State of Play
Under the Skin of the Modern Game
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Published:21st Feb '19
£10.99
Available to order, but very limited on stock - if we have issues obtaining a copy, we will let you know.
'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
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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 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.
One of the issues Calvin explores in his most recent book State of Play is the need for more emotionally intelligent managers and coaches in football, as epitomised by England manager Gareth Southgate. * CNN Sport *
As enthralling and insightful as any fans of Mike’s previous books would expect -- Matt Williams * Simon Mayo’s Books of the Year Podcast *
A grandstand view of the beautiful game . . . Calvin draws on his own frontline reporting as well as interviews with leading football figures to present an exhaustive portrait of the modern game. * Radio Times *
Thought-provoking and well-wrought. * The Sunday Times *
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. * Greville Waterman Review *
ISBN: 9781784756123
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 29mm
Weight: 330g
480 pages