Ten years after producing his amusing ‘Football Cliches’ book Adam Hurrey returns with another witty and insightful book about the language of football. Hurrey is also the creator and host of the popular ‘Football Cliches’ podcast which explores the unique language of football and above all the cliches.

In this new book, Hurrey, tongue-in-cheek, answers the big questions such as:

“Is it acceptable to say a player is ‘breaking their silence’ (it’s complicated), can headers 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 to Wolves in the third minute, Sky Sports.)”

Hurrey provides 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.

The book is as gloriously pedantic as it sounds. The language of football is now more ridiculous than ever. In his first book, Hurrey wrote about the coverage of football being at saturation point, he believes we are now way beyond that.

The Battle of [Venue X] perfectly summarises the style and content of the book:

“At Old Trafford in October 2004, a mortal blow was dealt not only to Arsenal’s 49 game unbeaten Premier League run, but also to the fine tradition of football Battles of. A slice of pizza, allegedly thrown by Cesc Fabregas, struck Alex Ferguson and gave birth to both ‘The Battle of the Buffet’ – a scandalous betrayal of everything the sub-genre had built over decades – and ‘Pizzagate’, plummeted even further the bar for sparking rows to earn a gate-suffixing.”

Hurrey identifies that to answer any question in football, a truly efficient phrase has emerged:

“Five words averaging just 2.4 letters each, forming a Swiss Army Knife of a response: It is what it is. The sheer breadth of scenarios can be addressed by a sighting of IIWII is astounding. Some examples include: A defeat to your city rivals? It is what it is, we’ll go away and look at where we went wrong. An unrelenting injury crisis? I don’t want to make excuses; it is what it is.”

Football language is everywhere: in print, online, social media, radio, television, casual conversation, group chats, etc and Hurrey is the self-appointed world expert on the subject. His desire to analyse football’s unique language is clearly founded by a deep affection for it.

If you like the entertaining use of language and you like football, you’ll like this book.

Extra Time Beckons, Penalties Loom – How to Use (and Abuse) The Language of Football by Adam Hurrey. Published by Headline. Price £20.

This review first appeared in the December/January 2024/25 edition of Late Tackle magazine and Sunday 8th December edition of the Football League Paper.