Gary Edwards - Fifty Shades of White: Half a Century of Pain and Glory with Leeds United

First published by Pitch Publishing, 2016

Pitch Publishing

A2 Yeoman Gate

Yeoman Way

Durrington

BN13 3QZ

www.pitchpublishing.co.uk

Gary Edwards, 2016

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A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library

Print ISBN 978-1-78531-198-7

eBook ISBN 978-1-78531-259-5

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This book is dedicated to Wub, who once again has supported me throughout. And is in fond memory of Reece Hopkins, who was truly one of our own. My old mates Haggis and Ray misjudged it Beverley, Silver, Pete Conway and to Baz Starmore. We also lost my Uncle John who came off the bench alongside Uncle Ernie and my Grandmas chap, George, who tossed a coin between them to see who would take me to Uniteds games in the 60s and early 70s, when Dad couldnt make it.

M ANY, many thanks to: Neil Jeffries, Phil Hay, Neil Redfearn, Ken and Suzannah Bates, Massimo Cellino, Stix Lockwood, Ishmail Ghandour, Paul Gannon, Andy Starmore, Mac MacMichael, Big Tony, Bob and Andy Liddle, Cato Visdal Mikalsen, Les Rowley, Mary, Matt and Luke Hammond, Smithy, Dave Rawson, Rune Roalsvig, Basher, Slugger, Andy Monkey Caunt, Kevin Blackwell, Trevor Cusack, Smiggy, Gary McAllister, Skippy, Frank Rounding, Para Dave, Geir Magne Fjellseth. The staff: Paul, Jane, Duncan, Graham, Barry and Dean.

Finally, considering what Ive hurled at it over the years, huge thanks to my liver for so far staying by my side throughout those 50 years.

T HERE are approximately 2,607 weeks in 50 years of time. The following is an account of one mans dedication to one football club for the entirety of that 50-year timeline, taking him to five different continents. Obsession or passion? You decide.

Arthur Daley perhaps summed up the plight of Leeds United when, in a drunken stupor in the Winchester Club he said, Life is but a veil of tears, you soldier along trying your best then around the corner fate ever waiting with the old half brick; it is always the sunniest days that Dame Fortune chooses to mount her most vicious attack. Youre walking along, spring in your step then, wallop! Youre lying in the gutter spitting out your teeth.

M Y first experience of professional football came at seven years old, when my Dad took me to my first Leeds United game. The journey was from Birkenshaw to Leeds on the 226 bus, then a walk down the snicket and under the flyover and round the back of the Gelderd Road end to queue for tickets in the West Stand. I remember walking up the stand stairs and seeing the lush Elland Road turf for the first time and being mesmerised by the 11 white-shirted players that carried such an air of confidence and surety as they stroked the ball about in the warm-up. Then how they stood in the middle of the pitch before the game and acknowledged the fans, waving in unison to all four stands. They were like gladiators accepting the adoration of the Elland Road faithful. I was hooked from that moment on...

My Dad, who had played professionally for the likes of Bradford PA, Bradford City and Blackburn Rovers, used to emphasise the fact that I was witnessing one of the greatest club sides ever to play in this country. He used to point out how players like Paul Madeley and Eddie Gray used to receive and caress the ball with effortless touch and appreciation; the pure theatre of Norman Hunter as he thundered into every tackle with the baying approval of the crowd and how Billy Bremner would cover every blade of grass and always be there when it mattered.

But there was one player in particular that I was taken by: Allan Clarke.

He did everything I wanted to do as an impressionable junior. He scored goals for Leeds United and England and although I never did either, those early days and great experiences shaped my football education and ultimately my career in professional football. I couldnt have wished for a better education than the team that Don Revie built, not only high quality footballers but it had a wholesomeness about it I was part of the Leeds United family.

Its difficult to describe but the feeling of togetherness and will to win for the cause was so good to be part of as a supporter. Fast forward to 2009 and joining Leeds Uniteds academy as under-18s coach, I was determined that the values and education of those early days and of my own experiences in football would shape the development of young players at the club and retain those core values that Don Revie had shown me as a youngster, sat in the West Stand with my Dad.

So there was no prouder moment when players like Sam Byram, Alex Mowatt, Lewis Cook, Charlie Taylor, Chris Dawson and Kalvin Phillips took to the Elland Road pitch as first-team players, and I knew from that moment those values were still alive. I was asked to do this foreword by Gary Edwards and to pass on my experiences from being a fan to being in charge of Leeds United.

I would say you never stop being a fan and that what matters the most to any manager matters that little bit more when its something that you genuinely care about. I think I had an advantage because when you know what is expected and what has got to be a given that forms the basis of what you expect from the players and that the bar is always that little bit higher than normal.

I knew the history and what it meant and how it shaped top class players down the years, the DNA of being a Leeds United footballer and the standards that needed to be set. What was needed was an influx of players that understood all this and how it mattered. It is no coincidence that all the young academy players that came through the ranks and into the first team carried this they were moulded in it for the best part of seven years.

Into the first team came players that played with no fear and who revelled in the muck and bullets of Championship football, but that DNA didnt stop there, it had to be an unwritten rule of how things were going to be, whether you were an overseas player or experienced pro that had been at the club a while.

This is what being Leeds United meant and it was a start. My point being, is that only a supporter can understand that and what it means to represent your club and the fact that hurt needs honesty and all the strength that it carries. I think the proudest part of my time in charge of Leeds United was how close the people of Leeds had become with the players and what was trying to be achieved; even though it was far from being the finished article, it was on the right lines and everyone knew it.

I think it is only then that you truly understand how important unity and togetherness is within your club. There used to be a saying on the gym wall at Thorp Arch that read no one of us knows more than all of us, and I used to look at it every time I was in the gym, as the answer was staring everyone in the face. Confidence is a massive thing in any sport, and having the backing of a unified football club, with everyone all for the cause is a must to be successful, but this process is slow and built on trust and honesty and these core values are demonstrated by everyone.