A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME (THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY 2) by Gary Thacker

At the end of Thacker’s previous novel – The Games People Play – life had given aspiring manager Jon Moreton a good kicking and he was heading for the plane home.

He had failed to get his Spanish club, CD Retama, promoted and they looked set to fold. Sophia, his girlfriend/assistant coach, had left him, thinking he had conspired in the club’s demise.

As for his one-time friend Billy Swan, he was even more rock bottom, having succumbed to blackmail and sold out his mates.

In this much-anticipated sequel, will things take a turn for the better for Moreton? Will he cope back in England without Sophia? Will Swan turn up again like a bad penny? Has the Spain chapter of his life closed, or can anything be salvaged?

Expect a few twists in the tale, a few more jinking runs into the box and last-ditch, winning goals. It’s A Whole New Ball Game.

(Publisher: 1889 Books. November 2021. Paperback: 246 pages)