Mat Guy, author of Barcelona to Buckie Thistle, Minnows United: Adventures at the Fringes of the Beautiful Game, and Another Bloody Saturday, turns his pen to fiction in one of the best novels with a football theme you'll read. The story threads of four main characters are deftly woven together, and it is a boat – the Stanley B – itself a survivor, at the centre. They all share a love of the game and its power as a diversion from the harsher realities of life. The Lives of Stanley B gets to the heart of why football matters – written by an author who properly understands the game.