How to Win: Lessons from the Premier League by The Secret Footballer

How to Win: Lessons from the Premier League Reviews

• 
  Kath

  I love football and I love psychology so I had high hopes for this book. It's not my first secret footballer book and I have to say that I do like the way he writes as well as his sense of humour. Anyway, I'm pleased to say that this book lived up to my expectations quite nicely. It even had my brother reading it over my shoulder at times. Not annoying at all but I guess it's my own fault for repeatedly reading bits out to him throughout!
  So, we touch on the classic psychology. Milgram's electric shock experiment and the Stanford prison experiment are both mentioned and analysed both by TSF and TSP who joins TSF in this book. Both of these I was already familiar with but it's always nice to see someone else's take on things. Then we also have the usual suspects: fake it til you make it; positive thinking; mindfulness; visualisation. All things that although mentioned here mostly in terms of sports (all sports not limited to football) are equally valid for all aspects of life.
  One of the chapters I found very interesting was the one regarding management techniques and how managers react to different players. Ok so I am not a footballer but I have seen some of these techniques work and not work in my own life enough that everything I was reading made perfect sense. I am not really supposed to quote from a review copy but I can't help this one and I really can't see it being changed - "Don't sign what you can't handle" boy did me and my brother have a great time compiling a list of examples of this pearl of wisdom...
  There are quite a few shocking statistics quoted too, especially wrt the England National team as well as a lot of analysis, mostly backed up very convincingly. Although being a layman I can't honestly say whether it is all accurate but within the context of the rest of the book I'm happy to accept the majority.
  This is one of the few books that I will probably also buy in paperback (I read an electronic copy) as I would really like to re-read and annotate. I highlit so many bits on my e-copy but that's not as easy to refer back to. I also would really love my brother to read it (he doesn't do ebooks) so that we can discuss it more. We have talked about a lot of what I read out already.
  Oh, it's also full of the usual anecdotes and funny stories that TSF is famous for too. I am still umming and arring about who he is, but to be honest even though there are loads of rumours, and I have my own ideas, I'm happy in my ignorance. If only so that he (they?) can continue with this series of books.
  If you are into psychology but not sport then do not necessarily write this off. Ok so the majority of the examples are sport related, it is written in a very easy to understand way and, as I already mentioned, the tips and tricks can be translated into all walks of life. If you are into football (sport) but not a fan of psychology, it can be read on a less deep level and does contain some great, funny bits, examples and stats.
  
  My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.
• 
  Duncan Smith

  Well worth reading. An insightful book.
• 
  Stephen Wood

  Another very strong book by a footballer turned author. I really enjoyed reading about the physiology that goes into elite sports.
• 
  James

  As is typical of a TSF book, it was digested in a very short time, kept me engaged throughout, and made me thoroughly dislike TSF. Though if he is to be believed, he doesn't care about that, so we're both happy.
  
  In an interview promoting his third book, TSF mused that he might do something on pyschology as that is what's all the rage in bestsellers lists - this is TSF's contribution to that world, with a smattering of input from his anonymous psychologist friend.
  
  Having read Happy by Derren Brown in the last month, it was interesting to see many similar works referenced in this work, in an approach that would more closely resemble the way I'd talk about these than Brown would - focus on the interesting bits, choose the points that prove my already-formed ideas and definitively proclaim them as indesputable fact. This makes them easier to read, but less rigorous and more prone to question. Despite talking up our flawed ways of thinking, TSF leaves no room for doubt that he knows exactly what he's talking about, referencing Kahneman's "What you see is all there is" and focusing on what Jose Mourinho has done in public without irony.
  
  And yet, in the most part, TSF is pretty clued up. His anonymity allows him to accurately assess Kyle Walker and Paul Robinson in a constructive manner without having to worry about bad press. The chapters don't necessarily follow a particular structure, but they are at least interesting and without too much filler, even if parts are a bit self-indulgent. This is the double-edged sword to TSF; it isn't boring but can leave you rolling your eyes at how selfish in tone it is. The frequent weakness of psychology books is that it is focussed on the abstract, but relating it to football does show how it can be applied to real situations.
  
  One example is recruitment - and TSF quotes a Thaler study of NFL draft picks and makes a wider point about poor scouting at youth level. He is right that choosing the best performer at 6 years old, then giving them more attention and coaching will genuinely lead to them being a better player, when to start with they were just bigger. But he uses the Thaler draft study to prove that people are bad at judging players because they only get the higher pick right 56% of the time in the first round, and 52% overall. But that study is on 4th vs 5th pick, or 117th vs 118th pick - it means the Raiders were wrong to trade for Ricky Williams at all costs, but ignores that the percentage between 2nd and 16th pick might be much higher, and that with 7 draft picks a year, that accumulation over a whole roster can be significant in a sport of 'tight margins at the top.' This is a prime example of the unwarranted certainty that TSF speaks with.
  
  The secret psychologist was mildly interesting, but was very guarded in his assessment of TSF, letting TSF tell the story of their first meeting. His other inputs can also be a bit vague. As usual when it comes to profiling winners, we see how his tips helped the winners, but we never hear the stories of those who did apply these methods but were still caught short in the end. He did offer genuinely manageable tips of how to deal with situations in the workplace however, and was surprisingly engaging - his contribution was small but for the better.
  
  After a disappointing second and third book, I did enjoy this TSF book a lot more, though it was not without it's faults, and I do wonder if I would have found it as interesting had I not read other books on pyschology recently. But in the end, I read it in 2 days.
• 
  Leosya

  This book is written by TSF (The Secret Footballer - an ex pro whose identity is to be kept secret) and TSP (The Secret Phycologist). The book is mainly about mindset and phycology of wining and succeeding with a focus on how to do this in Football (although the authors do recommend the use of lessons in this book in any environment).
  The book is all about phycology and trying to uncover what makes a certain person (or team) win. It is written in a very interesting manner which is also quite easy to understand. The book is a combination of both real-life stories, statistics, and examples from the real world which are brought together to uncover the true mystery of winning.
  This was a really good book and I managed to read it very quickly because of how easy and interesting it was. The language is often unnecessarily strong and I wouldn't recommend this book to anybody who doesn't feel mature enough to understand the use of it. Apart from this small issue, the book was absolutely fantastic and thoroughly deserves it 9/10 rating.