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Square Peg, Round Ball: Football, TV and Me: Shortlisted for the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023
'What Ned hasn't seen on a sports TV channel isn't worth knowing about.'
Gabby Logan
'From falling out with Mourinho to flying with Gerrard, this is a wonderful journey through football.'
Henry Winter
'A great read by one of sport's good guys.'
Jonathan Liew
'A beautiful love letter to a love no longer felt.'
Adrian Chiles
Square Peg, Round Ball is a candid, insightful reminiscence on a life in football.
From time to time, as I lurched from training ground to player's tunnel, I'd be glared at by Alex Ferguson, clapped on the back by Arsène Wenger, taken out the back by Alan Pardew or banned by José Mourinho. In the time it took for the Golden Generation to come of age, dominate, disappoint and retire, I fell in – and ultimately out – of love with the game, as I was granted a uniquely privileged insight into the backstage comings and goings of the professional football circus.
Although best known as ITV's commentator on the Tour de France, Ned Boulting has spent most of his professional life covering football.
Follow Ned's journey from football supporter to reporter – from criss-crossing the country in a banger of a car hoping for a word or two from the latest big signing, to the glamour of the Champions League. Ned really has been there, done that, and got the Sky Sports jacket to prove it.
Witnessing the shenanigans, the machinations and the idiocy of football at close quarters Ned shares his best stories with affection. Whether it's treading mud into Steven Gerrard's pristine white carpets, or nearly being pushed into oncoming traffic by a menacing Vinnie Jones, or being chased away from Roman Abramovich's house by some scary looking men on quadbikes – Ned has made a fool of himself to bring us the best tales from his experiences in 90s and 2000s football.
Gabby Logan
'From falling out with Mourinho to flying with Gerrard, this is a wonderful journey through football.'
Henry Winter
'A great read by one of sport's good guys.'
Jonathan Liew
'A beautiful love letter to a love no longer felt.'
Adrian Chiles
Square Peg, Round Ball is a candid, insightful reminiscence on a life in football.
From time to time, as I lurched from training ground to player's tunnel, I'd be glared at by Alex Ferguson, clapped on the back by Arsène Wenger, taken out the back by Alan Pardew or banned by José Mourinho. In the time it took for the Golden Generation to come of age, dominate, disappoint and retire, I fell in – and ultimately out – of love with the game, as I was granted a uniquely privileged insight into the backstage comings and goings of the professional football circus.
Although best known as ITV's commentator on the Tour de France, Ned Boulting has spent most of his professional life covering football.
Follow Ned's journey from football supporter to reporter – from criss-crossing the country in a banger of a car hoping for a word or two from the latest big signing, to the glamour of the Champions League. Ned really has been there, done that, and got the Sky Sports jacket to prove it.
Witnessing the shenanigans, the machinations and the idiocy of football at close quarters Ned shares his best stories with affection. Whether it's treading mud into Steven Gerrard's pristine white carpets, or nearly being pushed into oncoming traffic by a menacing Vinnie Jones, or being chased away from Roman Abramovich's house by some scary looking men on quadbikes – Ned has made a fool of himself to bring us the best tales from his experiences in 90s and 2000s football.
256 pages, Hardcover
Published June 14, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
December 18, 2022
easy going autobiography looking at his tv football career and his plodding along, funny in parts
June 24, 2022
A mildly diverting, semi-autobiography about falling into a career in football broadcasting ... and then falling out of love with football. “Square Peg, Round Hole” is gossipy and indiscreet, containing the occasional interesting anecdote from Ned Boulting’s TV career (such as conducting Brian Clough’s last ever TV interview, and inadvertently destroying Steven Gerrard’s luxury carpets). But despite containing the odd passage of strong writing – Boulting’s footballing epiphany at St. Pauli of Hamburg being an early and rarely matched example – “Square Peg, Round Hole” is ultimately insubstantial and inessential.
July 15, 2023
A very enjoyable semi-autobiographical peek behind the curtain into football broadcasting
April 19, 2023
I like Boulting but I found parts of this interesting and illuminating, and others far too cliched or mundane. It was his plug on Football Cliches that drew me to the book, with the tease that no longer working in football he could burn bridges - and while Sam Allardyce won't be flattered by the book, I'm not sure that it was particularly revealing.
The parts I found most engaging were in some ways the less obviously exciting, what he actually did as part of his job in the early stages on his career, and the practical elements of his reporting beyond the interviews we saw on screen. This was interspersed with anecdotes from seemingly any time he'd met a footballer or manager in a personal capacity, and too many poetic attempts to describe football. Encounters with Mourinho or Wenger didn't illustrate anything other than the fact he'd come across them when they weren't acting for the public, and some of his writing felt like discarded drafts of the poetry he'd broadcast over his video features. Machester United weren't just playing against Bayern in 1999, but also "this undertow of awed negativity that clung to the hull of the English game as it set sail for a distant horizon, battling history."
In other words, I liked the parts that told me about what happens behind the scenes on TV, but not so much the creative writing exercises based on aspects of the sport. The anecdote about Allardyce was mildly amusing but it didn't build up to a great punchline, and the second half was a bit of a drag, as it seemed to be wrapping up until he met another football figure over a hotel breakfast. The first half which relayed his personal experiences was much more enjoyable for me.
It might be worth reading if you want an insight into the work that goes into a football broadcast or the view of someone who is a bit jaded by football, but was there even when it was clearly commercialised so can speak with a degree of authority. However I was reminded of a news item I once saw about a Linkin Park album which was whittled down from 100 songs - if this was the book, what was left on the cutting room floor?
There were also a few mistakes, both facts and typos, Drogba's last kick for Chelsea was not his winning penalty in the Champions League as he returned to the club a few years later
The parts I found most engaging were in some ways the less obviously exciting, what he actually did as part of his job in the early stages on his career, and the practical elements of his reporting beyond the interviews we saw on screen. This was interspersed with anecdotes from seemingly any time he'd met a footballer or manager in a personal capacity, and too many poetic attempts to describe football. Encounters with Mourinho or Wenger didn't illustrate anything other than the fact he'd come across them when they weren't acting for the public, and some of his writing felt like discarded drafts of the poetry he'd broadcast over his video features. Machester United weren't just playing against Bayern in 1999, but also "this undertow of awed negativity that clung to the hull of the English game as it set sail for a distant horizon, battling history."
In other words, I liked the parts that told me about what happens behind the scenes on TV, but not so much the creative writing exercises based on aspects of the sport. The anecdote about Allardyce was mildly amusing but it didn't build up to a great punchline, and the second half was a bit of a drag, as it seemed to be wrapping up until he met another football figure over a hotel breakfast. The first half which relayed his personal experiences was much more enjoyable for me.
It might be worth reading if you want an insight into the work that goes into a football broadcast or the view of someone who is a bit jaded by football, but was there even when it was clearly commercialised so can speak with a degree of authority. However I was reminded of a news item I once saw about a Linkin Park album which was whittled down from 100 songs - if this was the book, what was left on the cutting room floor?
There were also a few mistakes, both facts and typos, Drogba's last kick for Chelsea was not his winning penalty in the Champions League as he returned to the club a few years later
July 10, 2022
Boulting's appearance on my favourite podcast, Football Cliches and the serendipitous find of his book at my local library saw mw take in what is a great book for a lazy summer weekend. Ned's writing is a notch above what you might expect from this type of book and he is affable even when describing his run ins with tempestuous managers and UEFA officials.
Don't expect a template for getting into the world of football reporting as Ned pretty much fell into it as someone who came to football in his early 20s. There are stories from the early days of Sky Sports, the bureaucracy of UEFA and the end of the era of openness in the English game.
It's one of those books where you've read a hundred pages over a couple of hours and don't feel tired out from it. It does a wonderful job of adding colour and background to events and matches you're likely to remember.
Don't expect a template for getting into the world of football reporting as Ned pretty much fell into it as someone who came to football in his early 20s. There are stories from the early days of Sky Sports, the bureaucracy of UEFA and the end of the era of openness in the English game.
It's one of those books where you've read a hundred pages over a couple of hours and don't feel tired out from it. It does a wonderful job of adding colour and background to events and matches you're likely to remember.
February 3, 2026
I’m not going to suggest this is a book that even non-football fans will love. I think you do need to have some investment in the game to get everything out of this, understanding the references or time in space relevances. But with Ned only 6 or 7 years older than me, my own waxing and waning of love / hate of football follows a similar (less TV career based) trajectory (though unlike Ned I was, and despite myself, still am, rooted in a single club).
I’m a big fan of Ned’s writing style, more often directed towards cycling (and I’m also dipping into one of his Road Book babies just now, though the 1989 incarnation (the first Tour I watched and followed was a doozy) edited by the wonderful Matt Rendell, there’s just one article, I think, from Ned); and having also seen one of his stage shows about cycling, I’m deeply jealous of his ability to turn the mundane into a lyrical paragraph.
I’m a big fan of Ned’s writing style, more often directed towards cycling (and I’m also dipping into one of his Road Book babies just now, though the 1989 incarnation (the first Tour I watched and followed was a doozy) edited by the wonderful Matt Rendell, there’s just one article, I think, from Ned); and having also seen one of his stage shows about cycling, I’m deeply jealous of his ability to turn the mundane into a lyrical paragraph.
August 11, 2022
To be honest Ned Boulting's reports passed me by during his time as a reporter on Sky and ITV. Having read this wonderful book I'm really regretting that. He writes openly, honestly and wittily about his relationship with football. It's refreshing to read someone who isn't constantly in awe of football and who has a degree of detached irony towards it. His story of falling in love with football, getting obsessed with it and then slowly drifting away from it goes against the general grain of football writing and it's good to read. I suspect many people are on a similar journey albeit with different starting points
November 24, 2022
Ned's football journalism journey comes to an end
Never knew he was a football journalist before entertaining us in his expert and knowledgeable way as the foremost cycling commentator.A bit depressing in the end as he seemed to have run out of steam and become disillusioned with everything to do with English football.
Football's loss was cycling's gain!
Never knew he was a football journalist before entertaining us in his expert and knowledgeable way as the foremost cycling commentator.A bit depressing in the end as he seemed to have run out of steam and become disillusioned with everything to do with English football.
Football's loss was cycling's gain!
May 18, 2024
Boulting is a fun writer and I like his cycling work (Never Strays Far is a fun podcast!) but I don’t really care about football - especially for a country that’s not my own.
So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this and heck, let’s go for the full five!
So I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this and heck, let’s go for the full five!
May 18, 2022
A Zelig figure whose anecdotes puncture the hype bubble of football in the 1990s and 2000s. Great on family, St Pauli and Steven Gerrard. A fine raconteur.
May 27, 2022
Well written, but at the end of it, you wonder what was the point of the book. Spoilt by his political leanings shining through.
July 6, 2022
I'm a big fan of Ned, mainly due to the tour de France, but this is very interesting insight on how he got started in sports broadcasting.
February 20, 2023
Tremendously well written, as you would expect from Ned. Great anecdotes fill the pages. A great insight into the world of football broadcasting. Recommend.
March 10, 2024
Not as good as his cycling books.
October 19, 2023
An interesting and thoughtful insight into how football’s dance with the media has evolved over the last quarter of a century, even if Mr Boulting does in one chapter refer to the generational talent that is Xabi Alonso as “Xavi Alonso”.
Really easy reading and full of little stories with football personalities that made me chuckle.
Really easy reading and full of little stories with football personalities that made me chuckle.
December 22, 2023
Ned Boulting is a cycling commentator/journalist to me so it was interesting to read of his time in the football ream. He manages to highlight the inner workings and randomness of a TV sports career well. Written well in a self-effacing style. A recommended read if the subject interests you.
June 4, 2023
Good read with some excellent stories
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews