From the publisher:
'It's difficult to change what's in your blood, in your body, all the history of playing that way, and you change it for what? It's analysis the English people have to do,' says Pep Guardiola, and he's right. Let's do that analysis ... English football is booming.
The world's richest league has stars from around the globe. Lavishly funded academies produce technically gifted players and professional football in England is unrivalled in depth. But what have we lost? You know what 'English-style football' means: fast, physical, no pointless possession, but in the Premier League you see a different game.
Has the new technical, tactical game subdued what made people love English football in the first place? Premier League clubs have amazing squads, but does the amassing of wealth at the top threaten the traditions and grassroots on which the English game was built? Through interviews with people inside and outside the game, Jon Driscoll examines how English football professionalised and the challenges it now faces.
The author:
Jon Driscoll is the author of The 50: Football's Most Influential Players, a history of the game through a series of pithy biographies. Jon is a football commentator with 25 years' experience in TV and radio. He writes for When Saturday Comes and Football Espana. He has worked for Sky Sports, BBC Radio 5 Live, talkSPORT, Eurosport and UEFA and presents the La Liga Weekly podcast. Jon is an FA-licensed coach. .
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