In 1975, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy, Craig Johnston, set out from Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, on an odyssey to play English First Division soccer. Despite numerous obstacles, he reached the highest pinnacle, scoring the winning goal in the FA Cup Final. At the height of a stellar career for the giant Liverpool club, he stunned the soccer world by 'hanging up his boots' and returning to Australia. This is his story .... ..... 

CONTENTS: 

Home With The Cup

In The Genes

Chasing The Dream

The Debut

The Transfer Hunt

The Liverpool Legend

Letters from Liverpool

Not Good Enough

Life & Death

The Ties That Bind

The Final Whistle

Going Back.

This book inspired thousands of people, not least Socceroos stars Harry Kewell, Tim Cahill, Lucas Neill and Mark Schwarzer.

Neil Jameson, a former Newcastle Herald journalist, co-authored the book with Johnston.

Liverpool played Melbourne Victory on Wednesday night at the MCG before a sellout crowd of 95,000.

Johnston, who was in Melbourne for the match, said many people had asked him for the book, including friends and family, but "it ran out of print".

"It's about time we reprinted it," Johnston said.

Jameson, of Merewether, said the book was a "how-to guide for making it as a professional footballer at the elite level".

"Young athletes have a fairly comfortable lifestyle in Australia, and when they go overseas they encounter a severe degree of cultural shock," Jameson said.

"The book goes into those issues in great detail and gives clues on what a player is likely to encounter and what methods are needed to not only survive but prevail."

Craig Johnston grew up at Speers Point and is a proud Novocastrian.

He scored 40 goals in 271 games for Liverpool in the 1980s.

He hoped a new generation of kids would find the book "a good old-fashioned story about hard work, determination and commitment".

Parents and school teachers had told him the book would be enlightening for "the gaming generation of kids who want rewards without sacrifice".