The Nowhere Men
  • Published: 15 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9780099580263
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $29.99
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The Nowhere Men

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EBook
8 Aug 2013
Paperback
15 Aug 2014
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Winner of The Times British Sports Book Award 2014.

A fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK

Winner of The Times British Sports Book Award 2014.

A fascinating insight into the enclosed world of football scouts in the UK

A teenaged boy plays football in a suburban park. His name is Raheem Sterling. The call is made: \"Get down here quick. This is something special\".

Another boy is 8, going on 28. His name is Jack Wilshere. The referee, an Arsenal scout, spirits him away from Luton Town.

A young goalkeeper struggles on loan at Cheltenham Town in League Two. His name is Jack Butland. Within months he will be playing for England.

Welcome to football’s hidden tribe. Scouts are everywhere yet nowhere, faceless and nameless, despite making the informed decisions worth millions. Award-winning sportswriter Michael Calvin opens up their hidden world, examining their disconnected lifestyles, petty betrayals and unconsidered professionalism of men who spend long, lonely hours on the road.
  • Published: 15 August 2014
  • ISBN: 9780099580263
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 400
  • 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
Living on the Volcano
See all

Praise for The Nowhere Men

Michael Calvin charts the evolution of the sports’ scouts from chaotic beginnings to Moneyball-inspired analysis, and is enough to make you pay close attention when you next pass a kids’ kickabout in the park

Shortlist

One of the ‘50 Best Sports Books Ever Written In The Nowhere Men, Mike Calvin somehow manages to make the job of football scout sound like the most romantic existence imaginable. It also sounds bleak and deeply lonely. It is a fascinating insight into an often misunderstood and under-represented part of the sport, revealing the hours, dedication and struggles of men who love football and don’t know what they’d do without it.

Daily Telegraph

A magnificent book, full of extraordinary characters and beautifully told

Rob Bagchi, Guardian

There’s a strong contender for the William Hill Sports Book Prize in Michael Calvin’s The Nowhere Men, a book revealing the hidden lives of football scouts.

The Bookseller

Thoroughly recommended reading. Terrific

John Cross, Daily Mirror

The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin is a book you have to read

Tony Evans, The Times

I commend to you The Nowhere Men by Michael Calvin – brilliant book, great journalism

Ian Herbert, The Independent

A hugely insightful read

FourFourTwo Magazine

Top sports writer Michael Calvin lifts the lid on the talent scouts

Sunday Express

It's superb, one of the best of the year. One of those books where you learn something every couple of pages.

Iain Macintosh, co-author of Football Manager Stole My Life