Foot Soldiers

Nick Collins

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781785317019

Victorian England in the 1870s and the early years of the FA Cup. Pitches are little better than mud baths. Crossbars and referees' whistles don't exist, while the players all charge around in a rough-and-tumble manner more suited to rugby. But one side dares to be different. Combining silky skills with military muscle, they pass the ball in a spectacular new style of play. And they have a team spirit like no other. They are a 'band of brothers' who fight for Queen and Country - and for each other. They are the Royal Engineers from Chatham in Kent and Foot Soldiers is their extraordinary story. Among their ranks are 'Renny', one of the game's first superstars, and 'The Major', the mastermind behind their astonishing rise. In a four-year quest to land football's greatest prize both men must confront a disastrous fire, monstrous bad luck, the elements at their fiercest and the shocking death of one of the team's favourite players on FA Cup Final day itself.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Birth of an icon
• ‘The blowiest ground in England’
• Muddy marvel Mitchell
• A journey too far for Queens Park
• A selection dilemma
• The best player on view
• ‘There must be no repeat’
• Just the man for a crisis
• A freak accident and a remarkable recovery
• Out before Christmas
• Revenge is sweet
• A meeting with ‘W.G.’
• Fire in the Officers’ Mess
• Phoenix from the ashes
• The Northern Tour
• Triumph, tragedy and bitter defeat
• A century for Kent and a promise from Emily
• Exit Marindin, enter Wingfield-Stratford
• Two cup finals in four days
• The presentation
• Epilogue