How to Be a Footballer

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Robert's death reminded most of us how little we understand about the illness that is depression," wrote Ronald Reng in the introduction to A Life Too Short: The Tragedy Of Robert Enke. Enke, destined to become Germany's first-choice goalkeeper at the 2010 World Cup Finals, had been a friend of the author since 2002, and they had loosely planned to write a book together on Enke's football career. Reng is particularly adept at adopting a nuanced approach towards the root causes of Enke's illness. The clinical depression which hit him hard in the midst of troubles at Barcelona did not consume him in the wake of his young daughter's disabling disease and tragic death. Remarkably, Enke dug deep into his mental reserves to refocus and rediscover his form. Following the theory of fandom as therapy, Hornby describes how he used Arsenal to escape from his parents’ divorce, problems with women, the question of what to do with his life, and so on. He treats his fandom as a problem, as something not entirely healthy. This set him apart from the previous notion of fandom as a hobby, and from his imitators who wrote cutesy accounts of watching bad football in the rain without any of Hornby’s honesty about their own lives. There is also a really moving section in the book about the Hillsborough tragedy from the perspective of a player who witnessed first hand the terrible events.

A brilliant, well constructed read, Roy Keane’s book is surprisingly candid and there are many laugh out loud moments which will surprise many who think that he is an angry, brash man. He shares some of the experiences and lessons he has learnt during his footballing career but ultimately this is a guide to personal development for young people on how to achieve their own dreams. One of the most recognisable faces in British football, and the ex England manager, Sam Allardyce’s autobiography is blunt, to the point and pulls no punches. There are problems. When Bellos wrote this, he was Brazil correspondent for The Guardian, and like many daily journalists he has trouble structuring a book. At times it descends into a parade of cameo football obsessives. Secondly, he is shorter on theory than on fact. This is something of a relief after the many half-baked football-as-national-character arguments, but since Bellos knows so much, and seems so comfortable with Brazil’s history, language and music (like all good football books, Futebol is about much more than football), we want more of his insights. However, it’s an irreplaceable book. Simon Kuper Balague has previously written football books on Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola and this book follows the same biographical format, charting Ronaldo’s early career at Sporting Lisbon, through to his time in England with Manchester United and becoming a ‘ galactico‘ at Real Madrid.Brilliant written and intensively researched, this is one of those football books that you won’t be able to put down.

If you’re looking for one of those football books that are crammed with no-nonsense facts, tactical analysis and a serious tone then this book is definitely not for you. I had mixed feelings when I began work on the book,” confesses Kuper. “I felt that the whole thing might be too big for me, and I was concerned about what friends would say when they read it. Yet I also had a sort of blind confidence in my writing ability. An established author probably wouldn’t have taken on such a project. It’s the sort of thing that a young writer needed to do.”

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Very self-deprecating, Crouch has done extremely well to change the public’s perception of him and is fast becoming one of the most entertaining characters in the game. The book looks at the technical side of the game and what you should watch out for in respect to tactical decisions and formations.