Book Review: After Extra Time (‘Dirty Leeds’ Uncut) by Robert Endeacott

This book is an absorbing mix of fact and fiction that details the factual life of Leeds United and the fictional life of a young Leeds fan throughout the Don Revie era. The fictional life of Jimmy O’Rourke is set amid real events both at the club and in the city of Leeds which adds context to the footballing narrative of Don Revie’s transformational time as manager of the club from 1961 to his departure to take up the England manager’s post in 1974.

Through the life of Jimmy O’Rourke we see that the ‘Dirty Leeds’ tag applies more to working-class life in Leeds in that period than a description of the football team’s ethics as the city starts to implement the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution; a particular issue for populous industrialised cities at that time. Jimmy and his Gran show us the dour existence and steely determination of working class citizens of 1960s Leeds and, as much as you will be moved by the seemingly endless mishaps and footballing heartache that was, ironically, Leeds Utd’s most successful period, you will also find that the author handles events in Jimmy O’Rourke’s life such as aspiration, injury and bereavement in a very touching and believable way. These, like the character itself, are described in a very ‘Leeds’ style (far from melodramatic, quite matter-of-fact; no-nonsense yet not without feeling).

Thankfully the book doesn’t preach on football matters, nor does it avoid controversial incidents or resolutely argue the innocence of Leeds United or its fans but it quietly and unassumingly (in that ‘Leeds’ style) puts the key events into perspective. Crowd trouble (a grenade at Millwall is my favourite), on-field misdemeanours and allegations of bribery are evident throughout the Football League and teams other than Leeds suffer the type of fixture congestion that not even today’s TV companies could dream up.  As a consequence, without overtly defending Leeds, the book highlights the fact that the FA had much more to deal with than a few raincoat-clad middle-aged men with comb-overs arguing with a ref on the Elland Road pitch after a controversial West Brom goal.

The book clearly sets out to honour not only Don Revie but also less well-known characters that helped build the team, the club and its facilities; Harry Reynolds the Chairman and Ces Burroughs the Groundsman are revered by the author who clearly has some knowledge of their lives and the role they played at the club. It is here however that the book lets you down slightly; this knowledge leads you to mistakenly believe that you will subsequently receive some previously unknown detail about the club or the goings-on inside Revie’s office that would shed new light on the well-known events of that time.

The additional 50,000 words that the author has re-instated from the first ‘Dirty Leeds’ book give this unabridged edition more detail and texture and it flows through this historic and turbulent period with all the footballing information you need (without being reduced to a dry account of each season), and with a simultaneous view of real life in and around both Elland Road and the city of Leeds. It is a comprehensive review of the Leeds United’s Don Revie era but is written with imagination and emotion. Whether a Leeds fan or not, my advice would be (in that ‘Leeds’ style); read the book, it’s not bad at all.

 

Paul Gowland

 

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Book Review: One Northern Soul by J R Endeacott

One Northern Soul was first published in 2002 featuring the character Steven Bottomley and whose story is continued in the 2005 sequel, No More Heroes.

This first book by J R Endeacott focuses on the life of the young Steve as he grows up in Leeds during the 1980’s. From the illustrations on the cover and back of the book, it is evident that Leeds United feature within the pages of this book. On the front, there is a picture of the ‘disallowed’ goal from the 1975 European Cup Final, when Leeds lost 2-0 to Bayern Munich in controversial circumstances. That game in Paris has significance as just as Steve recognises that upon his dad’s return from Paris, “…his passion definitely waned and he never went to watch Leeds away from Elland Road again in his life…”, that somehow this changed the course of his life. As the back cover of the books says, “…if that goal in Paris has been allowed then everything that followed could have been different…”

Indeed, football is used as a metaphor and so the trials and tribulations of Steve’s life are reflected in the ups and downs at Elland Road. The book provides such nice little cameos of growing up in the 1980’s especially of life in Leeds. The reader follows Steve through his final days at school, his early sexual exploits, hooliganism and friendship, all told with a humour, naivety and cockiness-to-shyness that our teenage years inflict upon us emotionally.

One Northern Soul is not a large book, at less than one hundred pages, but contains enough little gems within it to appeal to an audience wider than the good citizens’ of Leeds and the supporters’ of its football club.

 

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Featured Writers – Robert Endeacott

I’m a writer from Leeds. Born in the Leeds General Infirmary (Born In The LGI should be a Springsteen-homage song title, thinking about it) on April 1st 1965, just hours after Leeds United had won through to their first ever FA Cup Final. I’ve never tried to take any credit for that though. Brought up in the south of the City, Beeston, where I still live and work, my first book, One Northern Soul (as J R Endeacott) came out on Route in 2002. I was/am very proud of how well received it was, and the collection of semi autobiographical tales has recently been reprinted too which is a pleasant though not exactly lucrative bonus. My second book, No More Heroes is the sequel of sorts; published by Relish Books, it’s generally a lighter in tone story as I wrote it when times were getting hard and torrid for Leeds and I wanted to cheer myself up and try and add a bit of brightness to the proceedings while the clowns at Elland Road got to grips with ruining everything. And I wanted to entertain the reader of course, shouldn’t forget that aspect of writing books.

I founded Relish Books, a bloody tiny never mind small imprint, hoping to make profits from publishing and selling books, and then reinvesting the coffers in other new writers. I did it because I was so impressed by Ian Daley’s efforts at Route and I wanted to emulate his achievements there. My ‘move’ surprised and probably puzzled a few people but the overriding point is that I was doing it for the right reasons, or as Elvis Costello sort of said, my aim was definitely true. It worked for a while but not for long enough unfortunately, it was a lonely (and costly) business trying to be an indie publisher, even lonelier than being a writer. Relish titles are Humbugs, Fanthology, An Officer & A Gentleman and his Mum and Yorkshire in a Crombie. It was all too much a sacrifice for me, so now I concentrate solely on writing as it’s less troublesome and tons more fun, plus more people appreciate me as a writer than they did as a publisher. Although I do regret the venture really, I see no point looking back on certain matters in my life – I made a poor choice, simple as that, so what Endeacott, get over it! And I have.

My third novel, Dirty Leeds, published by Tonto Books, came out in 2009 and is proving popular; I’m unsmugly pleased to report, while its 2010 sequel, Disrepute – Revie’s England, is doing pretty well too, thanks for asking. Currently (December 2010) I’m working on the third of the trilogy, provisionally titled Scandal FC, which should be out next autumn, and I’m compiling material for a fan biography of my favourite band The Stranglers also. And in addition to ‘normal’ writing, I’m working on a Dirty Leeds stage adaptation, plus not long ago I co-wrote my first full-length screenplay, a biopic about Heath Robinson and his wonderful creation Uncle Lubin. I earned an MA in Screenwriting earlier this century and I’m hoping the qualification will one day prove to be NOT a white elephant. I love films and television, even more than reading books, but don’t quote me on that. The trouble with books is that I don’t have enough time to read all the ones I want to read, especially when I’m having to read ones I don’t particularly enjoy, in the name of research.

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