Now on sale

It's now available to buy from Monument Books on Norodom Boulevard, Phnom Penh, priced at just $15.50. So there's no excuse not to go out and buy a copy of Match Fixer, the excellent novel by Neil Humphreys, which exposes the underbelly of football and life in Singapore. You can read a review of the book by Cambodia's national football coach Scott O'Donell here. You owe it to yourself to get a copy.

Book review - Match Fixer

Yes I know its a football-related post but it's also a book-related post, so I've posted it here too. If you have any interest in Asian football at all, you must get a copy of Neil Humphreys' debut novel, Match Fixer. Even if you can't stand football - yes there are some people like that out there - but fancy a really good read immersed in the exotic Far East then Match Fixer will provide that too. Just treat the football as incidental. Humphreys has lived in Singapore, has worked in sports journalism and has put the two together to produce a riveting read, which will be on sale at Monument Books on Norodom Boulevard next week.
I thought that the best person to review Match Fixer would be someone who has played football in Australia and Singapore (as the lead character in the book did), who's worked in the media and who knows Asian football inside out. Step forward Scott O'Donell, the national football team coach of Cambodia, who kindly penned the following review after reading through Humphreys' new novel:

Match Fixer by Neil Humphreys

Neil Humphreys has taken me back in time with his latest offering, Match Fixer.

Having played and coached in Singapore, Match Fixer was something that I could obviously relate to. Humphreys' intimate knowledge of Singapore and in particular the S-League, is an entertaining and somewhat disconcerting view of life as a professional footballer through the eyes of failed West Ham Reserve team player Chris Osborne.

Having failed to make the grade at West Ham, Osborne ended up in Singapore via Australia to ply his trade in one of South East Asia’s newest football leagues. While enjoying success and being the new superstar of the S-League, Osborne gets entwined in a complex web of drugs, karaoke lounges and bookies.

It was his presence at a party of a well known foreign publisher that he found himself caught in a situation that proved very difficult to get out of. As you will discover, his honesty and unwillingness to co-operate with the bookies very nearly cost him his career.

The characters in Match Fixer are people all of us who have been involved in football anywhere in the world can relate to: Danny Spearman, the failed ex-pro from UK, Billy Addis, the expat journalist and Yati, the beautiful Sarong Party Girl. All of whom contribute to this fascinating tale of football and Singapore’s underworld.

While this piece of fiction is a must read for anyone looking for an entertaining and fascinating novel, anyone who has been involved in football in South East Asia whether as a spectator, a player or a coach will be able to relate to it.

Scott O'Donell

Withdrawal symptoms

Standing in front of the famous Reclining Vishnu lintel at Phnom Rung in Isaan, and I'm looking a little portly I might add - time for some exercise

Where's the temple stuff? An email arrived in my in-basket today asking exactly that, as they were seemingly getting withdrawal symptoms due to the lack of temple coverage in recent weeks. To be honest I've been so busy finishing my book that I've had little spare time to load photos from my temple visits in Isaan, Angkor, Banteay Chhmar and beyond. They are all still in the pipeline. Never fear I will get to them, I promise. If you believe that, you'll believe anything. No, seriously, I will do it. Here's a photo by way of an apology.
My current visitor Ting will depart back home to Taiwan on Saturday morning. She's been a real trooper, getting out and about under her own steam whilst I've been stuck in the office. Today she was off to Koh Dach to see the silk weavers after spending the last few days up in Siem Reap. No complaints, she's just got out and done her own thing. Bless her.
With her departure, she'll be cock-a-hoop to miss the weekend's football, which I subjected her to last weekend. The Hun Sen Cup last 16 round will be completed with a few more of the big boys playing tomorrow and Sunday. I'm hoping Nov Soseila will be back on the pitch for the Defense Ministry tomorrow as he's always a joy to watch, though an injury he got for the Cambodian national team a couple of weeks ago may not have cleared up. Sunday will see Khemara and Preah Khan Reach in action, with all the big names from the CPL expected to sail through to the quarter-finals. Talking of football, I'm coming to the end of an engrossing fictional look at the Asian football scene by Neil Humphreys and his novel Match Fixer. Football, sex, drugs, gangsters and match-fixing in Singapore are at the heart of this rattling good read. Definitely recommended.