Winning At All Costs

I had read John Foot's Calcio a few years ago and enjoyed it very much, it is perhaps, the definitive book on Italian football for the English reader. Needless to say when I stumbled upon Winning At All Costs on Amazon, I wasted no time adding it to my collection.

To my disappointment, what I have found, was not a new book by John Foot, but a re-release of Calcio. What is very annoying is that this book is now sub-titled 'A Scandalous History of Italian Soccer'. In essence, what I have discovered is a blatant attempt to cash in on the disturbing factors which have been threatening world football.

The book Calcio is a celebration of Italian football, aptly named. Foot tells us the good, the bad and the ugly as he documents the entire rich history of the Italian lifestyle in footballing terms. This re-release however, looks to exploit the negative aspects and sell the book as a tabloid style stereotype.

There actually doesn't seem to be anything new in this edition. The copy I have of Calcio was updated to include the events from the 2006 world cup as well as the Calciopoli scandal which is where this version also ends. In any case, it is the same book, re-marketed for a different audience. I hope they haven't abridged it (at a glance I can't tell, it does seem smaller) to only include the unsavoury parts of the Italian football without context.

In any case, read my review of Calcio instead.