Neil’s book is a riot of football-based action
Last updated 12:19, Saturday, 22 March 2008
RAUCOUS, relentless, rampaging tales of fights and lust; could this be football in Workington?
Workington is exactly where it is, but before the Reds reach for their lawyer’s number these tales are purely fictional.
They are contained in a new novel, Workington Dynamo, by Neil Nixon, 48, formerly of Fletchertown near Aspatria.
The book tells the tale of young Dougie Grimton, a potential football hooligan who dreams only of loving his much older cousin, “lamping” opposing supporters at football matches and being a man.
Its publication is a departure for Neil, who is best known locally for his books Singin’ The Blues and Blueseason about Carlisle United.
He is a former writer for Viz comic and worked on the Sooty Show.
Neil says: “I’ve had my best moments as a writer working on football books and the in-your-face jokes.
“I used to write for the likes of Viz comic. This book draws on both, and some real events -like the fights at Carlisle versus Workington friendly matches - get mentioned but a lot of it is just no holds barred humour.”
The story centres on the fictional Workington Dynamos football team, a team of cloggers who try to hack their way up the local leagues.
The young hero watches his brothers play under their father’s management and dreams of his own turn as a Dynamo as he fights supporters of Workington Reds in the school yard and struggles to impress his beautiful cousin.
Neil, now living in Maidstone, Kent, was brought up at Fletchertown and went to Nelson Thomlinson School, Wigton.
He said: “My dad loved rugby, played it pretty well in the forces and watched Aspatria sometimes. Football was just more my thing.
“I went to a school that prided itself on rugby. I had the build but not the passion for the game, making me second team material at best.
“I recall that Moorclose School were fierce opponents and I did find myself picked for a school game against them.
“I recall going down in a scrum and seeing this 15-year-old from Wukkie with some fairly impressive facial hair and thinking: ‘I don't want to be doing this any more.”
Neil’s passion is Carlisle United.
He adds: “I’m Carlisle till I die. I always kept an eye on the Reds, and paid good money over the years to watch them, especially if Carlisle were away.
“The point of Workington Dynamo, and part of the running joke in the book, is to imagine a world in which the struggling Reds of the 70s are untouchably good.
“Local football fans will know that since the book ends in 1974 the Reds team are three years short of being kicked out of the league at that point.
“But in Dougie Grimton's world they are still light years ahead of his clogging brothers and their team mates in the Dynamos.”
The book is pure fiction but it is based on some well-remembered facts by Neil.
He says: “Workington's greatest fights to my memory were at the friendlies with Carlisle.
“But the point of the hooliganism in Workington Dynamo is more to make young Dougie a man in the eyes of his harder elder brothers.
“It's more Little Britain than genuine history the way I wrote it.”
Neil is married to Jane, a psychotherapist. He has two children, and his sister Lesley works at M-Sport in Dovenby.
He says he has been writing forever: “I used to bung the odd letter to local papers and the like when I was at school, and progressed from there.”
His recent work includes a film script just sold to a production company.
He works in corporate PR and journalism and runs a university course in professional writing based in Dartford, Kent.
He adds: “I started writing books when my day job in education got really busy and I didn't have the time to turn round short-term stuff like jokes.
“Since then it's got easier to get books published and I'm currently on the 17th.”
He usually writes fiction under the name of Stanley Manly.
He says: “I scripted for The Sooty Show for a while, which was a riot, and I'm currently trying to get a deal for the biography of darts player Andy Fordham.”
n Workington Dynamos will be launched by Neil at Workington’s Derwent Bookshop, Finkle Street, on February 22.
