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Mental: Bad Behaviour, Ugly Truths and the Beautiful Game
'I've seen things no one else has seen in football.'Jermaine Pennant is one of English football's most controversial figures. Love him or loathe him, there is no ignoring the story he has to tell. Raised by a mother who faked her own death to abandon her black baby, and a father who kept guns and Class A drugs in the house meant that life's options for a young Jermaine were limited. Yet he saw professional football as his way out, and took his chance, emerging to be one of England's most gifted young footballers. A true prodigy, Jermaine climbed to the pinnacle of his sport to compete for the highest honours with legends at Arsenal and Liverpool.The boy from one of England's toughest neighbourhoods was barely into his twenties and rich beyond his wildest dreams. But, for Jermaine, some of life's most important lessons were learned late. His outrageous lifestyle would spark a fall from the dizzying heights he had reached, ensuring he'd be remembered as much for being the 'mental yob' with an ankle tag as for his heroic performance in a Champions League final. Jermaine Pennant has seen and done it all - the highs, the lows and everything in between. His autobiography is a gritty coming-of-age story, an exposé into the excess-fuelled life of a super-rich Premier League footballer, and a cautionary tale of the dangers of plying young players with too much, too young. His turbulent climb through the battleground of the beautiful game holds a mirror up to the broken face of English football.Told with unblinking truth, his story is a no-holds-barred riot of determination and debauchery, excellence and excess.
241 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 9, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 4, 2018
It's a story worth reading, but...
The writing is woeful. It's repetitive, littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and left me quite frustrated. I'm not aware of John Cross but I'll not bother with anything he writes again. The story is worth three or four stars and Jermaine Pennant comes across as a nice fella, mostly, but the writing is atrocious.
The writing is woeful. It's repetitive, littered with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors and left me quite frustrated. I'm not aware of John Cross but I'll not bother with anything he writes again. The story is worth three or four stars and Jermaine Pennant comes across as a nice fella, mostly, but the writing is atrocious.
January 1, 2022
Firstly and foremost, I have no idea who John Cross is but he really hasn't done a great job of writing Jermaine Pennant's story for him - this book has more grammatical and editing errors than needs be. As for the actual contents of what Jermaine is saying, I found a few passages of the book to be quite interesting, such as him massively dishing dirt on what footballers ACTUALLY get up to out of hours, but for most of the book Jermaine just comes off as one of the most utterly unlikeable people on the planet, regardless of his surroundings and tough upbringing (which isn't delved into nearly as much as the beginning of the book and the blurb suggests it will, might I add). Jermaine constantly describes himself getting into all sorts of trouble, explaining exactly what bad decisions led him into these situations, and then goes "It could only happen to me!!! I'm so unlucky!!!" Perhaps it could only happen to you because it's only you who faces the consequences of these actions which you constantly partake in? A wild concept I know.
Another thing which I found annoying about this book is how the extra excerpts from his agent Sky would occasionally completely contradict the story Jermaine is telling. Jermaine will explain a situation he got himself into, play the victim or explain things one way, and then Sky will seemingly explain what actually happened and say that Jermaine denies the truth. This is also consistent with Jermaine's stories about how he would lie to his girlfriends, his agent and his managers. So why am I even reading this book? What am I supposed to gain or learn about him if he could just be chatting bollocks and is being branded as a constant liar in his own autobiography?
Some things he includes are just so nuts and put him in such a bad light that they cannot possibly be lies however, like how he let his girlfriend go on a public search for her missing cat, devastated, even though he knew his dog had massacred it due to his carelessness. The way he talks about women is also extremely cringe-inducing; the bloke doesn't seem to have actually grown up or learned any lessons at all. The only reason this isn't a 1* review is because I did find some of the shock value within his anecdotes and his character traits to be rather entertaining.
Another thing which I found annoying about this book is how the extra excerpts from his agent Sky would occasionally completely contradict the story Jermaine is telling. Jermaine will explain a situation he got himself into, play the victim or explain things one way, and then Sky will seemingly explain what actually happened and say that Jermaine denies the truth. This is also consistent with Jermaine's stories about how he would lie to his girlfriends, his agent and his managers. So why am I even reading this book? What am I supposed to gain or learn about him if he could just be chatting bollocks and is being branded as a constant liar in his own autobiography?
Some things he includes are just so nuts and put him in such a bad light that they cannot possibly be lies however, like how he let his girlfriend go on a public search for her missing cat, devastated, even though he knew his dog had massacred it due to his carelessness. The way he talks about women is also extremely cringe-inducing; the bloke doesn't seem to have actually grown up or learned any lessons at all. The only reason this isn't a 1* review is because I did find some of the shock value within his anecdotes and his character traits to be rather entertaining.
August 25, 2018
I’m giving this book 5 starts for its content. Being from Nottingham myself, I knew a little bit about Jermaine Pennant - his background, early stages of his career some of the antics he was involved in. But I wanted to read his autobiography to find out what really happened in those situations. And it’s a real eye opener!
He’s honest in his account of his actions and by reading this book, you start to understand why he did some of the things he did and the mistakes that he made. Coming from a rough area in Nottingham, abandoned by his mother having a father who dealt drugs, witnessing birders as a child. Once he started his career, his is a story of excess, so common with the modern footballer today. Too much money too young, not enough guidance. But he regularly admits himself that he could have done things better. Jermaine Pennant comes across as a fascinating character and he is someone who could share his stories with younger players to avoiding them making the same mistakes.
My only criticism of the book is that it is repetitive at times and there are some glaring grammatical mistakes and general error. But blame the editing for that, not the author. But overall, I highly recommended this book and at 282 pages it’s quite a short and snappy read.
He’s honest in his account of his actions and by reading this book, you start to understand why he did some of the things he did and the mistakes that he made. Coming from a rough area in Nottingham, abandoned by his mother having a father who dealt drugs, witnessing birders as a child. Once he started his career, his is a story of excess, so common with the modern footballer today. Too much money too young, not enough guidance. But he regularly admits himself that he could have done things better. Jermaine Pennant comes across as a fascinating character and he is someone who could share his stories with younger players to avoiding them making the same mistakes.
My only criticism of the book is that it is repetitive at times and there are some glaring grammatical mistakes and general error. But blame the editing for that, not the author. But overall, I highly recommended this book and at 282 pages it’s quite a short and snappy read.
January 15, 2024
I can't say I had a particular opinion about Jermaine Pennant prior to reading his book, but I certainly have since reading it! Aside from the tedious, repetitive, and very poor writing style, which in fairness should have been improved by more rigorous editing, he just comes across as an extremely unlikeable character.
Pennant has evidently made several "biggest regrets of his life" and has an awful lot of bitterness for an awful lot of people, particularly in football, and yet pretty much everything he's ever done is someone else's fault! The lack of ownership or responsibility he displays is astonishing! He talks in the final chapter about seeing a therapist and how this helped him see why he is how he is and has dome the things he's done, for example womanising, adultery, drink driving etc., *spoiler alert* it's not his fault [yawn], it's his upbringing [double yawn]!
The attitude he has and his inflated sense of superiority, coupled with his clear misogyny and absolute refusal to accept responsibility for his own choices, behaviour or actions make it quite frankly miraculous that he ever played football professionally at all and downright frightening to think of him ever attempting to become a coach! I sincerely hope that never becomes a reality and that future generations are saved from potentially picking up any of his characteristics.
Whilst he undoubtedly had talent as a footballer, this isn't, and indeed shouldn't, be enough to propel one to greatness within the beautiful game. Being a great, or even a good, footballer is about more than just talent or skill, it also requires hard work, a good attitude, team work, a sense of responsibility, determination, ability and willingness to follow rules and instructions, striving to succeed, taking care of yourself mentally and physically and much much more. The majority of these qualities are sorely lacking or completely non-existent in Pennants case, and that is the real reason why he didn't succeed, or excel, in the way he, and (according to his claims) others, felt he should have.
Pennant has evidently made several "biggest regrets of his life" and has an awful lot of bitterness for an awful lot of people, particularly in football, and yet pretty much everything he's ever done is someone else's fault! The lack of ownership or responsibility he displays is astonishing! He talks in the final chapter about seeing a therapist and how this helped him see why he is how he is and has dome the things he's done, for example womanising, adultery, drink driving etc., *spoiler alert* it's not his fault [yawn], it's his upbringing [double yawn]!
The attitude he has and his inflated sense of superiority, coupled with his clear misogyny and absolute refusal to accept responsibility for his own choices, behaviour or actions make it quite frankly miraculous that he ever played football professionally at all and downright frightening to think of him ever attempting to become a coach! I sincerely hope that never becomes a reality and that future generations are saved from potentially picking up any of his characteristics.
Whilst he undoubtedly had talent as a footballer, this isn't, and indeed shouldn't, be enough to propel one to greatness within the beautiful game. Being a great, or even a good, footballer is about more than just talent or skill, it also requires hard work, a good attitude, team work, a sense of responsibility, determination, ability and willingness to follow rules and instructions, striving to succeed, taking care of yourself mentally and physically and much much more. The majority of these qualities are sorely lacking or completely non-existent in Pennants case, and that is the real reason why he didn't succeed, or excel, in the way he, and (according to his claims) others, felt he should have.
July 4, 2023
I bought this book after seeing Jermaine doing an interview on his recent ADHD diagnosis and wanted to find out more.
I'm not a football fan as such, so I skipped some of these paragraphs but if you are, then the time line and name dropping would be of interest to you and the behind the scenes information about what deals fell through and why.
I felt like I was reading a late teenagers diary, 'she'll kill me if I say this, but....' and the swearing (C U next Tuesday) used to describe past managers felt unprofessional.
I kept reading longer than I think I would have because my husband was reading it alongside me but I drew the line at the chapter title 'Women'. Knowing how Jermaine's circle of footballing friends paid 'rent' to each other if they had laid 'claim' to a girl by 'getting in there' first was a step beyond. I don't know what it added to the book or to my view of his character. I guess the clue was in the name of the book but it was beyond what I felt comfortable consuming into my mind.
I'm not a football fan as such, so I skipped some of these paragraphs but if you are, then the time line and name dropping would be of interest to you and the behind the scenes information about what deals fell through and why.
I felt like I was reading a late teenagers diary, 'she'll kill me if I say this, but....' and the swearing (C U next Tuesday) used to describe past managers felt unprofessional.
I kept reading longer than I think I would have because my husband was reading it alongside me but I drew the line at the chapter title 'Women'. Knowing how Jermaine's circle of footballing friends paid 'rent' to each other if they had laid 'claim' to a girl by 'getting in there' first was a step beyond. I don't know what it added to the book or to my view of his character. I guess the clue was in the name of the book but it was beyond what I felt comfortable consuming into my mind.
August 23, 2018
I remember Pennant as the much hyped teenager who was signed by Arsenal for £2million at 15 but never lived up to his potential largely due to his off-field behaviour that included a spell in prison – a cross between Theo Walcott and Ravel Morrison. He ultimately had a journeyman career that included a Champions League final for Liverpool and stops at Stoke, Birmingham and Real Zaragoza among other, but never played more than 60 league games for any one club.
Mental opens with a detailed description of Pennant’s turbulent childhood – born to a mother who faked her own death to abandon her ‘black baby’ and a father who kept guns and Class A drugs in the house. This context is vital as Pennant can only be judged through the lens of what he lived through and it puts much of his bad behavior in context. It’s easy to criticise him for not making the most of undoubted talent when its arguable he deserves praise for making anything of himself at all given where he came from.
Notwithstanding this, its very hard to read constant references to his driving offences (driving while banned and drink driving) without getting increasing annoyed at his reckless attitude that clearly posed a risk to others. It’s one thing risking your own career, it’s another putting innocent lives at risk and it’s not clear from this book that Pennant can fully tell the difference.
His account of his move from Notts County to Arsenal at 15 is a damning indictment of how kids are exploited in football and particularly damning of Sam Allardyce and his pal and agent Mark Curtis (who arranged the meeting that ultimately got Allardyce fired from his England gig). Pennant is full of regret that he was moved against his will and ultimately denied the chance to develop outside of the intense media spotlight.
The book is peppered with extracts from others who are or have been close to Pennant – his dad, his agent, his friends which give anther, and at times contradictory, view of instances that Pennant describes. It works well and at times appears to give a truer reflection of the player than his own words. There is a fair bit of repetition and the style of repeating points in the same paragraph can get a bit annoying – but it seems to be a stylistic choice from the ghostwriter, presumably to try and capture Pennant’s own voice./style of communicating.
There is actually very little football in the book – a few big games mentioned but no discussion on where the clubs he played for finished most seasons which is slightly unusual for a footballer’s autobiography. But given stories of finishing 5th or 15th in the league aren’t the most interesting its probably a good idea.
A lot more coverage is included of nights out and one night stands. Some stories are interesting insights into his attitude and behaviour – being drunk/hungover when he scored a hattrick early in his Southampton career – and others are ‘lad banter’ – threesomes with Ashley Cole, comparing women to monopoly properties – which will definitely add to the books sales while giving probably the most open account to date of what footballers get up to on nights out. It’s hard to imagine Ashely Cole will be thrilled to see his own name come up so often.
The chapter on women is already getting heavily shared/criticised on social media – I’d suspect it was a key ingredient in getting a deal for the book in the first place though. The final chapter on the book does put these stories in an interesting context – Pennant seeks therapy to understand why he cheats and flirts with so many women, ultimately tracing his behaviour back to being abandoned by his Mum.
Overall, Pennant seems to be relatively content with how his career went. Given his talent, he could have matched his friend and contemporary Ashley Cole and achieved much more, but given his childhood he easily could have crashed out of the game and achieved nothing. He achieved his boyhood dream of playing for Liverpool, played in a Champions League final and was pretty unlucky to never be capped by England.
And, remarkably, Pennant’s book conforms with ‘Howe’s law’ – the apparently unbreakable rule that any autobiography by a footballer who played in Britain in the last 40 years has to, at some point, mention how good the late Don Howe was as a coach. It’s definitely the only thing this book and Frankly Speaking by Frank Stapleton (1991) have in common!
Overall, it feels like the story the book wanted to tell – overcoming a troubled childhood to achieve pretty decent career – is totally overshadowed by the stories of excess, women and drink driving.
You can read all of my sports book reviews at http://allsportsbooks.reviews
Mental opens with a detailed description of Pennant’s turbulent childhood – born to a mother who faked her own death to abandon her ‘black baby’ and a father who kept guns and Class A drugs in the house. This context is vital as Pennant can only be judged through the lens of what he lived through and it puts much of his bad behavior in context. It’s easy to criticise him for not making the most of undoubted talent when its arguable he deserves praise for making anything of himself at all given where he came from.
Notwithstanding this, its very hard to read constant references to his driving offences (driving while banned and drink driving) without getting increasing annoyed at his reckless attitude that clearly posed a risk to others. It’s one thing risking your own career, it’s another putting innocent lives at risk and it’s not clear from this book that Pennant can fully tell the difference.
His account of his move from Notts County to Arsenal at 15 is a damning indictment of how kids are exploited in football and particularly damning of Sam Allardyce and his pal and agent Mark Curtis (who arranged the meeting that ultimately got Allardyce fired from his England gig). Pennant is full of regret that he was moved against his will and ultimately denied the chance to develop outside of the intense media spotlight.
The book is peppered with extracts from others who are or have been close to Pennant – his dad, his agent, his friends which give anther, and at times contradictory, view of instances that Pennant describes. It works well and at times appears to give a truer reflection of the player than his own words. There is a fair bit of repetition and the style of repeating points in the same paragraph can get a bit annoying – but it seems to be a stylistic choice from the ghostwriter, presumably to try and capture Pennant’s own voice./style of communicating.
There is actually very little football in the book – a few big games mentioned but no discussion on where the clubs he played for finished most seasons which is slightly unusual for a footballer’s autobiography. But given stories of finishing 5th or 15th in the league aren’t the most interesting its probably a good idea.
A lot more coverage is included of nights out and one night stands. Some stories are interesting insights into his attitude and behaviour – being drunk/hungover when he scored a hattrick early in his Southampton career – and others are ‘lad banter’ – threesomes with Ashley Cole, comparing women to monopoly properties – which will definitely add to the books sales while giving probably the most open account to date of what footballers get up to on nights out. It’s hard to imagine Ashely Cole will be thrilled to see his own name come up so often.
The chapter on women is already getting heavily shared/criticised on social media – I’d suspect it was a key ingredient in getting a deal for the book in the first place though. The final chapter on the book does put these stories in an interesting context – Pennant seeks therapy to understand why he cheats and flirts with so many women, ultimately tracing his behaviour back to being abandoned by his Mum.
Overall, Pennant seems to be relatively content with how his career went. Given his talent, he could have matched his friend and contemporary Ashley Cole and achieved much more, but given his childhood he easily could have crashed out of the game and achieved nothing. He achieved his boyhood dream of playing for Liverpool, played in a Champions League final and was pretty unlucky to never be capped by England.
And, remarkably, Pennant’s book conforms with ‘Howe’s law’ – the apparently unbreakable rule that any autobiography by a footballer who played in Britain in the last 40 years has to, at some point, mention how good the late Don Howe was as a coach. It’s definitely the only thing this book and Frankly Speaking by Frank Stapleton (1991) have in common!
Overall, it feels like the story the book wanted to tell – overcoming a troubled childhood to achieve pretty decent career – is totally overshadowed by the stories of excess, women and drink driving.
You can read all of my sports book reviews at http://allsportsbooks.reviews
January 9, 2019
Not as hard hitting as Roy Keane but still a good read
I enjoyed this book all the way through and I've read plenty of sports autobiographies. It didn't disappoint, the last chapter serves as an excellent reflection and summary and I found myself agreeing with almost everything Jermaine states (but being a future manager, come on and pull the other one!).
Roy Keane's books delved deeper into situations and gave more specifics but that is a bit harsh, comparing to maybe the gold standard of football autobiographies, Jermaine does indeed cover all the bases of an interesting and sometimes controversial life and career. This is not by any means a boring book so I recommend it and it's good value. Can't give half stars so it gets four from me as I round up on account of his bravery in including some pieces. A few more pages listing his interactions with managers and it would have got five stars for sure. Jermaine, thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed this book all the way through and I've read plenty of sports autobiographies. It didn't disappoint, the last chapter serves as an excellent reflection and summary and I found myself agreeing with almost everything Jermaine states (but being a future manager, come on and pull the other one!).
Roy Keane's books delved deeper into situations and gave more specifics but that is a bit harsh, comparing to maybe the gold standard of football autobiographies, Jermaine does indeed cover all the bases of an interesting and sometimes controversial life and career. This is not by any means a boring book so I recommend it and it's good value. Can't give half stars so it gets four from me as I round up on account of his bravery in including some pieces. A few more pages listing his interactions with managers and it would have got five stars for sure. Jermaine, thanks for sharing!
June 11, 2022
I'm going to be interviewing Jermaine for my podcast show "Unbroken - Healing Through Storytelling" and i wanted to get a better understanding of the man behind the babd boy image he has.
He had such a tough start in life, his own mum abandoning him and faking her death as she didn't want anything to do with "a brown baby" as well as his father dealing in drugs and being a womaniser
It's an honest account of the turbulent life of both his football career and private life
What I loved is that he now has insights into why he behaved how he did and wants to better himself and create better behaviour.
"Once people get to know me, I’d like to think they can see I’m mischievous, I like a laugh and good fun, but maybe they will come to know that my heart has always been in the right place"
He had such a tough start in life, his own mum abandoning him and faking her death as she didn't want anything to do with "a brown baby" as well as his father dealing in drugs and being a womaniser
It's an honest account of the turbulent life of both his football career and private life
What I loved is that he now has insights into why he behaved how he did and wants to better himself and create better behaviour.
"Once people get to know me, I’d like to think they can see I’m mischievous, I like a laugh and good fun, but maybe they will come to know that my heart has always been in the right place"
November 30, 2019
I was really interested in hearing more of the football background and got a lot of sort of unnecessary stuff about threesomes with Ashley Cole and a lot of the struggles and comments of his father.
Seeing the potential that Jermaine had as a young player at Arsenal and to go on and be the MOTM for Liverpool in the Champions League, I was hoping for more insight into the locker rooms, training and discipline and conflict over drinking, sex and jail.
Still it was an interesting read and sounds like he finally had his shit together after several screwups.
Seeing the potential that Jermaine had as a young player at Arsenal and to go on and be the MOTM for Liverpool in the Champions League, I was hoping for more insight into the locker rooms, training and discipline and conflict over drinking, sex and jail.
Still it was an interesting read and sounds like he finally had his shit together after several screwups.
December 26, 2023
What a story. Full of insight, regrets and succeeding despite the odds. The story of a player, in my honest opinion, who didn't maximise his full potential. He could have been the successor to David Beckham. One can only imagine what his international career would have been if he had stayed focused, disciplined, controlled his emotions and stayed out of trouble.
This is a book that every young footballer MUST read.
This is a book that every young footballer MUST read.
April 20, 2020
Being from Nottingham i really connected with some of the stories he was telling, really good stories, some very funny. Only thing I would say is, the author/journalist who wrote it definitely didn’t double check it, lots of stuff repeated and some spelling mistakes. With a better writer would of been 5/5. Good book
September 7, 2020
The public and the media criticise Jermaine Pennant, criticise Jermaine with judgements based on an expectation based on his employment. This book shares his childhood, a childhood full of adversity, that was the foundation for the mistakes he made later in life.
I know Jermaine personally so his book helped me to understand him better, too.
I know Jermaine personally so his book helped me to understand him better, too.
March 30, 2025
Incredibly honest, so you really have to admire it for that. Interesting guy and career. It could be an all time sports autobiography but I think it’s really let down by the ghost writer - just isn’t formatted well enough, repeats itself etc. Does have a really awesome set up where Jermaine tells a story and then it gives space to someone else who was there to tell it from their side.
January 21, 2026
This must be one of the worst football autobiographies that I have ever teaf.It is a cautionary tale for any aspiring player at a professional football club.If you behave this way you too will end up at an Isthmian reshuffling with nowhere else to.
Pathetic and anti social is the only way to describe him
Pathetic and anti social is the only way to describe him
April 23, 2020
Interesting insight into another troubled footballer 🧐 Great read.
July 3, 2021
A nice read about a turbulent childhood and a football career.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews