|
The Italian Job
|
| List Price: | £7.99 |
| Price: | £5.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Delivery on orders over £15. Details |
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk
43 new or used available from £3.50
Average customer review:
Product Description
Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But, how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around? In "The Italian Job", for the first time, a footballer of the first rank, Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles this debate head on. Uniquely positioned across both the English and the Italian games, they provide a fascinating and highly controversial commentary on where football is now and where it's headed. And they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, amongst others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the highest-profile symposium on football ever convened. Gianluca Vialli and Gabriele Marcotti explore every aspect of football, be it tactical and technical or cultural and sociological. Stuffed full of controversial opinions and gripping revelations, "The Italian Job" takes you on a journey to the very heart of two of the world's great footballing cultures.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #71176 in Books
- Published on: 2007-08-01
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 400 pages
Editorial Reviews
Synopsis
Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But, how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around? In "The Italian Job", for the first time, a footballer of the first rank, Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles this debate head on. Uniquely positioned across both the English and the Italian games, they provide a fascinating and highly controversial commentary on where football is now and where it's headed. And they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, amongst others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the highest-profile symposium on football ever convened.
From the Inside Flap
Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around?
In The Italian Job, for the first time, a footballer of the first rank, Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles this debate head on. Uniquely positioned across both the English and the Italian games, they provide a fascinating and highly controversial commentary on where football is now and where it’s headed. And they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, amongst others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the highest-profile symposium on football ever convened.
Gianluca Vialli and Gabriele Marcotti explore every aspect of football, be it tactical and technical or cultural and sociological. Stuffed full of controversial opinions and gripping revelations, The Italian Job takes you on a journey to the very heart of two of the world’s great footballing cultures.
From the Back Cover
Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2006
Football is a vital part of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions, every day of every year. But how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two great footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around?
In The Italian Job, Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles this debate head on. And they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsène Wenger, Sven-Göran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, amongst others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the highest-profile symposium on football ever convened.
Stuffed full of controversial opinions and gripping revelations, and fully updated to cover World Cup 2006 and the Italian football league controversy, The Italian Job takes you on a journey to the very heart of two of the world’s great footballing cultures.
Customer Reviews
Excellent
This is an excellent book. A very pleasant surprise indeed! G. Vialli compares football in Italy with football in England. He made one omission though- English football biographies concentrate too much on sensationalism, sleaze and polemics. For instance you cannot find the words Sytems, Strategies nor tactics in the index of Sir Alex Ferguson's, 'Managing my Life'.
It,s a game of several half,s
The most intelligent book ever written by a footballer it triumphantly blares on the front cover .Taking into account that the average footballer is about as intelligent as a pair of net curtains this is damming with faint praise but wait.....before you dismiss this book -an attempt to forensically examine the differences between Italian Football and the English game- bear in mind its written with the journalistic and cerebral mind of Gabriele Marcotti one of the more erudite commentators on the modern game.
Otherwise how could you explain the works of Chinese general Sun Tzu and Machiavelli rubbing shoulders with the opinions of Sir Alec Ferguson , Jose Mourinho , Marcello Lippi , Arsene Wenger, Marcel Desailly and err Ray "Butch" Wilkins. So even though Gianluca Vialli is clearly no ordinary footballer ( he opted to write this meditation on football cultures rather than a conventional autobiography and is evidently a thoughtful bloke) it's clear that much of the prose and intellectual backbone of this book comes from Marcotti .
The opinions are the authors though and they and some of the empirical examinations of the main differences between football in Italy and England make truly fascinating reading. The analysis of why training in England differs from that in Italy is backed up ( as are all his arguments) by compelling statistics and it is just one revelation about the disparity in approaches. There is also a difference in mentality and professionalism , particularly when it comes to tactical nuances . Vialli also makes perceptive points about black footballers without resorting to stereotyping and even goes as far to examine the differences between refereeing(Collina is truly captivating in this section) crowds, media , an expanding middle class, and management and even how different physical training impacts on a game . Its full of thought provoking points, opinions and even offers firm judgments on where Vialli believes the game should go in order to improve , some of which will surprise the reader coming from an ex-player, usually the most conservative bunch going.
It occasionally resorts to cliché and the first chapter comparing the two footballing nations to women is truly toe curling . All; the managers come out of it sounding like personable thoughtful people which may surprise those thinking it would be full of Mourinho,s usual biased blather and Ferguson's illogical paranoid rants.Vialli even turns the much cited profiles of combatants Wenger and Ferguson on their heads. A terrific book and one that anybody who claims to be interested in this tremendous sport ( "entertainment industry" ) should find compelling and educational . How many football books can you say that about?
Simply "Magnificent"
Even though I am not a footballer, I always had great passion for the game. It's true that I cannot ever experience the thrill of playing with my favourite players such as Ryan Giggs, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira or Paolo Maldini - probably not even the senior ones like Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fàbregas, Fabio Grosso or Owen Hargreaves. That said, I was able to get to know these player's or rather their culture and the underlying differences between English and Italian Leagues.
The book is not just for football lovers, to my astonishment I found Philosophy, Mathematics, Social Studies and a multitude of other subjects which are not necessarily related to football itself.
I also liked the way the authors used the English language, for example you would rarely (if not never) find the name of the authors throughout the chapters other than a subtle "yours truly" which in many cases refers to Gianluca Vialli.
On a social responsibility note, I was also happy to have indirectly helped the "Fondiazione Vialli et Mauro per la Ricerca e lo sport", which is a charitable foundation. As the book says - "Gianluca is donating proceeds from The Italian Job" to the foundation.
If you are an English supporter, you have to read this book. Don't be misled by the title and don't be hurt by the "altered England Badge" on the front cover of the book. You might never get to meet Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsène Wenger or Marcello Lippi, but after reading this book, it is as if you shook hands with them.
You will also get to know, Veronica and Mary after you read the book and then you too will be part of the "footballing love triangle".
