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  PUFFIN BOOKS

  CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

  Tom Palmer is a football fan and a writer. He never did well at school. But once he got into reading about football – in newspapers, magazines and books – he decided he wanted to be a football writer more than anything. As well as the Football Academy series, he is the author of the Football Detective series, also for Puffin Books.

  Tom lives in a Yorkshire town called Todmorden with his wife and daughter. The best stadium he’s visited is Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu.

  Find out more about Tom on his website tompalmer.co.uk

  Books by Tom Palmer

  Football Academy series:

  BOYS UNITED

  STRIKING OUT

  THE REAL THING

  READING THE GAME

  FREE KICK

  CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

  For older readers

  FOOTBALL DETECTIVE: FOUL PLAY

  FOOTBALL DETECTIVE: DEAD BALL

  TOM PALMER

  CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

  Illustrated by

  Brian Williamson

  PUFFIN

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3

  (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand

  (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,

  Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  puffinbooks.com

  First published 2009

  Text copyright © Tom Palmer, 2010

  Illustrations copyright © Brian Williamson, 2010

  All rights reserved

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

  ISBN: 978-0-14-193239-2

  For James Nash and Sophie Hannah

  Contents

  The Best Team in Europe

  The Tackle

  Dressing Down

  Ryan’s Problem

  Craig’s Problem

  Ryan v His Mum

  Steve’s Problem

  Defensive

  Yunis’s Dad

  Rubbish Parents

  Straight Talking

  Chi’s Advice

  Media Scrum

  The Boss

  The First Team

  Second Half

  Neil Kelly

  Brotherly Love

  Make or Break

  Craig’s Back

  The Best Team in Europe

  The first game of the New Year was not going well. At least, not as well as the previous year had ended.

  In December, just before the Christmas break, Premier League United’s under-twelves had won a tournament in London, beating both Arsenal and Chelsea. And not long before that they had beaten Real Madrid. They had been written about as one of the best under-twelves teams in Europe. A crop of players that would go all the way.

  But today they were at Tranmere Rovers. And they’d just let a third goal in.

  Three–nil.

  Ryan, the team captain, was furious. But not with his team-mates – with his mum.

  She was on the sidelines shouting, like she often did. Arguing with the referee. Questioning the tactics of the under-twelves coach. Making Ryan feel embarrassed.

  The referee blew his whistle for half-time as soon as the third goal was scored. And Ryan’s mum went quiet.

  Once the players had gathered on the touchline and were having their sports drinks, Steve, the under-twelves manager, started to speak. He was of medium height with dark hair and a deep voice.

  ‘Right, lads,’ he said, pausing. ‘This is not going well.’

  Ryan smiled. He liked his manager. He knew he’d handle this properly.

  ‘But don’t worry too much,’ Steve went on. ‘We’ve had a lot of changes since the last game. Only Ryan is left from the defence we played against Chelsea.’

  Ryan dropped his head. He knew Steve didn’t mean to blame him. But he felt responsible. He was captain, after all.

  But Steve was right about changes in the team. They’d lost their best defender, James, who had decided to give up football. Their first-choice full-backs were still in Ireland, celebrating the New Year. And the stand-in left back was in a really bad mood.

  Yet Ryan still felt responsible.

  ‘We need the midfield to protect the defence more in the second half,’ Steve said. ‘Don’t worry about getting this game back. Let’s just keep it tight and try to win the second half. Yeah?’

  Eleven lads nodded.

  When they were back on the pitch, Ryan went round the players to fire them up. Especially Tony, who had replaced James in central defence.

  Then Ryan went over to Craig. He was a big lad with wild hair and a ruddy face. He often played left midfield. Ryan knew that he had to handle this carefully. Craig had been difficult recently, as if something was troubling him.

  ‘Keep it up, Craig,’ he said. ‘It’s hard dropping back into defence, but you’re doing a good job helping Tony out with that striker.’

  Craig shrugged.

  ‘Really, you are,’ Ryan said. He was worried about Craig. He barely spoke these days, always angry and brooding.

  Ryan patted Craig’s back. ‘You can handle this striker. I know you can.’

  ‘I’ll handle him, all right,’ Craig said, grinning.

  Ryan wasn’t sure what Craig had meant. But once the game got started again, he didn’t have time to think about it. The Tranmere forwards were all over them again.

  And then Craig did what he had told Ryan he was going to do.

  The Tackle

  The next time the troublesome Tranmere striker got the ball he sprinted towards the United defence. He easily beat Tony, who just couldn’t match his pace.

  Then Craig ran at him.

  Craig was a good player. He could play left back or left wing with ease. He could tackle and he had a lot of pace for a big lad. He wasn’t a dirty player. Normally.

  But as the striker pushed the ball into the penalty area, Craig lunged at him. Two-footed. Making no attempt to reach the ball. Just the man.

  It was a wild challenge. The striker went down hard. And he didn’t roll about. He just lay there. Not moving.

  Something was wrong.

  And suddenly half the Tranmere team were pushing at Craig. Shoving him. Some United players got involved too: Sam and Daniel, two of Craig’s mates. Craig ended up on the ground, looking up at the Tranmere players with a smile on his face.

  If the referee and team coaches had not arrived then, things could have been worse. Much worse.

  After the fighting, Ryan had noticed two things.

  First, his mum clappi
ng, as if she was pleased with Craig’s tackle.

  Then Steve talking to the Tranmere manager. Saying sorry.

  Ryan was not surprised that when Craig stood up the referee showed him a red card.

  Craig shrugged and walked off the pitch. Ryan saw Steve waiting for him on the touchline. He felt as low as he could remember feeling as a United player. They were losing three–nil. They were down to ten men. His mum was behaving badly. And he’d lost half his team-mates.

  And now it was a penalty to Tranmere.

  Tomasz, United’s keeper, stood tall to put the Tranmere player off.

  But it didn’t work. Tranmere scored. Now United were four–nil down. And there were still forty minutes to go.

  Ryan went round the team, trying to gee them up again. ‘Come on. We can still get something out of this half. We can do it. Get one goal back.’

  This was something he’d started doing recently. Earlier in the season he’d had a lot of trouble. With the other players. With Steve. He’d been – he had to be honest with himself – a bully. He’d been a bad captain. And Steve had stripped him of the captaincy.

  But now Ryan was back as captain – and determined to do the right thing, to be a good leader.

  Only he didn’t feel like what he was saying to his team-mates was true. He knew that today – whatever he said – they were going to get a sound beating.

  The game ended six–nil. The worst result of the season.

  As they came off the pitch, Ryan could hear the Tranmere parents cheering their team – and booing United.

  And above those voices Ryan could hear his mum arguing with someone. He didn’t want to look round. He wished she didn’t come to watch him play. She was really embarrassing.

  He saw Chi looking at him – like he felt sorry for him. And Tony, looking as if to say, Can’t you shut your mum up?

  And Ryan wondered if he could ever ask her just to stop coming. It had gone on long enough. Every week she became more and more unbearable.

  Should he talk to her about it?

  He wasn’t sure.

  Anyway, before that he had to talk to somebody else.

  Sunday 8 January

  Tranmere 6 United 0

  Goals: none

  Bookings: Daniel, Sam, Tony

  Sendings off: Craig

  Under-twelves manager’s marks out of ten for each player:

  Tomasz 4

  Daniel 5

  Tony 4

  Ryan 7

  Craig 2

  Chi 6

  Jake 5

  Yunis 5

  Sam 5

  Ben 6

  Will 5

  Dressing Down

  The United under-twelves walked back to the Tranmere dressing rooms in silence. Across a car park. Along a corridor. No one speaking. Everyone knowing that Steve was going to have something to say.

  ‘Right, lads,’ Steve said. But his voice was not what it usually was. Normally it was loud and clear. Today it was quiet and soft. ‘We’ve played twenty or so games this season. Maybe twenty-five. And I’ve taken something from all of them. Something good. But I’m struggling today.’

  Everyone’s head was down. Looking at the floor.

  Then Steve said nothing for what seemed ages. It was like a minute’s silence before a football match. As if someone had died.

  During that minute Ryan thought about his mum. How she always shouted at the referee and the players. He wondered if his mum’s behaviour was part of what Steve was talking about. Whether it was or not, he was determined to talk to Steve about her. Ryan knew he would be helpful.

  ‘We were a few players light today.’ Steve broke his silence. ‘It’s almost like the beginning of the season again. It took us a while to get used to each other then. New players. New ways of playing.’

  A couple of the players looked up. Jake and Yunis. They had been new at the beginning of the season. They remembered how hard it was to settle in.

  ‘But what I won’t tolerate –’ Steve’s voice had grown louder, like it was normally – ‘are tackles like that one, Craig.’

  Ryan looked at Craig. He was staring back at Steve. His face looked neither happy nor sad. It was expressionless.

  Nobody spoke. It was rare for Steve to pick on one of the lads in front of the others, for him to single the player out. It meant he was angry. Even though he wasn’t showing it.

  ‘I want to talk to you tomorrow, Craig. In my office. OK?’

  Craig carried on staring at Steve. Then he shrugged.

  Ryan saw Steve look away.

  What is it with Craig? Ryan thought. Why is he being like that?

  *

  Ryan was one of the last to leave the dressing rooms. He had done it on purpose. He wanted most of his team-mates to be out of the way when he saw his mum. He knew she was going to be cross with him. She took any defeat really badly. So a six–nil rout meant she would not be happy. At all.

  Ryan also wanted to talk to Steve. To apologize about his mum. And to find out what he was thinking about Craig.

  Only Ben was left in the dressing room. He was looking at a newspaper.

  ‘What are you reading?’ Ryan asked. ‘About United?’

  Ryan and Ben both supported United’s first team. United had been in the Premier League for years, but this season they were doing really badly. People were worried they might get relegated.

  ‘Yeah.’ Ben nodded.

  ‘Is it about the manager? Has he been sacked?’

  ‘Not yet,’ Ben said. ‘This is something about Neil Kelly’s brother going to prison.’

  ‘I heard about that,’ Ryan said. ‘What does it say?’

  Ben shrugged and passed Ryan the newspaper.

  Ryan read it out loud.

  KELLY TELLS ALL

  EXCLUSIVE DAILY POST INTERVIEW BY LIAM PRIESTLEY

  It’s raining at the United training grounds, and I’m here to meet Neil Kelly, United’s talented left back.

  Kelly is often in the news. For his famous hard-tackling no-nonsense play. For being the hard man of the team. For getting picked for England. For being part of a troubled United team this season, a team that could see themselves relegated. But today he’s in the news for something completely different.

  We are sitting in the players’ cafe bar. Younger players from the junior teams steal a glance at Kelly as they walk past, perhaps wondering what this interview is for. Kelly brushes his hair away from his face. He knows what we’re here to talk about.

  His brother… who is in prison.

  I ask him how he feels about it.

  ‘Sad.’ One word that sums it up. He offers nothing more.

  There has been a lot of media coverage about this part of Kelly’s life. What does he think about the newspaper articles about his family?

  ‘I regret it. This is a private family matter. It’s very personal. But, because I can play football a bit, my brother is all over the papers.’

  When I ask whether he misses him, Kelly is quiet. I can tell I’ve struck a nerve.

  ‘I go to visit him. He’s in an open prison, so it’s not too hard to see him. But…’ Kelly pauses. And I wonder if I’ve gone too far. ‘But… I really miss him when we’re playing at home. Since United signed me, he has had a season ticket near the players’ tunnel. He always sits there. Then after the game we have a pint in the players’ lounge. I miss all that.’

  Kelly’s brother will be going to prison for six months. I wonder whether this has affected his career. Is it hard for him to focus on the game? Does he feel let down?

  ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, that’s a stupid question.’ Kelly’s got his hard-man face on now, the sensitive side of him gone.

  But I’m only asking the questions the United fans want the answers to.

  ‘My brother did what he did. He made a mistake. And he’s being punished for it. Full stop.’ Kelly is standing up now, putting on his jacket. ‘He’s not let me down. Maybe he’s let himself down. But he’s my
brother. And I love him. And I think if I were to answer any more of your questions I’d be letting him down.’

  And Neil Kelly leaves me on my own with the whooshing sound of the coffee machine. I think I upset him. The hard man of United didn’t look so hard that afternoon in the United training complex.

  ‘What do you think of that?’ Ben asked, as Ryan handed the paper back to him.

  ‘I think it’s sad,’ Ryan said.

  ‘I meant the interviewer,’ Ben said. ‘Is he mean – or what?’

  ‘Mean,’ Ryan replied, as his friend walked to the door.

  ‘See you later,’ Ben said. ‘Thanks for reading it out.’

  ‘That’s fine.’

  The article puzzled Ryan. And then he started to feel nervous. With Ben gone it was time for Ryan to go and speak to Steve. About his mum.

  Ryan’s Problem

  ‘Can I talk to you for a minute?’ Ryan asked.

  Steve sat down on one of the benches. ‘Of course you can, Ryan. What’s troubling you?’

  ‘A few things,’ Ryan replied.

  Then Steve laughed. ‘Me too,’ he said. ‘Me too. What a day!’

  ‘I wanted to know what you thought of my mum,’ Ryan said.

  Steve was silent for a few seconds. Ryan could tell he was thinking of the right thing to say.

  ‘She’s a bit loud, Ryan. But I don’t expect you to do anything about it. It must be hard for you.’

  Ryan just smiled and nodded.

  ‘Shall I have a word with her?’ Steve asked. ‘Again.’

  ‘If you like,’ Ryan said.

  ‘It’s part of the whole agreement,’ Steve went on. ‘With you. With your parents. With your school.’

  ‘I know. I read it in the Academy guidebook you gave us when I signed.’

  Steve shifted on the bench. ‘So, I’ll talk to her?’