Isbn: 1901746178
£5.99 - 350 pp
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ATKINSON FOR ENGLAND
The FA wanted a caretaker, they got a plumber

A comic novel by Gary James and Mark Brown

With just 10 days to go before England’s crucial World Cup Qualifier against Germany, team manager Glenn Gould resigns. A shortlist of caretaker managers is drawn up and the instant favourite is Ron Atkinson. After a swift selection process, Brendan Fendon’s stand-in Sir Richard Scratcher appoints Atkinson and calls a press conference to announce the new England boss. But, as the mass media soon discover, the man in the hotseat isn’t Ron but Reg - a humble plumber and Sunday League manager whose tender for the undersoil heating contract at the new Wembley stadium has inadvertently ended up in the wrong pile.

Machiavellian FA Chief Executive Brendan Fendon is furious and sets out to scupper Reg’s managerial ambitions - he succeeds in preventing every qualified English professional from playing for his country in an attempt to get the plumber manager to resign and return his £1million signing-on fee. So can Reg and his team of tradesmen succeed against the might of the FA, the nation’s press and the German national team? Or will Reg have to hand back his fancy car and the diamond earrings he bought his new girlfriend? 
And what will Big Ron do now he has landed himself a lucrative plumbing contract?

“Atkinson for England...
gets laughs in droves”
The Big Issue

“There are plenty of laughs in this story
- an hilarious tale.”
Book of the Month, May 2001, The Times

“In the true tradition of Whitehall farce... I found it difficult
to suppress a guffaw”
Book of the Week, April 2001,
Daily Telegraph

'Mike Bassett: England Manager has an uncanny ring about it. It sounds very similar to the satirical novel 
Atkinson for England...Coincidence?'
Martin Smith, Daily Telegraph, Saturday 29th Sept 2001