SHORTLISTED IN THE CHARLES TYRWHITT SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR

Is it football any more?

'Fascinating and persuasive' The Herald

‘Everyone involved in the VAR controversy should read this short, beautifully-written book and think again’ Sir Michael Barber

In 2019, the English Premier League introduced the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), a way of using technology to review and correct the on-field referee’s decisions. It’s been a disaster: players hate it, managers hate it, pundits line up to pour scorn on its decisions, and fans have coined the chant ‘it’s not football any more’ to describe its effect on the game.

Almost every other sport in the world has managed to integrate technology into its decision-making process. Why is football failing so badly? Is it a special case, or have the game’s authorities got something wrong? And what does the controversy about VAR tell us about the nature of authority, rationality and technology in the 21st century?

‘Daisy Christodoulou, a season ticket holder at West Ham, brings her profound professional expertise in assessment and testing to bear. Her insights into the challenge of reaching good judgements are applied to VAR with rigour, wit and wisdom. Everyone involved in the VAR controversy should read this short, beautifully-written book and think again’ - Sir Michael Barber, author of Accomplishment: How to Achieve Ambitious and Challenging Things

‘VAR has killed something deep in football. With the passion of a lifelong fan and the laser insight of her day job, Daisy Christodoulou explains exactly what it is with a remarkable verve and exactitude’ Professor Helen Thompson, co-host of These Times and author of Disorder

'Clever, succinct, and remarkably far-reaching ... What marks this out as different – and mandatory reading for football's rule-makers – is that she puts forward a short, but persuasive, list of possible solution' - David James,The Critic

'Fascinating and persuasive ... What makes Christodoulou different is her ability to break down the specifics in truly fascinating ways and to express hugely complicated concepts in simple, engaging language' - James McEnaney, The Herald

'A book that could only have been written by someone wise, witty, knowledgeable about every detail of sport, relentlessly curious about philosophy, statistics, religion and literature' - Tom Holland

‘Raises fundamental questions about technology and power, and answers them in great style’ - Alastair Benn, Engelsberg Ideas Books of the Year

'Christodoulou’s book not only tidies up the discourse; it is focused on the key problems and areas and is prescriptive, which the football authorities would do well to at least consult ... Meticulously researched ... Signposts to a better, simpler way forward for the Beautiful Game' - Brendan Crossan, Irish News

Daisy Christodoulou is the author of three influential books about education and education technology, and has written about cricket for the Nightwatchman Quarterly. She is the Director of Education at No More Marking, a provider of online comparative judgement software which is used by over 1,500 schools to improve the way they make assessment decisions, as well as the co-author of a peer-reviewed journal article about this approach to decision-making. I Can’t Stop Thinking About VAR is her first book about football. Jonathan Wilson is a writer and broadcaster. 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.