This was a hard book for me to review because I thought it flowed well, I liked the pictures and the random factoids, and I really want to go hang out with the author at a bar.

My issue is that I just felt as if nothing was really said. There were no profound points made, big statements that made me question myself, or even anything to debate at all. It was just a weird compilation of known philosophical ideals and showing how they can be attributed to someone watching a football match.

While this may sound like something, instead all it does it look like:

Shakespeare said, "All the world's a stage". But what people don't realize is that football is a stage too!

I just kind of sat there thinking, "Yes, mhmm, okay?". Because of course watching football is akin to watching a theatrical performance. We're spectators transfixed on the actions of players (players like theatrical and football players, ha-ha) and immersed in a story that we actually can't control. I don't think that's really a reach or anything overly profound, but I think the author felt as if he was making a grand point by saying things like that.

The best part of his book was his commentary on Klopp, which I found to be well-researched and very insightful. If he wants to write Klopp's biography I'd definitely read it.

More like 1 star book but I gave it 2 because it included a full-page photo of Thomas Müller and a little blurb about his role as der Raumdeuter.

I found some parts of this book incredibly interesting and some parts incredibly difficult to understand. Overall, I’m glad that I read it for the interesting bits, but I can’t deny I started skim reading after Klopp began being mentioned with increasing frequency.

So this British guy wrote this book & discussed the difference between football & soccer. It seemed a bit off to me but that wasn't the focus so will move on. He talked about a variety of things from the influence socialist countries have where people breathe, eat, sleep soccer. Of course not in the US where it has gained popularity but still has a ways to go. He also talked about the importance of club teams in the UK which is a whole other thing. He discusses some of the more popular players & their influence on people. Because let's be real, in most other countries there is nothing more important than soccer. I am not sure non soccer fans would ever read this book but that's ok, the soccer fans can debate this book & continue to stand behind our teams. With the World Cup happening this year & having teams like Iceland be part of this makes it so interesting as when going through the qualifying you never know who will make it in or who will be left out. I will just say that I found it disappointing that there was no mention of the women's teams that have taken us by storm in the past few decades.

Suitably quirky. Very good for the loo as the chapters are short.

really more of an essay than a book; shown yellow card for the What We Verb When We Verb about Noun title construction, but otherwise a mellow, personal, but still brainy account of the tangle of spectacle/sentiment/memory/meaning that soccer and any other well-loved game sprouts.

Ver un partido de fútbol es contemplar la cara más nauseabunda y aterradora de nuestro mundo.

Critchley comes off as a sanctimonious, delusional, egotistical, egregiously entitled, rather provincial, wooly-headed, logorrhetic nostalgia junkie who is largely oblivious to his own massive privilege.

In other words, a typical Liverpool supporter.

Signed,
A Toffee