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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The Field of Gove Dreams – an un-level playing surface.

Michael Gove MP minister for Education, has just finished another big day. He appears to have been speaking since yesterday (Sunday morning February 2nd) and a bit like David Bowie’s re-launch a year ago, he seems to have this incredible self-awareness and knowledge...

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 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.

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...

despite having doubts about these metrics, I’m unashamedly jumping on the bandwagon and taking this opportunity to introduce my own workplace metric, Expected Emotional Exchange© or xEMx ©