Outcasts United by Warren St John

Outcasts United by Warren St John

‘Remarkable … Like all good books about sport, this is about much more than sport …This is a marvellous story, all the more moving for being written straight by a talented reporter’ Mike Atherton, The Times

‘“Outcasts United” succeeds so emphatically because, just as the Fugees are so much more than a football team, this is much more than a sports book … a dense and unjudgmental portrait of America in the 21st century (and a vital primer to African and colonial history in the last one).’ Tim Lewis, Observer

‘Mufleh – a heady mixture of Brian Clough, Alex Ferguson and Martin Luther King – has wrought an astonishing transformation in the boys and their families, becoming not just a coach but a surrogate parent and stand-in social worker. St John’s expertly told account has been described as “heartwarming”, as if Mufleh has solved all the problems of multiculturalism at a stroke. Not yet, she hasn’t, but she has proved the truth of another football cliché: sometimes it is, indeed, more than just another game.’ Chris Maume, Independent

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Warren St John is currently a reporter for the New York Times. He has also written extensively for The New Yorker, the New York Observer and Wired. He went to Columbia University and lives in New York.