How Not to Be a Professional Footballer

An anecdote-driven narrative of the classic footballer's "Dos and Do Nots" from the ever-popular Arsenal legend and football pundit Paul Merson, aka "The Merse" When it comes to advice on the pitfalls of life as a professional footballer, Paul Merson can pretty much write the manual, and that's exactly what he's done in this hilarious new book. A prodigiously talented footballer in the 1980s and 90s, Merson graced the upper echelons of the game--and the tabloid front pages--with his breathtaking skills and larger-than-life off-field persona. The book delights and entertains with a treasure chest of terrific anecdotes from a man who has never lost his love of football through a 25-year association with the Beautiful Game. The "do nots" include: Do not adopt "Champagne" Charlie Nicholas as your mentor, do not share a house with Gazza, do not regularly place 30,000 bets at the bookie's, do not get so drunk that you can't remember the 90 minutes of football you just played, and do not manage Walsall (at any cost). This is a hugely entertaining, yet moving story.

Paul Merson is a retired English football player, and former player-manager of Walsall.