I would like to thank Peter Straus, primarily. I don’t know quite how he does it, but his instinct and his loyalty have enabled me to write uninhibited by anything for the past decade, and I greatly appreciate it.
On the books side of things, I am grateful to Michal Shavit, for her belief in this novel; to Ana Fletcher, Ellie Steel, Kat Ailes and Joe Pickering at Random House in the U.K.; to Ellah Allfrey and Mary Mount; and for this U.S. edition of the book to Melanie Jackson and Sam Nicholson. I feel that the novel has found a very good home here.
Also to Adam Brown, Sarah Boyall and Jonny Goldspink, for sharing their experiences with me, and to Adrian Hassell for lending me his workspace.
On the football side of things I would like to thank the following people for their insights and anecdotes: Riz Rehman and the Zesh Rehman Foundation, Megan Worthing Davies, the Justin Campaign, Rob Hassell, Trish Keppie, and Liam Davis. And especially Ian Darler and Max Rushden, both of whom gave me more stories than I knew how to handle.
Thanks too, for helping facilitate some of these conversations, to Alex Goodwin, Jason McKeown, and Sheena Hastings.
Finally, to BP and to JG, for giving me their time and knowledge. I would like to thank you more fully here, but am wary of the football world’s tendency to see things in simple terms, and I would not want a straight line to be drawn between some of the saltier episodes of this novel and yourselves, your clubs. The time that I spent with you both, though, was vital to my understanding of this world.
And thank you, always, to Tips.