Changing the Game: The Managers, Tactics and Teams That Altered Football Forever

SHORTLISTED FOR THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2026
A WATERSTONES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025
SHORTLISTED FOR THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS: SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'O'Neill can talk the talk as he's walked the walk.'

What sets the management style of Brian Clough apart? How did Alex Ferguson stay in post so long? Why was Mourinho such a Special One? In a career spanning five decades, Martin O'Neill has seen it all.

In The Changing Game he provides his unique perspective on the events, managers and teams that define football. Bringing his sharp instincts and intellect to look at his own tenures as a manager for Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Celtic and the Republic of Ireland, as well as many others, fans will enjoy the first-hand anecdotes of how to prepare for and play against the titans of the game. Martin explores every aspect of contemporary football at the highest levels, including speaking truth to the powers-that-be, how teams deal with injuries, foreign influences on the British game, the changing roles of managers, coaches and agents and the effect of social media and wage structures on players.

Charting the evolution of the top levels of professional football from the beginning of O'Neill's career in 1971 all the way to the present day, you'll enjoy O'Neill's unvarnished take on the inside story of the changing game.

Fancy yourself a football manager? This is the book for you.

Martin O'Neill returned to management at Celtic FC in a dramatic mid-season appointment on 28 October 2025. O'Neill started his career in Northern Ireland, but spent most of his years as a player with Nottingham Forest, with whom he won the European Cup twice, in 1979 and 1980. He was capped sixty-four times for the Northern Ireland national football team, also captaining the side at the 1982 World Cup. His career as a manager encompassed teams including Norwich City, Leicester City, Celtic, Aston Villa and Sunderland. He guided Leicester City to the Football League Cup Final three times, winning twice. As Celtic manager between 2000 and 2005, he led that club to seven trophies including three Scottish Premier League titles and the 2003 UEFA Cup Final. After joining Aston Villa, he achieved three consecutive sixth-place finishes in the English Premier League and guided them to the 2010 Football League Cup Final. O'Neill became Republic of Ireland manager in 2013 and led them to qualification for the 2016 UEFA European Championship for the third time in the nation's history, beating the reigning world champions in the process.