Forgive your enemies, they say.
Keep their addresses and keep notes, I say.
In Access All Areas, you'll learn how to buy three Premier League points for just £25,000, what it's really like to face a Football Association disciplinary hearing, and why every footballer in the country shuddered when they heard about the Ched Evans case.
Add to that The Secret Footballer's no-holds-barred tour of the country's Premier League clubs - telling us what it's like to play in each ground and revealing the one that all players really hate to go to - and you get an entertaining glimpse into a world that's normally off-limits to the fans.
Unapologetically opinionated, witty and honest, Access All Areas is every thinking fan's guide to the beautiful game.
I am The Secret Footballer and all bets from here on in are off...
Review: I wasn’t sure what to make of this book, whether it was a spoof or a serious account of some of the inner, and less palatable, workings of the world of professional football. The Secret Footballer is a pseudonym for a person or persons who is the author of a newspaper column and a number of books about football. Some people believe that they have been able to identify The Secret Footballer as a former professional footballer who played for a number of clubs, including two in the Premier League. Other people have suggested that the author is a journalist or journalists who have gleaned a lot of knowledge from interviewing professional footballers. I listened to this book, published in 2015, as an audiobook.
As I said, I wasn’t sure what to make of this book, which is a very cynical account of footballers, managers, club chairmen, referees, player transfers and football academies. There are some humorous moments, but also some sad moments, especially when discussing the high rates of depression and divorce among ex-players. I found that some of the situations described were familiar from reading other players’ biographies, so clearly the author knows about the world of professional football. I can also understand why the author would want to remain anonymous, given that he is less than complementary about a number of famous individuals from football.
This book comes with a care warning, in that there is a lot of explicit language throughout. This was probably made worse by the fact that I listened to it as an audiobook. In addition, I thought that some of the language was racially offensive. This could have been an interesting book about football but, for me, it was spoiled by the over-liberal use of profanities.
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