Awaydays

A powerful portrait of a time and culture, of late 70s to early 80s and football hooligan gangs, of working-class lives and men left abandoned by Thatcher’s Britain

For Paul Carty, 19, and his mystical, Joy Division-loving mate Elvis, life revolves around The Pack, a mob of violent Tranmere Rovers supporters. Carty and Elvis travel the Northern wastelands, always by train, causing mayhem in the ’woollyback’ strongholds of Halifax, Crewe and Chesterfield. For most of the mob, The Pack is their reason for living. But Elvis, who loves Ezra Pound, and Carty, still getting over the death of his mother, are starting to get bored of it all.

The question is: will the Pack let them go? And can they get by without each other?

Kevin Sampson is a British novelist and screenwriter, best known for his novels Awaydays (1998), Powder (1999) and Stars Are Stars (2006). He began his career in the music industry by writing gig reviews for NME in the 80s and has written for i-D, Arena, Sounds, Time Out and the Observer. He was part of Produce Records, who had a string of Top 40 hits in the 90s including The Farm’s ’Groovy Train’ and ’All Together Now’. His screenwriting credits include Anne (ITV, 2022), The Hunt for Raoul Moat (2023) and the film adaption of Awaydays (2009).

@ksampsonwrite