I Am The Secret Footballer

The Secret Footballer (allegedly the sympathetic and insightful Dave Kitson whom I had actually never heard about before - but then again, I don't follow English football to such detail), reveals life off, and a little bit on, the pitch for a professional footballer in one of the planet's best and certainly the planet's most marketed league.

The further I read, the more bored I got. For there is nothing controversial about anything that The Secret Footballer reveals. And 'reveals' is far too strong a word ...anyone who can get the least surprised about anything s/he learns from this book is either extremely naïve or knows nothing of football.

Therefore: I really don't see what the big deal is. Of course professional football runs like The Secret Footballer describes it. It is not even very creatively or entertainingly written. Not that it has to be, but that could at least have kept me intrigued till the end.

The most entertaining (or sad?) moment does come towards the end though: His story about a student girl he met in South Korea makes for a good little story or joke. But that's more or less it. The rest is a collection of unsurprising everyday tales from behind the scenes. Which may be secret but are honestly not very interesting, even to a football fan.

Great to look under the hood for football fans

Marginally entertaining read. Nothing out of the ordinary if you follow world football.

Marginally entertaining read. Nothing out of the ordinary if you follow world football.

Interesting read, seemingly authentic despite the anonymity.

I wanted to hear more about the locker room rivalries, and I guess I was disappointed that most of the book was just generalities. It's all stuff that I would have already assumed about professional athletes. I wanted details.