Product Description

At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist. "Why do England lose?" "Why do Newcastle United always buy the wrong players?" "How could Nottingham Forest go from winning the European Cup to the depths of League One?" "Penalties - what are they good for?" These are questions every football fan has asked. Why England Lose answers them. It brings the techniques of bestselling books such as Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist to bear on our national sport. Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, it applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Why England Lose isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Why England Lose. But the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #405 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Review
For Simon Kuper's Football Against the Enemy: "A terrific book, deftly written" Guardian "Another great work on soccer ! effervescent and hilarious" Independent

About the Author
Simon Kuper's first book, Football Against the Enemy, won the 1994 William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize and is widely acknowledged as one of football's seminal books. Simon writes a weekly sports column in the Financial Times and has previously written football columns for The Times and The Observer. Stefan Szymanski is Professor of Economics and MBA Dean at Cass Business School in London. Stefan has a global reputation and has acted as a consultant to government and to major sports organisations such as the FIA (motor sport), UEFA (football) and the ICC (cricket).

Customer Reviews

Myth-busting fun
The combination of data-analysis and great sports writing makes this book really enjoyable. The authors clearly love football and love the numbers too. I really enjoyed the analysis of managerial myths: why transfer spending is usually wasted, why football clubs are often irrational, why Brian Clough is the only manager who ever made a serious difference to footballing performance. If you like football, highly recommended.

Fascinating!
Given the subject matter, I thought this book could be a little dry. Far from it. Its exceptionally easy reading and deals with a number of myths about the Beautiful Game. The 2 authors neatly dissect various intuitions and myths that have arisen about footie, and present their findings in a very readable form.

I won't spoil the fun, but if you ever wondered WHY England lose, WHY Real Madrid buy galacticos (and its not because they want to win the league) and exactly how MUCH difference a manager makes, then you should buy this book.

Despite having finished it, this tome retains pride of place next to the bog for essential peaceful reading.

Footanomics...
The book is an economists look at the game of football - a Freakonomics for football. There are some insights that should make the book mandatory reading for strategists at the FA, club chief execs, and ALL football pundits. Although it is over 300 pages often fairly detailed analysis, it is surprisingly easy to read, and peppered with interesting anecdotes about the likes of Brian CLough and Guus Hiddink. I could not put it donw and read it from cover to cover in a day.