Clara’s Verdict
I’ll admit I came to this one primarily as a literature person rather than a rugby one. Andy Farrell’s autobiography won me over quickly regardless. This is a sports memoir that transcends its subject with ease, primarily because Farrell is, beneath the coaching titles and the trophies, a genuinely thoughtful man who has spent a long career asking himself uncomfortable questions about who he is and what he owes the people around him.
The passage about becoming a father at fifteen alongside his girlfriend Colleen – now his wife of decades – is written with an honesty that most public figures would shy away from. It sets the tone for a book that refuses the usual autobiography’s temptation to smooth everything into a triumphant narrative. At twelve hours and twenty-five minutes, narrated by Dean Williamson, this rewards every minute.
About the Audiobook
Published by Penguin Audio in October 2025, this is the autobiography of one of rugby’s most remarkable careers. Farrell made his first-team debut for Wigan Warriors at sixteen, winning the Man of Steel Award at twenty-one and the Golden Boot for world player of the year shortly after. He then did something almost unprecedented: remade himself as a rugby union player with Saracens and England in his thirties, after a career already substantial enough to have secured his legend in league.
The third chapter – coaching – has produced Ireland’s most successful era in international rugby, with the team reaching number one in the world rankings and delivering a series of performances that have redefined what attacking rugby can look like. Farrell writes candidly about leadership: what he’s learned, what he’s got wrong, and why he believes that honesty within a team culture matters more than tactical brilliance. His reflections on fatherhood, particularly his relationship with England fly-half Owen Farrell, are quietly moving.
The Narration
Dean Williamson delivers a warm, grounded narration that suits the book’s tone – this is not a chest-thumping autobiography, and Williamson doesn’t read it as one. He handles the shift between Farrell’s Wigan roots, his union career, and the coaching chapters with a consistency that holds the book together across its considerable length. The accent work is subtle but appropriate, grounding the northern English childhood sections without overdoing it. For a memoir this personal, the reader needs to feel the narrator is genuinely in sympathy with the subject; Williamson is.
What Readers Say
Rated 4.4 out of 5 from 269 reviews – a substantial and credible sample. UK reviewer Karen Johnson gave five stars and mentioned being “surprised how many injuries he has suffered and still managing to do an excellent job as a coach.” Michael Cronin offered the economical but telling verdict: “Great book about a great man with a great career.” Cathy simply wrote: “Very interesting if you like the sport.” The reviews suggest the book works both for rugby devotees and for readers attracted by the human story beneath the sporting achievements.
Who Should Listen?
Rugby fans will find this essential – a detailed, insider account of three distinct eras of the game by a man who lived through all of them at the highest level. But the book’s themes of leadership, identity, the weight of expectation, and the complicated relationship between fathers and sons have genuine resonance beyond sport. Readers who enjoyed memoirs by other coaches and leaders – Sir Clive Woodward, Eddie Jones, or even non-rugby figures like Alex Ferguson – will find much to think about here.
This is the kind of autobiography that reminds you why the form, at its best, can be literature. Listen to The Only Way I Know on Audible UK and meet one of sport’s most quietly impressive figures.
