Brave New World: Inside Pochettino's Spurs Paperback – 26 October 2017

Great insight into how our beloved Spurs are changing by looking into our favourite Manager’s mind, his ideas and his ideals.

Brave. Honest. Sincere. Words which Pochettino duly admires. And yet, these are words one could very well use to describe him.Written as a diary, the book outlays one of the iconic season of Spurs last yr, when they finished second and played some of the finest football in Premier League. With this backdrop, it also details Poch’s life: his childhood, his struggles in Argentina, his cauldron days in Espanyol and finally landing up in Southampton and then, the struggling Spurs. I was amazed to see the honesty and candour with which he describes some of the intimate details. For instance, he has sour relations with his siblings, or that the geographical distance, the difference in cultures has placed a unbridgeable wedge b/w him and his parents. In terms of football, what strikes you is how focussed he is in preparing his team, where every tiny detail is taken into account. Using an adapting, fluid and plastic training program, Poch and his redoubtable team of Jesus, Toni and the rest, are constantly tuning and tweaking  to the changing circumstances. He obviously relies on data and modern science but he blends it with an intuitive, 'energy-based' approach. Once he even mentions he can sense auras!From what I gathered from the book, Poch is not for the short term. No- he wants to forge a Ferguson-like Legacy at Tottenham. In our modern muscular-Mourinho times, with the get-success-quick, instant gratification philosophy, its refreshing to see someone trying to climb the long, hard greasy pole of true success.As a die-hard Spurs fan, naturally my opinion will be biased. But to all people who are interested in football, leadership and even life, this is a fine read.

Not the greatest, but Poch is self effaccing although ambitious in his views.Could be better paced - struggles to maintain it's identity as a biography of Poch's vision or Poch's personal diary.

COYS

Arrived on release day.As a Tottenham fan and football fan, I was a little unsure what to expect. But this book from Guillem Balague on Mauricio Pochettino was just fantastic. A years diary into the life of a top coach.I couldn’t put it down and read all over 5 days. Some fantastic stories, funny, tactical and heart felt moments, throughout his playing and managerial career was a joy to read.I just hope he does another one.

A far more intelligent book than the run of the mill 'footy book'. It gives an insight into the mind of this brilliant manager and the day to day goings on at a great club. It also goes back to Potch's humble beginnings in Argentina (my favourite country in the world) and the steely determination that got him to the pinnacle of his profession. The book is also pleasant to look at and I give it a definite thumbs up.

I've just finished reading this book over the course of a few days, and it certainly offers an insight into the reality of the career and life of Mauricio Pochettino. This is made all the more interesting due to the "curtain" of news and information that is often wrapped around the goings-on at Tottenham Hotspur.Where the manager and club prefer to remain mostly silent around the incidents that occur at the club, this book actually provides some reality of what goes on and how things were handled, and what was said. This is especially where Kyle Walker is involved. The book should be enough to convert an anti-Levy into a more sympathetic fan, but that may be a little optimistic.The main book itself reads like a diary, but it certainly strays away from the line of "well written" slightly. Whilst it doesn't bounce around chapters with vague, but important references, it doesn't always flow well or have relevance. It come across like a scrap book of diary cuttings that mostly have a chronological order, but often there are anecdotes that bound around the timeline quite confusingly. This settles later in the book though.A good read, nonetheless

Guillem Balague’s book, “Brave New World: inside Pochettino’s Spurs” is an excellent read and insight to Pochettino’s football revolution since joining Spurs from Southampton, but the main focus is on the final season at White Hart Lane (2016/17 season).Interestingly enough this book is forwarded, not by a renowned player or mentor, but by his spouse, Karina Grippaldi. This alone tells you the closeness he has with his wife.The book is intelligently written with great insights into Pochettino’s thinking and philosophy on life, coaching and Spurs. He talks about his relationship with Daniel Levy, after a hesitant start, which blossomed into a close working one.Even though this book is about the clubs final season at WHL and insights into how he went about moulding a great young side, there are a lot of flashbacks to his earlier life, football in Spain, Southampton(why he came to England) job offers, etc.I can understand why he has a close relationship with his chairman; as Levy stated, they can’t compete financially with the leading clubs of the world. Therefore, the club must rely on the youth coming through the ranks and bargain players. Pochettino prefers moulding youngsters into his way of thinking, which he wouldn’t be able to do with clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, United, Chelsea etc. Clubs like that want instant success and if not their manager’s time at the club will be short-lived.Even though I highly recommend this book as a very good and intelligent read (unusual for a footballing book, as they are normally very shallow), this book did raise a few concerns for me, as a lifetime Spurs supporter and season ticket holder.As Levy has stated, the clubs current financial situation can’t compete with top clubs, which leaves the only option - to win major honours - down to Pochettino’s weaving, clever buying and moulding of players/ team into something that can rise above the riches of other clubs’. As we have seen with Leicester City, and further back with Ipswich Town (under Alf Ramsey), Derby country (under Clough and later with Mackay), and Nottingham Forest (under Clough) the league title can be won from outside the elite few, but it is rare. If the players feel that they will just be the bridesmaid, never the bride they will quickly get disillusioned and walk towards greener pastures. Moreover, there will be plenty of clubs that will come knocking. Offering those players more money and the chance to win great honours. Yet, with the building of a new stadium and the rents that Spurs will take from property, that is owned from around the ground by the club, their finances will improve considerably; enough to compete with the best teams in the world. Granted, this will take time, as the club will have to deal with the debt accumulated from the building of the new stadium and surrounding area. Therefore, the question will become; will players and manager be prepared to wait for that eventuality? Another conundrum for Daniel Levy and the board; success, trophies and a top-four placing can only fill the 61,559 stadium (mediocrity and mid-table football does not fill large stadiums). To achieve fulfilment they must eventually compete with the richer clubs of the world. An Interesting challenge ahead for Daniel Levy and board.Of course, this is my reading into this excellent book, but like all books, they can be interpreted in many ways.

Bought by mistake (I was after Huxley's book) but a fortunate mistake . I like football and this is one of the better books about football. Pochettino tells more about his early playing career, and management experiences as its hopefully a bit early to summarise his career with Spurs, but based on the book I would advise Spurs to keep him as long as possible. Of course he'll have to win something major with Spurs for that to happen, but in my opinion he will do this , and given the time and opportunity, and the budget to assemble his team he'll win several trophies. At least he has n't gone to Real Madrid as of the start of the 2018/9 season which if that was his decision only underlines his intelligence. More power to his elbow, he came across as pretty likeable (by football's standards anyway).