More Than the Shirt

A weekly letter

The shirt is temporary.
The person has to last.

Football can shape a life. It should never become the whole of one. Every week I write honestly about what sits around the game: identity, pressure, rejection, injury, money, asking for help, and what happens when the shirt comes off.

An empty changing room with a single worn football shirt hanging on a peg
Every dressing room empties eventually.

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Free. One letter a week. Unsubscribe any time. Written for adults: parents, coaches and players over 18.

Matt Piper

Who's writing

Matt Piper

I came through an academy at eight, made it to the first team, and spent the next chapter as a professional footballer. My career took me to Leicester City and Sunderland in the Premier League, and later into coaching, commentary, business and writing.

  • Joined the academy at 8 and made the first team
  • Former Leicester City and Sunderland Premier League footballer
  • Leicester City academy coach
  • Owner of the FSD Football Academy
  • BBC radio commentator for 10+ years
  • Entrepreneur and podcaster
  • Author of Out of the Darkness

I am not writing motivation. I am writing the things I wish someone had said out loud.

Buy my first book

Your welcome gift

Before You Begin: 29 lessons I wish somebody had given me at fifteen

Short, honest lessons for players, and for the parents and coaches around them. Written from a career that took in an academy, the Premier League, injury, recovery, coaching and everything that came after. It arrives the moment you join.

What arrives each week

The 4-3-3. A complete team, picked every week.

Every edition follows the same shape. Short enough to read in three minutes, honest enough to stay with you for the week.

The Keeper

One thought worth keeping. The central line of the edition, said once and said plainly.

The Back Four

Four thoughts from experience. Football, pressure, identity, injury, parenting, starting again.

The Midfield Three

Three voices worth hearing, from players, books and conversations, with one line on why each matters.

The Front Three

Three questions to take forward. The kind worth discussing on the drive home from training.

Who it's for

  • Parents of ambitious 13-18 year old players
  • Academy and grassroots coaches
  • Players trying to work out who they are outside the game
  • Current and former professionals

“Football is the context. The person is the subject.”

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