So, I got this idea in my head a while back, wanted to read that book by Dimitar Berbatov, you know, “My Way”. Thought it’d be interesting. He always seemed like such a cool customer on the pitch, barely looked like he was trying, yet magic happened. Figured his book might have some insight, or maybe just be a decent read.
Getting hold of it, though? That turned into a whole thing. My usual first step, hop online. Checked the big sites, the Amazons, the Book Depositories, all that jazz. Expected to click, buy, done. But nope. Seemed it wasn’t that simple. Found some listings, sure, but they were often third-party sellers, shipping from God knows where, costing an arm and a leg for postage. Or it was listed as unavailable. Strange, I thought, for a player that well-known.
Okay, plan B. Asked a few mates who are proper football nerds. “Seen Berbatov’s book anywhere?” Got blank looks mostly. One guy remembered seeing something about it ages ago, thought maybe it was only out in Bulgaria at first? Not much help there. It felt like chasing a ghost.
Then I actually went old school. Popped into a few actual bookshops. Waterstones, Foyles, even some smaller independent places I know. Scanned the sports sections, the biography shelves. Loads of books on the usual suspects – Fergie, Gerrard, Zlatan – but no Berba. Asked the staff, they’d tap on their computers, look puzzled, and usually end up saying, “Sorry, doesn’t look like we stock that one,” or “We can try ordering it, but no guarantees.” Felt like I was looking for some rare collector’s item, not a book by a Premier League top scorer.
Why the hassle, though?
Honestly, part of me just got stubborn. Why was this simple thing so difficult? But mostly, I was genuinely curious about his whole “My Way” thing. His effortless style, that’s what fascinated me. How did he think? Did things just come easy to him? It’s the total opposite of how I usually have to operate, you know? My whole life feels like grinding, pushing, forcing things. Work, projects, even fixing stuff around the house. It’s always a struggle, always feels like wading through treacle.
It reminded me of this one job I had years ago. We were working on this project, and the managers, they saw the final mock-ups, all slick and polished, and thought it was basically finished. “Just need to connect the dots, right? Few weeks tops.” They had no clue about the mess underneath. The tangled code, the incompatible systems, the stuff held together with digital duct tape. It looked effortless from the outside, just like Berbatov playing football. But underneath? It was pure chaos, constant firefighting. We were working like crazy, barely sleeping, just to keep the illusion going.
- Looked simple, wasn’t simple.
- Took way more effort than anyone realised.
- Management completely clueless about the real work involved.
That whole experience left a bad taste. Seeing something look easy makes people totally underestimate the sweat and tears that went into it. Maybe that’s what I wanted to find in Berbatov’s book. Was his ‘effortless’ style also an illusion? Or was he genuinely just gifted, operating on a different level?
Anyway, the book search. After hitting dead ends everywhere, I eventually found a copy online. Had to order it from some specialist seller, paid more than I wanted for shipping, and it took weeks to arrive. Finally got my hands on it. The whole process, honestly, was way more effort than I bargained for. Kind of ironic, really. Chasing a book about effortless grace turned into a right old slog. Made me think, maybe nothing is ever truly effortless. Even Berbatov probably had his own unseen struggles, his own grind. Just made it look easy. Maybe that’s the real skill.