first time, real life tragedies in the world of soccer are explored in one volume. From the loss of life of talented young players in the Munich and Zambian air disasters to fatal overcrowding at Hillsborough and Moscow. During the history of the game, fans and players alike have been the victims of negligence, complacency and misfortune. The causes, consequences and legacies of these and other disasters are examined in this book that reveals frightening parallels and important lessons.
A powerful book suitable for students of sociology, sports studies and social history.
This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Sport in the Global Society.

The story of the creation of Britain's national game has often been told. According to the accepted wisdom, the refined football games created by English public schools in the 1860s subsequently became the sports of the masses. Football, The First Hundred Years, provides a revisionist history of the game, challenging previously widely-accepted beliefs. Harvey argues that established football history does not correspond with the facts. Football, as played by the 'masses' prior to the adoption of the public school codes is almost always portrayed as wild and barbaric. This view may require considerable modification in the light of Harvey's research. Football's First One Hundred Years provides a very detailed picture of the football played outside the confines of the public schools, revealing a culture that was every bit as sophisticated and influential as that found within their prestigious walls. Football, The First Hundred Years sets forth a completely revisionist thesis, offering a different perspective on almost every aspect of the established history of the formative years of the game. The book will be of great interest to sports historians and football enthusiasts alike.

According to the accepted wisdom, in the 1860s the football games created by public schoolboys were transplanted from these elite foundations, rapidly becoming the sports of the masses. But has this history ever been challenged or explored? Football, The First Hundred Years, provides a revisionist history of the game, challenging previously widely-accepted belief. The book argues that established football histories do not correspond with the facts. Football, as played by the 'masses' previous to the public school codes is almost always portrayed as wild and quite barbaric but Harvey shows evidence suggesting this view to be a serious over-simplification. Football's First One Hundred Years provides a very detailed picture of the football played outside the confines of the public schools, revealing a culture that was every bit as sophisticated as that found within their prestigious walls. Indeed, the administrative body created by public schoolboys, the FA, rapidly collapsed and by 1867, it was the intervention of working class representatives from Sheffield who saved soccer. offering a different perspective on almost every aspect of the established history of the formative years of the game. The book will be of great interest to sports historians and football enthusiasts alike.

This updated edition of the bestselling and wildly popular I Am the Secret Footballer features a new introduction and an additional chapter. The anonymous writer of the Guardian's 'Secret Footballer' column gives Premier League fans an insider's look into the unseen world of professional football. 'It is often said that 95% of what happens in football takes place behind closed doors. Many of these stories I shouldn't be telling you. But I will.' Who is The Secret Footballer? Only a few people know the true identity of the man inside the game. Whoever he is-and whatever team he plays for - TSF is always honest, fearless and opinionated. Here he takes readers past the locker-room door and reveals the inner workings of a professional club, the exhilarating highs and crushing lows, and what it's really like to do the job most of us can only dream of doing. TFS chronicles the exploits of his Premiership colleagues with a gimlet eye and frank humour. Managers, agents and players are not spared from his observations - their mindsets, their relationships with those outside the sport, their behaviour good and bad. In his inimitable style, TSF recounts entertaining and eyebrow-raising vignettes, naming names and dropping colourful details along the way.

The word disaster is much used in the world of soccer - conceding a penalty, a sending off, an untimely defeat. Comparing these with real life disasters puts things into perspective and the results of the games become insignificant. Soccer is not more important than life or death!
For the first time, real life tragedies in the world of soccer are explored in one volume. From the loss of life of talented young players in the Munich and Zambian air disasters to fatal overcrowding at Hillsborough and Moscow. During the history of the game, fans and players alike have been the victims of negligence, complacency and misfortune. The causes, consequences and legacies of these and other disasters are examined in this book that reveals frightening parallels and important lessons.
A powerful book suitable for students of sociology, sports studies and social history.
This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Sport in the Global Society.

What does it take to get to the very top - to become truly 'World Class'? We are The F2 and we're going to show you what separates the Messis from the masses, the Kanes from the can'ts and the Neymars from the no-mores. We're going to show you how to elevate your game to the World Stage.

Our book reveals the secrets of your favourite footballers as we show you how to improve your fitness, add focus to your mentality and supersize your skills. We'll prove to you that you don't have to be born great to become great. So when the big day comes around, you'll be ready to unleash your inner winner.

We've also made you a free app where you can see exactly how it's done. So, if you want control like Coutinho, power like Pogba or swaz like Sànchez, you know what to do: read, download, grab a ball and we'll see you on the pitch.

Love, peace and tekkers, Billy & Jez, aka The F2

The 1870 Education Act that opened up elementary education for all children contained no provision for outdoor games. This book explains how teachers, through the elementary school football association, introduced boys to organised football as an out-of-school activity. The influence and significance of this work, insofar as it relates to the elementary school curriculum and the growth of professional and amateur football are explored in detail, including:
* How ideological commitments and contemporary concerns for the physical welfare of children in cities may have led teachers to promote schoolboy football when it was not permitted during school hours.
* The extent to which out of school organised football may have led to outdoor games being accepted as part of the school curriculum
* How elementary school football in London in the late nineteenth century influenced the development of the amateur game
This is a fascinating account of the origins of schoolboy football and the factors that have influenced its development and the consequences and benefits that have followed not only for school football but for sport in schools and communities as a whole.

Few things convey the identity of Britain's towns and cities more vocally than football and food, yet put them together and they become incompatible foes. Balti pies served out of tin trays and rubbery burgers that cost north of a tenner are typical of the over-the-counter fare that welcomes fans through the turnstile. But it doesn't have to be that way. As Britain embraces a craft revolution of locally made produce we, the travelled football fans, have the unique opportunity to experience the country in a way few others can. We can feast on cockles and mussels on the south-east coast, tuck into smack barm and pey wet in Lancashire and drink our way through an explosion of craft distillers and breweries all in the name of the club we love. The Great Pie Revolt is the definitive guide to the cafes, market stalls, takeaways, microbrewers, pubs and bars that pride themselves on their locality. It is proof that when paired properly football and food are a match made in heaven, but both are in dire need of a spectator-driven revolt.

Manchester United is a football club like no other. The most popular sports club in history, it has an annual turnover of over pound]130 million and a stock market value that has topped pound]1 billion. Its triumph as an international commercial venture matches its success on the pitch in the UK's Premier League and in stadiums throughout Europe. At this time in late capitalism when the boundaries between cultural and commercial concerns have become increasingly invisible, Manchester United, the football club, provides us with a fascinating study in the evolution of sporting, social, cultural and economic change. In this, the first book to offer a rigorous, theoretically grounded treatment of the Manchester United phenomenon, leading academics from diverse backgrounds have written chapters, each interrogating a particular aspect of our central theme, Manchester United FC. The result is a unique contribution to our understanding of Manchester United in particular, and, perhaps more significantly, of contemporary sporting and popular culture in general.

The 1870 Education Act that opened up elementary education for all children contained no provision for outdoor games. This book explains how teachers, through the elementary school football association, introduced boys to organised football as an out-of-school activity. The influence and significance of this work, insofar as it relates to the elementary school curriculum and the growth of professional and amateur football are explored in detail, including:
* How ideological commitments and contemporary concerns for the physical welfare of children in cities may have led teachers to promote schoolboy football when it was not permitted during school hours.
* The extent to which out of school organised football may have led to outdoor games being accepted as part of the school curriculum
* How elementary school football in London in the late nineteenth century influenced the development of the amateur game
This is a fascinating account of the origins of schoolboy football and the factors that have influenced its development and the consequences and benefits that have followed not only for school football but for sport in schools and communities as a whole.

The 1930s saw the birth of the football idol - prototype for today's powerful media sport stars.
The players of the 1930s were the first generation of professionals, yet until recently the life and careers of footballers of this generation has been little studied.
In 1930s Britain, football became increasingly commercialized, and the rise and development of both local and national media enabled players to become widely recognized outside of their immediate local context for the first time.
Tracing the origins, playing careers and 'afterlives' of several First Division players of the era, Graham Kelly's revealing history explores the reality of living in Britain between the wars and draws interesting comparisons with lives of the modern football hero today.

Ben Smith: Professional footballer. Recognise the name? Of course you don't. That's because most of Smith's years in the game were spent outside the vaunted, big-money environs of the Premier League - and this sporting memoir is all the more entertaining as a result.1995: an adolescent Ben arrives at the training ground of one of England's biggest clubs to begin his journey and realise his dream of playing top-flight professional football. Aged just sixteen, he shares pre-season sessions at Arsenal with the likes of Dennis Bergkamp and Ian Wright. Surely this is the start of a stellar career?Instead, the next seventeen years saw the bright young star descend the ranks from Highbury to obscurity. With seasons playing for the likes of Reading, Yeovil, Southend, Hereford, Shrewsbury and Weymouth - and a career including three promotions, one relegation and some very memorable FA Cup games - Ben's story is one of a quintessential journeyman footballer.Candidly describing the negotiations, insecurities, injuries, relocations, personal implications and wet Saturday afternoons playing in front of 500 people, Journeyman offers a unique insight into the unvarnished life of a lower-league player - so far removed from the stories of pampered Premiership stars - as well as documenting the many teammates, opponents, managers and coaches who left an indelible mark on Ben's eclectic career. Refreshingly unsentimental and often hilarious, Smith's story is essential reading for all true fans of the not-always-so-beautiful game.

Glorious Reinvention is the story of how Ajax rediscovered their mojo to compete again with Europe's best. In November 2010, after Ajax's 2-0 loss in the Champions League group stage to Real Madrid, Johan Cruyff wrote a newspaper column criticising his former club. He believed the side were poorly run, had lost their identity and been left behind by modern football. Cruyff wanted change. He wanted Ajax to rely on their academy as they once had, and he wanted former Ajax players in high positions calling the shots at the club. This was dubbed 'the velvet revolution' - a peaceful coup that would propel Ajax to once more compete with the best. A few years on, with many of the changes in place, the side reached a Europa League final and a Champions League semi-final with an exquisite style of football and methods that Cruyff would have appreciated. Ajax, now run by former club greats such as Edwin van der Sar and Marc Overmars, combined the techniques of old with modern elements.

Football in the New Media Age analyzes the impact of media change on the football industry, drawing on extensive interviews with key people in the media and football industry. It examines the finances of the game; the rising importance of rights and rights management in the industry; and attempts by clubs to develop their own media capacity. At the core of the book is an examination of the battle for control of the game as media, business and fans all seek to redefine the sport in the twenty-first century. Football is rarely out of the headlines, with stories about star players misbehaving, clubs facing financial meltdown, or TV companies battling over broadcast rights dominating much of the mainstream news and current affairs agenda.The impact of the vast amounts of money paid to elite footballers, and the inability of young men to cope with this when combined with their media-fuelled celebrity status, have frequently made headlines. At the core of this process is the battle to control a game that has exploited its position as a key 'content provider' for new media over the last decade, and this book provides the examiniation and analysis to study this problem.

UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE 2021/22 SEASON THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES TOP TEN BESTSELLER The behind-the-scenes story of the Marcelo Bielsa revolution at Leeds United and their first season back in the Premier League after sixteen years of hurt. FEATURING FRESH PERSONAL INSIGHT FROM MARCELO BIELSA On 27th February 2022, after 170 matches in charge, promotion to the Premier League and some of the most exhilarating football the English game has ever seen, Leeds United parted company with their most beloved and successful manager in a generation: Marcelo Bielsa. His parting gift was to embrace the crowds of adoring fans who turned up to say thank you as he left the club's training ground for the final time. In And it was Beautiful, The Athletic's Phil Hay chronicles Leeds United's glorious first season back in the top flight - which saw them finish ninth - after a chaotic sixteen-year absence. Phil pulls back the curtain on the hallmarks that now define the Marcelo Bielsa era, from his gruelling training schedule - including his infamous 'murderball' sessions - to innovative tactical methods that elevated Championship regulars into Premier League stars. Bielsa performed miracles, turning football into high art and making an extraordinary cultural impact on the city of Leeds. The result is a unique and fitting tribute to a Leeds United icon.

For three months every year football clubs buy and sell people. They spend more than £4 billion a year on footballers, and for good reason; the right deal can help you win the game's top prizes while the wrong deal can cost you your job and bankrupt your club. It is a fast-paced, at times murky and cutthroat world worth billions, which largely operated behind closed doors - until Jim White and Kaveh Solhekol stepped in, that is. In Deadline Day, Jim and Kaveh, two of the world's leading transfer experts, take us behind the scenes of this uniquely tense, make-or-break element to the game. They talk of the world's most famous players, managers and agents - Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson and Pep Guardiola amongst others - to get to the heart of the most significant deals in history, as well as the ones that got away. But has the time come for football to slam shut the transfer window for good? Is it, after all, more scandal than strategy? Perceptive, entertaining and dynamically told, Jim and Kaveh reckon with questions integral to the future of the game in this definitive, never-before-told inside story of football's transfer window.

This book explores various aspects of intranational elite football in Africa, drawing on the expertise of notable scholars from across the world. Africa's Elite Football focuses on an area largely ignored by current scholarship on African football, where interest has focused on international migration. In exploring the intranational, the book is written in two parts. The first is a general focus on the continent, and the second is an examination of country cases. The general focus of the book is on the nature of elite tier leagues, the relationship between politics and football, the media, youth academies, intranational migration and fans. Notably, chapters on topics such as intranational migration present groundbreaking scholarship in this area. Currently, football discourses on migration focus on international migration of footballers, yet the majority of migration in African football is intranational. Thus, by addressing the intranational, this book brings attention to an area that is underrepresented in the current academic discourse. The second part of the book, which focuses on country cases, covers Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The topics explored in those cases include religiosity, health, women's football, media and management. The coverage of health-related issues is particularly important given that several books on African football rarely broach such a topic. With its unique approach to African football, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of sports history, African studies, politics in sports and African sports.