Football | Renato Fantoni

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME

Football is a common denominator that acts like a language connecting millions of people across the world. It creates interest and sparks emotions in a way that regular conversations usually fail to do.

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND GAME takes metaphors and tactics from the pitch and applies them to work and home life in a powerful coaching experience.

The book accurately describes the life of football.

Nigel Howe

Chief Executive, Reading Football Club

Describes the influences of the game from a fan’s perspective. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did!

Gary Mabutt MBE

Former Captain, Tottenham Hotspur

Yes mate, I like it.

Jack Wilshere

Footballer for Arsenal, 2008-2018

A man’s game or the people’s sport? At last football has a female manager and we can all progress.

When I began this most recent incarnation of my FOOTBALL=LIFE, LIFE= FOOTBALL blog last autumn, I told my publisher that my plan was to include all kinds of soccer news. I wasn’t going to just focus on the top leagues and international teams, I wanted to demonstrate...

Six Nil: Under control and not so bad.

Women were a deep mystery to me as I grew up. I either avoided them or over-killed (myself) with them.

You’re up but You’re Down

Depression. It's everywhere. Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian daily sports paper recently carried an article (and it's adequately translated into English here) discussing how 58 per cent of top level footballers suffer from depression. Considering people can be...

To be a gay footballer or not, that really is not the issue in question.

However, in the context of football equals life, life equals football, it throws up some important issues about society. The context of this item has little directly to do with Thomas Hitzlsperger , but I use his story to make the point that football (like...

From Hare to Tortoise Eternity

Three months ago I made my debut as a walking footballer. Gis and I (we are both 58, he needs reminding, I never do), arrived at The Hive at 6.55 pm on a typically cold February evening and along with a ‘real football’ coach and four or so other people we warmed up...

Football; The sport of Apollo. It’s a messenger that speeds up when the journey’s end is near

As The Football World Cup is damned on the front pages for financial corruption and sexual exploitation and lauded on the back pages in anticipation of the forthcoming on-the-pitch carnival, it can still offer valid parallels for life and work. As a coach who extols...

Creating a club culture for the England Team

Now England has qualified for Brazil 2014, common wisdom suggests we need to build a greater sense of cohesion. Should we bring people’s differences out into the open or conversely do we focus on the things we have in common? These last few weeks have seen some...

The Language of Football| Blog 2012

This is a partially edited compendium of the blogs I wrote during the 2012 Euro Championship. Euro 2012 Coming Soon Continuing the theme of blogging during big international football competitions, Euro 2012 is days away. The build-up (sounds like scum around a bath...

The Foundations of Football Identity lie Deeper than Those Of The Stadia

The current name change argument at Hull City is more than just a name. But why such a big deal? Fewer than four years ago Assem Allam a Hull resident and Higher Education educated business tycoon bought the controlling stake in Hull City football club. Since...

Beginnings of Ends, Ends of Beginnings, Tortoises, Hares and all that…

It’s not just a matter of timing, it’s about knowing where to start the timing from too. Some years ago I had the privilege of meeting the athlete Roger Black. He had given a talk about his career and after the talk, I grabbed him and asked a few questions about...