Under the Skin of the Modern Game

State of Play

Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano and No Hunger in Paradise returns with his magnum opus on the state of modern football

One of the issues Calvin explores in his most recent book State of Play is the need for more emotionally intelligent managers and coaches in football, as epitomised by England manager Gareth Southgate.

As enthralling and insightful as any fans of Mike’s previous books would expect

A grandstand view of the beautiful game . . . Calvin draws on his own frontline reporting as well as interviews with leading football figures to present an exhaustive portrait of the modern game.

Michael Calvin has done the game a massive service with this broad ranging, hard-hitting and exceptionally well researched book and he has also written it in a beautiful, lucid prose style.

The most vivid, revealing insight into contemporary British football that you are ever likely to read.

Very few books about football are truly essential, but this is now one of them.

State Of Play is Mike Calvin’s finest work to date.

Essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in football

Heartbreaking and funny, State Of Play is essential reading on many burning issues in the modern game.

For those of you missing your football fix, anything by Michael Calvin is worth a read – the hugely respected sports journalist writes eloquently about the modern game in page turner State of Play

Praise for No Hunger In Paradise: Another landmark work from Mike Calvin, who has taken us beyond the surface of football to show its true workings. Ground-breaking reportage with a heart and a conscience. A service to the game

Praise for Living on the Volcano: An eye-raising insight into the realities of life in the dugout

Praise for The Nowhere Men: A magnificent book, full of extraordinary characters and beautifully told

Michael Calvin is one of the UK’s most accomplished sportswriters, having worked in more than eighty countries. He has covered every major sporting event, including seven summer Olympic Games and six World Cup finals. He was named Sports Writer of the Year for his despatches as a crew member in a round-the-world yacht race and has twice been named Sports Reporter of the Year. 
 
 
His book, The Nowhere Men, a study of football scouts, won The Times Sports Book of the Year prize in 2014. He became the first author to receive the award in successive years, when Proud, his collaboration with former Wales and British Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas, was named Sports Book of the Year in 2015. 
 
 
In the same year Living On The Volcano, which exposed the pressures on managers, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize. No Nonsense, his collaboration with Joey Barton, was named Autobiography of the Year in the 2017 British Sports Book awards. 
 
 
No Hunger In Paradise, an insight into youth football that spawned a widely-praised BT Sport documentary, was a Sunday Times bestseller. State of Play, a study of the morality and social impact of modern football, was longlisted for the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. 
 
 
He has been working closely with Thomas Bjorn on Mind Game to capture the unique nature of golf, and the principles and philosophies of the world’s best players.

'For those of you missing your football fix, anything by Michael Calvin is worth a read – the hugely respected sports journalist writes eloquently about the modern game in page turner State of Play.' 
DAILY MIRROR 
 
_______________________________________________________ 
 
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2018 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 
 
Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano and No Hunger in Paradise returns with his magnum opus on the state of modern football 
 
First he revealed the extraordinary lives of football scouts in The Nowhere Men. 
 
Next he unearthed the pressures on football managers in Living on the Volcano. 
 
Then he chronicled the hardships of young players striving to make it in No Hunger in Paradise. 
 
 
Now in State of Play, in what marks the pinnacle of a career investigating the human stories of football, award-winning writer Michael Calvin turns his eye to the biggest story of all - the game itself. 
 
 
From mental health to money, concussion to Champions league, fan-owners to oligarchs, women's football to world cups, Calvin gets under the skin of the beautiful game, and reveals why it is truly the game of our lives. 
 
 
Based on hundreds of hours of interviews with leading figures around the world, from Arsene Wenger to Steven Gerrard, Calvin reveals the winners, the losers, the politics, the pleasure, the hope, and the despair of the world's most popular sport.

The Players. The Journey. The Dream

No Hunger In Paradise

Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men and Living on the Volcano, Michael Calvin is back with his new book that tells the inside story of becoming a professional footballer.

Another landmark work from Mike Calvin, who has taken us beyond the surface of football to show its true workings. Ground-breaking reportage with a heart and a conscience. A service to the game.

Extraordinary writing, a vital subject, a brilliant read

If you’re in any way interested in what lies beneath the water of the Premier League Iceberg, read Mike Calvin’s latest book No Hunger in Paradise

A fascinating insight which gets to the heart of the matter – and problems – chasing every kid’s dream. A compelling read for anyone who likes football and the stories surrounding the stars of tomorrow. I couldn't put it down.

Highly recommended reading. An excellent and important book . . . No Hunger in Paradise explores the world of youth football and, if the stories within do one thing, they press the claim for serious discussion about how the English game treats the thousands of children who come into contact with the sharper end of youth football – and their families who often get reeled in to a cut-throat environment without really understanding what is going on

No Hunger in Paradise is somehow both heart-breaking and uplifting. Just brilliant!

No Hunger in Paradise is humbling, educational, worrying and a great read. Can't recommend it highly enough. One of the best sports books I've ever read.

Started reading this and it's brilliant. Seriously recommended. Yet another important football book from Michael Calvin. In-depth well-researched accounts of the journey from kids football to the professional game..or rejection

If you've any interest in the future of football in this country and the young players who will provide it, No Hunger in Paradiseis a must-read.

Bleak but brilliant. Contains stories that need to be heard.

A brilliant &amp; very important book. Vital, highly recommended. Tempted to say it's Michael Calvin’s best yet, which is some praise.

The best sports book I'm likely to read this year. Highly recommend you buy it.

A brilliant insight into the journey young kids now make from kicking a ball around in their back garden, through the glossy facilities of academy football.

His research is, as ever, impeccable… No Hunger in Paradise is a fascinating and fitting finale to a trio of books any football lover should own.

Heartbreaking . . . an excellent piece of reportage

The award-winning writer’s new forensic, and sometimes alarming, case study into why some young prospects make the cut – and others fall away – is fascinating… 
 The FA would do well to read this if they want success

Brilliantly sourced and written… As a portrait of the state of the modern game, No Hunger In Paradise is vital reading. With Calvin’s previous studies, it serves as a record of what football is like today and should place him alongside Arthur Hopcraft, John Moynihan and Hunter Davies in providing the sport with its defining literature

One of the great, and most important, sports books of 2017. Passionate, incisive, gripping.

Calvin is a natural storyteller who is unflinching as he goes behind the scenes and meets the people at the heart of the youth development network.

The book is an eye-opener into the pressures put on young players by clubs, coaches and parents; the corruption and conceit, bullying and harassment. Plus the lengths those clubs and their scouts go to, to recruit kids who have yet to reach secondary school.

Independent, 10 Best Football Books of the Year 2017

Completes his formidable trilogy on the game with a blistering indictment of how it treats its youngest players

Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018 
 
“What’s your dream, son?” 
 
A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer….” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent. 
 
How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents? 
 
Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.

Life, Death and Football: A Year on the Frontline with a Proper Club

Family

An emotional season with a proper football club fighting for promotion.

From the award-winning author of NO HUNGER IN PARADISE 
 
Outside the global spotlight, footballers don't drive Aston Martins or pose for underwear ads. This is war. This is life. This is football. 
 
Michael Calvin turned up for the first day of pre-season training at Millwall FC. 333 days later, he sat among the subs at Wembley. 
 
Over the course of a season, he witnessed the intimate everyday life of a football club far from the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, and the unique characters that come together every day on the field. 
 
 These are dedicated, hard-working family men, close to their roots, 'playing for the people who hate their jobs, who'd love our lives.' 
 
 Forget about the over-hyped circus of the Premier League. This is the beautiful game in all its raucous glory: essential reading for anyone whom football is a way of life.

The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager

Living on the Volcano

A close look at the life of football managers.

The honesty in Living on the Volcano suggests that in an era of anodyne press conferences where so many managers speak a lot while saying little, giving fans an occasional glimpse of these feelings might be no bad thing

an illuminating new book...vivid journey on what it is really is to be a football manager

Arguably the greatest asset of Michael Calvin’s previous, award-winning book The Nowhere Men was its human insight into a shadowy, under-appreciated world. The trials and tribulations of scouting were vividly portrayed through interviews with figures unaccustomed to the limelight... What Living on the Volcano does so brilliantly, is pick up the recurring threads. The ‘band of brothers’ mentality that emerges is built on a mutual world of uncertainty, frustration, and ‘recurrent rejection and renewal’. Each chapter is cleverly connected to the next to reflect the fluid nature of the managerial merry-go-round… As a series of individual portraits, Living on the Volcano may seem like a book to dip in and out of. However, in doing so, there’s a danger of missing the power of the overall narrative. Bookended by former Torquay manager Martin Ling’s emotional story, this is a book about people and what it takes to do their intoxicating and exhausting job. Just as with The Nowhere Men, Calvin gets to the personal core of an impersonal industry

an eye-raising insight into the realities of life in the dugout

Calvin’s book takes us into many enthralling areas. It is especially strong on the nuts and bolts of ambition. And how ambition often sits uneasily alongside dreams… superb

a remarkable insight into the often hopelessly neurotic world of those in charge of a professional football dressing-room… The book conveys a fragile side of management most often kept obscured. Its real beauty is that it deals with people, not caricatures

the narrative of Ling’s decline forms a vivid part of the superb new book which seeks to understand, like never before, the interior mind and challenges of a football manager. Mike Calvin’s Living on the Volcano reaches way beyond the standard press conference propaganda

a remarkable insight into what makes these men [football managers] tick, or in some cases, tic. Stress, insomnia, paranoia, depression with a dash of ego, a dollop of insecurity and there you have it … one volatile cocktail. Calvin is an exquisite writer but he is also a “proper” journalist. If a manager wants to keep talking, thus revealing far more than he perhaps intended, Calvin sits back and allow the dictaphone to take the strain then lets the quotes run.

I am quite sure that football fans would be more patient and have a better understanding of the problems and pressures that managers face every day if they took the time to read Mike Calvin’s fascinating and illuminating new book

The book's greatest achievement is in making managers look human - people just like you, your father, your son or your husband. It is a melancholy book, about the death of dreams and idealism. But it is also uplifting, because it shows how difficult it is to extinguish a fiery spirit.

revealing and enjoyable… a memorable book

a book you need to read if you want to understand football

For any football fan with the belief that football isn’t quite as simple as the average fan on the street believes this is a fascinating read, and if your football role is on the other side of the touchline or on the training pitch, this book gives an insight rarely available.

The brilliance of Calvin’s book is to reveal that managers, whether vilified or revered, have a vulnerable side. They might have a particularly thick skin, but they’re fragile and fallible too. This book will leave you with a much greater appreciation for the work they do. Behind the team-talks, the press-conference meltdowns, the club statements and departures by mutual consent, there are complex characters working in an incredibly pressurised, often hostile environment. Managers are more than scapegoats or miracle workers – this heartening, harrowing book gives them a human face.

Living on the Volcano is another astonishingly strong book from the author of Familyand The Nowhere Men. Mike Calvin has once again reached heights with his sports writing which seems to be unfair on his peers. His ability to gain access to the people who really count is phenomenal and ensures once again that Living on the Volcano is a triumph. The chapters which focus on the lower league managers are for me the strongest as we hear from men who don’t often make the headlines. I for one can’t wait for what Mike does next.

Matt Gardiner sports bookseller at Waterstones and founder of Manchester Football Writing Festival

If were to pick my favourite read for the year I would have to go for Michael Calvin’s Living on the Volcano. This dissection of football manager, thanks to the experiences of famous and less well known managers, puts into focus the reality of football management. Although I was never under the illusion that it is as easy a job as many seem to think that it is, there were passages in this book that still took me by surprise.

Paul Grech, author of Il Re Calcio: Stories From Italian Football

It comes as no surprise to say the most enjoyable football book I’ve read in 2015 was Living on the Volcanoby Michael Calvin. It has become rather expected of Calvin to deliver such brilliance packed in to a small space, but he has done so once again with this superb reading of football managers. He isn’t afraid to scrutinise when he sees best, and also gives a number of different interviews with the Premier League’s top coaches. These managers do, however unfortunate, keep to a very stylised and cliché based response which might hamper the true feel of the book, but the writing is what I came for and it didn’t disappoint.

George Rinaldi, English and Italian football writer and author of the upcoming Calcio’s Greatest Forwards

in-depth interviews with football managers build an authoritative picture of what it is like to work in [the football management] world

Huw Richards, Guardian - Sport books of the year

The best books have tension at the heart of them. Sometimes resolved, sometimes not. This book is a walk through the terrible, awful, insanely stressed, deeply unhealthy world of English football management alongside the men who love it more than anything in the world. There is a completely intractable tension driving it, that of men trapped in a fatal attraction because the only job they want to do just happens to be one of the worst jobs imaginable. It makes for a fantastic book, albeit one whose most compelling parts are almost macabre. Calvin keeps himself out of the way and lets the managers spill their guts so there are long tranches of quotes, giving the book a confessional and even intimate feel

Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin is a revealing, often disturbing look at football manager’s lives in the modern era… The dugout should carry a health warning

Henry Winter, The Times (Books of the Year)

Brilliant study of football managers. Superb.

Calvin's Living on the Volcano is possibly the best study in the harsh realities of life as a football manager you are likely to find in any book [...] Calvin provides access and insight into a much-talked-about but little-understood profession and its unique pressure [...] Both gripping and empathetic, the book goes behind the cliches, myths and public fronts to provide portraits of real people experiencing the highs, lows and ruthlessness of life in the dugout.

Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin is a revealing, often disturbing look at football manager’s lives in the modern era… the dugout should carry a health warning

The most enjoyable football book I’ve read in 2015 was Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin. It has become rather expected of Calvin to deliver such brilliance packed in to a small space, but he has done so once again with this superb reading of football managers. He isn’t afraid to scrutinise when he sees best, and also gives a number of different interviews with the Premier League’s top coaches.

Of Pitch & Page, Best Football Books of 2015

Another astonishingly strong book from the author of “Family” and “The Nowhere Men”. Mike Calvin has once again reached heights with his sports writing which seems to be unfair on his peers. His ability to gain access to the people who really count is phenomenal and ensures once again that “Living on the Volcano” is a triumph

If I were to pick my favourite read for the year I would have to go for Michael Calvin’s Living on the Volcano. This dissection of football manager, thanks to the experiences of famous and less well known managers, puts into focus the reality of football management. Although I was never under the illusion that it is as easy a job as many seem to think that it is, there were passages in this book that still took me by surprise.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015* 
 
A man punches the wall in a strategic show of anger. Another complains he has become a stranger to those he loves. A third relies on “my three a day: coffee, Nurofen and a bottle of wine.” Yet another admits he is an oddity, who would prefer to be working in cricket. A fifth describes his professional life as “a circus”. These are football managers, live and uncut. Arsene Wenger likens the job to “living on a volcano: any day may be your last”. He speaks with the authority of being the longest serving manager in the English game, having been at Arsenal for 17 years. The average lifespan of a Football League manager is 17 months. Fifty three managers, across all four Divisions, were sacked, or resigned, in the 2012-13 season. There were fifty seven managerial changes in the 2013-14 season. What makes these men tick? They are familiar figures, who rarely offer anything more than a glimpse into their personal and professional lives. What shapes them? How and why do they do their job? Award-winning writer Michael Calvin provides the answers. 
 
Insecurity is a unifying factor, but managers at different levels face different sets of problems. Depending on their status, they are dealing with multi-millionaires, or mortgage slaves. Living on the Volcano charts the progress of more than 20 managers, in different circumstances and in different phases of their career. Some, like Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez, are at the peak of their profession. Others, like Chris Hughton, Brian McDermott and Gary Waddock, have been sacked, and are seeking a way back into the game. They offer a unique insight into a trade which is prone to superficial judgement and savage swings in fortune. Management requires ruthlessness and empathy, idealism and cunning. Stories overlap, experiences intermingle, and myths are exposed.

The Nowhere Men

Winner of The Times British Sports Book Award 2014. 
 
A fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK

Michael Calvin charts the evolution of the sports’ scouts from chaotic beginnings to Moneyball-inspired analysis, and is enough to make you pay close attention when you next pass a kids’ kickabout in the park

‘Calvin’s book is excellent, a highly readable insight into the slog and grind of assessing talent.’

One of the ‘50 Best Sports Books Ever Written 
 
In The Nowhere Men, Mike Calvin somehow manages to make the job of football scout sound like the most romantic existence imaginable. It also sounds bleak and deeply lonely. It is a fascinating insight into an often misunderstood and under-represented part of the sport, revealing the hours, dedication and struggles of men who love football and don’t know what they’d do without it.

A magnificent book, full of extraordinary characters and beautifully told

There’s a strong contender for the William Hill Sports Book Prize in Michael Calvin’s The Nowhere Men, a book revealing the hidden lives of football scouts.

The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin is a book you have to read

I commend to you The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin – brilliant book, great journalism

Top sports writer Michael Calvin lifts the lid on the talent scouts

It's superb, one of the best of the year. One of those books where you learn something every couple of pages.

co-author of Football Manager Stole My Life

Michael Calvin is one of the UK’s most versatile sportswriters, having worked in more than 80 countries, covering seven summer Olympics, and six World Cup finals. He was named Sportswriter of the Year for his despatches as a crew member in a round the world yacht race, and has twice been named Sports Reporter of the Year. He is currently chief sports writer with the Independent on Sunday, and has held similar positions at the Daily Telegraph, Times and Mail on Sunday. His last book, Family: Life Death and Football, was shortlisted in the 2011 Sports Book Awards. It was a critically-acclaimed study of a season embedded at Millwall, one of English football’s most notorious clubs.

Winner of The Times British Sports Book Award 2014. 
 
A fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK 
 
A teenaged boy plays football in a suburban park. His name is Raheem Sterling. The call is made: “Get down here quick. This is something special”. 
 
Another boy is 8, going on 28. His name is Jack Wilshere. The referee, an Arsenal scout, spirits him away from Luton Town. 
 
A young goalkeeper struggles on loan at Cheltenham Town in League Two. His name is Jack Butland. Within months he will be playing for England. 
 
Welcome to football’s hidden tribe. Scouts are everywhere yet nowhere, faceless and nameless, despite making the informed decisions worth millions. Award-winning sportswriter Michael Calvin opens up their hidden world, examining their disconnected lifestyles, petty betrayals and unconsidered professionalism of men who spend long, lonely hours on the road.

Michael Calvin

Thomas Bjørn

I have heard it said that there has never been a book written which gets to the heart of golf and to the golfers themselves. I can tell you, there is now and that book is ‘Mind Game’. I have made it a must-read for all our staff to help them better understand the complexities of our players and just what it takes to succeed in our sport

Keith Pelley, European Tour Chief Executive

I have never read a Mike Calvin book I didn't like. And anyone who likes golf will absolutely love this brilliant book. I loved it.

You've got to get this book. This is for anyone who loves their sport and anyone who loves their golf.

Delves not only into that Ryder Cup victory, but into the demons tournament golfers face on a regular basis. Martin Kaymer, Robert Karlsson, Matt Wallace, Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood and others give personal insights.

Mind Game, is an unflinching yet beautifully written account of the psychological trauma he suffered as a golfer. It is an equally gripping portrayal of the internal struggle faced by many of his contemporaries’

The Secrets of Golf’s Winners

Eye-opening contributions from the stars of game make this a powerful, groundbreaking investigation into the mind of the professional golfer. The perfect gift for Father's Day. 
 
* SHORTLISTED FOR THE TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS * 
 
Professional golf is the most remorseless of sports, unique in the complexity of its demands. Technical perfection must be produced in short, concentrated bursts of synchronised movement. Huge mental strength is required. 
 
Why, then, do we know so little about what it takes to succeed - even survive - at the highest level? 
 
What separates the good from the great? What are the rituals of preparation and execution? 
 
How does an elite team come together? 
 
In a truly groundbreaking exposé of professional golf, Michael Calvin and Thomas Bjorn - captain of the 2018 European Ryder Cup Team - capture the distinctive nature of the game, and the principles and philosophies of players who dominate the world rankings. With unprecedented access to the European Tour players, and in-depth interviews with the European Ryder Cup team, Calvin reveals a sport which operates entirely within the finest margins of excellence.

Michael Calvin

Praise for Mind Game

Fascinating and beautifully written

I have heard it said that there has never been a book written which gets to the heart of golf and to the golfers themselves. I can tell you, there is now and that book is ‘Mind Game’. I have made it a must-read for ...

I have never read a Mike Calvin book I didn't like. And anyone who likes golf will absolutely love this brilliant book. I loved it.

Fascinating and beautifully written

I have heard it said that there has never been a book written which gets to the heart of golf and to the golfers themselves. I can tell you, there is now and that book is ‘Mind Game’. I have made it a must-read for ...

I have never read a Mike Calvin book I didn't like. And anyone who likes golf will absolutely love this brilliant book. I loved it.

Fascinating and beautifully written

I have heard it said that there has never been a book written which gets to the heart of golf and to the golfers themselves. I can tell you, there is now and that book is ‘Mind Game’. I have made it a must-read for ...

I have never read a Mike Calvin book I didn't like. And anyone who likes golf will absolutely love this brilliant book. I loved it.

Books by Michael Calvin

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