From the publisher:
Victorian England in the 1870s and the early years of the FA Cup. Pitches are little better than mud baths. Crossbars and referees' whistles don't exist, while the players all charge around in a rough-and-tumble manner more suited to rugby.
But one side dares to be different. Combining silky skills with military muscle, they pass the ball in a spectacular new style of play. And they have a team spirit like no other.
They are a 'band of brothers' who fight for Queen and Country - and for each other. They are the Royal Engineers from Chatham in Kent and Foot Soldiers is their extraordinary story. Among their ranks are 'Renny', one of the game's first superstars, and 'The Major', the mastermind behind their astonishing rise.
In a four-year quest to land football's greatest prize both men must confront a disastrous fire, monstrous bad luck, the elements at their fiercest and the shocking death of one of the team's favourite players on FA Cup Final day itself.
The author:
For a quarter of a century Nick Collins was chief football reporter at Sky Sports and Sky Sports News, covering 11 major tournaments, 25 FA Cup finals, and 272 England games (where he conducted the post-match interviews). He has also contributed numerous articles analysing the team's fortunes. His first book, Fifty Cup Finals, was published by Pitch in May 2018. Foot Soldiers is his first novel.
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