The Secret Footballer: Mind games and the truth behind the clichés
No player will have been able to ignore the attempts of the Manchester City and United managers to unsettle each otherI have always had the overriding feeling that I am not free to set my own course. Stanley Milgram, a Harvard psychologist, felt t...
The Secret Footballer: Promotion needs team built to fight every inch
Those Reading players with Premier League experience fed off the hunger of those who have never had a taste of the big timeI've lost count of the number of managers who have used the well-known Al Pacino speech from the film Any Given Sunday as a motiv...
The Secret Footballer: Moneyball works better at Stoke than Liverpool
The style of Stoke City, four points behind Liverpool in the league table, is a rudimentary example of soccernomicsThe Moneyball philosophy first used by the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane is the study of a set of underestimated statistics tha...
The Secret Footballer: You must feel sorry for Andy Carroll. Well I do
I know what failing to live up to a big transfer fee feels like, so can empathise – and Liverpool's previous problems with strikers from outside suggest part of the fault lies with their systemDon't all rush to agree with me, but I would like to make...
The Secret Footballer: The tweet police should let us get on with it
Policing social media is a struggle for many clubs who not so long ago felt they could control almost every word that came out of a player's mouthIf Mario Savio, the student who led the freedom of speech movement at Berkeley in 1964, could see how year...
The Secret Footballer: Why we raced through my medical
Officials and players are sometimes complicit in cutting corners when it comes to transfer deals, though in general clubs now offer the best possible treatment for their young chargesI have spent my life chasing money, material possessions and recognit...
The Secret Footballer: an agent not afraid to bend the rules is key
Show me a teenager who always makes the right decision and I'll show you 30 millionaire professional footballers, on the move again this summer, who can't tie their own bootsPrecocious talent like that of Lille's Eden Hazard is easy to spot. It's easie...
The Secret Footballer: Promoting your No2 is always a big mistake
Many assistants struggle when given the manager's job because they do not have the character required to be the main manAsk most people what comes to mind at the mention of The Godfather trilogy and nine times out of 10 they will make reference to the ...
The Secret Footballer: Deep down, everyone wants to be captain
A captain should be the player above all others in whom one can absolutely confide but the politics mean you can spend more time arranging things off the field than getting things right on itJust how important is the captain? He divides up the matchday...
The Secret Footballer: What matters more: cash or cups? Take a guess
Nice though another medal in the cabinet would be, football is a job and the best place to ply your trade is in the Premier LeagueI know what the Birmingham City players would have been thinking during their Carling Cup lap of honour and I also kn...
The Secret Footballer: when a club goes bust, don’t arrive in a Ferrari
At times of uncertainty and hardship people with courage and determination very often come to the fore"The best things in life are free but you can keep them for the birds and bees." Everybody knows the next line and if you happen to be the owner of ei...
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