Billy Parks, the titular hero of Whatever Happened to Billy Parks? is a
washed-up ex-footballer from the ‘70s
who threw his talent and career away into a sea of booze. Now, he’s a broken alcoholic, divorced and
estranged from his daughter and grand-son and reduced to telling old stories
for drinks in pubs.
But, what if it could be different? What if there was one thing that, if it could
be changed, would make everything OK again? What if there could be redemption for Billy
Parks? And, in Whatever Happened to Billy Parks?, there might just be something.
So, let me take you back to 17 October
1973. To Wembley Stadium. To England’s final qualifying match for the
1974 World Cup. To a match that has
haunted England fans for 40 years.
England needed to beat Poland to qualify,
whilst a win or a draw would work for Poland.
In a now infamous quote, Brian Clough had described the Polish
goalkeeper, Jan Tomaszewski, as a “clown”, a comment that would come back and
bite England. As the match progressed, England
were dominating possession but couldn’t score, being repeatedly denied by an
inspired Tomaszewski. Against the run of
play, the Poles then took the lead on a counter-attack, leaving England two
goals to the bad. A dubious Alan Clarke
penalty saw England pull level with 30 minutes left on the clock but Sir Alf Ramsay,
in what would turn out to be his last game in charge, dithered over a
substitution, leaving it to the 88th minute before bringing on Derby
County’s Kevin Hector. With only seconds
to go, Hector had a certain goal cleared off the line and England were out of the
World Cup, sending the nation into trauma.
But, what if? What if, instead of Hector, Sir Alf had brought
on a different striker? In fact, what
might have happened if his finger had pointed at Billy instead? How would life have been different?
On that awful, awful night for English football,
the unpredictable genius of Billy Parks was left on the bench but now the
Council of Football Immortals is offering Billy the opportunity to go back in
time, take Kevin Hector’s place and score the goal that would make everything
right. The catch? Well, the Council has to choose between Billy
and Kevin Keegan and to be chosen, Billy will have to justify his life to the
Council.
Whatever
Happened to Billy Parks? is one of those rare
beasts, a truly good novel about sport.
It manages this by being, first and foremost, a fine story about how
people cope with fame and success, the nature of genius, alcoholism and,
ultimately, the power of not only redemption but also the mere hope of
redemption.
On top of this, Gareth Roberts layers an
almost historical story of football in the ‘70s with a cast of the greats and
not-so-greats of English football of the time.
Bobby Moore, George Best, Sir matt Busby and Brian Clough all pass
through the pages of the book as Mr Roberts paints a picture of the era.
There are relatively few really top notch
sports novels that spring to mind: This Sporting Life, The Damned United, Chess (if
you allow chess as a sport), The Master
of Go (which really stretches the definition of sport) and that’s about all
that come to mind, so it’s a real pleasure to come across another one. The concept is highly original and, with the
caveat that the supernatural or fantastical elements to it may make it
difficult for potential readers or booksellers to categorise, it will,
hopefully, do very well.
Whatever
Happened to Billy Parks? is nostalgic, melancholy, full
of footballing atmosphere and, if you want to know whether Billy finds
redemption, I recommend you buy a copy now.
I'd like to thank the publisher, The Friday Project, for allowing me to read Whatever Happened to Billy Parks? via Netgalley.
I'd like to thank the publisher, The Friday Project, for allowing me to read Whatever Happened to Billy Parks? via Netgalley.
2 comments:
Thank you for your kinds words about my book.
Hope this isn't rude - but, if anyone is tempted by your review to purchase it - here's a link!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whatever-Happened-Billy-Gareth-Roberts/dp/0007531516/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1390487845&sr=8-1
Just found your book blog - it's all very interesting and well put together. I shall watch your progress with interest
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