The 1966 World Cup finals in England provide a nostalgic background to this new unusual story of crime and delayed devastating retribution.  The novel reaches its conclusion on St. Valentine's Day 2009.

1966-The Long Game ....is a fictional story closely woven around the actual events of the Football World Cup Final Competition held in England in the summer of 1966.

The main character is Colin, traumatized by a murder in 1947, soon after his family had reached the end of World War II.  He was just five years old and the pattern of his life became set in stone from that moment.  The story concerns Colin's patient quest for retribution against the two perpetrators of this crime, culminating in a plan to take advantage, in 1966, of their known addiction to the game of football and a weakness for the delights of London's seamier side.

He finds himself distracted during the execution of his plan by Judy, a young journalist commissioned by a magazine to review the crime as the twentieth anniversary approaches.  Quite unexpectedly, he also becomes entranced by the game of football itself, for which he had no prior liking.

The story covers a period of more than 60 years and is told alternately by Colin and Judy. Their destinies are not revealed until the final morning of the novel on St.Valentine's Day 2009.

This novel is written as a tribute to the 1966 England football manager and his squad of players - dedicated and talented men of immense character who gave the Nation one of its greatest sporting thrills ever. Not all of the magnificent 23 are still with us and of course many of the spectators who watched the matches and experienced at first hand the atmosphere surrounding them will have passed away during the last four decades. The sudden and unexpected death of Alan Ball came as a tremendous shock to football followers - especially those who saw him play and appreciated both his skill and attitude to the game.

Although the story itself is fiction, every mention of the World Cup Tournament is either documented or remembered to the best recollection of the writer.  The most publicised highlights will be well known to followers of the game - but it is the little things, which people noticed at the time and still recall, that we are in danger of losing forever.  It is hoped that this story will prompt memories of such snippets to savour.

1966 - The Long Game ................... End of Page

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