No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream
Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018

“What’s your dream, son?”

A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer….” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent.

How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents?

Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.

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No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream
Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018

“What’s your dream, son?”

A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer….” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent.

How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents?

Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.

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No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream

No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream

by Michael Calvin
No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream

No Hunger in Paradise: The Players. The Journey. The Dream

by Michael Calvin

Paperback(Reprint)

$21.99 
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Overview

Shortlisted for the British Sports Book Awards 2018

“What’s your dream, son?”

A six year-old boy, head bowed, mumbles the eternal answer: “Be a footballer….” Steadman Scott, football’s most unlikely talent scout, smiles indulgently, and takes him in from the street. He knows the odds. Only 180 of the 1.5 million boys who play organised youth football in England will become a Premier League pro. That’s a success rate of 0.012 per cent.

How and why do the favoured few make it? What separates the good from the great? Who should they trust – the coach, the agent or their parents?

Michael Calvin provides the answers on a journey from non-league grounds to hermetically sealed Premier League palaces, via gang-controlled sink estates and the England team’s inner sanctum. He interviews decision makers, behavioural specialists, football agents and leading coaches. He shares the hopes and fears of players and their parents. He exposes bullying and a black economy in which children are commodities, but remains true to the dream.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781784756116
Publisher: Random House UK
Publication date: 05/01/2018
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 400
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael Calvin is the first author to receive the Times Sports Book of the Year prize in successive years, for The Nowhere Men and Proud. The second book of his soccer trilogy, Living On The Volcano, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year prize. 


Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ix

Preface xiii

1 Poverty Driven Children 1

2 The Missionary's Position 24

3 X Factor Every Day 45

4 Death of a Dream 66

5 Family 85

6 Ghosts in the Machine 104

7 A Parent's Warning 125

8 Shiny Gobshites 147

9 Hope 168

10 Education, Education, Education 189

11 Ground Zero 210

12 Room with a View 232

13 Alchemy 255

14 Bailers 281

15 Feeding Frenzy 302

16 Work Hard, Dream Big 323

17 Men at Work 349

18 Portrait of an Artist 374

19 Tropical Fish in Shark Bay 396

Index 421

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