Why England Lose

Why England Lose PDF Author: Simon Kuper
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007354088
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
FOOTBALL (SOCCER, ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL). Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, this book applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Why England Lose isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Why England Lose. But the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.

Why England Lose

Why England Lose PDF Author: Simon Kuper
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 0007354088
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book Here

Book Description
FOOTBALL (SOCCER, ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL). Written with an economist's brain and a football writer's skill, this book applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday football topics. Why England Lose isn't in the first place about money. It's about looking at data in new ways. It's about revealing counterintuitive truths about football. It explains all manner of things about the game which newspapers just can't see. It all adds up to a new way of looking at football, beyond cliches about "The Magic of the FA Cup", "England's Shock Defeat" and "Newcastle's New South American Star". No training in economics is needed to read Why England Lose. But the reader will come out of it with a better understanding not just of football, but of how economists think and what they know.

Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained

Why England Lose: And other curious phenomena explained PDF Author: Simon Kuper
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
ISBN: 000732149X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 25

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Book Description
At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist.

The Anatomy of England

The Anatomy of England PDF Author: Jonathan Wilson
Publisher: Orion
ISBN: 1409113647
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
'A masterful work...it could be the best thing to have happened to English football in years' TIME OUT '[A] thought-provoking reappraisal of ten key games in England's football history ... this book should be required reading for all future England squads' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY Having invented the game, everything that has followed for England and its national football team has been something of an anticlimax. There was, of course, the golden summer of 1966, and the great period of English dominance on the world stage, which fell roughly between 1886 and 1900, when England won 35 of their 40 internationals ... But before long foreign teams, with their insistence on progressive 'tactics', began to pose a few questions. And much of what followed for England constituted a series of false dawns. In THE ANATOMY OF ENGLAND Jonathan Wilson seeks to place the bright spots in context. Time and again, progressive coaches have been spurned by England - technique being all very well, but what really matters is pluck and 'organised muscularity', or, to quote Jimmy Hogan's chairman at Aston Villa in 1936: 'I've no time for these theories about football. Just get the ball in the bloody net.' Wilson takes ten key England fixtures and explores how what actually happened on the pitch shaped the future of the English game. Bursting with insight and critical detail, yet imbued with a wry affection, this is a history of England like none before.

The Numbers Game

The Numbers Game PDF Author: Chris Anderson
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101628871
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
Moneyball meets Freakonomics in this myth-busting guide to understanding—and winning—the most popular sport on the planet. Innovation is coming to soccer, and at the center of it all are the numbers—a way of thinking about the game that ignores the obvious in favor of how things actually are. In The Numbers Game, Chris Anderson, a former professional goalkeeper turned soccer statistics guru, teams up with behavioral analyst David Sally to uncover the numbers that really matter when it comes to predicting a winner. Investigating basic but profound questions—How valuable are corners? Which goal matters most? Is possession really nine-tenths of the law? How should a player’s value be judged?—they deliver an incisive, revolutionary new way of watching and understanding soccer.

The Rough Guide to Cult Football

The Rough Guide to Cult Football PDF Author: Rough Guides
Publisher: Rough Guides UK
ISBN: 1405387963
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
The Rough Guide to Cult Football is the ultimate companion to the beautiful game. The only football book of its kind, it goes beyond the usual back page material to uncover the most amazing stories and unlikeliest personalities on Planet Football. It reveals the stories behind the mavericks and cult figures that make up the real heroes of the game - from cultured midfielders to jailbirds, drinkers to hard men, local legends to international wanderers. The Rough Guide to Cult Football looks at everything from special clubs - like the New York Cosmos and Berwick Rangers - to managers and football rivalries - from 'El Clásico' to the Faroe Islands derby, via an unusual roll-call of talent that stretches from Ferenc Puskas to Stan Bowles, Eric Cantona to Jose Chilavert and Garrincha to Perry Groves. It also recalls extraordinary games, from 'The Battle of Highbury' to underdog fixtures where the likes of Northern Ireland, Wimbledon and Dynamo Kiev overcame the might of Spain, Liverpool and the Nazis. Post-match analyses of football culture, ephemera, science and some strange statistics, complete this ultimate fiesta of football fun.

The Spirit of the Game

The Spirit of the Game PDF Author: Mihir Bose
Publisher: Constable
ISBN: 184901826X
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
The spirit of the game was first nurtured on the playing fields of the English public school, and in the pages of Tom Brown's Schooldays- this Corinthian spirit was then exported around the world. The competitive spirit, the importance of fairness, the nobility of the gifted amateur seemed to sum up everything that was good about Britishness and the games they played. Today, sport is dominated by corruption, money, celebrity and players who are willing to dive in the box if it wins them a penalty. Yet, we still believe and talk about the game as if it had a higher moral purpose. Since the age of Thomas Arnold, Sport has been used to glorify dictatorships and was at the heart of cold war diplomacy. Prime Ministers, princes and presidents will do whatever they can to ensure that their country holds a major sporting tournament. Nelson Mandela saw the victory of the Rugby World Cup as essential to his hopes for the Rainbow Nation. Mihir Bose has lived his life around sport and in this book he tells the story of how Sport has lost its original spirit and how it has emerged in the 20th century to become the most powerful political tool in the world. With examples and stories from around the world including how the sport-hating Thomas Arnold become an icon; how a German manufacturer gave Jessie Owens a pair of shoes at the Berlin games of 1936 and went on to dominate the world of sport; how India stole cricket from the ICC; how an Essex car dealer become the most powerful man in Formula 1; and who really sold football out. Praise for Mihir Bose: 'Mihir Bose is India's CLR James.' Simon Barnes, The Times. 'Mihir's insider knowledge is unsurpassed' David Welch. 'His Olympic contacts are second to none. He knows everybody.' Sue Mott.

Leadership Lessons from Compelling Contexts

Leadership Lessons from Compelling Contexts PDF Author: Claudia Peus
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1785609416
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
This volume uses the idiosyncrasies of compelling contexts to teach fundamental leadership lessons that are applicable to other settings. Practitioners and researchers are challenged to deviate from standard models and provided with new ideas for leadership development.

The Games People Play

The Games People Play PDF Author: Robert Ellis
Publisher: Lutterworth Press
ISBN: 071884324X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
In 'The Games People Play', Robert Ellis constructs a theology around the global cultural phenomenon of modern sport, paying particular attention to its British and American manifestations. Using historical narrative and social analysis to enter thedebate on sport as religion, Ellis shows that modern sport may be said to have taken on some of the functions previously vested in organized religion. Through biblical and theological reflection, he presents a practical theology of sport's appeal and value, with special attention to the theological concept of transcendence. Throughout, he draws on original empirical work with sports participants and spectators.'The Games People Play' addresses issues often considered problematic in theological discussions of sport such as gender, race, consumerism, and the role of the modern media, as well as problems associated with excessive competition and performance-enhancing substances.

The Price of Prestige

The Price of Prestige PDF Author: Lilach Gilady
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022643334X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
If wars are costly and risky to both sides, why do they occur? Why engage in an arms race when it’s clear that increasing one’s own defense expenditures will only trigger a similar reaction by the other side, leaving both countries just as insecure—and considerably poorer? Just as people buy expensive things precisely because they are more expensive, because they offer the possibility of improved social status or prestige, so too do countries, argues Lilach Gilady. In The Price of Prestige, Gilady shows how many seemingly wasteful government expenditures that appear to contradict the laws of demand actually follow the pattern for what are known as Veblen goods, or positional goods for which demand increases alongside price, even when cheaper substitutes are readily available. From flashy space programs to costly weapons systems a country does not need and cannot maintain to foreign aid programs that offer little benefit to recipients, these conspicuous and strategically timed expenditures are intended to instill awe in the observer through their wasteful might. And underestimating the important social role of excess has serious policy implications. Increasing the cost of war, for example, may not always be an effective tool for preventing it, Gilady argues, nor does decreasing the cost of weapons and other technologies of war necessarily increase the potential for conflict, as shown by the case of a cheap fighter plane whose price tag drove consumers away. In today’s changing world, where there are high levels of uncertainty about the distribution of power, Gilady also offers a valuable way to predict which countries are most likely to be concerned about their position and therefore adopt costly, excessive policies.

The Sense of an Ending

The Sense of an Ending PDF Author: Julian Barnes
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307957330
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
BOOKER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A novel that follows a middle-aged man as he contends with a past he never much thought about—until his closest childhood friends return with a vengeance: one of them from the grave, another maddeningly present. A novel so compelling that it begs to be read in a single setting, The Sense of an Ending has the psychological and emotional depth and sophistication of Henry James at his best, and is a stunning achievement in Julian Barnes's oeuvre. Tony Webster thought he left his past behind as he built a life for himself, and his career has provided him with a secure retirement and an amicable relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, who now has a family of her own. But when he is presented with a mysterious legacy, he is forced to revise his estimation of his own nature and place in the world.