“This is the first part of a David Peace-style fictionalisation of the 1974 World Cup Final, its specific focus being the Dutch squad of Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. I’m not entirely sure where I’m going this – I started it while sitting in a coffee shop to pass the time and just kept writing – but I’ll publish it in several parts and see it through to its conclusion regardless. If the prose seems clunky then that’ll be because I very rarely turn my hand to fiction, but it’s been fun to write and so this is the first instalment of what may be several to follow.” The Equaliser