One for the Frog

One for the Frog Synopsis

One for the Frog is the rare insider's account of life in football's heartland. A journeyman professional with a career spanning more than 600 matches, eight clubs, and two unpredictable decades, Mike Trusson takes readers far from premier league glamour and into the muddy pitches, long coach journeys, eccentric managers, battered boots, and fierce camaraderie of the lower leagues. Told with warmth and self-deprecating wit, this is football as it's really lived - tough, funny, and deeply human.

The story begins in rural Somerset, where a working-class upbringing shaped by wartime sacrifice fuels a young boy's dream of becoming a footballer. From a chaotic trial at Plymouth Argyle - complete with cow-pat-strewn fields - to life as a skinny 17-year-old apprentice in the brutal 1970s football system, Trusson charts the highs and lows of a career built on resilience. Along the way, he shares dressing rooms with world cup winner Martin Peters, faces legends like George Best, and learns the meaning of the cockney phrase that gives the book its title: one for the frog - give it everything.

More than a football memoir, one for the frog is also a portrait of Britain in flux, set against the backdrop of strikes, punk rock, declining steel towns, and the growing commercialisation of the game. From Sheffield to Brighton and beyond - and eventually to a life-changing move to Hong Kong - Trusson explores identity, homesickness, and life after the final whistle. Ultimately, this is the story of the everyman footballer: not the superstar, but the one who lived the dream, survived the grind, and found humour, dignity, and meaning when the cheering stopped.