The Work of Professional Football: A Labour of Love?

A long-term study providing rare insights into the precarious career and ordinary working culture of professional footballers. Away from the celebrity-obsessed media gaze, the work of a professional footballer is rarely glamorous and for most players a career in football is insecure and short-lived.

A former professional, Martin Roderick’s familiarity with the world of football is the foundation for this privileged research into a world that is typically closed to the public gaze and ignored by media reportage and academic research which prefers to focus on a small, unrepresentative group of elite players. Key themes explored within the text include:

* the culture of work in professional football
* the changing identity, orientation and expectations of players during their careers
* the fragile and uncertain nature of professional sport careers
* the performance and dramatic aspects of a career under public scrutiny
* the role of relationships with managers, owners, support staff and partners
* players' responses to the insecurities inherent in professional football such as injury, ageing, performance and transfer.