CHRIS DUNLAVY delves into the phenomenon of sporstmen trying their luck as authors

CLEARLY, Frank Lampard had to mine the depths of his imagination to come up with the hero of his upcoming series of children’s books, a young footballer called… Frankie.

See what he did there? Cunning stuff. Clearly he’s taken inspiration from Theo James Walcott, who also dipped his toe into kids’ fiction with a young protagonist called TJ. He even gave the kid on the cover a creepy version of his own face.
We had TJ and the Penalty, TJ and Hat-Trick and TJ and the Cup Run, in w...