The Lives of Stanley B, by Mat Guy, published by 1889 Books, Price: £9.99
MAT Guy has packed plenty of miles into his previous books Barcelona to Buckie Thistle, Minnows United: Adventures at the Fringes of the Beautiful Game and Another Bloody Saturday.
But lockdown rather put a stop to his jaunts to far-flung places of the football universe. Instead, Guy has turned his writing skills to fiction and it’s no surprise that his new offering, The Lives of Stanley B, has football at its heart.
Anyone who has read his previous works will know that the author has a real passion for the game and that shines through in his latest offering, too.
It starts off with a sports reporter trying to track down a player, Tom Maskell, who made a big impression on him as a boyhood fan of Town, his local team.
Although he only made a handful of first team appearances for the Fourth Division strugglers, he’d captured his attention play-ing for the reserves before that and had that extra bit of stardust to suggest he’d go far.
Without wishing to give too much away, the journalist sets out to track Tom down many years later.
Thus begins the tale that leads to the Stanley B, the boat at the centre of the story.
The tales of the leading characters in the book are woven together with the history of the boat, allowing Guy to move smoothly from one generation to the preceding ones, including the war years.
At times football is the emphasis, at others it is more lightly sprinkled.
Overall, it’s a charming read with some excellent personalities and relationships at the heart of it. The author has clearly put his heart and soul into it, and it deserves a wide audience.
Rating out of 10: 8
