The European Game: The Secrets of European Football Success

Dan gives a wonderful account of the goings on at various European top tier clubs and offers wide ranging insights into life and workings in European club football, from elite clubs like Bayern Munich and Juventus to relatively smaller institutions like Athletic Bilbao and Feyenoord, and a whole lot more than that. I'll recommend this book to any and every football enthusiast.

I am giving this book a four star because I think a five-star rating may diminish Jonathan Wilson's 'Inverting the Pyramid', which I think is more comprehensive even though it is about the history football tactics whereas Fieldsend's book is a more general book. Fieldsend's book is more up-to-date (2017, compared to Wilson's 2013 updated edition), and has more interesting stories about owners of football clubs and how they spend their money. The Qataris Sports Investments (QSI) is an example. QSI has changed the European game when it changed Paris St Germaine. Fieldsend's book is also written in a more accessible style, compared to the drier style of Wilson; but then Wilson was writing a very detailed and specific book about the history of football tactics from all over the world. He compares tactical line ups such as England with a defensive midfielder in Nobby Stiles against Argentina's attacking Midfielder in Onega.Both books provide a treasure chest of information, but you will need patience to fully appreciate Wilson. Fieldsend's book can be enjoyed in a day, and enjoy you will. He has a great deal of information about the history of the transfer market and how it had affected the game. He tells us, for example, things like the average age of players sold, the sales above GBP10m after the Champions League triumph of Porto in 2004, and how Juventus rekindled Carlos Tevez's ambitions. Fieldsend discusses a lot about Pep Guardiola, and perhaps rightly so. We are told that Pep thinks Philip Lamm to be 'the most intelligent player' he (Pep) has met. These are snippets within clear specific chapter titles. Fieldsend belongs on a football fan's book-shelf - alongside Wilson's book.There is a third book, ‘The Mixer’ by Michael Cox, and that is also published in 2017 like Fieldsend’s book, but although highly fascinating and full of detailed stories of players and managers, The Mixer is a story of the Premier League in England. So a complete collection will probably have to include Cox’s book – unless, of course, one is not a Premier League fan.

If you happen to be dipping your toe into European football for the first time then this is a good place to start. Daniel Fieldsend travels the continent to gather information on how different club sides thrive and survive in the modern arena. However, if you have any prior knowledge you may find the book largely redundant. Chapters which focus on clubs such as Bayern and Barcelona are repetition of information, explained in greater detail in other books. Its a fairly short read at around 250 pages so it's a huge shame that much of it lavishes praise on the bigger clubs whilst chapters covering those outside this exclusive club are far too short.Another criticism from a previous review regards how some chapters are more of a travel guide than an exercise on football. This much is true. The chapter on Marseille for example features little to nothing about the club itself and the few pages instead focus on a conversation the author has with an agent close to the playing staff and the club. When Fieldsend travels to Hungary, the reader will learn more about the eccentric owner rather than the club itself. If only more time had been given to the lesser lights rather than lavish more praise on the giants.A blurb on the back of the book refers to the author's achievements such as starting up a left wing blog regarding the sport and unfortunately some of this seeps into the book rather unnecessarily. Whilst covering Rayo Vallecano, anytime a comparison is made towards Real Madrid it is akin to pantomime villain's. They are a big bad, money making machine yet Barcelona are a club of the people. I can only assume the author is a fan of both Liverpool and Celtic because he takes every given opportunity to eulogize both clubs when there is little to no connection to the chapter at hand. After about the third of fourth time it gets rather boring.You'll not learn anything new regarding Juventus, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bayern or PSG from reading this book. It's all redundant as there really isn't anything new whilst he only skims the surface on Austria Vienna, Honved and the lesser lights.A missed opportunity but a good starting point for someone new too the subject. For anyone with prior knowledge, this doesn't provide anything new.

Part travelogue, part technical/tactical review of European football, this is a worthwhile book on the subject. Huge credit must go to the author for the quality and range of people interviewed. His access to some significant figures at a host of Europe’s biggest clubs is outstanding and the book largely excels where we get to hear their thoughts directly. The work involved to get such interviews must have been extensive and he draws well on a strong network of contacts.Much of what he learns is genuinely insightful, be it Tactical Periodisation in Portugal, scouting with Juventus or the thoughts of Paco Jemez, there is much of value here. In some ways it is reminiscent of some of Mike Calvin’s recent books (The Nowhere Men, Living on the Volcano, No Hunger in Paradise) in the way it picks out lots of salient information from people with genuine expertise and weaves them together into an overarching narrative. It might lack some of Calvin’s skill in bringing these characters to life (who doesn’t?), but it is a fine cast assembled and Fieldsend succeeds in eliciting their stories well, no mean task given he is dealing with people in multiple languages.Where things sometimes go awry are the grandiose introductions to each of the chapters, which often read like entries for Private Eye’s “Pseud’s Corner”. These contain stereotypical descriptions of the natives of the various cities, the “honest and hardworking” Basques, the sylish self-confidence of the Milanese, the Mediterranean inhabitants who “feel beauty with more intensity” or those from Marseille who are “not all criminals”. We also get the thoughts of Mozart, Gaudi and Picasso among others, while one particular passage comparing the constellation of Orion to Honved’s youth academy had me in fits of (unintended) laughter. Those though shouldn’t be allowed to detract from a generally well-written and fluently constructed survey.Overall, this adds to the discussion, gives a lot of useful information and I would definitely recommend it to those looking to gain a greater understanding of some training and developmental aspects of the Continental giants.

I've followed the author's journey from the beginning to the end, and was also a part of it as I welcomed him in Lyon's stadium. There, I could discover a passionate man, with this crazy idea to travel through Europe to see what makes big teams their success.That was in February 2016. And more than a year after, all that work is available for all of you. And the only advise I can give you is to buy it quick, as the idea of this book is pretty unique. It's not only like a youtuber who makes vlogs. It's not only the addition of technical discussions. Reuniting this 2 things (the city and the club) is really interesting because football is not only a sport.If you're a football fan, you'll enjoy all those technical intervews with staff/clubs members, giving keys to understand what makes them successful clubs. If you don't really know about football, the cultural (and very well documented) description of each city the author discovered will catch your attention and make you read the teams part with interest !

A fantastic journey through European football, from a wide a variety of super clubs to some that are less well known but have as interesting a story to tell. The author gets to grips superbly with how the clubs are run and where they sit in (and how they impact as part of) their local societies and he writes brilliantly. I read it in three sittings.