One Man's Controversial Story of Life in the English Premiership

Keeper of Dreams

By far the best soccer autobiography of the year.' Frank Keating, Guardian

Ronald Reng has been based in London for the last five years as a freelance sports journalist.  He has written about English football for, amongst others, the Suddeutsche Zeitung, and Zurich's Tagesanzeiger.

Ronald Reng traces German footballer Lars Leese’s stratospheric rise from computer software salesman to Premiership goalie, and his equally alarming descent 
 
Plucked from obscurity and playing in one of the most important leagues in the world, Leese experienced in real life what thousands of boys - and men - can only dream of: stepping out of the crowd and onto a Premiership pitch. 
 
At the age of 28, German goalkeeper Lars Leese was catapulted from a minor league football field somewhere near Cologne to a small industrial town in the north of England. Something of a culture shock, certainly, but nothing compared to finding himself in goal for Barnsley playing the mighty Liverpool at Anfield in front of over 45,000 spectators. Reng’s narrative is an indispensable antidote to the traditional footballing biography and a unique - and at times shocking - outsider's view of English life. Not since you last read the back pages of the News of the World will you have seen such an accurate picture of life as a Premiership footballer. 
 
‘Eye-opening exposé of life at an English club’ Independent

Ronald Reng

One of the most remarkable sports books ever written… A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke… stands as the definite work on mental illness in football

Incredible… It’s a stunning, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of work that has done so much to further the understanding between mental illness and sport. It is also a reminder that, for all the status and all the luxury which come with being a professional footballer, those lucky enough to make a career from the game are still human beings, too

An intensely moving book that transcends football

A tragic book, but a brilliant one. Reng's is one of the best sports books to have been published in years

This is a powerful book which transcends football.

Moving...after reading it, I felt I not only understood depression a little better but also determined never again to believe the myth of the sporting superman, impervious to criticism or pressure

A Life Too Short is a sports biography about as much as BS Johnson's classic The Unfortunates is a sports novel. Both are books about grief. But football runs through the heart of Enke's story and this book belongs to the first rank of publications on the game of minds and souls that exists behind the beautiful game that is seen on the field. It is both a fitting tribute to a lost friend but it is also a salutary warning to the great football clubs of the world

Enlightening and visceral...An indispensable insight into a man and an illness, Reng's book is a sobering yet brilliant account and may yet restore faith for the disenchanted man in the street

Enke had often talked to his friend Reng, a journalist-cum-novelist, about writing a book together. Now Reng has done it alone, beautifully...this is the mature work of a writer who has gone far beyond sensationalism. It allows you to turn back and read football differently

It should be on every British football fan's reading list

A masterpiece… I have read few other books, fiction or non-fiction that is so startlingly sensitive, honest and sincere

It’s pitched perfectly – intensely moving without becoming overly emotional or morbid

The Tragedy of Robert Enke

WINNER OF THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 WINNER OF THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR 
 
 Why does an international footballer with the world at his feet decide to take his own life? 
 
 On 10 November 2009 the German national goalkeeper, Robert Enke, stepped in front of a passing train. He was thirty-two years old and a devoted husband and father. 
 
 Enke had played for a string of Europe's top clubs, including Barcelona and Jose Mourinho's Benfica and was destined to become his country's first choice in goal for years to come. But beneath the veneer of success, Enke battled with crippling depression. 
 
 Award-winning writer Ronald Reng pieces together the puzzle of his friend's life, shedding valuable light on the crushing pressures endured by professional sportsmen and on life at the top clubs. At its heart, Enke's tragedy is a universal story of a man struggling against his demons. 
 
‘It should be on every British football fan's reading list’ Metro

Ronald Reng

Praise for A Life Too Short

One of the most remarkable sports books ever written… A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke… stands as the definite work on mental illness in football

Incredible… It’s a stunning, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of work that has done so much to further the understanding between mental illness and sport. It is also a reminder that, for all the status ...

An intensely moving book that transcends football

One of the most remarkable sports books ever written… A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke… stands as the definite work on mental illness in football

Incredible… It’s a stunning, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of work that has done so much to further the understanding between mental illness and sport. It is also a reminder that, for all the status ...

An intensely moving book that transcends football

One of the most remarkable sports books ever written… A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke… stands as the definite work on mental illness in football

Incredible… It’s a stunning, fascinating and ultimately heartbreaking piece of work that has done so much to further the understanding between mental illness and sport. It is also a reminder that, for all the status ...

An intensely moving book that transcends football

Books by Ronald Reng

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