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

The changing shape of the promised land.

I wasn’t going to write about football again. I was going to move on, widen my audience and write about Health & Safety. But then the last week happened and I’m obliged to peep again over the lip of the soccer worms' tin and give those squirmers another airing....

Lessons from Leicester

This week the biggest English football competition was won by Leicester City. This was highly unexpected…

The Language of Football| Blog 2010

This is a partially edited compendium of the blogs I wrote during the 2010 World Cup. No smoke without fire, no sting without bee Momentum begins to gather as football coaches name their final FIFA World Cup Squads. I, however, am not here to discuss that just yet...

Window Shut, Bullying Over 2nd Sep 2013

It seems that the football transfer window, which shut twenty three hours ago is just an excuse for the bullies to flex their muscle. It’s a time when terms like ’Selling Club’ are applied to perceived weaklings and ‘Buying Club’ applied to the bullies ‘I like your...

The World Cup Who Fell To Earth (is Joe Lycett a bully?)

If he was entirely fair in picking on David Beckham. His reasoning is that Beckham has benefited financially and image-wise as a gay icon, he even wore a dress once, and according to Lycett, ought to have condemned both FIFA and Qatar.

False Starts?

The 2013-2014 Season in the English Premiership is all but nine days old and the other Euro leagues somewhat younger. The oddest thing is that very few of the participants actually know who their teams even are. This is all because the so-called ‘transfer window’ is...

The positive powers of football vs. the darker side within

Football can help disadvantaged young people in the UK (and beyond) but it can also prove to be a let-down to those it tantalises. Today’s timely press release from The Prince’s Trust spread the word about how so many young people are feeling depressed, without...

Keep Your Friends Close. Your Enemies Closer Still

When I tell people I both write and give talks on football from a non-football point of view they ask me to explain what I mean... I explain that as a simple, basic pastime, it has so many parallels, so much emotional depth and such a wide ‘contact list’ that it...

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...

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...