Living on the Volcano
  • Published: 15 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780099598657
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

Living on the Volcano

The Secrets of Surviving as a Football Manager

Formats & editions
EBook
13 Aug 2015
Paperback
15 Jun 2016
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A close look at the life of football managers.

*SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015*

A man punches the wall in a strategic show of anger. Another complains he has become a stranger to those he loves. A third relies on \"my three a day: coffee, Nurofen and a bottle of wine.\" Yet another admits he is an oddity, who would prefer to be working in cricket. A fifth describes his professional life as \"a circus\". These are football managers, live and uncut. Arsene Wenger likens the job to \"living on a volcano: any day may be your last\". He speaks with the authority of being the longest serving manager in the English game, having been at Arsenal for 17 years. The average lifespan of a Football League manager is 17 months. Fifty three managers, across all four Divisions, were sacked, or resigned, in the 2012-13 season. There were fifty seven managerial changes in the 2013-14 season. What makes these men tick? They are familiar figures, who rarely offer anything more than a glimpse into their personal and professional lives. What shapes them? How and why do they do their job? Award-winning writer Michael Calvin provides the answers.

Insecurity is a unifying factor, but managers at different levels face different sets of problems. Depending on their status, they are dealing with multi-millionaires, or mortgage slaves. Living on the Volcano charts the progress of more than 20 managers, in different circumstances and in different phases of their career. Some, like Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez, are at the peak of their profession. Others, like Chris Hughton, Brian McDermott and Gary Waddock, have been sacked, and are seeking a way back into the game. They offer a unique insight into a trade which is prone to superficial judgement and savage swings in fortune. Management requires ruthlessness and empathy, idealism and cunning. Stories overlap, experiences intermingle, and myths are exposed.
  • Published: 15 June 2016
  • ISBN: 9780099598657
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 464
  • RRP: $29.99
Categories:

About the author

Michael Calvin

Michael Calvin is one of the UK’s most accomplished sportswriters, having worked in more than eighty countries. He has covered every major sporting event, including seven summer Olympic Games and six World Cup finals. He was named Sports Writer of the Year for his despatches as a crew member in a round-the-world yacht race and has twice been named Sports Reporter of the Year.


His book, The Nowhere Men, a study of football scouts, won The Times Sports Book of the Year prize in 2014. He became the first author to receive the award in successive years, when Proud, his collaboration with former Wales and British Lions rugby captain Gareth Thomas, was named Sports Book of the Year in 2015.


In the same year Living On The Volcano, which exposed the pressures on managers, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize. No Nonsense, his collaboration with Joey Barton, was named Autobiography of the Year in the 2017 British Sports Book awards.


No Hunger In Paradise, an insight into youth football that spawned a widely-praised BT Sport documentary, was a Sunday Times bestseller. State of Play, a study of the morality and social impact of modern football, was longlisted for the 2018 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.


He has been working closely with Thomas Bjorn on Mind Game to capture the unique nature of golf, and the principles and philosophies of the world’s best players.

Michael Calvin is an award-winning writer and Sunday Times bestselling author, whose books have been hailed for their insight and influence. He has collaborated with such celebrated sportsmen as Sir Alastair Cook, Dylan Hartley and Gareth Thomas, and is the only writer to win the British sports book of the year award in successive years.

Also by Michael Calvin

The Survivor
Mind Game
State of Play
Family
No Hunger In Paradise
The Nowhere Men
See all

Praise for Living on the Volcano

The most enjoyable football book I’ve read in 2015 was Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin. It has become rather expected of Calvin to deliver such brilliance packed in to a small space, but he has done so once again with this superb reading of football managers. He isn’t afraid to scrutinise when he sees best, and also gives a number of different interviews with the Premier League’s top coaches.

George Rinaldi, Of Pitch & Page, Best Football Books of 2015

Another astonishingly strong book from the author of "Family" and "The Nowhere Men". Mike Calvin has once again reached heights with his sports writing which seems to be unfair on his peers. His ability to gain access to the people who really count is phenomenal and ensures once again that "Living on the Volcano" is a triumph

Matt Gardiner, Of Pitch & Page, Best Football Books of 2015

If I were to pick my favourite read for the year I would have to go for Michael Calvin’s Living on the Volcano. This dissection of football manager, thanks to the experiences of famous and less well known managers, puts into focus the reality of football management. Although I was never under the illusion that it is as easy a job as many seem to think that it is, there were passages in this book that still took me by surprise.

Paul Grech, Of Pitch & Page, Best Football Books of 2015

Living on the Volcano by Michael Calvin is a revealing, often disturbing look at football manager’s lives in the modern era… the dugout should carry a health warning

Henry Winter, The Times (Books of the Year)