Soccer Men: Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics Who Dominate the World's Most Popular Sport by Simon Kuper

Soccer Men: Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics Who Dominate the World's Most Popular Sport Reviews

• 
  Gus Sanchez

  A quick, painless read from one of the premier soccer journalists, maybe the best one working today. Personally, I would have enjoyed more profiles on the managers and general managers - more Jose Mourinho, Mike Forde, and Ignacio Palacios Huerta, please - and less profiles on the players, who come across as crushing bores or neurotic twats. Honestly, we already know Lionel Messi will probably be the greatest player to have ever lived once he hangs up his boots, and we also know he's a terrible interview because he says very little of note. So why bother with the profile? Hmm...maybe Kuper's making a point: soccer isn't a game dominated by the players after all, but by the managers and the general managers pulling the strings and drawing up the formations and making the financial decisions.
  
  Recommended for Simon Kuper completists.
• 
  Damon

  Simon Kuper, the author of "Soccer Against the Enemy," "Ajax, The Dutch, The War," and "Soccernomics," has written a new book called "Soccer Men." Though I liked his other books very much, this one left me feeling a bit disappointed. The writing is well done, and he wrote on many of my favorite athletes, and coaches, but I felt that he left out many players who I thought were worth mentioning. I also felt the profiles were too short and simplistic, he should have done more research and fleshed out his ideas more, instead of just republishing his old articles from the past. Also, much of what he has written about different players I already know, because I've read about them from other articles and interviews and I felt he was just reinterating what I already knew. What's the point of that? I would like to be exposed to new ideas and views that I may not have come across before. I'm just simply not interested in the repackaging of old articles.
• 
  Kirsten

  Some interesting insights into the men who have or recently have attracted a vast amount of attention from soccer lovers. It's interesting too to see how a few of Kuper's predictions - so often rather arrogantly stated - have already failed, even in the short time since this book was published.
  
  Or perhaps I only enjoy that because I'm irritated by his casually inserted sexism - something he himself may not even be aware of, as it's so prevalent in these soccer men, but it's annoying nonetheless.
• 
  Nick Davies

  An entertaining and sometimes witty and insightful book - short profiles of a large number of influential players, coaches and other football men, gathered over the course of Kuper's career as a journalist - but ultimately flawed by the nature of the beast. I was left frustrated at the shortness and lack of depth in some of the chapters, originally written as short articles that they were. I do of course acknowledge this, but couldn't escape the feeling I would have enjoyed a book with half as many subjects (esp. discarding the number of whom about which the author could add little new insight) in twice as much detail. Still, the author definitely knows his stuff, manages to wrest an entertaining and readable book from what must be a career listening to clichés being spouted, and did in several places enlighten and amuse me.
• 
  Graham

  It took me a little while to warm to the format of this book, a series of short 'vignettes' collected from Simon Kuper's interviews & profiles for Hard Gras magazine & broadsheet newspapers - the FT, Observer & Times - plus a few pieces especially written, between 1997 & 2010. Chiefly focussing on footballers themselves, the pick of which is probably the lovingly pained account of the writer unwittingly upsetting his cantankerous hero Johan Cruijff, but also insightful & revealing portraits of Davids, Gullit, Rivaldo, Matthaus, Litmanen, Ballack, Roberto Carlos, Bergkamp, Romario, Seedorf, Zidane, Maldini, Gattuso, Ibrahimovic, Torres, Anelka, Drogba, Iniesta, Messi, Henry, Cantona, Ribery & Beckham amongst an array of others.
  
  There is a fascinating early piece about Bert Trautmann & the fan Helmut Klopfleisch, separated for 28 years from his beloved Hertha Berlin, who subsequently became the unofficial mascot of the German national team, following them around the world ("For a while Klopfleisch spent Saturday afternoons huddled beside the Wall with other Eastern Hertha fans, listening to the sounds coming from the stadium a few hundred yards away in the West. The border guards soon put a stop to that.")
  
  Also included is a masterful dissection of the ghosted autobiographies of Carragher, Ashley Cole, Gerrard, Lampard & Rooney - not entirely the hatchet job you might imagine.
  
  But in two other smaller sections, he paints an interesting picture of first a selection of football coaches/managers - even Hoddle comes across well despite 'that' infamous quote, with his plans for the Academy in Montecastillo that has produced Ikechi Anya for one, (until he lazily lumps together "your Wimbledons and your Watfords" as successful in the 80s because then "you had rules where you could kick people, you could pull their shirts back") - & the third part titled "Some other football men" features the late Pompey fan Anthony Minghella, Franz Beckenbauer (footballer, football manager & football politician) and modern stadium architect Jacques Herzog, including a compelling comparison with a predecessor from another era, Archibald Leitch.
  
  For me, it's not quite up there with his seminal 'Football Against The Enemy' but with his rare international perspective, by the conclusion of this volume Kuper's cited inspiration of Arthur Hopcraft's 1968 publication 'The Football Man' - has been more than adequately justified by this modern equivalent.
  
• 
  Chris Thomas

  This was a good book to read to pick up some facts about a selection of players and managers. It definitely filled in quite a few knowledge gaps for me. I had to have a break from reading it for a few days as it got repetitive reading profile after profile. However, that is the point of the book! I really enjoy Kuper's writing and find him the easiest and most entertaining football writer to read. He's also the most grounded football writer I have come across who keeps to very realistic opinions of the men he is writing about. I also felt really sorry for him with his encounter with his childhood footballing hero - it was really sad!
  
  If you have yet to read one of his books I recommend going for Soccernomics first (it's the updated version of Why England Lose) and going for this as a follow-up text.
• 
  dianne

  The most engaging thing about this book is its title.
  i did learn, however, that the highly improbable Lionel Messi had what sounds like at least a partial growth hormone deficiency and was 4'6" at 13. Neither the local team he played for in Argentina (nicknamed 'the Lepers') nor his very poor family had the means to pay for the treatment. Finally, Barca - who recognized his ability after he scored 5 goals during their test match - flew him and his parents (first flight) to Barcelona where, with daily injections, he reached his current impressive 5'6" - and was big enough to play.
  The book confirmed that Rooney is the TV watching peabrain he appears to be. Oh, and that Franz Beckenbauer is a corporate (fascist) tool who goes through blondes like the rest of us plebes do toilet paper.
  Now you don't have to read this book; the rest is dry as jerky.
• 
  Liz De Coster

  In some ways, this book was totally on target for me: a lot of coverage of English player (nationals and league), followed by the Dutch (nationals more than league), some French (nationals) and Spanish (Barcelona) players. I'm not personally enthused by Italian soccer so I didn't find their absences to feel like omissions. Asian players are basically absent from the discussion, and the South American and African players have limited representation. Kuper writes for Western European papers, so clubs and national teams in that area are over-sampled; it's a dynamic probably familiar to soccer fans.
  As Kuper warns in the beginning, many soccer players just aren't that "interesting", at least in the sense they rarely share interesting insights or information during interviews. Kuper inserts some observations that I think would engage enthusiasts, mixing in strategy and team histories, but these profiles are relatively short and aren't likely to hook most readers. I can't tell from just this book if all Kuper's writing is this bloodless, or if it's the nature of the topic that doesn't stretch to draw in the reader.
  To be clear, the edition I got my hands on from the library is the first paperback edition, so didn't contain the updates/additions of the later 2014 reprint.
• 
  Umur

  I always enjoy Simon Kuper's work - in fact I enjoy Pamela Druckerman's as well, fan of the family - and this book could even be 5 stars if it was only more recent. Maybe Kuper should go back as a 10th year review and add some updates.
  Best parts of the book are by far when Simon Kuper buries the players because he knows they won't read him. He is delightfully surprised each time a player is not a complete idiot. One time he manages to insult Cruyff, Charlton, Best, Maradona, Platini and Pele in quick succession. And then finishes with all germans.
  This is an easy read, ideal for reading on the road since it is composed of numerous profiles.
• 
  Matthew

  Not the deepest dive but a fun collection of magazine and newspaper articles that give a brief view into the life of the greatest soccer players and managers circa 2010. The writing is strong though the chapters are short. Given some of these players are pretty single minded and sheltered from an early age, there are some curious characters, but it was also interesting to see how much the game has changed in only 20-30 years to be driven by money and become far more professional and regimented.
• 
  Sergio GRANDE

  Not a bad book, this "Soccer Men: Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics Who Dominate the World's Most Popular Sport". Quite appropriately it profiles some of the rogues, geniuses, and neurotics who dominate the world's most popular sport. SOME being the most important word to bear in mind to avoid disappointment.
  
  Most notable absences: most of the rogues, geniuses, and neurotics who dominate the world's most popular Sport, including Cristiano Ronaldo, Pelé, Michel Platini, Paul Gascoigne, Joey Barton, Vinnie Jones and the gangsters from FIFA.
  
  Be prepared to trudge through snooze pieces about Kaká, Michael Ballack, Laurent Malouda, Leo Messi, Freddy Adu, Johnnie Rep, Frank Lampard and many forgettable wallpaper, semi-mute millionaires who would have nothing to say even if they knew how to speak.
  
  PS: The last update is post 2010 World Cup in South Africa, so it's quire dated.
• 
  Abhinav

  A series of brilliant profiles on players, managers & "some other football men". For fans who'd love to brush up their knowledge of the game, its history, anecdotes & trivia, this is a treasure trove by all means.
  
  Strongly recommended.
• 
  Thomas

  A change of pace for me, a nice collection of commentaries dating back to the late 90's. What is interesting to me reading these is the hindsight I can look back on such as an interview with Glen Hoddle in 98 and knowing the outcome of that World Cup.
  
  I would rate the book at 3.5/5.
• 
  Davidfdz

  PERFECT.
• 
  Ju Yang

  The book was written by a well-known soccer insider Simon Kuper. It is a compilation of articles in the past few years on various famous soccer players, club managers and other stakeholders of the Beautiful Game.
  
  The book is organized in a way very suitable for a busy full-time professional, who can only read during squeezed 10-20 minutes here and there. Each article profiles a player or a manager. In your Kindle it will be easy to search via Table of Content. You won’t need to worry about disruption of logic of the content as it would happen for a long story or biography. What is much appreciated is that the author added additional comments on up-to-date events after most articles, some of which were published 10 years ago.
  
  On the content, I am very surprised on how few players from Bundesliga came out. The book features way too many English players, and those connected with Dutch League. This may be attributed to the limitation of the author, who is a Dutch and work for FInancial Times for a long time. That said, the book did capture all the main characters of the Game in the past 10-15 years. In particular I enjoy reading his profiling of Kaiser: Beckenbauer, and Maradona both as player and manager. This book will be more suitable to those who at least have some sketchy idea of the famous names. For me, I find it difficult to catch his comments on certain players out of Dutch League, and only slightly easier for those in Premier League.
  
  Thanks to the author’s journalistic background, the writing of this book is easy for the readers. The language flows smoothly and sometimes with hilarious conclusion.
  
  Finally, as this is a compilation of articles, there is no systematic analysis on the Soccer field, economics, club-player relationship, except some insightful comments in certain articles. For readers who seek to acquire an in-depth knowledge of the Game and the industry, this book is not enough.
• 
  Bill

  Ever wonder what it feels like to be a soccer (football) player? Simon Kuper, a prolific soccer journalist, gathers up his profiles of players over the years to provide a look into the lives of players, managers, and luminaries both on and off the field. Although Kuper knows soccer, he truly brings out the character of the men who play the game. Here's a couple of examples.
  
  On Lothar Matthaus:
  "..But Matthaus is the sort of nature person that Bavarians imagine nature people to be: a Bavarian with sunglasses on his head and a sweater slung over his should who gets into his sports car and drives his beautiful girlfriend to a beer garden, where they drink wheat beer in sight of a mountain. Then the Bavarian nature person thinks, like the clerk in a Heinrich Heine story, 'How beautiful nature in general is!' "
  
  On Andres Iniesta:
  "Guardiola studied Iniesta for a bit, turned to Xavi, and said, 'You've seen that? You'll push me towards the exit, but that guy will send us both into retirement.' "
  
  This is not a longform treatise on the soccer player but rather a set of vignettes that pull together into a single vision of the modern player. Easily readable. You'll seek to read it in small chunks and then you'll fall into a common pattern..."Just one more chapter tonight...It's short".
  
  Recommended for anyone interested in the mentality of a modern professional athlete.
• 
  J.L.

  Soccer Men is a compilation of articles written by the author about some of the players and coaches who have influenced the sport over the last fifty years. I am unsure of why certain players were omitted, most glaringly, Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo. Some portrayals are very detailed; some will leave you wanting for more. If you are unfamiliar with the player, the article may not be as interesting or the reader may not be familiar or understand the context to which the author refers; while the article on the branding and packaging of David Beckham is engrossing. At times, I felt sorry for these multimillionaire soccer players who possess a plethora of homes and women and a life that would seem enviable to the rest of us. The portrait of Wayne Rooney, almost a prisoner in his own home while not on the field, was, to me, particularly poignant and sad.
  
  The reader is also given a glimpse of how playing professional soccer is viewed by a player--as a business--versus a fan. I have heard before, and this book reiterated for me, that it is best not to meet your idol; you will almost surely be disappointed.
  
  I highly recommend this well-written book to anyone who wants to know more about the beautiful game and the men who play and coach it.
• 
  Stacey Neve

  I'd like to give this 2.5 stars, since just 2 seems overly harsh and I want to put in right in the middle of the spectrum. I jumped on this book because I had just finished (and loved) Soccernomics, but I didn't enjoy this one as much. At times I felt like I was expected to already know about who the players and coaches are and why they are important. That was fine for people who are still playing or coaching today, but I'm a younger fan and felt a little lost at times when Kuper launched into a profile with relatively little background information.
  
  However, in the cases where I was already familiar with the player or coach in question, I really enjoyed the additional insight. Kuper is witty and entertaining and knows a lot about the characters who have shaped the game.
• 
  Akin

  Three and three-quarters. Like all collections, it serves up the best and worst of a writer in concentrated form. Kuper is very perceptive, has an anthropological knack for spotting behavioural patterns, and enlivens his pieces with a dry, wry wit. On the other hand, he is occasionally quite ad-hominem -ly cruel. My guess is that's the freedom that comes from writing about football; as he points out at the beginning, it is usually a waste of time trying to get genuine insight from a footballer. Building journalistic contacts in the game - not offending people, for instance - becomes a secondary consideration, perhaps...
• 
  Pete

  Soccer Men 2011 by Simon Kuper is a collection of interviews and writings about various personalities associated with football. Kuper is the Financial Times’ soccer writer, co-author of the excellent Soccernomics and other soccer books.
  The interviews vary in quality and amusement, the Lothar Matthaus interview is scathing and amusing while some of the other interviews can be somewhat fawning. Kuper has his biases, particularly toward the Dutch, but these do not detract substantially from the book.
  There is some insight into the game amongst a good many colorful, fun, facts. For anyone who reads and enjoys soccer the book will not disappoint.
• 
  Julie

  Kuper is a Dutch soccer journalist who has compiled a huge set of profiles of the most influential players and managers of the past 30 years or so. Some of the profiles are pretty out of date, so some have short updates appended to them. It was pretty interesting to find out which players are autodidacts and how others list sleeping as their only hobby – they can’t be bothered to read or even watch movies, but are focused only on soccer. I also got a good sense of how the game has developed and the differences in style in various countries.
• 
  ...

  هذا الكتاب له ذكرى جميلة عندي,أول كتاب اقرأه عن الأدب الكروي
  
  كوبر يعرض بشكل مختصر وسهل الإطلاع ملفات عن نجوم من زوايا مختلفة من عالم الكرة ما بين نجوم سابقين او حاليين
  
  اللقاءات أجراها كوبر شخصيا في اوقات مختلفة وجمعها في هذا الكتاب بأسلوبه المميز والبعيد عن المعتاد
  
  اثنين من الملفات كانت فعلا ضرب من الإبداع الصحفي واستطاع فيها تعرية النجم من كل المجاملات والتملق وإظهاره بصورته الحقيقة : الأول مع حارس ليفربول السابق بروس غروبلار والأخر نجم الكرةالألمانية السابق لوثر ماثايوس