Foul Play: Dead Ball Read online

  And then the ground shook and the walls began to move.

  FRIDAY

  EXCLUSIVE

  Mid-morning on Friday, Danny went to the newsagent’s to get the paper. The first edition of the Evening Post. Holt had called the night before to say his piece was in the next day.

  RUSSIAN TRIED TO FIX ENGLAND QUALIFIER – EXCLUSIVE

  THE EVENING POST TALKS TO ENGLAND HERO, MATT MCGEE

  After the heroics of Wednesday night, when the England keeper almost single-handedly kept England in the running for World Cup qualification, I met up with the enigma that is Matt McGee.

  And he told me a story that is quite literally unbelievable. Unbelievable, that is, until you hear the news coming out of Russia this weekend.

  ‘First, I want to set the record straight about the counterfeit money,’ McGee told me. ‘I did have the money on me. I had it because a friend of mine gave it to me. He owed me some cash. But I didn’t know it was counterfeit. I was convicted because I refused to give up the name of that person. I did that for my own reasons. I have paid my penalty. That’s the end of that for me.’

  But then Matt McGee launched into the story that will echo through the stands at football stadiums across the world for weeks to come. It comes after he disappeared at the end of England’s qualifier in Russia – only to emerge from the crowds minutes later.

  ‘They tried to fix the game,’ he said. ‘First they offered to pay me. To wipe out my debts. Then they threatened me. With death.’

  McGee took a pause at this point in the interview to have a sip of water. But he soon regained his composure.

  ‘A group of Russians got to me and threatened me. One of them was the well-known oligarch Dmitri Tupolev. He asked me to fumble a corner and give away a penalty.’

  And did the England player say no?

  ‘I didn’t say no,’ McGee said. ‘I was afraid for my life. This guy is famous for killing people. I just didn’t say yes.’

  I tried to get more details out of McGee, but he declined. He has just signed a two-million-pound contract for the story of his blackmail and abduction with the independent publisher Frank Books who hope to have it out in time for Christmas.

  When I tried to push him further, asking if selling his story to a publisher was in the public interest, he was upset. ‘I did what was in the public interest by not throwing the game, by helping England qualify for the World Cup. As you know,’ he went on, ‘I am in financial meltdown and need some money. The book deal has saved me. And now I hope to live a better life.’

  I asked him what he’d do with the two million.

  He was candid with his reply. ‘It’ll go two ways. A million to write off my debts. A million to a charity that helps survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear power disaster in Russia.’

  Next I asked Matt about rumours that he was involved in the attack on Robert Skatie, the man who was meant to play in Russia on Wednesday.

  ‘I attacked him so that he’d not be able to play,’ McGee said. ‘I knew that they would come for him next as he had been picked to play the game. They came to me because they assumed I’d be playing. But I also knew that Robert would have been under much more pressure than me. He has a young family; I have none. What if they had threatened his wife and two small children?’

  News coming from the FA confirms that Robert Skatie is fine after his Moscow fall. As is Alex Finn, who had a car accident in the UK days before the game.

  ‘Alex had been got to as well,’ McGee said. ‘They threatened him before the home game a week and a half ago. But he ignored them. He played so well in the home game. The crash was set up. By Tupolev and his English partner.’

  The Evening Post knows the identity of the Englishman in question. But it needs more time to research the facts before it prints the full story tomorrow.

  Danny smiled as he read the story. Once again he’d not even got a mention.

  And that was how he wanted it.

  He’d had a private thank-you from Matt McGee. A phone call. And a promise that he would not be mentioned in the autobiography.

  That was enough for Danny.

  The only thing he wasn’t sure about was what Anton would write about Sir Richard tomorrow.

  If he’d reveal who he was. If his boss would let him.

  Whatever he did write, Danny knew that if he was going to be a real Football Detective, his next case would be his biggest. Making sure that Sir Richard Gawthorpe –or whatever he called himself now – did not get control of his beloved City football club.

  And he knew it was a case he’d have to open soon.

  Had Danny turned on a TV at that moment, he’d have seen breaking news.

  A hotel had blown up in Moscow. Eighty people were dead. The Russian government reported that they had arrested a group of Chechen separatists believed to have been responsible.

  One notable person was dead. The target of the attack. Dmitri Tupolev, member of the Russian parliament and oligarch. Along with his unknown visitor.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  As always, first thanks go to Rebecca and Iris. For everything. This book is for you.

  Big thanks too to David Luxton, my agent, who is a great guide and friend. Thank you.

  I travelled to Moscow twice to research this book and need to thank Igor Goldes, Julia, Jonathan Wilson and Evgeny Kuzmin for their help. Also the Russian government’s Department of Mass Communication and Media, and Academia Rossica.

  People in Russia were very warm and welcoming on both my trips. I didn’t meet anyone as nasty as Dmitri Tupolev. Fortunately.

  Dan Jones was my guide on my first trip to Moscow. He was a great help. Thank you, Dan.

  I try to make my books as accurate as I can so that they sound like they are about real football in the UK. Thank you to Ollie Holt, Richard Whitehead and Matt Wilkinson.

  I’d like to thank everyone at Puffin for their inspired and hard work.

  Thank you to the other two members of my writing group, Sophie Hannah and James Nash. Also, thanks to Daniel Taylor (Birmingham City) for reading the first draft and giving me great feedback. And to Nikki for reading the book too.