I’ve loved football all my life, and Foul and Fair is a reflection of that love. My earliest memories of the professional game go back to the when I was around 9 or 10 years-old in the late 70s, but I can remember playing football on the playground at school and at friends’ birthday part...

In my day job, I go into local primary schools as a football coach. From time to time one of the children will ask me who I think is the GOAT, the greatest of all time: Messi or Ronaldo. Depending on my mood I have a short answer or a long one to that question. The short answer is Messi (sorry, CR7 ...

Z is for Zimmerman, Robert. As Dave says in chapter 1 of Dead Man Singing, back in the early 70s it was required by law that all singer-songwriters include at least one Bob Dylan cover in their repertoire. Dave’s choice, ‘It Ain’t Me Babe’, wasn’t in my first draft but ...

Y is for Yes, cited here as a representative of Progressive rock in general. Prog gets a few mentions in Dead Man Singing (manager Tony has a particular fondness for it, even if main character Dave isn’t so keen).

I was a teenage prog rock fan, and I still listen to bands like Yes, Genesis and...

I’ve never heard of a book tour of football tournaments before, but it seemed like a good idea for Foul and Fair. Back when I managed a grassroots kids’ team, we used to love the summer tournament season. Each team would get several short matches – typically about 10 minutes a game...