The Football Manager's Guide to Football Management

by Iain Macintosh

The ultimate user bible to playing Football Manager.
     Football Manager doesn't need you. Football Manager will happily play on without you, carefully managing and tinkering with its teams, happily playing out an eternity of football whether you are there to watch or not. To play Football Manager, at least beyond your first assignment, you have to prove yourself worthy of Football Manager. And perhaps this is where the source of the addiction lies. From the first moment, the pressure is on. Your team, your tactics, your ideas, your strategy. It's all on you and if you fail, the computer is under no obligation to let you back in.
     The purpose of this book is to follow those ley lines that run between the game and reality. It's to ask the managers of reality about the issues that face the managers of the game. It's to use all that the real world has to offer to give you the inspiration to prevail.
     Want to know how to lay down a club-wide template for free flowing football and boundless success. Ask Brendan Rodgers. Want to know how to advance from the lower leagues to the Premier League while following your instinctive desire to produce intelligent, entertaining teams? Ask Roberto Martinez. Want to know how to quickly improve teams, sometimes with the transfer market, sometimes just be cheering up the players? Ask Harry Redknapp.
     But we're going to go deeper. Do you want to know how to set up a scouting system that serves the needs of a 21st century elite club? Do you want to know how to balance a coaching routine, maintaining fitness while improving technique? Of course you do. That's why you picked up this book.

Genres: Football, Sports, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2015

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Football Manager Guide to Football Management

If you are looking for hints on how to play the computer game Football Manager than jog on pal this book is not for you. This book is aimed at those who wish to be a football manager or coach, especially those who think that they can do better than their team’s current manager. I am not sure I can better my team’s manager as Pep Guardiola has a somewhat excellent reputation.

For those of us who need guidance to be on the road to fame fortune and football best pick this book up as it has plenty of help and wit. Iain Macintosh has written a book that is full of helpful entertainment, sorry, help, so that you too can rise to the dizzy heights of managing your own club.

With chapters that cover the important things in football such as tactics, training and first impressions, all the important things. As with most clubs there is always the much vaunted youth policy and with wit a chapter telling you to manage a youth policy or at least pillage a lower league team for all their young talent. While taking a neat side swipe at the Premier League’s youth academies and league and also mentions those who have no margin for error.

This is a fantastic and fun book that should be on every football fan’s book especially those that think they can do the job any way. There are plenty if laugh out moments in the book, along with a ‘did you know?’, in every chapter. So as well as having a laugh at what a manager has to do, but there is also plenty to learn throughout the book.

This is a book for all football fans that like a semi-serious but fun book.

[Kdawg91 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have discussed in other reviews, my tendency to obsess over things, Recently that thing (for the million of you that don't follow my reviews) is the beautiful game, soccer.

Also, this goes into the fact that I am a hardcore gamer, I am one of these people who have strategy guides to games I don't own. I got into soccer, through football manager. Yes, a nerdy guy who never played sports and sucked at math, got HOOKED on a game that is the SPORTS and the NUMBERS. yeah..made no sense to me either.

All this backstory being put out there, this is a fun, quick well written read. Full of trivia and tales of managers in real life. It also (for a newbie like me) broke down some of the details of things that I didn't quite get.

so, yes...if you like soccer, or management games, or just want some fun, check this out..now if you excuse me, we have a game against Liverpool tonight.

[Mahlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The football managers guide to football management is just what fans of the FM franchise need to combat The boredom until FM16 is released. Iain Mcintosh has written a humorous book you don't have to be a fan of The game to enjoy. The section on player roles and the chapter on transfers will be very helpful to those that play the game.

[Andrei · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book as i always enjoyed Iain Macintosh's appearances on The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast. I found his style of writing informal and easy to read. He has acquired some decent names to interview for his book. However, i think as another user wrote, i don't feel it delves too deep into the true intricacies of football management. Additionally, there is seldom reference to the game of football manager, which one would expect from the title. There are some amusing anecdotes from previous managers but one would have to question how much a manager is really going to give away in an interview regarding his tactics, especially in the brutally competitive world of top-flight management. I would still recommend this to football fans as some of the stories do provide entertainment but it was not the best football book i have read.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

beginner level insight to football management. My knowledge is far superior than what this book provides. I did however enjoy the fun facts and stories. A nice easy read.

[Michael Flanagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a devotee of the Football Manager game franchise I opened this book with much excitement. I mean the documentary on Football Manager was top rate so a book on it will be so much better, wont it?

No is the short answer. I could end the review there but what fun is that. The book had some very interesting tales from real life Managers and this I enjoyed immensely. But overall I ended up feeling like the book was more a very fancy instruction book rather than a guide. I feel I never really gained much from this book.

[Nick Upton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent in places but largely average.

I used to read books on football as a child that revolved around training drills, tactics and so on. This reads in a similar fashion to those, minus the illustrations and based on management rather than the playing side.

It's not really a 'Football Manager guide' to anything. It's a bloke's guide to football management with a bit of FM thrown in towards the end.

Bit disappointing that the book had so little to do with the gaming series.

[José Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reflexiones sobre las peculiaridades del oficio de entrenador de fútbol, en tono distendido y siempre desde la óptica del videojuego Football Manager.

[Andrei Rydzkowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I purchased this book as i always enjoyed Iain Macintosh's appearances on The Guardian's Football Weekly podcast. I found his style of writing informal and easy to read. He has acquired some decent names to interview for his book. However, i think as another user wrote, i don't feel it delves too deep into the true intricacies of football management. Additionally, there is seldom reference to the game of football manager, which one would expect from the title. There are some amusing anecdotes from previous managers but one would have to question how much a manager is really going to give away in an interview regarding his tactics, especially in the brutally competitive world of top-flight management. I would still recommend this to football fans as some of the stories do provide entertainment but it was not the best football book i have read.

[Koen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een verzameling van anekdotes over voetbaltrainers aan de hand van de verschillende aspecten van het trainersbestaan. Leuke en grappige verhalen die met name gericht zijn op Engelse trainers. Wat dat betreft voor mij ook een kleine geschiedenisles.

Op het spel Football Manager heeft het weinig betrekking. De koppeling tussen het spel en dit boek zit met name in de bewustwording wat erbij komt kijken om daadwerkelijk langs de kant van het veld te staan als eindverantwoordelijke en niet in je luie stoel achter je pc.

[Jamie Ainsworth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good little read about the ups and downs of football management, however if you’re looking for a book to help give you tips and hints to become better at the game then this probably isn’t the book for you.

I enjoyed the several anecdotes from different managers at different levels but I felt it didn’t flow as much as it should of done, instead you end up jumping from one place to another rather than focussing on one story/area.

[Dan DuPree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and witty as always

I've become a huge fan of Iain Macintosh's work over the past years, and this read does not disappoint. A bit more serious with less Iain snark/humor than usual, but well written as always. The interviews and behind the scenes insights are fantastic.

[Stephen McGovern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely one of my favourite reads when it comes to football books. Although its essentially an advert for a video game, its a fune and easy read that explains the nuts and bolts of football tactics without being dense, something which Jonathan Wilson's tome Inverting The Pyramid suffers from. Iain Macintosh is a talented writer who really nails his subject here.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It's a great sit-on-the-beach and have a quiet chuckle to oneself. But if you're looking for anything approaching depth of analysis on being a football manager, football management in general then I would suggest something else.

Still worthwhile but very popcorn in nature.

[Adele · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really thought that this was going to be all about the computer game, but it was actually about proper football management.

A very, very interesting read, although, given the author supports the same football team as me, there was not enough written about them ;o)

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paid 50p for this and still feel ripped off - nothing relating to the game, apart from the first and last chapters, plus it needs a decent editor (spelling mistakes abound, and in one case an entire paragraph is repeated directly underneath!)

[Don · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting in places but didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know

[Prakhar Sachdeo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A small little book which is definitely not about the Football Manager game. The books gives us some insights into the world of football management. With anecdotes from England and a few from rest of the world the books proves to be an interesting read. The humor of the book will keep you gripped.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Although I have played Football Manager a few times, I did not really read the book in relation to the electronic game, rather just as a relatively recent convert to the world of being a football fan. As a newcomer, it was a perfect knowledge-broadening book - I found I had enough experience to understand the book and for it to help me to understand the different management styles and conundrums, and it seemed to have more depth for people who have a longer history of being a football fan.

The split of the chapters into transfers, tactics, training etc made good sense; the only bits that I found less interesting were the ones specifically about the game Football Manager, but they were in the minority so did not affect my overall impressions.

The prose worked well for me - a relaxed style that fitted well with the subject matter.

Judging by the comments from fans around me at matches, I think that this book is very well pitched at the average football fan - not deep enough for the real specialists, but great for most of us.

The abiding impression that the book left me with was how important a factor the manager is in the success of the team, but also how incredibly hard it is to be a football manager as it is such a balance of so many factors, with the added excitement of luck.

[Anthony Fisher]

I enjoyed the book, especially the insight into the real events of various managers, to illustrate (often in a humorist way) the particular messages covering the different chapters. The author did cover the many tasks and attributes needed to be a successful football manager, some of which I had not previously considered.

I originally bought the book to help me improve my management skills in order to play the PC edition of Football Manager 2016. However, I am not sure whether these skills can be translated into my game play. I know from previous editions of the PC game, that these abilities are somewhat restricted, however, as the A.I. of the game improves each year so do these abilities, though you can be a little frustrated with the limited results.

Nevertheless, the book did set me thinking of ways to try and improve my game play as well the problems and attributes the real soccer managers face.

[Akhlaq]

For those who purchased the book for insights/tips into FM whilst they are playing then they are more likely to be left disappointed. I guess the idea for the chapters of the book are designed for gamers to pick the information from real-life managers into their own game even though it isn’t explicitly stated at the start of the book – although the last few chapters are practical and helpful for FM16 players. I thought the book was written in an easy style, not too complicated but nice understandable jargon. Its sources are a good range of interviewees (thought additions of Jim Bentley and Sean Dyche added to the varying spectrums of football management). A minor point was the publications of sources used at the end – many journalists pen books with secondary research used but not accredited so it was good to see that for readers, if they wished, to continue additional reading.

[Paul English · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lured in by the football manager association but in reality it's link is rather tenuous.
Each chapter is an area in which a football manager must manoeuvre (even the PC based ones) and filled with facts and football anecdotes. On the whole the chapters are interesting and as a Sunderland fan there were quite a few mentions of my beloved Black Cats which I thoroughly enjoyed. The writing is dark and comic, as dark as a non-fiction book about the specifics of football management can be.
Overall it's a good 'dip and out' read which was perfect for the work commute and punchy enough to make every bite sized read satisfy.
For anyone interested in football I'd thoroughly recommend it.

4/5

[Jonnie M · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a big fan of the Football Manager series of games and someone who enjoys Iain Macintosh's work as a journalist, I was looking forward to getting into this book. However in the end, it wasn't what I expected. It provides a beginner's level insight into the world of management, with some fun anecdotes, but there is very little talk about the video games the book is named after. Given Macintosh's talent, it's an alright light read, but there wasn't much gained from reading this.

[Robert Giddings · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this because I've always enjoyed Iain Macintosh's appearances on the Guardian Football Weekly podcast, but was disappointed by it. It's maybe aimed at teens who have little knowledge of the subject, and doesn't provide much in the way of new insight. Some of the quotes obtained are interesting, and there are a few good jokes, but overall it's a bit light and fluffy for my tastes

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting easy to read book with a lot of good stories about real life managers. Whilst the book did provide some useful tips for the game, not much of it focussed on the game as the title would suggest. As a result, this was just a nice book full of interesting stories but there wasn't much to learn with respect to the game.

[Mike Uscroft · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty amusing look at some of the ins and outs of football management.

[Martyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and insightful look at the dark art of Football Management. Iain Macintosh writes with a smile on his face, one which most certainly ends up on the readers lips too.

[Vladimir · Rating 2 out of 5]

It seems like a nice overview of what being a football manager is like. It's also a collection of anecdotes from the football management world. A nice read.

[Kahn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The plan was to have something to read on the train to Download, something I might enjoy after the dire stodge of Vile Bodies.
In the space of a four-hour train journey, I'd hoovered up two-thirds of Iain Macintosh's book. The final third was delightfully digested once I'd checked in.
In his Guide To Football Management, Macintosh takes us through the myths and hype of what makes a football manager.
Or, more accurately, what we think makes a football manager.
In truth reality and myth rarely cross-over, but Macintosh takes us through the fields of theory with a delightfully deft touch, a murdered metaphor or two and a sprinkling of wit and humour.
To then tie it all together within the confines of Football Manager - a game I freely admit to being addicted to - is nothing short of genius.
Combining frivolity with insight is a rare gift, but Macintosh pulls it off with aplomb and proves that, yes, it is indeed a funny old game.