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State of Play: Under the Skin of the Modern Game
*** Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano and No Hunger in Paradise returns with his magnum opus on the state of modern football ***
First he revealed the extraordinary lives of football scouts in The Nowhere Men.
Next he unearthed the pressures on football managers in Living on the Volcano.
Then he chronicled the hardships of young players striving to make it in No Hunger in Paradise.
Now in State of Play, in what marks the pinnacle of a career investigating the human stories of football, award-winning writer Michael Calvin turns his eye to the biggest story of all - the game itself.
From mental health to money, concussion to Champions league, fan-owners to oligarchs, women's football to world cups, Calvin gets under the skin of the beautiful game, and reveals why it is truly the game of our lives.
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with leading figures around the world, from Arsene Wenger to Steven Gerrard, Calvin reveals the winners, the losers, the politics, the pleasure, the hope, and the despair of the world's most popular sport.
First he revealed the extraordinary lives of football scouts in The Nowhere Men.
Next he unearthed the pressures on football managers in Living on the Volcano.
Then he chronicled the hardships of young players striving to make it in No Hunger in Paradise.
Now in State of Play, in what marks the pinnacle of a career investigating the human stories of football, award-winning writer Michael Calvin turns his eye to the biggest story of all - the game itself.
From mental health to money, concussion to Champions league, fan-owners to oligarchs, women's football to world cups, Calvin gets under the skin of the beautiful game, and reveals why it is truly the game of our lives.
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with leading figures around the world, from Arsene Wenger to Steven Gerrard, Calvin reveals the winners, the losers, the politics, the pleasure, the hope, and the despair of the world's most popular sport.
395 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 23, 2018
21 people are currently reading
367 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
September 11, 2018
Michael Calvin is one of the best Sports writers working today, so when he speaks we should listen very carefully. That being said, for someone who professes to love football in the introduction, his books have often focused on the negative underside of the game. This focus is not unwarranted, however it's tough to read tales of heartbreaking sadness page after page. This one is no exception. Particular attention should be paid to the chapter on Jeff Astle and the managers.Regardless of how you feel about the tone of his works they are important and should be read by anyone who cares about the soul of this game.
December 7, 2025
Good account of modern footballs trials and issues, albeit a bit dated given its 2018 release. It’s mostly good but peaks in the very first chapter when discussing the links between football and dementia.
Its lowest point is when the author thinks a roadman from north-west London said “I’m not a waste, man.” Embarrassingly out of touch.
3.5/5
Its lowest point is when the author thinks a roadman from north-west London said “I’m not a waste, man.” Embarrassingly out of touch.
3.5/5
May 10, 2021
Reading this in the aftermath of the 2021 European Super League fiasco is a salutary experience as the latter certainly confirms much of what the author thinks. It’s beautifully written, always compassionate and essential for anyone who loves football.
August 20, 2018
To the cursory observer all seems well with the game of football at present with the nation still celebrating England’s unexpected achievements at the recent World Cup, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding the start of another over-hyped Premier League season. Some of the top players and managers in the world are indeed competing and exhibiting their skills in this country and the game – certainly at the top end – is awash with television cash, but are things quite as healthy as they seem?
Sometimes you need someone to act as your conscience, poke around beneath the surface and pose the questions that most observers are afraid to ask – the ones that the administrators would prefer to be swept into the long grass. It is sometimes hard to bite the hand that feeds you and it is understandable, if not forgivable why some commentators and pundits perhaps pull their punches at times and gloss over some issues, but such an accusation can never be levelled at Michael Calvin.
There is so much written about football nowadays and Amazon now stocks over 20,000 books on the subject, but I would be staggered if more than a tiny minority are more than dross and have much literary merit or originality. Amongst the ghost written pap there are a frustratingly small number of authors who stand out from the sea of mediocrity and one of them is Michael Calvin. I make no apology for lauding him, but with the forthcoming release of “State of Play” he has now written five exceptional football books each providing a detailed, hard-hitting and informed study of a different aspect of the sport.
He has previously spent a season as a fly on the wall in promotion winning Millwall’s dressing room, given a voice to scouts – one of football’s most ignored groups, demonstrated just how stressful and perilous is the role of a football manager and, most memorably provided a forensic, lacerating and yet sympathetic study of what it takes to become a professional footballer and the toll the game takes on young players. Now he shines a light into the darkest corners and recesses of the game and much of what he uncovers is unpleasant and unsavoury in the extreme.
He has divided his new book into four sections covering players, managers, clubs and other football people and he leaves no stones unturned in revealing some of the key issues that affect and blight the sport today.
I well remember the impact the opening chapter of one of his previous books made on me as he described the electroconvulsive therapy treatment undergone by Martin Ling, a well-respected lower league manager who laid bare his struggles against depression. That stayed with me for many months as will, in his new book, Calvin’s heartbreaking, moving and poignant description of the terrible last minutes of former England striker and West Brom icon Jeff Astle as he choked to death on his own vomit in front of his helpless family. He had been in deep and inexorable decline from the effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) caused by his constant heading of a hard leather ball, and he died at a tragically young age. Calvin shines a spotlight onto the growing scandal of far too many footballers from recent decades suffering dementia or worse as a result of “industrial injury” from playing professional football.
Dawn Astle, Jeff’s heroic daughter has campaigned tirelessly to force a reluctant hierarchy to fund research into the effects of heading a ball (which is now banned for under 14’s in America) and Calvin justifiably made scornful mention of PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor’s appallingly arrogant, ignorant and unforgivable comment to Dawn that “my mother’s got dementia and she’s never headed a ball”. Finally after years of obfuscation, denying responsibility and putting their head in the sand, the FA and PFA have commissioned an independent study into the long-term effects of heading a ball on 15,000 former players. CTE is a ticking time bomb. I was researching a book on my own team, Brentford recently and discovered with horror how few players from even the mid to late 1960’s were still with us as dementia has taken such a heavy toll. I am sure that many former players from even more recent times lie awake at night worrying about what might happen to them in years to come.
Calvin does not stop there as he examines many other burning issues that tarnish and shame the game such as homophobia, racism, sexism, drugs, gang culture, concussion, depression, suicide and mental health issues, the social media revolution and keyboard warriors, uncaring and ignorant foreign ownership, venal agents and how the sport has generally tried to sweep them all beneath the surface and not accept and deal with them at source.
The book is not always easy or comfortable reading as Calvin gets under the skin of the modern game and tells a series of hard-hitting stories that often show the game in an appalling and uncaring light and yet there is still hope, there are many heroes who are swimming against the tide and doing their utmost to help footballers who are struggling to cope with the physical and mental demands of a relentless and unforgiving game where the rewards for success are enormous and the cost of failure just as massive.
Their positive stories are also told and we hear about former journeyman footballer Drewe Broughton who has reinvented himself as an empathetic and highly effective performance coach acting as a father confessor figure providing holistic support to a group of players who are struggling to keep their heads above water. Holocaust survivors such as Zigi Shipper and Harry Spiro tell their awe-inspiring tales of survival from Nazi tyranny and genocide to spellbound groups of international footballers. Pragmatic Accrington chairman Andy Holt who has triumphed against all the odds also cocks a snoot at the patronising “have’s” from the upper echelons of the game who have no conception or interest in what it is like to scrabble around simply to pay the electricity bill. The wonderful work of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement which does so much inspiring work in the North West is also highlighted amongst many other such organisations.
Calvin also writes lyrically and from the heart about how Watford, the team he supported as a boy, wildly celebrating Barry Endean’s winning goal against Liverpool in a long-forgotten FA Cup tie as a ballboy, has been transformed, not all for the better perhaps by the ownership of the Pozzo family. There is sufficient rich material here, I believe, for another standalone book.
“The Secret Barrister” – an excoriating polemic that lays bare the myriad shortcomings of the criminal justice system has proved to be a recent publishing sensation and massive success story over the past few months, and I fully expect Calvin’s “State of Play” to fulfil a similar role for the football industry. There is much that is wrong but also so much that, not before time, is beginning to be done to help make things better for our current and future generations.
Michael Calvin has done the game a massive service with this broad ranging, hard-hitting and exceptionally well researched book and he has also written it in a beautiful, lucid prose style. In his introduction Calvin paid tribute to the great Arthur Hopcraft and his seminal study of football in “The Football Man” which helped inspire him to take up writing as a career. The biggest compliment that I can pay Michael Calvin is that this book is as well crafted as anything Hopcraft wrote and in years to come football fans will be reading “State of Play” as they still do “The Football Man”.
Sometimes you need someone to act as your conscience, poke around beneath the surface and pose the questions that most observers are afraid to ask – the ones that the administrators would prefer to be swept into the long grass. It is sometimes hard to bite the hand that feeds you and it is understandable, if not forgivable why some commentators and pundits perhaps pull their punches at times and gloss over some issues, but such an accusation can never be levelled at Michael Calvin.
There is so much written about football nowadays and Amazon now stocks over 20,000 books on the subject, but I would be staggered if more than a tiny minority are more than dross and have much literary merit or originality. Amongst the ghost written pap there are a frustratingly small number of authors who stand out from the sea of mediocrity and one of them is Michael Calvin. I make no apology for lauding him, but with the forthcoming release of “State of Play” he has now written five exceptional football books each providing a detailed, hard-hitting and informed study of a different aspect of the sport.
He has previously spent a season as a fly on the wall in promotion winning Millwall’s dressing room, given a voice to scouts – one of football’s most ignored groups, demonstrated just how stressful and perilous is the role of a football manager and, most memorably provided a forensic, lacerating and yet sympathetic study of what it takes to become a professional footballer and the toll the game takes on young players. Now he shines a light into the darkest corners and recesses of the game and much of what he uncovers is unpleasant and unsavoury in the extreme.
He has divided his new book into four sections covering players, managers, clubs and other football people and he leaves no stones unturned in revealing some of the key issues that affect and blight the sport today.
I well remember the impact the opening chapter of one of his previous books made on me as he described the electroconvulsive therapy treatment undergone by Martin Ling, a well-respected lower league manager who laid bare his struggles against depression. That stayed with me for many months as will, in his new book, Calvin’s heartbreaking, moving and poignant description of the terrible last minutes of former England striker and West Brom icon Jeff Astle as he choked to death on his own vomit in front of his helpless family. He had been in deep and inexorable decline from the effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) caused by his constant heading of a hard leather ball, and he died at a tragically young age. Calvin shines a spotlight onto the growing scandal of far too many footballers from recent decades suffering dementia or worse as a result of “industrial injury” from playing professional football.
Dawn Astle, Jeff’s heroic daughter has campaigned tirelessly to force a reluctant hierarchy to fund research into the effects of heading a ball (which is now banned for under 14’s in America) and Calvin justifiably made scornful mention of PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor’s appallingly arrogant, ignorant and unforgivable comment to Dawn that “my mother’s got dementia and she’s never headed a ball”. Finally after years of obfuscation, denying responsibility and putting their head in the sand, the FA and PFA have commissioned an independent study into the long-term effects of heading a ball on 15,000 former players. CTE is a ticking time bomb. I was researching a book on my own team, Brentford recently and discovered with horror how few players from even the mid to late 1960’s were still with us as dementia has taken such a heavy toll. I am sure that many former players from even more recent times lie awake at night worrying about what might happen to them in years to come.
Calvin does not stop there as he examines many other burning issues that tarnish and shame the game such as homophobia, racism, sexism, drugs, gang culture, concussion, depression, suicide and mental health issues, the social media revolution and keyboard warriors, uncaring and ignorant foreign ownership, venal agents and how the sport has generally tried to sweep them all beneath the surface and not accept and deal with them at source.
The book is not always easy or comfortable reading as Calvin gets under the skin of the modern game and tells a series of hard-hitting stories that often show the game in an appalling and uncaring light and yet there is still hope, there are many heroes who are swimming against the tide and doing their utmost to help footballers who are struggling to cope with the physical and mental demands of a relentless and unforgiving game where the rewards for success are enormous and the cost of failure just as massive.
Their positive stories are also told and we hear about former journeyman footballer Drewe Broughton who has reinvented himself as an empathetic and highly effective performance coach acting as a father confessor figure providing holistic support to a group of players who are struggling to keep their heads above water. Holocaust survivors such as Zigi Shipper and Harry Spiro tell their awe-inspiring tales of survival from Nazi tyranny and genocide to spellbound groups of international footballers. Pragmatic Accrington chairman Andy Holt who has triumphed against all the odds also cocks a snoot at the patronising “have’s” from the upper echelons of the game who have no conception or interest in what it is like to scrabble around simply to pay the electricity bill. The wonderful work of the Fans Supporting Foodbanks movement which does so much inspiring work in the North West is also highlighted amongst many other such organisations.
Calvin also writes lyrically and from the heart about how Watford, the team he supported as a boy, wildly celebrating Barry Endean’s winning goal against Liverpool in a long-forgotten FA Cup tie as a ballboy, has been transformed, not all for the better perhaps by the ownership of the Pozzo family. There is sufficient rich material here, I believe, for another standalone book.
“The Secret Barrister” – an excoriating polemic that lays bare the myriad shortcomings of the criminal justice system has proved to be a recent publishing sensation and massive success story over the past few months, and I fully expect Calvin’s “State of Play” to fulfil a similar role for the football industry. There is much that is wrong but also so much that, not before time, is beginning to be done to help make things better for our current and future generations.
Michael Calvin has done the game a massive service with this broad ranging, hard-hitting and exceptionally well researched book and he has also written it in a beautiful, lucid prose style. In his introduction Calvin paid tribute to the great Arthur Hopcraft and his seminal study of football in “The Football Man” which helped inspire him to take up writing as a career. The biggest compliment that I can pay Michael Calvin is that this book is as well crafted as anything Hopcraft wrote and in years to come football fans will be reading “State of Play” as they still do “The Football Man”.
November 14, 2020
Covered a lot of really interesting ground and in that way is worth a read, though the final section (and some standout chapters—like the first) were stronger than others.
The diverse set of voices involved are where the book’s value shines through: the range of perspectives involved peels back the veneer of the industry to peer into darker corners.
The writing was often quite hard to follow as there lacked transition between stories, a paragraph would just suddenly be about someone and something different without signaling such a shift or making connections clear. My main issue with the text was this: composition-level critiques. Calvin also had the tendency to include quotations without analysis or clarification, which could have made the text stronger overall.
A minor issue was the stress the author placed on correcting erasure of women from accounts of the sport—a valuable direction! Glaring, then, was the absence of any discussion of female players. Instead, this gender corrective was limited to female relatives of male players and the possibility of female managers. This was quite disappointing, as was the suggestion that what women can add is a “mothering” or “empathetic/caring/nurturing” level to the stereotypical masculinity in the sport by being involved in male-dominated club structures. The gendered concerns, while well-meant, came off as patronizing and somewhat over-simplified. At times I would have preferred the author just eschew discussing gender completely instead of the stereotyped and incomplete picture that was provided.
The diverse set of voices involved are where the book’s value shines through: the range of perspectives involved peels back the veneer of the industry to peer into darker corners.
The writing was often quite hard to follow as there lacked transition between stories, a paragraph would just suddenly be about someone and something different without signaling such a shift or making connections clear. My main issue with the text was this: composition-level critiques. Calvin also had the tendency to include quotations without analysis or clarification, which could have made the text stronger overall.
A minor issue was the stress the author placed on correcting erasure of women from accounts of the sport—a valuable direction! Glaring, then, was the absence of any discussion of female players. Instead, this gender corrective was limited to female relatives of male players and the possibility of female managers. This was quite disappointing, as was the suggestion that what women can add is a “mothering” or “empathetic/caring/nurturing” level to the stereotypical masculinity in the sport by being involved in male-dominated club structures. The gendered concerns, while well-meant, came off as patronizing and somewhat over-simplified. At times I would have preferred the author just eschew discussing gender completely instead of the stereotyped and incomplete picture that was provided.
November 11, 2019
From such a sports writer (whose other books I have also enjoyed) I was left a little disappointed with this. It is a little difficult to pinpoint why. Perhaps because it was a bit disjointed, taking a thematic approach to the game. It has interesting information in most of the chapters - for which it is worth a read.
July 9, 2019
Another masterclass by Michael Calvin, who focuses on the good, bad and ugly aspects of the modern game. Essential and insightful reading for any football fan.
September 26, 2018
Michael Calvin's previous books have been really good, and although on a broader theme than his previous efforts, I think it was one of, if not the strongest.
In a sense, the theme doesn't matter with Calvin, as his prose tends to link interviews with key figures of the game, a collection of individual stories rather than one big narrative. There are not many big names, with Sean Dyche and Arsene Wenger the most prominent, but Calvin's transcriptions of interviews are the best I've come across - perhaps some individual character is lost, but the sentences are to the point and have the gravitas of a motivational speaker. If Dyche speaks anything like he does on the page, I'd give my life for him, but lower level players, the Watford and MK Dons chairmen, Chelsea Ladies manager and others all give their input to allow most stakeholders in the game a say.
This brings me to my only criticism, which remains from his other books. He rarely criticises those he interviews, but is much more forthright about FIFA, the Premier League and Fan TV channels. It isn't necessarily that he is wrong, but that his targets haven't had their chance to argue their case, although it seems the Premier League refused his interview request. In comparison with previous books he does put forward more of his own opinion, voicing cynicism about Pete Winkelman of MK Dons, and practically recommending Emma Hayes for a management role in the mens' game - although I'm intrigued what level of prize money he would deem fair for the Women's Champions League if the current level is too low. Like Russell Brand, Calvin is quicker to find fault than suggest alternatives.
As it is mostly interviews, it is Calvin's contact list and writing that make it so good, rather than analysis or breadth of research. But he does cover an extensive range of roles in football, and there is a real skill in getting interviewees to open up rather than speak like they do to the press (although some of those in powerful positions seem keener to toe the party line). He deals sensitively with tougher issues while still being frank about them, rather than hiding behind taste to avoid a difficult subject - the exception being a support role for youth, whose remit still wasn't clear to me, nor why the Premier League or PFA alternatives were lacking.
But I raced through it, and once I find a copy of Family I'll just have to hope Calvin goes out to interview a few more figures in the world of football, because he really knows what he's doing.
In a sense, the theme doesn't matter with Calvin, as his prose tends to link interviews with key figures of the game, a collection of individual stories rather than one big narrative. There are not many big names, with Sean Dyche and Arsene Wenger the most prominent, but Calvin's transcriptions of interviews are the best I've come across - perhaps some individual character is lost, but the sentences are to the point and have the gravitas of a motivational speaker. If Dyche speaks anything like he does on the page, I'd give my life for him, but lower level players, the Watford and MK Dons chairmen, Chelsea Ladies manager and others all give their input to allow most stakeholders in the game a say.
This brings me to my only criticism, which remains from his other books. He rarely criticises those he interviews, but is much more forthright about FIFA, the Premier League and Fan TV channels. It isn't necessarily that he is wrong, but that his targets haven't had their chance to argue their case, although it seems the Premier League refused his interview request. In comparison with previous books he does put forward more of his own opinion, voicing cynicism about Pete Winkelman of MK Dons, and practically recommending Emma Hayes for a management role in the mens' game - although I'm intrigued what level of prize money he would deem fair for the Women's Champions League if the current level is too low. Like Russell Brand, Calvin is quicker to find fault than suggest alternatives.
As it is mostly interviews, it is Calvin's contact list and writing that make it so good, rather than analysis or breadth of research. But he does cover an extensive range of roles in football, and there is a real skill in getting interviewees to open up rather than speak like they do to the press (although some of those in powerful positions seem keener to toe the party line). He deals sensitively with tougher issues while still being frank about them, rather than hiding behind taste to avoid a difficult subject - the exception being a support role for youth, whose remit still wasn't clear to me, nor why the Premier League or PFA alternatives were lacking.
But I raced through it, and once I find a copy of Family I'll just have to hope Calvin goes out to interview a few more figures in the world of football, because he really knows what he's doing.
June 10, 2020
Michael Calvin – A State of Play
Having purchased this book for a holiday, the current state of affairs in the world has allowed me to pick up this masterpiece and do it the justice it deserves. This is the first book I have read by Michael Calvin, but it certainly will not be the last. The book gives insight into the modern day concerns and obstacles that football faces, with important examples of those in the game who are making a valiant effort to better it and increase opportunities for those who truly love the sport .
It is up to date as far as late 2018, yet issues with racism, inclusion, coaching opportunities and E-gaming are so much embedded in the game today the context is beyond applicable. The beautiful irony is that Mr. Calvin has used much loved characters in football, to deliver real-life accounts at the highest level. Each chapter would be a conversation starter for any die hard football fan, giving a broader presentation further than your own team’s twitter feed. A personal favourite was Paul Clement, discussing his experience in teaching and coaching, comparing what he learned from each and how to apply skills affectively for optimum performance. Each chapter is delivered in great detail, it allows the reader to paint a picture of the interviews in their head for a further appreciation of the beautiful game.
As a Chelsea fan, with a Tottenham supporting brother, and engaged to a 20 plus years West ham season ticket holder, opinions are in abundance when discussing issues in this book, authentic views based on your experiences, this book in fantastically thought provoking. Don’t turn your nose up at any topic in football again! Love the game and embrace all it’s territory, on to the next one..
Having purchased this book for a holiday, the current state of affairs in the world has allowed me to pick up this masterpiece and do it the justice it deserves. This is the first book I have read by Michael Calvin, but it certainly will not be the last. The book gives insight into the modern day concerns and obstacles that football faces, with important examples of those in the game who are making a valiant effort to better it and increase opportunities for those who truly love the sport .
It is up to date as far as late 2018, yet issues with racism, inclusion, coaching opportunities and E-gaming are so much embedded in the game today the context is beyond applicable. The beautiful irony is that Mr. Calvin has used much loved characters in football, to deliver real-life accounts at the highest level. Each chapter would be a conversation starter for any die hard football fan, giving a broader presentation further than your own team’s twitter feed. A personal favourite was Paul Clement, discussing his experience in teaching and coaching, comparing what he learned from each and how to apply skills affectively for optimum performance. Each chapter is delivered in great detail, it allows the reader to paint a picture of the interviews in their head for a further appreciation of the beautiful game.
As a Chelsea fan, with a Tottenham supporting brother, and engaged to a 20 plus years West ham season ticket holder, opinions are in abundance when discussing issues in this book, authentic views based on your experiences, this book in fantastically thought provoking. Don’t turn your nose up at any topic in football again! Love the game and embrace all it’s territory, on to the next one..
March 27, 2020
In this enthralling examination of the modern game, Michael Calvin tries to retrace the steps of Arthur Hopkirk, whose seminal book The Football Man helped him fall in love with football in the 1960s.
As Calvin discovers, our national sport has changed in almost every way since those more innocent days, usually for the worse. The only constant is the unending passion of those who play, coach or merely support their team.
In this throwaway society it says much about football that fans remain so loyal and devoted to their teams and this book helps us understand why.
As someone who has watched and written about the beautiful game for decades, I'm always hoping a football book will tell me something I don't already know. State of Play certainly delivers on that front and while some big names feature in the book it is the fascinating stories of lesser lights that remain with you.
The scale and ambition of this book is remarkable, covering topics as diverse as dementia, mental health, big business, sports science and eSports.
You can sense that Calvin despairs about some of the worst excesses of the modern game, a desperation I share, and that he wishes football had retained some of the charm and magic of his childhood.
But what comes across most strongly across the many chapters is how many players end up damaged because of the huge demands and pressures, both physical and mental, that are placed on them from childhood.
That's something you rarely see in the media, which remains obsessed by the super clubs and the elite players who pull on their strips. So this is essential reading for anyone who wishes to truly understand the current State of Play in British football.
As Calvin discovers, our national sport has changed in almost every way since those more innocent days, usually for the worse. The only constant is the unending passion of those who play, coach or merely support their team.
In this throwaway society it says much about football that fans remain so loyal and devoted to their teams and this book helps us understand why.
As someone who has watched and written about the beautiful game for decades, I'm always hoping a football book will tell me something I don't already know. State of Play certainly delivers on that front and while some big names feature in the book it is the fascinating stories of lesser lights that remain with you.
The scale and ambition of this book is remarkable, covering topics as diverse as dementia, mental health, big business, sports science and eSports.
You can sense that Calvin despairs about some of the worst excesses of the modern game, a desperation I share, and that he wishes football had retained some of the charm and magic of his childhood.
But what comes across most strongly across the many chapters is how many players end up damaged because of the huge demands and pressures, both physical and mental, that are placed on them from childhood.
That's something you rarely see in the media, which remains obsessed by the super clubs and the elite players who pull on their strips. So this is essential reading for anyone who wishes to truly understand the current State of Play in British football.
February 8, 2019
A must read for anyone contemplating a life as a professional footballer for their son or daughter. Indeed a 'cautionary tale', which exposes the reality under the thin veneer of the'successful Premier League'!
I have watched live games for over 48 years, and still remember my dad taking me to my first one's and being enchanted by the spectacle. Maybe it is wisdom, experience or just plain cynicism that has made me feel increasingly disappointed, disenfranchised and disenchanted year on year.
Reading this book which exposes the brutality, inequality, corruption, discrimination, obscene wealth and pitiful poverty, bureaucracy, inefficiency and down right incompetence, my feelings for the 'beautiful game' only harden and become even more embittered. What should be a sport espousing principles of dignity, effort, integrity, passion, team working, character, resilience, support, loyalty, tolerance and encouragement are overshadowed by money, bad practices, dishonesty, greed and exploitation.
I still travel 200 miles round trip with my son's to a home match every fortnight, but the 'love' for the 'game' the 'coaches' and the 'players' is dwindling rapidly and becoming less fun or indeed sustainable. One thing I can say in all honesty - thank goodness my son's are not remotely capable of being professional footballers! Well written, well researched and brutally honest!!
I have watched live games for over 48 years, and still remember my dad taking me to my first one's and being enchanted by the spectacle. Maybe it is wisdom, experience or just plain cynicism that has made me feel increasingly disappointed, disenfranchised and disenchanted year on year.
Reading this book which exposes the brutality, inequality, corruption, discrimination, obscene wealth and pitiful poverty, bureaucracy, inefficiency and down right incompetence, my feelings for the 'beautiful game' only harden and become even more embittered. What should be a sport espousing principles of dignity, effort, integrity, passion, team working, character, resilience, support, loyalty, tolerance and encouragement are overshadowed by money, bad practices, dishonesty, greed and exploitation.
I still travel 200 miles round trip with my son's to a home match every fortnight, but the 'love' for the 'game' the 'coaches' and the 'players' is dwindling rapidly and becoming less fun or indeed sustainable. One thing I can say in all honesty - thank goodness my son's are not remotely capable of being professional footballers! Well written, well researched and brutally honest!!
October 4, 2019
This is a work of passion and commitment, a labour of love and a love letter to the work of Arthur Hopcraft. For any football fan this is an engaging read as Michael Calvin explores countless facets of the modern game from the admirable to the risible and everything in between.
There is almost a bewildering number of people featured and my only minor complaint is that just as interest in deepening in the story being told at any one moment we have changed course and left that person behind to move on to the next subject under study.
Featuring those who rarely get the spotlight shone on them, be it the committed volunteer in the inner city helping to mentor and counsel young men away from lives of crime, those who found some redemption through football in prison to more familiar subjects such as the players themselves as well as owners and agents.
The book draws threads together of a sport awash with money and greed at the top and starved of resources at the grass roots level, passionate, convincing, emotional and packed to the gills with the people that make the game what it is.... for better or worse.
There is almost a bewildering number of people featured and my only minor complaint is that just as interest in deepening in the story being told at any one moment we have changed course and left that person behind to move on to the next subject under study.
Featuring those who rarely get the spotlight shone on them, be it the committed volunteer in the inner city helping to mentor and counsel young men away from lives of crime, those who found some redemption through football in prison to more familiar subjects such as the players themselves as well as owners and agents.
The book draws threads together of a sport awash with money and greed at the top and starved of resources at the grass roots level, passionate, convincing, emotional and packed to the gills with the people that make the game what it is.... for better or worse.
December 22, 2018
It's the first 'football book' I've read, a bit surprisingly, but I'm sure it's a very good one. It's basically a journey through different aspects of the beautiful game, but not one that burrows into tactics or memorable matches. Like football, in the end, it's all about people, communities, society and the wild plethora of human experience that surrounds the game. Gritting my teeth at the described blatant racism and abuse, I was in turn overjoyed by tales of altruism and human efforts of improving life for the underprivileged. Quite the rollercoaster, then, delivered in flowing prose and definitely worth the read for anyone even remotely interested in football and its surroundings.
November 28, 2019
If you like football, you will love this.
Michael Calvin is a fantastic author, he’s really able to get under the skin of whatever he’s writing about and he’s not afraid of not spinning everything in a positive.
In this book he interviews various stakeholders in the game from players, managers, fans, chairman and many others.
The interview with Jeff Astles daughter was written with great sensitivity and was a very heavy start to the book but it does get lighter.
I particularly enjoyed the part with Sean Dyche who is often portrayed as a bit of a caveman but after reading you can understand why he has been so successful as a manager.
Michael Calvin is a fantastic author, he’s really able to get under the skin of whatever he’s writing about and he’s not afraid of not spinning everything in a positive.
In this book he interviews various stakeholders in the game from players, managers, fans, chairman and many others.
The interview with Jeff Astles daughter was written with great sensitivity and was a very heavy start to the book but it does get lighter.
I particularly enjoyed the part with Sean Dyche who is often portrayed as a bit of a caveman but after reading you can understand why he has been so successful as a manager.
September 23, 2018
I couldn't put this book down.
While this is a book about Britain and British football, it is really a story about a game and people.
What is discouraging is that it is also a book about the business of the sport and how the people and the game can get run over by the business of the sport. Which parallels the way things go in the United States as well.
If you love sports and love people, I think you will be inspired by the examples and stories.
While this is a book about Britain and British football, it is really a story about a game and people.
What is discouraging is that it is also a book about the business of the sport and how the people and the game can get run over by the business of the sport. Which parallels the way things go in the United States as well.
If you love sports and love people, I think you will be inspired by the examples and stories.
March 14, 2019
A must read book....
This book is a mixture of the beautiful game with the uglier side of the game. But out of it there are enough people involved who care about football to realise that this sport still has a lot to offer. Michael Calvin doesn't shy away from some home truths but there is enough positivity to keep the faith. A fascinating read. So far MC has never let me down in any book of his I've read. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
This book is a mixture of the beautiful game with the uglier side of the game. But out of it there are enough people involved who care about football to realise that this sport still has a lot to offer. Michael Calvin doesn't shy away from some home truths but there is enough positivity to keep the faith. A fascinating read. So far MC has never let me down in any book of his I've read. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
December 14, 2018
A look deep inside the football industry. There are plenty of interviews from people involved in one way or another in the football business, from those in the upper echelons of the game to the community workers or those coaching or playing in non-league. Plenty of insight into some of the more rotten aspects of the game.
April 2, 2019
A fantastic book that covers all the key areas in football that are so often forgotten and overlooked. In this book Michael dives deep into a whole range of interesting topics, from head injuries to the women’s game, and corruption in the hierarchical of FIFA. You’re bound to learn something new that will make you look at the game from a different perspective after dropping this one.
July 29, 2025
I always think an author is shooting themselves in the foot by giving over their political ideology as they immediately alienate half their readers. Calvin spoils a good book by spouting his left wing views. The book written 8 years ago does not age well with people he holds up, not now looked upon in any favourable light (Southgate etc). Shame as I have wanted to read this book for years.
May 3, 2020
Whizzed through this in a matter of hours in a bookshop. Interviews with Scott Duxbury, Watford's CEO, and with other members of the football industry add to the debate on what football has lost since Mike fell in love with the game as a ballboy at Watford FC. Another addition to his canon.
August 5, 2022
Excellent, insightful and incisive read on a wide range of issues within the modern game - from grassroots football to the stinking corruption of FIFA. Written in 2018, and remarkably prescient - a must-read football book for anyone who has a care for the beautiful game
November 7, 2023
Docked a star for dedicating an entire chapter to the franchise (and not including AFC Wimbledon's perspective). The author also referred to us as AFC, despite using the club's full name in a later chapter.
September 3, 2018
Brilliant
Fantastically written book. If you're after something that delves a little deeper into the sport, this is the book you're after.
Fantastically written book. If you're after something that delves a little deeper into the sport, this is the book you're after.
April 12, 2019
Really indepth, modern analysis of modern football, excellent read.
June 22, 2021
Good read.
A very interesting look at a lot of issues that don't often get discussed widely. All the Calvin books are very good reads. This is no exception.
A very interesting look at a lot of issues that don't often get discussed widely. All the Calvin books are very good reads. This is no exception.
August 16, 2021
A decent read with some good stories and characters but rather predictable in places and doesn't offer too many new insights to someone who is already very well versed in the game.
November 15, 2024
Brilliant. A deep-dive into the sport, which goes beyond the headlines and highlight clips.
November 13, 2025
a very interesting read from an author who writes so well about the game we love so much. tough and poignant in each measure.
November 14, 2019
The story of modern football in another way than you usually reads.
The book has 4 parts.
1The Player,
2The Manager
3The Club
4 The People.
It brings up questions in the modern game from concussions and head injuries, football as a business, the money a young player earns, mental health issues among other things.
Some of the chapters was very good. Other chapters a little uneven, without a red thread.
But it is absolutely worth a read.
The book has 4 parts.
1The Player,
2The Manager
3The Club
4 The People.
It brings up questions in the modern game from concussions and head injuries, football as a business, the money a young player earns, mental health issues among other things.
Some of the chapters was very good. Other chapters a little uneven, without a red thread.
But it is absolutely worth a read.
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