- Hardcover: 344 pages
- Publisher: HarperSport (6 Aug 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007301111
- ISBN-13: 978-0007301119
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 200,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained
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Product Description
Review
For Simon Kuper's Football Against the Enemy: "A terrific book, deftly written" Guardian "Another great work on soccer ! effervescent and hilarious" Independent
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An entertaining romp that lacks groundbreaking revelation,
By
This review is from: Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained (Hardcover)
`Why England Lose' or `Soccernomics' - to give it its non-UK title - is an attempt by Simon Kuper, a leading football writer, and sports economist, Stefan Szymanski, to give football the `freakonomics' treatment. The result is sometimes entertaining and often interesting, but overall the effect is somewhat uneven and frequently bogged down by the authors' attempts to provide a theoretical framework for their musings.Comparisons with Moneyball, Michael Lewis's 2003 account of how Billy Beane revolutionized the Oakland Athletics baseball team through statistical analysis, are inevitable. At times `Why England Lose' seems a self conscious attempt to give football the Moneyball treatment . But the very nature of the game is less controlled than baseball, which essentially boils down to one-on-one encounters between pitcher and batter. Football's inherent randomness, despite the authors attempts to argue otherwise, make it more difficult to be influenced by statistical theory. Arsene Wenger is the golden boy of this book. He has used statistics and psychology to brilliant effect, particularly in the first half of his career as Arsenal manager. The authors unravel some of his strategies, but don't really add much new. There's a sense that even an in-the-know fan could suss them out (buy young, sell after a player has peaked, make a player feel wanted, and so on) over a few post-match pints. But instead of on-the-field business the authors explain other footballing phenomena. Some, such as why new stadiums and football tournaments don't bring desired economic benefit, is fascinating. Others, such as which country is the best `pound for-pound' footballing nation, less so. This is an entertaining book, but I'd stop short of describing it as a must read. There's a knowingness - which borders on smugness - in its tenor that belies the actual content -- which is interesting but not exactly earth shattering. In his earlier works and his weekly FT column Kuper has proven himself a far more entertaining and perceptive author; it's a shame he doesn't quite carry it off here, but maybe that's a problem that comes with co-authorship.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Footanomics...,
By Big D (Bristol, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained (Hardcover)
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.
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Myth-busting fun,
By EconoCritic (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained (Hardcover)
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.
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