It’s about time we reviewed something – you can visit our shop to see what we recommend. This time it’s the cerebral ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ by Jonathan Wilson – the thinking man’s football book. Read on to see what we thought…

This is not your average football book, let’s get that clear. There is none of the usual emotional recounting of winning goals, or eulogistically sycophantic reminiscings of players past. There is no phoenix from the flames story, no rags to riches tale, no boys in the bathtub banter, no Clough-isms – you get the idea. This is a book about football tactics, plain and simple. Consequently, while being interesting, it’s also very dry. There is nothing cathartic in here – nothing except cold hard fact and chronological storytelling. Nothing romantic, nothing emotion inducing, nothing tragic or amusing. Nothing that you would associate with football in fact.

What there is, in spades, is information. The evolution of the game, the innovative teams, players, managers, and systems – the development of football from the 2-3-5 of Corinthians to the modern day 4-5-1 (hence, ‘Inverting the Pyramid’) and everything in between. It looks at the scholars who documented the first Association Football rules to colonialism and the spread of the game to the Austrian coffee shop thinkers to the Russian innovators to Graham Taylor… and much more.

There is much of interest – particularly tracing the evolutions of playing styles, English pressing and high tempo a legacy of wide open playing fields, Brazilian skills and close control a legacy of tight, compact, crowded games in the favellas, and direct, powerful driving African football a legacy of the short narrow pitches and tiny goals made from stones.

Wilson throws name after name at you and expects the reader to remember them (cross referencing people throughout) which can make for confusing reading – and he also dwells for too long some tinpot theories; pages are devoted to one flawed thinker in particular (I won’t spoil it for you).

As is plain, this book has its downsides. But it has its upsides also. It’s best seen as a history book that happens to be about football. But if you can take it as that, have a great memory for names, and an anal fascination for line-ups, formations, and playing styles, this is the book for you. If you expect cathartic accounts of exploits on the football field, it’s not.

Overall, as a bit of a football nerd, I will give it 7.5/10. If it appeals to you, you can purchase it below:

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