Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organized youth soccer in England will become a Premier League pro—a success rate of 0.012%. How and why do the favored few make it? 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 housing estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioral specialists, agents, and leading coaches. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.


About the Author:

Michael Calvin is the first author to receive the Times Sports Book of the Year prize in successive years, for The Nowhere Men and Proud. The second book of his soccer trilogy, Living On The Volcano, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize.