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Twelve Yards
Twelve Yards
Nov 7, 2024 12:47 PM

Author:Ben Lyttleton

Twelve Yards

It shouldn't be that hard, should it? It's just a matter of placing a ball into a goal measuring eight feet high and eight yards wide, with only a six-foot man able to stop you. Yet the humble penalty kick has produced an inordinate amount of drama, trauma, boundless joy and shattered dreams since its invention in the late 19th century. And it is not just England who have suffered at its hands.

In Twelve Yards, Ben Lyttleton tells the definitive story of the spot-kick - how to take them, how not to miss them, and the different ways that penalty-takers and goalkeepers approach them, both physically and mentally. And everyone has a tale to tell. Why did Roberto Baggio miss in the 1994 World Cup final? How did Petr Cech dive the right way six times running to help Chelsea win the 2012 Champions League final? What would have happened if Antonin Panenka had missed his famous penalty in 1976? And what has John Wayne got to do with penalties?

Breaking down the statistical likelihood of scoring to within an inch of its life, while weaving together exclusive anecdotes from legends of the penalty with intriguing revelations by psychologists and sports scientists, this is the book that finally provides the answers to one of football's oldest questions. How do you score from twelve yards?

Reviews

Fascinating insight... highly recommended for fans, coaches and athletes in all sports.

—— Sir Clive Woodward, England World Cup-winning coach

Entertaining... splendid... masterful. Footballers of every nation should be reading this.

—— Sunday Times

The penalty shootout is like a lottery; you never know what can happen, though I know that there is an outstanding book, Twelve Yards, that proves otherwise.

—— Gérard Houllier

A wonderful book: extremely well-researched, well-written and international in its scope. Ben Lyttleton has done something very rare in football writing: he has got access to some of the game's leading players and coaches and got them to talk articulately and thoughtfully about a key aspect of their game. Twelve Yards reveals the level of intelligence that exists within professional football:­ a more cerebral zone than many people realize.

—— Simon Kuper, author of Football Against the Enemy and Why England Lose

The perfect palliative to ease the anxiety of footie fans, aficionados and players... With the aid of statistics, physics, psychology, body language and interviews with players, coaches and sports scientists, Lyttleton has advice and words of comfort, if not joy.

—— The Times

A vivid read... Lyttleton appears to have spoken to everybody who's ever taken part in a penalty shoot-out of any significance. As a result, he serves up an almost endless series of terrific set-pieces.

—— Reader's Digest

Brilliant... Twelve Yards is a book every England player should read.

—— Matt Le Tissier, former England international

Glorious... Lyttleton's book goes into remarkable detail in an attempt to find a solution, to do for England and penalties what Freud wanted to do for the human condition by transforming neurotic misery into normal human unhappiness.

—— Sunday Independent

Fascinating.

—— The Observer

Excellent.

—— Financial Times

Could not be better.

—— Sunday People

Very good... a readable study of an almost unknowable art. Lyttleton's scope is nothing if not wide.

—— When Saturday Comes

Great book… might make me take a penalty one day.

—— Per Mertesacker

Superb… full of great insight

—— Alan Shearer

Tim Moore is a serial cyclist who loves to do things the hard way… His blackly comic account of his adventures will convince you that extreme cycling is best appreciated in anecdotal form

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Filled with laugh-out-loud scenes and witty comments, alongside serious reflections on the consequences of the Communist dream and reminders of how disparate Europe still remains, this book was difficult to put down

—— Rhiannon Roy , Time & Leisure

He is quite, quite bonkers - and very funny

—— The Bookseller

Brilliant, bruising

—— Donal Ryan , Sunday Independent

This is so much more than the story of their journey – it’s a superbly written, endlessly fascinating book encompassing history, geology, landscape, family memories, wars experienced and lives well lived.

—— Choice Magazine

One of the most unexpected and enjoyable reads of 2016… The book fizzes erudition and is delightfully leavened by the companionship of his aged and doughty father.

—— Guardian, Readers' Book of the Year

A very funny book - not jovial in the post-Wodehouse Boris mode but something more taught and Caledonian... The politician in Stewart never had a chance against the writer, a reliable adversary of consensus and cant.

—— Minoo Dinshaw , Oldie

Beautiful, evocative, and wise.

—— Malcolm Forbes , Star Tribune

The Marches is a transporting work from a powerful and original writer.

—— Harvard Press

This beautifully written account is a moving memoir of tales from along the route but also reflections on life and relationships – father and son on this their last journey together.

—— Prospect

Rory Stewart is one of the most talented men of our era. The Marches takes us from Rory’s constituency to his family house is an attempt to understand the bloody history of the Scottish borders… The quest is fascinating even if the answers are elusive.

—— Bruce Anderson , Spectator

As the book unfurls, the march along the marches turns into a eulogy to his father, part memoir, part biography, always a love story. It also contains one of the most unflinching, moving descriptions of death I have read.

—— Melanie Reid , The Times

This beautifully written book is a haunting reflection of identity and our relationships with the people and places we love.

—— Jane Shilling , Daily Mail

Stewart provides much food for thought about how we value our past history

—— Susannah Law , Scottish Field
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