Aston Villa manager Unai Emery learned that reading books helped him when he became a coach: “I do it to balance myself, to get that balance in difficult moments.” He buys books for his players to read to help them balance themselves.

Adam Bate for Sky Sports from an interview with Unai Emery:

[…] “When you are managing people, you have to try to get their heart, get their emotions, try to be close to them, supporting, helping, being demanding,” he explains.

In the past, that has even extended to buying books for his players to read. At Valencia, he went so far as to purchase two for everyone in the squad, each specific to them. He did not force it on his players. They were invited to visit his office if they were interested.

Some were not keen. Others were. Juan Mata would even return seeking fresh material. Speaking to Emery about the reasons for this, he explains that it was driven by his own experiences. “I wanted to do it because I improved a lot by reading books,” he says.

“When I was a player, I did not read. It was only when I finished as a player and I started to coach that I started reading books and I found it helped me a lot. I wanted to take advantage of that experience that I had by trying to help my players a little earlier.”

What sort of books? “Everything. Reading about football or about life can help them as a person and as a professional.” He has read biographies of Pep Guardiola and Marcelo Bielsa but also works by the late essayist Manuel Vazquez Montalban.

“I do it to balance myself, to get that balance in difficult moments. When you are playing competitively, you are winning, losing, winning, losing. How can you manage yourself through that, find the balance emotionally, with the supporters, with the media?”

Juan Mata wrote frequently on his personal blog so the fact that he was one of the players seeking out more reading material doesn’t surprise me.

Emotional balance is something that is not highlighted enough in football. The highs can’t be too high, and the lows can’t be too low.

If reading helps balance those emotions, then read, read, read, and read some more. I can understand why it helps because learning is a good distraction.