Roy Vernon was one of the most deadly strikers in English football's golden era. His goals helped take Wales to the World Cup finals, Blackburn Rovers to promotion to the First Division and Everton to league championship glory. Later in his career, at Stoke City, he was part of Tony Waddington's resurgent 1960s team. But Vernon was more than just a great player. He was a maverick, a smoker and a joker, who defied his managers off the pitch and delighted them on it. Now, 50 years after his retirement from a game he gave so much to, award-nominated author Rob Sawyer and acclaimed Everton historian David France have told his story in full for the first time. Drawing upon Vernon's own unpublished memoir, scores of interviews with friends, family, teammates and opponents, the authors produce a vivid portrait of a man who wowed millions of fans and terrorised hundreds of opponents. Initially brought to life as a crowdfunding project and published as a limited edition of 1000 books, Blue Dragon is the definitive study of one of British Football's forgotten heroes.
