Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Football by Dave Cousins

Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Football by Dave Cousins
Buy Charlie Merrick's Misfits in Fouls, Friends, and Football by Dave Cousins at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: John Lloyd
Summary: As a series opener this starts a little poorly, but does eventually engage with the clarity and urgency of the plot and the more naturalistic side of the story.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 224	Date: May 2014
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 9780192736598
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The world, we are told, loves a trier, and Charlie Merrick is one of the world's biggest. His only hobby and only skill is in football, but his intent is never matched by his actual talent – a statement that stretches to most of his team-mates. With several under-12s league games under their belt and with no points to their name, Charlie must try his hardest to get the squad working as a team, which is hard considering what he has to put up with, and even harder when he makes some very unfortunate decisions…

This book is definitely trying to start a series, and definitely trying for the same audience as Roy of the Rovers had when I was of the relevant age. But Melchester never saw the like, as Charlie has to pretend to be his own sister, just to keep the best goalie in the region lovestruck enough to be interested to play for them, must worry about substituted players (including his own best friend) still being interested in the failing side, and must keep a warts-and-all season diary due to their being an outside chance it would earn his team a performance at the World Cup.

Yes, there are aspects of this book that are as realistic as that last statement suggests – teams like the Misfits (actually called the North Star Galaxy) being able to play as warm-up acts in World Cup stadia, presumably in some fictional English tournament. But aside from that there is a semblance of realism. The team maintains a precarious, lowly league position, and doesn't get a dream ticket to the top from some unlikely source. There are injuries, fallings-out and more amongst the squad. People and kit get lost en route to games. Pitches have to be emptied of dog muck before they're played on.

All this is presented in an engaging manner by Charlie in his hand-written diary, with several occasions of bursting into comic strip and many different forms of football illustration. But I did find the first couple of chapters to be most awkward. This has to fit into the reluctant reader category, but in putting match report data, team member stat cards and more all over the shop so often early on, our author has tired himself – and us – out way before half-time. It really doesn't make for an easy read, until it settles down into the story more successfully. After that I have no problem, not even with fake TV commentators bursting in to give appraisal-by-cliché of Charlie's life, as the desperation of the season-long drive for survival is evident for all.

So I can see some erudite footie fans scoffing at the idea of the World Cup aspect, especially as this book wants to hang on the coat-tails of a tournament permanently stuck in distant, exotic time zones. I can also see some youngsters failing to properly grasp the many diverse characters and the flow of the plot from the way it's presented and set out. But stick with it, and seek pleasure in the whimsical reality and not the dream-world ridiculousness, and you have a sound read for the 2014 summer when you're told all the matches are on way past your bedtime.

I must thank the publishers for my review copy.

Football Crazy by Tony Bradman and Michael Broad does pretty much the same thing, with the added bonus of being dyslexia-friendly.

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