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Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018 “What’s your dream, son?” A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer....” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent. How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents? Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.
Originally published: London: Century, 2013.
From the award-winning author of NO HUNGER IN PARADISE Outside the global spotlight, footballers don't drive Aston Martins or pose for underwear ads. This is war. This is life. This is football. Michael Calvin turned up for the first day of pre-season training at Millwall FC. 333 days later, he sat among the subs at Wembley. Over the course of a season, he witnessed the intimate everyday life of a football club far from the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, and the unique characters that come together every day on the field. These are dedicated, hard-working family men, close to their roots, 'playing for the people who hate their jobs, who'd love our lives.' Forget about the over-hyped circus of the Premier League. This is the beautiful game in all its raucous glory: essential reading for anyone whom football is a way of life.
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015* A man punches the wall in a strategic show of anger. Another complains he has become a stranger to those he loves. A third relies on “my three a day: coffee, Nurofen and a bottle of wine.” Yet another admits he is an oddity, who would prefer to be working in cricket. A fifth describes his professional life as “a circus”. These are football managers, live and uncut. Arsene Wenger likens the job to “living on a volcano: any day may be your last”. He speaks with the authority of being the longest serving manager in the English game, having been at Arsenal for 17 years. The average lifespan of a Football League man...
'For those of you missing your football fix, anything by Michael Calvin is worth a read – the hugely respected sports journalist writes eloquently about the modern game in page turner State of Play.' DAILY MIRROR _______________________________________________________ LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 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 st...
There's no pain, no theatrical agony. No screaming, no shouting. The kill shot is catastrophic and conclusive. I slump silently on to my knees and topple forward, head first, into the dirt. The lads have seen enough death to assume mine is instantaneous. The lights are out. That's him gone. Toby Gutteridge was only 24 when he was shot through the neck while operating behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. He survived despite not breathing for at least 20 minutes. Back in the UK, doctors recommended that his life support machine be switched off, but with the defiant spirit that would define his recovery, Toby pulled through. Now quadriplegic, capable of movement only with his head, Toby has rebui...
Eye-opening contributions from the stars of game make this a powerful, groundbreaking investigation into the mind of the professional golfer. The perfect gift for Father's Day. * SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS * Professional golf is the most remorseless of sports, unique in the complexity of its demands. Technical perfection must be produced in short, concentrated bursts of synchronised movement. Huge mental strength is required. Why, then, do we know so little about what it takes to succeed - even survive - at the highest level? What separates the good from the great? What are the rituals of preparation and execution? How does an elite team come together? In a truly groundbreaking exposé of professional golf, Michael Calvin and Thomas Bjorn - captain of the 2018 European Ryder Cup Team - capture the distinctive nature of the game, and the principles and philosophies of players who dominate the world rankings. With unprecedented access to the European Tour players, and in-depth interviews with the European Ryder Cup team, Calvin reveals a sport which operates entirely within the finest margins of excellence.
This is the third part in Mike Calvin's football book trilogy. First he wrote about scouts in The Nowhere Men. Next he wrote about the pressures of managers in Living on the Volcano. Now he writes about the players themselves, in his biggest and most ambitious book yet. Based on hundreds of hours of interviews, No Hunger in Paradise is the definitive book on what it takes to make it as a professional footballer in this country, and the pitfalls, pressures and casualties along the way. From visiting gangs in council estates in Brixton which have produced England internationals, to £200 million training complexes in Manchester, which only breed jealousy and entitlement, Mike follows the stori...
The first book-length presentation of the influential work of Michael Calvin McGee, this volume demonstrates the importance of rhetoric to understanding power and culture in the postmodern age. The book is largely based on a series of seminars in which McGee draws on important figures spanning the history of rhetorical thought--from Plato and Aristotle to Marx, McLuhan, Althusser, and Baudrillard--to develop his ideas about orality and performance, the public, technology, and processes of political change. An introduction by John Louis Lucaites discusses McGee's pathbreaking role within the wider field of rhetoric, and a concluding essay on Spike Lee enacts the "performative criticism" McGee theorizes in previous chapters to construct a powerful argument about race in contemporary America.
Calvinist missionaries. If you think that sounds like an oxymoron, you're not alone. Yet a close look at John Calvin's life and writings reveals a man who was passionate about the spread of the gospel and the salvation of sinners. From training pastors at his Genevan Academy to sending missionaries to the jungles of Brazil, Calvin consistently sought to encourage and equip Christians to take the good news of salvation to the very ends of the earth. In this carefully researched book, Michael Haykin and Jeffrey Robinson clear away longstanding stereotypes related to the Reformed tradition and Calvin's theological heirs, highlighting the Reformer's neglected missional vision and legacy.