The Italian Job
  • Published: 15 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780553817874
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99
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The Italian Job

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A journey to the heart of two great footballing cultures.

Football lies at the heart of popular culture in both England and Italy. It is played, watched, written about and talked to death by millions virtually every day of the year. But how do the characteristics of England and Italy affect the game in these two footballing nations? Do the national stereotypes of Italians as passionate, stylish lotharios and the English as cold-hearted eccentrics still hold true when they kick a ball around?
In The Italian Job, for the first time, a footballer of the first rank, Gianluca Vialli, in conjunction with sportswriter and broadcaster Gabriele Marcotti, tackles this debate head on. Uniquely positioned across both the English and the Italian games, they provide a fascinating and highly controversial commentary on where football is now and where it's headed. And they have invited some of the biggest names in the sport to join in their discussion. Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Sven Goran Eriksson, Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi, amongst others, add their not inconsiderable weight to the highest-profile symposium on football ever convened.
Gianluca Vialli and Gabriele Marcotti explore every aspect of football, be it tactical and technical or cultural and sociological. Stuffed full of controversial opinions and gripping revelations, The Italian Job takes you on a journey to the very heart of two of the world's great footballing cultures.
  • Published: 15 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780553817874
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 448
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:
Share…

About the authors

Gianluca Vialli

Gianluca Vialli is one of the most famous Italian footballers in the post-war era. He won league titles with Sampdoria and Juventus and captained Juventus to Champions' League victory in 1996. At international level he won 59 caps for Italy, scoring 16 goals and leading them to the semi-finals of both the 1988 European Championship and the 1990 World Cup. As a manager, in two and a half seasons at Chelsea he won more trophies than any other manager in the history of the club, including the FA Cup, Cupwinners' Cup and League Cup. He currently divides his time between London and Italy where he is the top analyst for Sky Italia's Serie A and Champions' League coverage.

Gabriele Marcotti

Born in Italy and now living in London, Gabriele Marcotti is a senior writer and analyst for ESPN, World Football Correspondent for The Times and UK correspondent for Corriere dello Sport. His previous books include The Italian Job: A Journey to the Heart of Two Great Footballing Cultures, shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award, and Capello: Portrait of a Winner.

Praise for The Italian Job

The book is essentially a memoir but with the aid of some really interesting interviews...it gives some astonishing insights into the workings of the modern game

GQ Style

The Italian Job reveals how rival cultures in England and abroad are reflected on the pitch

The Times

Gianluca Vialli's new book is an interesting comparison of sporting attitudes here and on the Continent - To the Italian player, football is a job: to the English one, it's a game

The Observer

...this fascinating book that analyses the difference between English and Italian football...The Italian Job tackles the questions which inform football debate in England and Italy - from the tactical and technical to the cultural and sociological

Italia

An early contender for this year's literary prizes in sport

Sunday Tribune

Vialli (aided by noted Italian football writer Gabrielle Marcotti) has fixed his inquisitive mind on exploring the differences between English and Italian football cultures, covering everything from tactics to supporters

Time Out

The most thoughtful book by a footballer I can remember reading

The Independent

Interesting look at the relationship between football and culture in both Italy and England

Nuts

A fascinating examination of football in England and Italy...the result is a thoughtful, thorough examination

Programme Monthly & Football Collectable

...deeper than your average footballer's autobiography, it is far from impenetrable and appeals to a wider audience than just die-hard Chelsea fans...Marcotti's prose is both entertaining and informative for the smarter-than-average armchair supporter

City AM