Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom: How to (and Abuse) the Language of Football - Hardcover

by Adam Hurrey (Author)

The long-awaited follow-up to Football Clich?s, Adam Hurrey's cult classic about the language of football.

Does language evolve? Yes, it does.

Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in 'a screamer'? No, it will not.

As the self-appointed world expert on the subject, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football.

He will answer the big questions such as: is it acceptable to say a player is 'breaking their silence' (it's complicated), can headers can be 'lashed' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as 'late drama' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a 'bumper' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes 'a mountain to climb' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports).

Along the way, Hurrey examines some case studies of how the football media has reached saturation point - the transfer rumour mill, the futile art of big-match previewing, the rise of (and backlash against) football jargon - and how its language has evolved to keep the machine going.

Have we let the football lexicon spiral out of control? In finding out, this book will be exactly as gloriously pedantic as it sounds.

Back Jacket

Praise for
Football Clich?s

'A must-have'
The Telegraph

'Book of the Week'
The Independent

'Entertaining, hilarious.'
Sport Magazine

'Hurrey's observations are worryingly accurate and will make you laugh out loud.'
outsideoftheboot.com

Author Biography

Adam Hurrey is a London-based football writer. He created the Football Clich?s blog in 2007 while working as a TV listings editor and has since contributed articles about the unique language of football to the websites of the Guardian and the Telegraph, among others. He also had trials for Swindon Town as a youngster, but was genuinely rejected for being 'too small'.