Award-winning author of The Nowhere Men & Living on the Volcano is back to complete his football trilogy with a new book that tells the inside story of becoming a professional footballer What's your dream son?A six year-old boy head bowed mumbles the eternal answer Be a footballer Steadman Scott football's most unlikely talent scout smiles indulgently & takes him in from the street He knows the odds Only 180 of the 15 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro That's a success rate of 0012 per cent How & why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust
- the coach the agent or their parents? Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces via gang-controlled sink estates & the England team's inner sanctum He interviews decision makers behavioural specialists football agents & leading coaches He shares the hopes & fears of players & their parents He exposes bullying & a black economy in which children are commodities but remains true to the dream