Jonathan Wilson
Biography
Jonathan Wilson is a writer and broadcaster. He has published a novel and twelve non-fiction books about football including a history of tactics, Inverting the Pyramid; a history of the Argentinian game, Angels With Dirty Faces; a history of Hungarian football between 1916 and 56, The Names Heard Long Ago; and a biography of Jack and Bobby Charlton, Two Brothers.
He founded and edits the football quarterly The Blizzard, is a columnist for the Guardian and World Soccer, writes for Unherd and is a regular guest on the Football Weekly podcast. He has given lectures and spoken at conferences in the UK, US, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Turkey and Hungary.
Latest News
The Evolution of Football, a an art print conceived by Jonathan Wilson and designed by The Goal Hanger that charts how the game developed from the English dribbling game, via the Scottish professors to Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp, with detours through Italy, the USSR, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands and Argentina.
Available to buy in various sizes and colours via The Blizzard. Click here
Issue Fifty-Four of The Blizzard is available now, featuring Hatayspor after the earthquake, , Billy Meredith and the Manchester City illegal payments scandal of 1905, the part-timers who represented Denmark, Issa Hayatou, Giovanni Sartori, the relentless winners of Turkmenistan, the dangers of nostalgia, the return of Romário and reflections on Euro 2024 and the Copa América. Click here to buy
The new US edition of Inverting the Pyramid was published on August 6 and is available to buy here. This is the first US update since 2018, adding detail on the 2022 World Cup, the work of Spanish, German and Portuguese coaches over the past decade and the influence of increasing globalisation and commercialisation. This is the US version of the edition published in the UK in 2023, which is available here.
The revised edition of Nobody Ever Says Thank You, Jonathan Wilson's enormous biography of Brian Clough, with a new epilogue assessing his legacy was released on 8 August.
'Painstakingly researched... a hugely intimate portrait.' – FourFourTwo
Click here for a signed copy from Stanchion. Click here for a non-signed copy from Amazon.
It Was What It Was, a new football history podcast featuring Jonathan Wilson and Rob Draper launched on May 7. A new episode is released every Tuesday. It has so far tackled Jürgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, the Battle of Santiago, the Dick's Kerr Ladies and the Auschwitz survivor turned match-fixer Dezső Solti.
Recent Articles
Apocalypse now: City wrangle shows the wealthiest owners could kill football A column for the Observer considering the existential threat uber-rich owners pose to football. Click here to read
Johan Neeskens deserves place next to Cruyff in Total Football pantheon A tribute for the Guardian to the great Netherlands midfielder Johan Neeskens, whose charges were central to the development of the Ajax style. Click here to read
The tragic life of Brian Clough A piece for Unherd on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Brian Clough, looking at the tragedy that underlay the outrageousness and the glory. Click here to read
Scouting, WhatsApp messages and Messi – my two weeks as Argentina assistant coach An article for the Guardian examining what data analysts and scouts do based on an abortive period working for Argentina. Click here to read
Forthcoming Events
There are no live events planned at present.
Contact
For all queries, please send an email to infojonawils@gmail.com.
For book enquiries contact David Luxton on david@davidluxtonassociates.co.uk.