Secret Footballer How To Win

by The Secret Footballer

"I saw men under pressure. I saw men succeed and more men fail. I always wondered where the difference lay."

What separates the good from the truly great players? How do football managers get the best out of their team? How do you come back from a crushing defeat to win?

In an inspirational, funny and thought-provoking new book, The Secret Footballer teams up with The Secret Psychologist to crack the secrets of success and share with us the tricks and tips that keep the top players at the top of their game. Exploring the winning mindset from confidence to concentration, exposing the successes, the failures and the frauds, this book will shock and entertain. And while most of us will never dribble like Messi or strike like Suarez, we can learn to think like them.

How To Win is the thinking fan's handbook for those who want to win. At football or at life.

Genres: Football, Audiobook, Sports, Psychology, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

Published December 29, 2016

Reviews

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to Win: Lessons from the Premier League is yet another book from the mysterious Secret Footballer (TSF), though this time he teams up with another unknown friend of his, the Secret Psychologist (TSP), to write another book about making it in the Premier League and the differences in thinking that could often improve or derail a player's progress.

What I found the most interesting about this book was not TSF's personal experiences and lessons learned from being a professional footballer (although those are always enjoyable to read) but instead TSP's tips and tricks that he offers to both professional footballers (Phil Jones, Stephen Warnock to name a few) and to the readers. TSP had an impressive introduction as the club psychologist when he first met TSF, having four players including TSF draw a picture of the manager and successfully guessing which player drew which picture while openly revealing the inner personalities of each one. His other tips include finding three positive points from each match regardless of how poor your performance was, visualisation and step-by-step breakdowns of set pieces. No matter what level of football you play, there are always bound to be frustrating times where you feel that you are not performing as well as you would like and I believe that the techniques TSP discusses do have real worth.

TSF's psychology examples are mainly restricted to well-known ones like the Stanford Prison Experiment, the Millgram Experiment and the Marshmallow Test. What was most interesting to me was his discussion of the last one in terms of agreeing to contracts. He talked about how in football, the idea is to stuff all the marshmallows you can get right into your mouth instead of waiting for potentially better deals because of the uncertainty of the future and he supports that well with cases that he saw from his playing career. While that goes against the general conclusion of the experiment, I have to say it is a surprisingly valid point. Being published in 2017, I also appreciated all the updated and contemporary examples that TSF included in his book, such as Leicester City's Premier League-winning 2015/16 campaign and Jose Mourinho's appointment at Manchester United.

In terms of football insights, I still prefer TSF's other book The Guide to the Modern Game as this one is less impressive compared to the other. Overall, this was still a pretty good book on the psychological side of football. 3.5/5

[Luis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Takeaways:

Chap 2 - Perform
• TSP using wit and humor to introduce and align himself with the players was interesting (by guessing correctly all 4 players who each drew the manager’s picture based on matching characteristics of drawing and their personality)
• TSP: using technique called ‘act as if’ by projecting what you want to become onto the ‘now’. E.g. if i was a top 20 player itw now, how would I train? what would I be thinking/doing?
Chap 3 - Pressure
• TSP asserting that giving employees the power to give set bonuses to colleagues would be wiser than simply letting the board decide
• TSP: Dealing with nerves - acceptance, reframing the butterflies, giving oneself emotional boost (thinking of past successes), stop comparing, staying in the moment
Chap 5 - The Team
• TSP lifting team morale by asking players to list pros and cons (towards team success) of star player who left
Chap 6 - Leadership
• The winners curse - winner is often the bidder who most overvalues the object being sold
• False consensus effect - people tend to think others share their preferences
• Mou using psych to motivate Zlatan by showing no emotion whenever he scored and putting pressure on Hazard to give more by calling him out publicly
• TSP: triangle of performance - want (tip of triangle), why, and what. People have to know what/how to do, why to do, and want to do it.
Chap 8 - Purpose
• Gary Speed putting a qn on his mind on loop when taking a pen, ‘Which way am I running to celebrate after I score?’ Being motivated by what he seeks to achieve rather than avoid is useful; and this also acts as a form of meditation by keeping one focused and oblivious to distractions outside task
Chap 9 - The System
• Beckham and experiential learning: he practised freekicks by making minor adjustments to weight distribution/body positioning to see what happens as a result
Chap 11 - The Minds Eye
• Visualization: whenever Warnock had to react quickly to chase his winger, his cue was to tell himself ‘I run on hot coals’ - using imagery to increase speed responsively, CR7 freekick routine

All in all, a decent read but you would be disappointed if you are looking for detailed complex psychological theories. Not a whole lot of groundbreaking content to internalise but each chapter has its own merits. Rating: 7/10

[Frank Callaghan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three cheers! I've managed to finish it. I'm not sure why, but I have this idea that once I've started a book, I must read it to the end. Foolish? Maybe, but this one severely challenged that notion.
Is there really a 'Secret Footballer"? Furthermore, is there really a 'Secret Psychologist"? Are they two guises dreamed up by the same ghost writer? I must admit that the text allegedly written by "The secret Psychologist', was slightly better penned, but this may all be a part of the fabrication.
I found this trite. Maybe the Chapter titled 'The System', had some merit, but overall it has the feeling, that if there really is a 'Secret Footballer', one would hope he was better at kicking a football than he is at writing. I most certainly hated the liberal spreading of expletives throughout the text. Why is this necessary? Is to help us understand that not vey bright footballers know how to swear, and are in possession of offensive language? I think we know that from the evidence on our TV screens.
I think this is meant to be a trip down memory lane and a to be used as a lesson for life.
if you are in need of a life's lesson, or you seek betterment, then avoid this book. It will get you nowhere.

[Fred Frisbee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book had some good points about mentality, focusing on the positive, commitment is the real thing you can control, that seeking out happiness and being content with wins.

Similar to other books I read it mentions visulisating victory, acting as if you were where you want to get.

Be careful setting goals that are material and focus on intrinsic motivation.

However didn't really follow a narrative just a good load of points put together

[G M · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of the better books in the series in that there was less about the awful TSF’s life and views. Not sure tha psychology is much cop - felt like listening to one of those “For Dummies” series. Not sure how TSF’s wife can live with such a reprehensible and arrogant person - he even says everything in his life is a disappointment and in decline since his football heydays - charming!

[Duncan Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth reading. An insightful book.

[Dean HOCK1NG · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good insight to the footballing world with a strong focus on Phycology and the mindset of managers and players alike. I would recommend this book to footballing fans.

[Stephen Wood · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Matthew Cobb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the little stories of his life and also the various study examples he gave.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Sebastian Coloma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable read on a player's perspective of life in the EPL combined with some psychological analysis. I was only reading to be entertained, so the book gets 5 stars for that. If you're looking for in depth psychology into how to win, the studies and books referenced here are a good starting point.

[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.