England Managers: The Toughest Job in Football by Brian Glanville

by Brian Glanville

The England national team has had only eleven full-time managers - and Brian Glanville has known them all. In this fascinating account of each man - his strengths, weaknesses and impact on the game - Brian Glanville provides an in-depth analysis of the national team in general as well as the individuals under scrutiny. Funny, controversial, measured and thought-provoking, Glanville's assessment of why England has, for the most part, underachieved, will be required reading for all football fans and for every member of the FA Committee - if they are prepared to read some unpalatable truths. On "He was never cut out for the lonely exposed life of an international manager - almost pathologically thin-skinned." On "A mixture of good and bad luck characterised his years. He never seemed fully in control." On "Highly competent but appointed a few years too late." On "A curate's egg of a regime."

Hardcover

First published May 31, 2007

About the author

Brian Lester Glanville was an English football writer and novelist. He was described by The Times as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation", and by American journalist Paul Zimmerman as "the greatest football writer of all time."

Reviews

[Stuart S · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brian Glanville may well be a firmly established writer - a legend, even - in the field of football journalism, but this book came across very much as the thoughts of a bitter old man.

And by that I don't mean to be disrespectful. Throughout the book, as he went agonisingly through each England manager since Walter Winterbottom, it seemed he just didn't have a good word to say about any of them - and that included Sir Alf!

Maybe long-time readers of Glanville won't like hearing this, but that was certainly the dominant impression throughout the book. As the chapters wore grimly on, it was just negative, negative, negative - no one was spared a dig.

At least Glanville got one thing right - the England manager really does have one of the "toughest jobs in football". As long as you've got someone like Glanville reporting on you, that is.

Very, very disappointing.

[Peter Wilson · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was interesting to start of with learning a bit about the managers, i didn't no who were england managers, but towards in the end it dragged on for too long, so because of that 2 stars, only one other book has got lower than that, and that was rubbish.