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19 and a silver Capri
Mid March and we’d got into the nitty gritty of the thing, the previous book Entertainment, Heroes and Villains, well out of the way. It’s a case of me with a pile of questions, Roger talks, what he says leads on to more questions, nudges and prompts… but it all has to be pretty organised and systematic about particular topics although it often strays.
It involves the drafting of a few skeleton chapter pages before we meet based on what I know already or from what I have read with me highlighting those things in it where I need to know more. If a chapter gets longer and longer it can be split into two. Sometimes something can be said in passing that is set aside for inclusion in a different chapter. Better to write too much than too little: if it gets out of hand and too wordy it can be cut later. That’s where a good copy editor comes in when the first draft is sent off to a publisher. A copy editor has to be firm. If you bore them, you’ll bore the reader.
How to make a story human; you can trot out anecdotes and a chronological historical narrative. But it’s all about ‘feelings’; early aspirations and ultimate disappointments. I came across a pre season picture of the whole Leeds United squad when Roger was an apprentice. There he is on the back row, 16 or 17 maybe, what was he feeling and thinking at that particular moment when the shutter clicked, a young lad all full of hopes and dreams and pride alongside the first teamers and the legends of the club. An apprentice at the club where he always wanted to be, where his heroes played, signed on by Allan Clarke; then managed by the legend Eddie Gray, then discarded by the pragmatic Billy Bremner who had little time for ‘Eddie’s lads.’ I found a copy of Peter Lorimer’s book. In it he’s none too charitable about Billy Bremner. Bremner might have been a great player but you get the feeling the more you read about him that he was never the most personable of people.
How many books have I bought to try and dig up a bit of background? The newest was Johnny Giles. The pile builds up with books by Peter Lorimer, Billy Bremner, Derek Dougan and Eddie Gray. Allan Clarke did one as well but for some reason it seems to fetch a high price.
From these books it’s clear that twice Bremner scuppered the chance of Johnny Giles being the next Leeds manager; the first time after Revie left, and the second time after Clough was sacked. Both times it was Bremner’s interventions, telling Manny Cussins that he also wanted the job that fouled things up. So Cussins ended up offering it to neither of them. It was Bremner who gave Roger the choice of staying or going. He told him he could see out the year remaining of his contract maybe being in and out the team, but mainly in the reserves; or find first team football elsewhere. He chose the latter having found out that Wolves would have him. He wonders to this day if he made the right decision.
It was good to hand over the first completed chapter – well the first completed draft. You don’t know that more might go into it later. In the book it’s actually Chapter Two but I don’t necessarily work through each chapter one by one from 1 to 12. I dip in and out, work on them all at the same time depending on what information comes in or what comes out of a conversation. In one meeting there can be a range of material, not all necessarily for the same chapter.
What a stroke of luck as well. I had a copy of the video Burnley are Back but didn’t know there were two more actually made as the season went on. After someone mentioned them on one of the websites I went up to look in the box of videos I have up in the loft (given to me years ago) and there were the two videos. That was the good news; the bad news was that Part One was pretty much unwatchable. Part Two was in great condition though and beginning in December covers the Derby Cup games as well as all the second half League games. What struck me watching was what a good side it was. It had pace, skill, broke out of defence ever so fast and had an indomitable never-say-die spirit. This was a footballing side far too good for the Fourth Division. I’d guess it would have given several of today’s Championship sides more than a good game. And Roger’s bullet header against Derby in the Cup game at Turf Moor, boy was that some goal, absolutely stunning, so fast if you blinked you missed it. That was the first time I had ever seen it.
The Potting Shed slowly fills up the nearer 12 it gets. One time we started at 10.30 and it was 10 to 1 before we knew it and Roger had a meeting at 1. We’d finished breakfast quickly, the plates were cleared and then we just sat there jawing, the table spread with papers and my notebook. The waitress came over again about 12.30 and asked would we like anything. I thought she was nicely suggesting it was time we stopped hogging the table and should be leaving, after all we’d been there 2 hours already; but no she smiled nicely and said it looked like we needed more coffee.
Then you get the people on the nearby tables and you can tell they are quite curious about what’s going on.
Hmmm, who’s the guy doing all the talking?
Who’s the guy doing all the writing?
It looks like he’s being interviewed.
They’re talking football all time.
He must be somebody famous.
Hey it seems like they’re writing a book.
The café waitresses were starting to recognise us although it wasn’t quite at the stage of, “Will it be the usual breakfast sir?”
But, the Potting Shed Cafe at the garden centre at Harden near Bingley; I do recommend it and it will get a large credit/acknowledgement in the ‘thank’s page in the book. I came out one time with a large bunch of flowers too for Mrs T. Boy did that earn me some Brownie points. I came out the next time with a bag of seed potatoes for her. I guess I’m just an incurable romantic.
There was an hour with Roger’s mum and dad. They live only 10 minutes away from Rodley. I saw the famous garden where the boys played football from noon till night. Patsy and Viv told me all about the neighbours who gave the boys (and their footballs) such a hard time. On one side the guy was a retired ex Regimental Sergeant Major. Trouble is he still thought he was one. Patsy one day marched up to him to snatch the ball away from him that he had taken from the boys. Better not do this, she thought, let’s get the police instead. Patsy is small and indoubtedly feisty. I could easily picture her confronting the ex soldier who probably towered over her. So down she marched to the nearest phone box. The local community officer knew the Eli’s because of all the community work that dad did and came up and spoke to the neighbours. We had no trouble after that said Patsy.
His dad’s nickname was Soppy. When Roger was about 7 he told the school this was dad’s first name. It brought a few laughs when letters came home addressed to Mr and Mrs Soppy Eli.
Whats this Big Society that Cameron talks about said Viv? We were doing things for ourselves in the community years ago. It was Viv who set up all kinds of sports, cricket and football events in the district. There were several families up there from Dominica. All the family excelled at school in sport. Their friends would come round to be fed by Mrs Eli. Today there are still huge family gatherings on Sundays in the house where they have lived since 1966. The walls and surfaces are buried beneath family pictures.
I mentioned to them that the first time that Roger had any incling of his own history was when he saw Roots on TV. Until then the only history was the Tudors and the Stuarts. Mr and Mrs Eli smiled. “It was the same for us on the island in our schools. We learned nothing of our own island history but we knew a lot about Lancashire and Yorkshire.”
March 15th and another good session over breakfast at the you-know-where. I continue to eat healthy with salmon and poached eggs, Roger has the Full English. He allows himself so many calories a day so he leaves some. Old habits die hard and when I was a headmaster I used to stand by the serving trolleys every day in my little school and tell everyone to eat everything on their plate. That was ok with the kids but some of the teachers left their cabbage. One day I’ll forget I’m not a HT any more and tell him to clean his plate.
March 15th and there’s a game at Burnley in the evening v Coventry, and a game at Man U in the evening v Marseille. Man U are through the Cup semi v Man City and Roger will be there with his eldest boy if he gets the tickets. Man U stuttered to the last 8. Burnley just stutter at the moment, full stop.
The plan was to get onto the time at Wolves (anyone remember Floyde Street) but we ended still talking about days at Leeds (so we’re behind schedule already), a broken leg, John Sheridan and the silver Capri he bought with his brother Rohan. The broken leg talk led onto the continual knee troubles he had that started at Leeds, the operations all of them unsatisfactory. He broke his leg at Leeds as well. Andy Lochhead forever tells the old joke: I broke my nose in three places; Burnley, Oldham and Leicester).
“There’s one clip on one of the videos and you’ll see I’m streaking past someone but I’m running with a limp. The knee never had more than 90% bend in it and I had to change my running style. I was still fast though. It was ice after every game, we joked there was enough ice over the years to float Antactica. ”
But the knees ended his first class career; the last goal against Scarborough in a 1 – 1 draw at Burnley towards the end of ‘91/92. They still trouble him and he wonders what he will be like 10 years from now.
He had a knee operation in late summer ’92 but the word bodged came into the conversation as well as the surgeon thinking he was Dion Dublin. “Can you imagine that he actually said hello Dion.”
The bluff, blunt, Brian Miller who was with him suggested if he thought he was Dion Dublin it didn’t inspire much confidence and what chance was there doing the operation right. During 2 weeks recuperation at Lilleshall goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was also there. The same surgeon operated on him as well. The butcher Gerrard called him.
The Silver Capri intrigued me though. I remember when they first appeared in the showrooms, the first mass produced affordable sporty looking car. Your babe-mobile I suggested, a totty-magnet. He laughed and said the only thing it ever carried were half a dozen hairy footballers who crammed into what was almost a 4 seater but the two seats in the back were only really bucket seats. It was his brother Rohan who bought it but hadn’t quite got enough money so Roger chipped in. It would have looked good in the Elland Road car park, he said, except it was second hand. “It took me an age to pass the test because I was injured, then had a lesson, then injured again… it took me three attempts.”
When I got home I found a Capri website and sent Roger a pic of a silver one. “How about getting another one, then we can go cruising for chicks?” I suggested. “Yeh and how about a new pair of knees as well,” I bet he thought.
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