BOOK REVIEW A tale of devotion as Gary and Leeds go hand in hand

SOCCER, like most sports, attracts a lot of Johnny-come-lately supporters, especially when the international team is on a roll or participating in a major tournament final. There’s another side to that particular coin though, and it’s populated by die-hard club supporters whose devotion to their team of choice knows no bounds.

Those who follow their side through thick and thin, and remain loyal, deserve nothing but respect. Some are fortunate, in so far as they pledge allegiance to one of the big guns at an early age and are virtually guaranteed success at some level with every passing season.

What about the less fortunate though, those who back a club in its pomp but then have to deal with the frustration of watching the object of their sporting passion slip steadily down the ranks?

The examples are everywhere and, without giving it too much consideration, I can think of people from Wexford who support once-mighty outfits like Leeds United, Newcastle United, Derby County, Wolves and Nottingham Forest for example.

It’s to the first name on that particular list that I turn for this week’s book review.

At the time of writing, Leeds lie fifth in the Championship table and look like being there or thereabouts for a crack at returning to the Premier League, whether that’s via one of the automatic promotion slots or the play-offs.

And that will be music to the ears of super-fan Gary Edwards who has penned his fifth book on his complete and utter devotion to the club: ‘Fifty Shades Of White - Half A Century Of Pain And Glory With Leeds United’.

Edwards has a quite incredible claim to fame in that he has attended every first team game since 1968. And I’m not just referring to league and cup outings, as that also includes every pre-season tour and friendly in various corners of the world.

I was expecting that this book might be a blow-by-blow account of a particular season as seen through a fan’s eyes, but that’s not the case.

Instead it’s a hot-potch of tales from the trenches so to speak, as Edwards concentrates on the trips to and from the games without delving in any great detail into on-field happenings.

It starts on a promising note, as he recalls the events of 2006 when he was asked to accompany a monk from a Benedictine monastery who was about to attend his first-ever football game. It was filmed as part of a BBC series called ‘The Real World’, and mingling with the Elland Road faithful was about as far removed from the serenity of his guest’s normal routine that one could possibly imagine.

There’s a lot of humour throughout, principally the chapter where Edwards recalls slipping out the back door of a hospital to attend an innocuous Leeds game in Darlington, having been detained for longer than he expected when his nose was bleeding profusely.

Large parts of the narrative though are devoted to stories from the pub, because the author and his crew’s love of Leeds is matched only by their capacity to consume alcohol as if it was tap water.

I’m sure fans of the club will enjoy the banter that ensues, but this approach got tiresome after a while.

I’ve no doubt that books of a similar nature have been written by supporters of all the historically strong clubs at this stage, after Nick Hornby first carried the baton for this particular genre all those years ago. The Leeds fans in Wexford will enjoy this one, but it won’t hold the attention of anyone who wasn’t inspired by the early-70s exploits of Giles, Bremner, Clarke et al for very long. ALAN AHERNE Visit The Book Centre on Wexford’s Main Street for the very best selection of sports books.