Another post, another contributor - I'd like to welcome Andrew Stothers to the other book club! Andrew runs an excellent blog (which I've been following for years and you can find here) covering his views on life, football, formula one, maths and many other subjects. Here's his review:
Basically, this book is what happens when you let two economists loose with lots of football-related data. They use their economic and statistical skills to determine (among other things):
Why are England rubbish?
Are penalty shoot-outs unfair?
Why do fewer people commit suicide when there's a World Cup on?
What is the best footballing nation in the world, given its resources?
However, this is not just a tedious amount of number-crunching - Why England Lose doesn't go into a great deal of detail about the actual numbers or methodology involved, everything is explained clearly without resorting to confusing terminology.
It is really easy to read, and is peppered with interesting anecdotes about people involved in the game. The most interesting chapters for me were the chapter concerning why the vast majority of transfer fees are too high and the titular chapter.
For those of you who are either English or resentful that England losing is somehow a "curious football phenomenon", it should shed some light on why England always seem to underperform (and why Azerbaijan are the most overperforming team in Europe).
It is an excellent read if you're interested at all in football and have even a passing interest in numbers. It also wouldn't hurt a few football chairmen to have a look at it as well...
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