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Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained [Paperback]

Simon Kuper (Author), Stefan Szymanski (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 29 April 2010

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 clichés 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

  • Paperback: 368 pages
  • Publisher: HarperSport (29 April 2010)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0007354088
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007354085
  • Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 143,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

› Visit Amazon's Simon Kuper Page
Simon Kuper
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Product Description

Review

'Why England Lose is an Arsène Wenger of a book - more thoughtful than most of its rivals and, by football standards, positively intellectual.' The Times

'It is rare, even after the great leaps football literature has taken in the past two decades, to find a book that takes the breath away, but Why England Lose does. Every page engages, entertains and challenges the lazy assumptions that still dominate football, not merely in its punditry, but all too often in the way that clubs are run.' FourFourTwo

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).

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars An entertaining romp that lacks groundbreaking revelation 17 Oct 2009
By J A C Corbett VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
`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.
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating! 7 Aug 2009
By 13
Format:Hardcover
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.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Myth-busting fun 30 Aug 2009
By EconoCritic
Format: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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, even for a non-football fan
Bought this for my daughter, who is studying Sport Science. But both me and my wife have been fascinated by the stories and theories, some of which even have real-life value. Read more
Published 8 days ago by Tom in Malvern
5.0 out of 5 stars Why England Lose
Simon and Stefan's book is an entertaining book, and it tries to answer a question that really started on 14th June 1970. Read more
Published 1 month ago by John
3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but ..
Interesting, but here and there some weird conclusions that does not always seem to be backed by data. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Simon Bager
4.0 out of 5 stars Great idea
Maybe it's a bit contrived as an idea, but it's still a really well-executed and well-researched book, and it makes for a good, surprisingly accessible read (on the whole - some... Read more
Published 11 months ago by DCollins77
3.0 out of 5 stars Kindle version is a joke
I have to confirm that the earlier reviews about the Kindle version are absolutely right. If you crumpled up a photocopy of the paperback, fed it through a scanner and used 15... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Elephant
1.0 out of 5 stars A truly awful triumph of misdirection represented as fact
Never in the history of literature has someone presented so much misdirection and selective fact picking and tried to create a hypothesis that is professed as correct. Read more
Published 12 months ago by SideshowAl
1.0 out of 5 stars Pick and choose your stats and they are worthless
For a book that tries to equate MoneyBall to soccer it completely misses the point. It picks and chooses facts, wraps it in very basic stats to make it sound like they have done... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Rockhoppers
5.0 out of 5 stars Footballonomics
This was an extremely entertaining and informative book. A sort of combination of "Moneyball" and" Freakonomics". Read more
Published 16 months ago by The Emperor
5.0 out of 5 stars Why England Lose: And other curoius phenomena explained.
Excellant read. Very entertaining. Its the sort of book once you pick up you wont put down again until you have read it from cover to cover. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Noahsway
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, but a heart-breaker
Like most other English fans, I fall into the trap of always expecting England to win every cup going only to find myself "Croatia-Wembleyed" into an angry, denying beer-fuddled... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ed Jie
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      Why England Lose = Soccernomics? 13 8 Apr 2010
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