Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom cover art

Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom

How to Use (and Abuse) The Language of Football

Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom

By: Adam Hurrey
Narrated by: Adam Hurrey
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

SHORTLISTED FOR FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2025

LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

A New Statesman Book of the Year

A Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year

"A hilarious examination of the football commentary language we all understand but don't know why" WHSBOTY 2024 Reading Panel


The long-awaited follow-up to Football Clichés, Adam Hurrey's cult classic about the language of football.

"So enjoyable ... fascinating and deliciously nerdy." FourFourTwo

"Adam Hurrey is the best observer of football culture in the world. He has a knack for either encapsulating something that's always nagged at you or nailing something you can't believe you haven't noticed before." Elis James

"The funniest, smartest book on the language of football. It sends out a message, silences the doubters and lets its football do the talking ... a Rolls-Royce of a book." David Goldblatt

***

Does language evolve? Yes, it does.

Will it ever be acceptable for a football commentator to call a shot that bounces before it goes in 'a screamer'? No, it will not.

As the self-appointed world expert on the subject, Adam Hurrey sets off to define the definitive rules of the language of football.

He will answer the big questions such as: is it acceptable to say a player is 'breaking their silence' (it's complicated), can headers can be 'lashed' (anatomically impossible), whether a penalty shootout could ever be described as 'late drama' (truly abhorrent), how many games constitute a 'bumper' day of Premier League action (minimum of eight) and just how big a deficit constitutes 'a mountain to climb' (certainly not Liverpool going 1-0 down at home to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports).

Along the way, Hurrey examines some case studies of how the football media has reached saturation point - the transfer rumour mill, the futile art of big-match previewing, the rise of (and backlash against) football jargon - and how its language has evolved to keep the machine going.

Have we let the football lexicon spiral out of control? In finding out, this book will be exactly as gloriously pedantic as it sounds.©2024 Adam Hurrey (P)2024 Headline Publishing Group Limited
Football (Soccer) Football

Listeners also enjoyed...

Who Owns Football? cover art
States of Play cover art
How to Win the Premier League cover art
Unfit and Improper Persons cover art
Va-Va-Voom cover art
xGenius cover art
Bring on United cover art
Expected Goals cover art
Uncommon People cover art
Narcoball cover art
Angeball cover art
The Unofficial Everton Timeline: 2014-2024: The Moshiri Years: Second Edition cover art
Fascism: The Story of an Idea cover art
Smart Money cover art
A Load of Old Balls cover art
Pressure cover art
All stars
Most relevant  
I just love Adam's outlook on the world. Was hoping for a guest appearance from Charlie and Literally Dave, but still really enjoyed it. Made a day at work go by quickly

Finished in one go for my sins

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

A delightfully niche, thoroughly researched, and eternally entertaining analysis of the language of football.

If you like this then check out the podcast Football Cliches.

Infinity in the mundane

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The title would suggest this wasn’t as good as the first book, but it is. Great listen, looking forward to the next book, we go again.

Second season syndrome

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

just fantastic, from start to finish.
can't envisage any sportsfan not enjoying it, male or female, young or old.

literally my favourite audiobook ever

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

marvellous book (and adding some further words in order to reach the word count)

brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.