THE JAGS

Star PlayerWanted

Rising-Stars

TOM WATT

2

Rising Stars UK Ltd.22 Grafton Street, London W1S 4EXwww.risingstars-uk.com

Text, design and layout © 2009 Rising Stars Uk Ltd.The right of Tom Watt to be identified as the author of this work has beenasserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act,1988.

Published 2009

Publisher: Gill BudgellEditor: Jane WoodText design and typesetting: Clive SutherlandIllustrator: Michael Emmerson for Advocate ArtCover design: Burville-Riley PartnershipCover photograph: Ron Coello at www.coellophotography.co.ukWith special thanks to; Robert Dye, Harry Garner, Tyrone Smith, LewisMcKenzie, Kobina Crankson and Alex Whyte

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the priorpermission of Rising Stars UK Ltd.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-84680-481-6

Printed in the UK by CPI Bookmarque, Croydon, CR0 4TD

FSC positional

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Contents

Meet the Jags 6

Chapter 1: The New Boy 9

Chapter 2: Hot Gossip! 14

Chapter 3: Local Talent 20

Chapter 4: Who’s on the List? 26

Chapter 5: Spotted! 33

Extras!Match Report 41The Coach 44The Coach Quiz 46About the Author 47

4

Map Jeffers

Nev

Middleton School

KildertonFozzer

The Rec

Chudley

The Burton Twins

5

Valley Road Stadium

y Park

Upton Prep School

Keeps

DevParkside School

The Vale

6

Name: Ryan Devlin

Fact: He’s very forgetful.

Loves: Daydreaming!

FYI: He’s always covered in

mud and bruises.

Dev

Name: Andrew Burton

Fact: He’s the Jags’ captain.

Loves: Spurs

FYI: The Jags may be hismates, but they’d better notforget he’s the Skipper.

Andy

Name: Terry Burton

Fact: He’s Andy’s twinbrother.

Loves: Football, football,and more football. He’sfootball crazy!

FYI: He’s a big Arsenal fan.

Burts

Meet the Jags

7

Name: Jim Ward

Fact: He’s the Jags’ Number

One goalie – whether he

likes it or not!

Loves: Trying to score from

his end of the pitch.

FYI: He’s the tallest member

of the Jags.

Keeps

Name: Hamed FosterFact: He can run like crazy,but he shoots like crazy too –sometimes at the wrong goal!Loves: Telling bad jokes.FYI: His best friend is Nev.

Fozzer

Name: Jeffrey GilfoyleChapman

Fact: He’s the only one of theJags who doesn’t live on theChudley Park estate.Loves: Being in the Jags.FYI: He’s the Jags’ top goal-scorer.

Jeffers

8

Name: Denton Neville

Fact: Nev is the Jags’ most

talented player.

Loves: Fozzer’s bad jokes.

FYI: He keeps his feet on the

ground and always looks out

for his football crazy mates.

Name: Pam BurtonFact: The Burton twins’ mum,and a team ‘mum’ for all theJags.

Loves: Sorting out her boys.FYI: Doesn’t actually likefootball!

Mrs Burton

Name: Jack Ward

Fact: He’s Jim’s dad and the

Jags’ coach!

Loves: Going on and on,

doing his team talks.

FYI: He’s taking his

coaching exams.

Mr Ward

Nev

9

The New Boy

Playing for the Jagsis so much fun.

They’re a good teamand Nev is a very

good player.

1

Nev Hey, Jeffers! You’re early fortraining tonight. Nobody else ishere yet.

10

Jeffers I came straight from school. If I go home, my mother won’tlet me out again until I’ve doneall my homework!

Nev Good thinking. Let’s play untilthe others get here.

Jeffers Sure. What shall we do?

11

Nev Let’s see how many keepy-upswe can do.

Jeffers Yeah, like the subs you see onTV. You see them doing keepy-ups at half-time.

Nev All right then, Jeffers. On yourhead.

12

Jeffers That’s 20 between us! Not bad!

Nev Not bad at all. Where did youlearn to play?

Jeffers I could ask you the same thing,Denton.

Nev “Denton”? When you say it likethat, you sound like my dadwhen he’s telling me off! Call meNev. Everybody else does.

13

Jeffers Okay, Nev.

Nev That’s better. I don’t knowwhere Andy found you. Butyou’re part of the Jags now. Wecan always do with good playerslike you, Jeffers.

Jeffers Thanks, Denton. Um, I mean,Nev. Look. Here come theothers.

14

Hot Gossip!

We trained for an hour.Mr Ward made us do

one-twos. He saidthat’s how the pros doit. At the end, he saidthere might be somepros at the game onSunday. But he didn’t

say who …

2

Nev Jeffers, are you getting the bus?

Jeffers Yes, there’s one at half past.

15

Nev Well, wait for me. I’ll walk to thebus stop with you.

Jeffers How long have you known Mr Ward, Nev?

Nev Oh, ages. He set up the Jags inthe first place. Why?

16

Jeffers Oh, just sometimes I find it hardto get what he’s saying.

Nev Don’t worry about that, mate.We’ve been with him for yearsand we still don’t get it half thetime.

Jeffers I really like him. And he’s agood coach. But …

17

Nev But he’s a bit mad, too? Well,that’s what you get if you thinkyou’re Alex Ferguson. He worksat Vale United, you know. He’sthe kit man. I think he used toplay for them, too.

Jeffers What did he mean when he saidthere might be some pros at thegame on Sunday? I mean, whoare we playing?

18

Nev We’re playing Brook. Don’tworry, they aren’t pros. I betyou score a hat-trick againstthem.

Jeffers So who does Mr Ward mean,Nev?

Nev I don’t know. I tell you what, I’llcall in on the Burtons on theway home. If they don’t know, I bet their mum will.

19

Jeffers Does Mrs Burton work for ValeUnited as well?

Nev No. But she works hard for theJags. She drives us round, washesour kit, makes us squash andcakes. And she usually knowswhat’s going on.

Jeffers I’m glad somebody does! Look!There’s my bus! See you, Nev!

Nev Yeah, let’s meet at the Rectomorrow. See you!

20

Local Talent

Well, the next day Iwent to the Rec to

meet Nev. I had to knowwhat was going on. Whowere the pros? Had Nev

got the gossip?

3

Nev Hi, Jeffers! I wasn’t sure if you’dcome or not. It’s not a trainingnight, after all.

Jeffers No, but I’ve brought a ball, justin case. Where are the others?

21

Nev Probably watching TV. Or justlate. I told them to meet us here.

Jeffers What time did you tell them toget here?

Nev Ah. I didn’t tell them that. Howdid you know what time toarrive?

Jeffers I didn’t. I just came straightfrom school again.

Nev Where’s that ball, then? Haveyou got any new tricks?

22

Jeffers I’ll show you a new trick if you’lltell me what’s going on.

Nev Okay. Well, Mrs Burton thinks itmight be someone from a bigclub. He might be at the gameon Sunday.

Jeffers Which big club? Who? Why?

23

Nev How many questions is that?

Jeffers Come on, Nev.

Nev Well, it seems Mr Ward knowssomebody who knowssomebody. And they are goingto send another somebody to oneof our games!

Jeffers Do you mean a scout? A PremierLeague scout? Which club?

24

Nev Well, that’s how it sounds to me,but Mrs Burton said she didn’tknow. She isn’t really sure aboutany of it.

Jeffers Well, we’ll find out on Sunday, Isuppose. What did Andy andBurts think?

Nev Well, you know what Burts islike. He thinks the scout willcome with the Englandmanager.

25

Jeffers The England manager? Burts iscrazy. What did Andy say?

Nev He said Burts was crazy. And healso said not to tell you aboutthe scout.

Jeffers What? Why not?

Nev Hang on a minute, Jeffers. Passme that ball.

26

Who’s on the List?

I know it was drivingJeffers crazy. But I

wanted him to show methat new trick. And the

best way to do thatwas to keep him

hanging on for moregossip about Sunday

and the scout.

4

Jeffers So, why didn’t Andy want you totell me?

27

Nev In a minute. Just show me thattrick first. So, it’s like a Ronaldostep-over?

Jeffers Yes. But then you flick it up inthe air, like this.

Nev That’s really cool. Who did yousee doing this?

28

Jeffers I can’t remember his name. A Spanish player. He wasplaying against Real Madrid. I saw it on TV.

Nev Step over. Step over. And thenflick it up in the air.

29

Jeffers That’s it. And then you canshoot or pass on the volley.

Nev That’s really cool, Jeffers. Nowonder Andy doesn’t want youto know about the scout.

Jeffers Come on, Nev. We had a deal. Ishowed you the trick. Now tellme what Andy said about thescout.

30

Nev Well, Burts and Andy think thescout is coming to watch oneplayer. One very good player.

Jeffers Yes. You, probably. You’re thebest player we’ve got.

Nev No. They think it’s you. We’venever had a scout at one of ourgames before. Then you startplaying for us. And the nextthing is, there’s a scout coming.

31

Jeffers But why didn’t they want you totell me about the scout?

Nev Andy thinks that if you knowthere’s a scout there, you’ll doall your tricks. And then youmight leave the Jags if you getspotted.

32

Jeffers Me? Leave the Jags? But I’veonly just joined. Andy knowsthat. He got me on the team.

Nev Well, we’ll see what happens onSunday. I’m off home for mytea.

33

Spotted!

The game on Sundaywas a lot harder thananybody thought. TheBrook team had a newkeeper who saved allour shots. But then,

right at the end, Fozzerpassed the ball up the

wing to me …

5

Nev Cross it, Jeffers! Cross it!

Jeffers Near post, Nev!

34

Nev Got it!

Jeffers Goaaaaal!

Nev Great cross, Jeffers!

Jeffers Great header, Nev. The keeperhad no chance!

35

Nev I wonder if that scout is still here.

Jeffers The scout? I forgot all about him.

Nev Yeah. If he’s gone, he missed agood goal. Let’s make sure Brookdon’t get one back, eh?

36

Jeffers Full-time! That’s 1–0!

Nev Come on the Jags! Man of thematch, Jeffers!

Jeffers Thanks, Nev. But no sign of thescout.

Nev Yes, there is. Look. Who’s that,talking to Mr Ward?

37

Nev Well, what a fuss all that was, eh,Jeffers?

Jeffers What? I didn’t hear what Mr Ward said.

Nev I think the Burton twins got a bitcarried away. That man was apro all right. And he was fromthe F.A.

We all stood and watched.Mr Ward shook hands withthe man and he left. Then,

he came over to talk to the Jags …

38

Jeffers Great. What did he say?

Nev He thought we did very well.

Jeffers Who was he watching?

Nev Nobody. Well, I mean,everybody. He’s a coach, not ascout. And he came to see MrWard, not us. About Mr Ward’scoaching badges.

39

Jeffers Do you know something? I’m glad.

Nev Eh?

Jeffers I don’t care about gossip andscouts and star players andsecrets. All I care about isplaying for the Jags.

Nev Me too, Jeffers. Got any newtricks?

Phew! What a fussabout nothing!

40

Jeffers Have a go at this. You can try itin next week’s game!

Nev Yeah! You never know whomight be watching!

Nev and Come on the Jags!Jeffers

I love playing for theJags. I love watching

football as well. After our game against

Brook, Nev asked meround to his house to

watch ManchesterUnited against Chelsea

on TV.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1CHELSEA 1

MATCH REPORT … MATCH REPORT

REPORT …… MATCH REPORT 41 MA

Jeffers Look at those step-overs, Nev.

Nev Yeah. They were almost as goodas yours! But Man United havestill won the ball.

MATCH REPORT … MATCH REPORT …

MATCH REPORT …… MATCH 42RT

Jeffers Oh, he’s scored on the volley!That’s 1–0 to United.

Nev Now Chelsea need someone toget into the area. That’s it!What a shot! That’s 1–all. Thatwill be goal of the season!

… MATCH REPORT … MATCH REPOR

REPORT …… MATCH REPORT 43 MA

44

Mr Ward has been doing his coachingbadges. That means he is learning howto be a better coach. The man from theF.A. wanted to see how he was gettingon with his coaching badges.

Every team needs a good coach. The coach keeps the players fit andhelps them to play better as a team.

The Coach

45

Some coaches are managers, too, likeSir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. The manager picks the team anddecides which position everyone willplay in. The manager decides when tosend on the subs as well. It’s a veryimportant job.

46

The CoachQuiz1Mr Ward.2To see how Mr Ward was getting on with his coaching badges.3Keeps the players fit and helps them to play better as a team.4Picks the team, decides which position everyone will play in, and sends on the subs.

Answers

1 Who is the Jags’ coach?

2 What did the man from the F.A. want?

3 What does a coach do?

4 What does a manager do?

Questions

47

Tom Watt, who wrote the Jags books, used tomanage a football team. His team played to raisemoney for charity. They were called the WalfordBoys’ Club.

Tom used to fix up all the games. He got the kitfor the players to wear. He made sure everybodygot to the games on time. But Tom really likedbeing the manager so he could pick the team.Then he could always put himself on the team!

About the Author

48

The Jags books are available from most book sellers.For mail order information

please call Rising Stars onor visit www.risingstars-uk.com

THE JAGS

Who’s Got My Boots?

A New Striker

The Derby Match

Who’s Washing the Kit?

The Big Deal

Star Player Wanted

Your Turn in Goal

The Team Talk

Whose Side Are You On?

Hitting the Headlines

Up for the Cup

The Own Goal

0800 091 1602

ISBN 978-1-84680-481-6

9 781846 804816www.risingstars-uk.com

Cover Design: Burville-Riley PartnershipFront Cover Photograph: Ron CoelloBack Cover Illustration: Michael Emmerson

Someone special is coming to the Jags’ next game.But who is he watching, and what does he want?