Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • The Captain Class

  • The Hidden Force Behind the World's Greatest Teams
  • By: Sam Walker
  • Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
  • Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (192 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
The Captain Class cover art

The Captain Class

By: Sam Walker
Narrated by: Keith Szarabajka
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

World Class cover art
The Art of Winning cover art
Quiet Leadership cover art
Collision of Wills: Johnny Unitas, Don Shula, and the Rise of the Modern NFL cover art
Will It Make the Boat Go Faster? (Second Edition) cover art
Belonging cover art
Do Hard Things cover art
The Dynasty cover art
How to Be Like Mike cover art
One Bullet Away cover art
Outliers cover art
Leadership cover art
Detroit Red Wings cover art
Underdogs cover art
Golden Days cover art
Betaball cover art

Summary

Random House presents the unabridged downloadable audiobook edition of The Captain Class: The Hidden Force Behind the World's Greatest Teams by Sam Walker, read by Keith Szarabajka.

Several years ago Sam Walker set out to answer one of the most hotly debated questions in sport: what are the greatest teams of all time? He devised a formula and applied it to thousands of teams across the world from the English Premier League to the NFL. When he was done, he had a list of the 16 most dominant teams ever. At that point he became obsessed with another more complex question: what did these freak teams have in common?

As Walker dug more deeply, a pattern emerged: the teams were all driven by a singular type of leader, but not one with the characteristics you might expect. They were unorthodox outliers - awkward and disagreeable, marginally skilled, poor verbal communicators, at times aggressive and rule-breaking, and, rather than pursue fame, they preferred to hide in the shadows both on and off the field. Captains, in short, who will challenge your assumptions of what inspired leadership looks like.

From the captains of world-renowned teams like Barcelona, Brazil, the All Blacks and the New York Yankees to lesser known successes of Soviet ice hockey or French handball, The Captain Class unveils the seven key qualities that make these elite leaders exceptional. Drawing on original interviews with athletes from two dozen countries as well as coaches, managers and others skilled at building teams, Walker attempts to answer questions such as: are great captains made or born? Why do so many teams pick the wrong captains? Why has the value of the captain fallen out of favour, and how can it be revived? The culmination of 10 years' research and a lifetime of sports watching, The Captain Class is like no other sports book and is guaranteed to spark endless debate and heated argument among fans of every sport.

©2017 Sam Walker (P)2017 Random House AudioBooks

What listeners say about The Captain Class

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    117
  • 4 Stars
    57
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    89
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    5
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    107
  • 4 Stars
    34
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Eye opening on team sporting greatness

I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the common thread that links the greatest sporting teams.
I also liked that Keith Szarabajka attempted the different global accents, some of them were so bad I loved them. It added an extra flavour to what was being told.
The captain class told fascinating stories on the people who drove their respective team amongst the 16 greatest teams in the world of sport to the top of their games.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

drudgery

generically selected criteria to whittle down achievements from different sports teams on different continents. stats to counter some other stats. joyless drudgery. gave up very early.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Good Analysis of Leadership

This book offers a good analysis of top level sporting leaders and what separates them from the rest.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book

fascinating and thorough look at multiple aspects of what makes the best captains and leaders.

as a side note the narrator's accents are comedy gold.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting read

Interesting read. The premise is surprising and the theory is informative and unexpected. Recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good book, mostly well read.

The book is an interesting presentation of the authors “Captain theory” - asserting that the single most important factor to a sports team achieving sustained dominance in their sport over a number of seasons is the choice of captain.

A well presented and always interesting book, the main gripe I have is with this recording is with Keith Szarabajka‘s very dodgy accents and repeated mispronunciations people and place names - I think if Keith ever visits Nantes he would be well advised to employ some close protection officers during the trip!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book.

Very interesting listen with a lot of information that will change the way I will look at successful teams. Maybe not the easiest of listens as a lot of it is based before I was born (1994) but all the same it was ver informative and made we want to go back through the history books to look at the teams and captains mentioned. I’ll forever remember it when I see any team sport now and if I ever become a captain of my team I’ll want to try and live by the characteristics that summed up these amazing athletes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book

It continues to get better the further into it you listen. A really compelling story that should be of interest to anyone who is involved with sport, a fan of sport, or interested in leadership in general.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

ignore the accents but very interesting.

great stories and comparison between captains who didn't make the grade and who did and why.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great insight into leaders and leadership

Great insightful and interesting points on how leaders are formed and indeed lead - well worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!