Blurb:

From the host of the Football Clichés podcast comes the hilarious and ever-relevant debut book.

In what other context do football fans use the words ‘aplomb’ or ‘derisory’? Why don’t we use ‘rifle’ as a verb on the other six days of the week? Why do aggrieved midfielders feel the instinctive need to make a giant ball-shaped gesture with both hands after a mistimed tackle is punished?

The more football Adam Hurrey watched, the more he began to spot the recurring mannerisms, behaviours, opinions and iconography that were mindlessly repeated in the football media.

Some clichés are ridiculous, some are quaintly outdated, some have survived through their sheer indisputability. Here, featuring gloriously pseudo-scientific diagrams and the inimitable writing style that made footballcliches.com a smash hit, they are covered in all their glory.

And if you love this, Adam Hurrey’s new follow-up book, Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom, is out this September.

Review:

I absolutely love the Football Clichés podcast, so I’ve had this book of the same title and author on my TBR for sometime now. The book strikes a similar tone as Adam Hurrey addresses the author in a knowing way, which made me chuckle at very regular intervals. It is brilliantly observed and as I read Football Clichés with Super Sunday on in the background I found myself listening out for some of the pinpoint examples!

This book was published about ten years ago, so although Adam Hurrey’s observations are still relevant, it should be noted that technology, tactics and social attitudes have developed since Football Clichés was written. Some of the examples are also slightly outdated. This is inevitable, so it’s not a criticism but something for readers to be aware of when they read, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it is addressed in the author’s forthcoming book, which is released later this week.

Football Clichés is very easy to read. It’s relatively short, but it certainly packs a punch, fitting so many aspects of the media and its relationship to the beautiful game into 160 pages (according to Goodreads). Each chapter is split into sections, which means theoretically you could dip in and out of it, but I enjoyed it so much, I raced through it in less than a day. There are several lists and diagrams to help to illustrate the points that the author is making, which make it really accessible.

Football Clichés is available from Amazon.