Brooksie; Sudden Death

Of these two above average football yarns, Brooksie is a reissue from 1998. Lee Brooks is a talented footballer whose internationally capped father, 'Brooksie', has lost form, gone off the rails and become the butt of the nation's jokes. Lee moves into a down-market home without his dad and hates it. Then Lee pals up with Dent and his mates but with no pitch to play on, there is a major problem. The father of the housing estate's resident bully, Tyler, is a shifty councillor who is determined to stop Lee from reclaiming some council owned wasteland for their pitch. As with many football stories, the end is a bit predictable, with a triumph for Lee and a remarkable return to form for his dad.

Sudden Death is also about a soccer mad teenager, Flint, who lives in a children's home after his dad is jailed. (The first book, simply titled Flint, deals with incidents leading up to Flint going into the home.) At the start of Sudden Death, Flint meets potential foster parents, Jim and Janet. Jim, coach to the outstanding local youth team Welbeck FC, introduces Flint to the team, but there is instant friction. Aldo, the spoiled rotten son of Welbeck's chairman, goes out of his way to make life difficult for Flint and provokes an on pitch fight with him which results in Flint storming off. With Jim suffering a heart attack, life has just about hit rock bottom but Flint is a resilient lad, who teams up with some of life's less fortunate boys and girls, with whom he had had an earlier association. They get together, form a team, The Assassins, and enter a sudden death tournament, the winner of which would play Welbeck for a large cash prize.

There is plenty in both books in terms of conflict and dramatic matchplay moments to keep future Nick Hornby readers entertained.