Ian Ridley is the author of 12 sports books, including the No.1 best-selling Addicted, with the former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams, which was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award, and its follow-up published in 2017, Sober. Three of his other books have also been nominated in the British Sports Book Awards.
Over a 40-year career, Ian has been a sports writer for The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer and the Mail on Sunday, for whom he was Chief Football Writer. He was named Sports Journalist of the Year in the 2007 British Press Awards and has been nominated on two other occasions.
Ian has also written for television, including more than 20 episodes of the Sky One drama series Dream Team, and currently has a film script in development on the life story of the world champion boxer Darren Barker, based on the autobiography on which the two collaborated, A Dazzling Darkness.
The Outer Circle is Ian's first novel.