Chris Pullen

I was born into football and goalkeeping. My father was a goalkeeper too, so it was almost a given that I would follow in his footsteps. I played semi-professional football for many years, almost but not quite making it to the professional ranks following a brief spell at Wimbledon during the 'Crazy Gang' era. My father also worked for FIFA and was the Brazilian FA's representative in Europe, so I was privileged to hang around hotels and training grounds when Zico, Socrates and Junior were world wide icons. In recent years, I have fallen back in love with the semi-pro game and have worked my way up from match reporter to Vice Chairman of Merstham FC, a semi-professional football club, playing in the Isthmian Premier, which is Step 3 of English football. Playing for Keeps is my first novel, although the sequel is already underway.