Good Lads Play Football : A Year at the Chelsea and Arsenal Football Clubs' Academies

This book is the product of a research that had been held at the Arsenal and Chelsea football clubs` academies, aiming to understand the dramatic change that English football had undergone from a working class sport to an elite culture branch.

On the sidelines I meet Arnie the coach. "What do you teach the kids?", I ask. “We teach them how to be nice lads”, he replies. “They have to respect the ball and the game. They have to respect the coach, the referee, and the lads they play with". Football clubs` academies are good arenas for the examination of that change as they are aiming not only to produce professional football players, but also to educate the young boys to be the model of an English gentlemen. During the 2007-08 football season, the author of this book visited the football academies of Arsenal and Chelsea once or twice a week. She watched the children play, talked to their parents and interviewed coaches and managers. No one has ever before conducted an in-depth research of this kind in English football academies. This book, therefore, gives a unique glance to the pitches that will change the face of English national pride.