Guest Review: How to be an Ex Footballer By Peter Crouch

Often recruited before they've worn long trousers, today's footballers become superstars who earn huge amounts without ever learning much about the world beyond the training ground. Coddled by their support teams, everything is done for them. They live their lives in the glaring media spotlight, yet only really develop one life skill - how to kick a ball better. Then inevitably, when age catches up with them or injury strikes, these

man-children are thrown out into the real world, utterly defenceless apart from their multi-million-pound bank accounts.

So what do these Peter Pans, whose careers end just as most people's are getting going, do with the rest of their lives? Crouch speaks from his own experience and discusses with fellow former professionals too - just how do you safely release a near seven-foot striker back into the wild?

Peter goes in search of the answer to what his second career might be and encounters stories far more bizarre than anything you'll find on the pitch. From the pleasure and pain of management to the lessons we can learn from Jamie Carragher and Joe Cole on not going to seed. From those staying in the sport - the diehard veterans, coaches, managers, owners and of course the legion of pundits, to those moving on to pastures new. Peter talks to entrepreneurs, men of the cloth, eco warriors, artists, private detectives and budding actors, as well as those who've lost their way in addiction, crime and NFTs.

Review: Peter Crouch is a former footballer who, in his 20 year professional career, scored over 100 goals in the Premier League and holds the record for the most headed goals in that League (he may refer to this record once or twice in the book). He also represented England on 42 occasions, scoring 22 goals for his country. He retired from playing at the end of the 2018-2019 season. This book is a natural sequel to his previous two books, “How to be a Footballer” and “How to be Footballer 2”.

In this book, the author documents how ex footballers move from a high earning and heavily regimented world into one where they have to fend for themselves. He does this by exploring the different opportunities that may lie ahead. The book is divided into chapters covering the various options available, including the more obvious ones of coaching and management to radio and television punditry. There are also chapters covering other career options such as the worlds of finance or politics. There are a number of interviews with former footballers about the path they have followed since retiring and why they chose it, together with the author’s thoughts on how he would cope with that particular choice. As in his previous books, his sense of humour comes through. However, there is a more serious note in one chapter that discusses the struggles that a number of ex players have had with various issues since retiring.

So, if you want to know which ex footballers went on to have careers as: a funeral director; a hedge fund manager; a police detective; a pastor; or even President of Liberia, then this book, which is both humorous and thought provoking, is the one for you.

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