Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics

Jonathan Wilson

8 Reviews

Rated 0

Prose: non-fiction, Sociology: sport & leisure, Lifestyle, sport & leisure, Sports psychology, Football (Soccer, Association football)

Imprint

Seven Dials
- Paperback Aug 22, 2023 | 9781399610094 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jun 28, 2018 | 9781409176824 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 22, 2010 | 9781409111115 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00
Imprint

W&N
- Paperback Aug 22, 2023 | 9781399610094 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jun 28, 2018 | 9781409176824 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 22, 2010 | 9781409111115 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00
Imprint

Orion
- Paperback Aug 22, 2023 | 9781399610094 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Jun 28, 2018 | 9781409176824 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Apr 22, 2010 | 9781409111115 | RRP $12.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00

'MASTERFUL' Time Out
'REVELATORY' Scotland on Sunday
'GLORIOUSLY READABLE' Metro
'FASCINATING' Independent
'EXCELLENT' Telegraph
'ABSORBING' Guardian

Winner of the British Sports Book Awards
Football Book of the Year

The fifteenth anniversary edition, fully revised and updated, of Jonathan Wilson's modern classic.

In the modern classic, Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world's game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers right back to the beginning, when chaos reigned. Along the way, he looks at the lives of great players and thinkers who shaped the sport, and probes why the English, in particular, have proved themselves unwilling to grapple with the abstract.

Fully revised and updated, this fifteenth-anniversary edition analyses the evolution of modern international football, including the 2022 World Cup, charting the influence of the great Spanish, German and Portuguese tacticians of the last decade, whilst pondering the effects of football's increased globalisation and commercialisation.

Praise for Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics

[A] fascinating history of tactics, a book that is guaranteed to enhance your football watching; your team may still lose, but you'll have a far better idea why they did - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
This must surely go down as one of the most revelatory sports books of the year, as well as one of the best. Who would have thought that a book charting the history of football tactics and strategy, from the 1870s to the present day, could be so engrossing and entertaining - SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
A masterful work; it could be the best thing to have happened to English football in years - TIME OUT
Absorbing and informative - The Guardian
A gloriously readable, eccentric and informative trawl through the changing tactical mindsets and formations that have helped shape the beautiful game - METRO
You will never read a more entertaining or erudite history - SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
A masterful piece of research... Fascinating - SCOTSMAN, Books of the Year
A fascinating analysis... it is hard to imagine a more readable or thorough effort - IRISH EXAMINER

Jonathan Wilson

Jonathan Wilson is a columnist for the Guardian and the founder and editor of The Blizzard. Inverting the Pyramid: The History of Football Tactics was Football Book of the Year in 2009 and was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. Seven of his other books have been shortlisted for football book of the year and he has also won the Premio Antonio Ghirelli in Italy. Angels with Dirty Faces did the double of football book and history book of the year at the Polish Sports Book Awards in 2018. He is a three-time recipient of the FSA Football Writer of the Year award and in 2023 was granted an honorary doctorate by the University of Sunderland. He writes for the Guardian and in 2011 founded The Blizzard, which he still edits.

Follow him on Twitter: @jonawils