The Stupid Football is Dead – He Really Is!

Paul McVeigh is what we fans call a good honest pro, he never let you down on the pitch gave his all in the shirt and used his skills to the best of his abilities. Now making a living out of the sport in both the academies and media a lot has changed for Paul and his book The Stupid Football is Dead shows how far he has come since his retirement from playing.

To me this book is in part a sports book and also a sports psychology book, a lot has changed since he started playing and since I started watching football. When I started watching football it was a mixture of football violence on and off the pitch, a career would last maybe ten years and the player would run a pub if he were not a manager. If you were good enough you were old enough to play there were no sponsorship deals and no real pressure on the footballer so he could go drinking and dancing and all in private.

Move on thirty or so year’s football and footballers are part of modern culture and available to the public via rolling sports news they have no real privacy even if they do earn lots of money at the top level. There are different pressures on players of all levels to succeed and have a wonderful image at the same time.

Professional footballers at one time as they were coming up through the ranks besides clean boots used to play on terrible surfaces, were never spoken to about success and failure in the game and were not basically prepared for what could happen in their lives whichever way they go in their career.

The Stupid Footballer Is Dead by Paul McVeigh is in part an answer and part guide of what a player really needs to do if they want to succeed. Paul uses many of his own insights and anecdotes to help illustrate the examples he uses throughout the book. I would also add that what Paul has written is not only applicable to footballers and their fans but to the person in the street that wants to succeed in whatever they do.

With short chapters on subjects such as “Take Personal Responsibility” or “Define and Follow Goals” McVeigh uses his experiences and those of other professionals on how to succeed if you want to be a success. All the chapters are clearly defined and illustrated with excellent examples who he uses as role models as well as key aims and messages.

The Stupid Football is Dead is an excellent book by a former professional who has thought deeply about his subject and wants people to succeed. It explains to footballer and those interested in the sport what it takes to be a success and understand the reasons why you need to change your thinking if you want to move forward.

This is an excellent book worth reading and gives some excellent examples of what you need to do to succeed. It is an excellent read interesting and applicable to all people who want to be a success inside and out of football. ( )