From the publisher:
Robin Friday dreams of being a professional footballer: rejection, drugs, borstal, and a near-fatal industrial accident won’t stop him. In early 1974, Reading’s manager, Charlie Hurley, signs Friday. After three games, it is plain to see that he’s a very special talent, but it’s also clear to Charlie Hurley that he has an untameable spirit on his hands. This biographical fiction takes the reader into the nerve endings of Friday’s character, into the smaller moments, and brings him back to life and finishes in the summer of 1976. It is a story of love, crime, disloyalty, friendship, humour, and some battling football scenes. This is Man Friday: the first half.
The author:
Stuart Kane is a novelist, researcher, and teacher who was born in Birmingham. Kane holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Birmingham. He had trials at Aston Villa as a youngster and was on the books at Walsall FC but wasn’t offered YTS forms. He then turned his focus to rugby where he played rugby league for Ireland Students in the mid-nineties. He has been published academically as a co-author of Conversations with Biographical Novelists: Truthful Fictions across the Globe (Bloomsbury 2019).
Stuart’s passion for football and biographical fiction combined to create Man Friday (The Life and Times of Robin Friday). ‘I wanted to bring Robin Friday back to life and tell his story more authentically. It had to be told from Robin’s point of view, not wanting to stray too far from the facts, and to try and find out what really happened to him during his life. He was an exceptionally complex character and my books stay true to his spirit and character.’
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