Ask A Footballer


Book Description

'Ask a Footballer is a fine read, showcasing how an unassuming man has forged success, winning the Premier League twice, the FA Cup and the Champions League' Matthew Syed, The Times Ever wondered what it's REALLY like to be a Premier League footballer? My name is James Milner and I'm not a Ribena-holic. Let me share insights into what it's like being a professional footballer, across my different experiences with Leeds United, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Manchester City and now Liverpool (not forgetting a six-match loan spell at Swindon). Plus my highs - and a few too many lows - playing for England. There isn't a current player who's been playing Premier League football as long as I have, and that gives me a pretty rare perspective into how the top-flight game has changed over the past seventeen years. In this book, I explain how a footballer's working week unfolds - what we eat and how we prepare for matches technically, tactically, mentally and physically - and talk you through the ups and downs of a matchday. I reveal my penalty-taking techniques, half-time team talks and the differences between playing against Lionel Messi, Wilfried Zaha and Jimmy Bullard. I've played for managers ranging from Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Sir Bobby Robson to Martin O'Neill, Fabio Capello and Jurgen Klopp. I tell you what it's like sharing a training ground and a dressing-room with team-mates such as Lee Bowyer, Mario Balotelli and Mo Salah. I also reveal the behind-the-scenes work that went into Liverpool's Champions League success - and the celebrations that followed. So this isn't an autobiography. The whole point of Ask A Footballer is that you, the fans, asked me questions and I have used my own experiences to answer them. I hope you like it, and don't find it too boring.




Ask the Old Football Coach


Book Description

Throwing the flag on long-lost football “wisdom” from legends like Rockne, Heisman, and Camp Quick-hitting spreads and single-page entries offer points of entry everywhere in the book Humorous alternative to the advanced statistics and fantasy football analytics With nearly 200 vintage and whacky football photographs Your old Uncle Frank likes to say that football ain’t what it used to be; how today’s players, coaches, and analysts know NOTHING compared to legends of the past. Oh, yeah? Well, here’s a book of ancient nuggets of football wisdom hilariously taken apart to show that all the golden advice and knowledge from years past is, well, from a lot of years past. And it hasn’t aged too well. Ask the Old Football Coach takes the old football coach at his word . . . and then offers a few words in response! Illustrated with vintage football photography.




How to Be a Footballer


Book Description

'Very funny on almost every page, wonderfully self-deprecating and very sharp on the ludicrous behaviour of the modern player' - Sunday Times 'The funniest man in British sport' - Metro **A Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year** **Shortlisted for the National Book Awards** **Longlisted for the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Autobiography of the Year** You become a footballer because you love football. And then you are a footballer, and you're suddenly in the strangest, most baffling world of all. A world where one team-mate comes to training in a bright red suit with matching top-hat, cane and glasses, without any actual glass in them, and another has so many sports cars they forget they have left a Porsche at the train station. Even when their surname is incorporated in the registration plate. So walk with me into the dressing-room, to find out which players refuse to touch a football before a game, to discover why a load of millionaires never have any shower-gel, and to hear what Cristiano Ronaldo says when he looks at himself in the mirror. We will go into post-match interviews, make fools of ourselves on social media and try to ensure that we never again pay £250 for a haircut that should have cost a tenner. We'll be coached and cajoled by Harry Redknapp, upset Rafa Benitez and be soothed by the sound of an accordion played by Sven-Goran Eriksson's assistant Tord Grip. There will be some very bad music and some very bad decisions. I am Peter Crouch. This is How To Be A Footballer. Shall we?




Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup


Book Description

October 10, 2017. The U.S. men’s soccer team loses in Trinidad and Tobago, and fails to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Winning soccer’s greatest prize never seemed more distant. Immediate fixes—a new coach, a revamped professional league, a commitment to coaching education—won’t put the USA in the global elite. The nation is too fractious, too litigious, too wrapped up in other sports, and too late to the game. In Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup: A Historical and Cultural Reality Check, Beau Dure shows what American soccer is really up against. Using hundreds of sources to trace more than 100 years of history, Dure delves into the culture that only recently lost its disdain for the global game and still doesn’t have the depth of soccer insight and passion that much of the world has had for generations. The difficulty isn’t any single thing—the mismanagement of failed leagues, the inability to agree on a path forward, the lawsuits that stem from an inability to agree, or the unique American culture that treasures its homegrown sports. It’s everything. And yet, Why the U.S. Men Will Never Win the World Cup is ultimately optimistic. Dure argues that with the right long-term changes, the U.S. can build a soccer environment that consistently produces quality players, strong results, and a lot more fun on the international stage. Soccer fans and skeptics alike will find this a fascinating examination of America’s past, present, and future in the beautiful game.




Why Soccer Matters


Book Description

Pelé—legendary footballer and humanitarian—explores the sport’s recent history and shares his most inspiring experiences, heartwarming stories, and hard-won wisdom. “I know in my heart that soccer was good to me, and great to the world....I saw, time and again, how the sport improved countless millions of lives, both on and off the field. For me, at least, that’s why soccer matters.” The world’s most popular sport goes by many names—soccer, football, the beautiful game—but fans have always agreed on one thing: The greatest player of all time was Pelé. Before Messi, before Ronaldo, before Beckham, Pelé had a stunning twenty-year career, where he was heralded as an international treasure. His accomplishments on the field proved to be pure magic: an unprecedented three World Cup championships and the all-time scoring record, with 1,283 goals. Since retiring, he has traveled the world as soccer’s global ambassador, relentlessly promoting the positive ways soccer can transform young men and women, struggling communities, even entire nations. This is Pelé’s legacy, his way of passing on everything he’s learned and inspiring a new generation. In Why Soccer Matters, Pelé details his ambitious goals for the future of the sport and, by extension, the world.




I Am the Secret Footballer


Book Description

The truth about professional football by the man on the inside.




Slow Getting Up


Book Description

One man's odyssey into the brutal hive of the National Football League As an unsigned free agent who rose through the practice squad to the starting lineup of the Denver Broncos, Nate Jackson took the path of thousands of unknowns before him to carve out a professional football career twice as long as the average player. Through his story recounted here—from scouting combines to preseason cuts to byzantine film studies to glorious touchdown catches—even knowledgeable football fans will glean a new, starkly humanized understanding of the NFL's workweek. Fast-paced, lyrical, dirty, and hilariously unvarnished, Slow Getting Up is an unforgettable look at the real lives of America's best athletes putting their bodies and minds through hell.




The Suburban Footballer


Book Description

Tom Siegert is The Suburban FootballerTom was a below average junior player and his career has been in free fall ever since. It is the final round of the season and once again he finds himself in the familiar position of warming the interchange bench. It's freezing cold, rain is tumbling down and his head is thumping with his worst hangover since last week. As he sits, wishing he was anywhere but playing a game of footy, he wonders why he does it to himself. Should this be his final season or should he go around one last time?




Coaching Youth Football


Book Description

Congratulations on your commitment to coach youth football. If you have played but haven’t coached before, you’ll need some help to make your first season a success. If you have coached previously, every season is an opportunity to do better. Coaching Youth Football, with its field-tested information and advice, will help you run your team with confidence. You’ll find methods and tips for communicating with players, minimizing risk and preventing injuries, providing basic first aid, planning and conducting practices, teaching the fundamental techniques and tactics, coaching on game day, and keeping it all fun. Written by Joe Galat, a former college and NFL coach and the president and founder of American Youth Football (AYF), this book covers fundamentals of offense, defense, and special teams. It features separate chapters on offensive and defensive techniques and tactics, as well as the best practices for blocking and tackling to minimize the risk of injury. More than 70 drills and 126 photos and illustrations are included in the chapters. Designed for coaches of players ages 14 and under, this book is also a valuable component of the Coaching Youth Football: The AYF Way online course, the official course of AYF, offered through Human Kinetics Coach Education. With this book, you can create an athlete-centered environment that promotes player development, enjoyment, motivation, and safety so that players will come out for the team year after year.




Never Ask "Why"


Book Description

An inside look at the struggles Ed Garvey and his small group of supporters faced in bringing true professionalism to football players