The Leeds United Memorabilia Book – out summer 2024, this is another beautiful (he says, hopefully!) photo-book from the legendary Pitch publishers. It has been a long and difficult project, and always great fun! Co-written with collector Neil Barker, it would have been so much harder to create without certain individuals’ help, such as Chris Miller and Ben Hunt, and the book designer and photographer Duncan Olner has done a fantastic job. I have probably caused Dunc all sorts of strife with my efforts at photographing items very late on in the ‘process’, as well as adding items of memorabilia to feature way after the deadline has passed! I did always warn that I prefer (by a long way) to have too much material to include in this crammed book rather than not enough.
…
Marcelo On Together – written with Ian Thornton and photos supplied by Andrew Varley, this is a very personal book which might take a few people by surprise. After Leeds’ sacking of a true football managerial great in Marcelo Bielsa, we decided to we wanted to pay tribute to him and to gather other fans’ views, too. A massive plus point arose for us as well, thanks in large part to Stix Lockwood, enabling Ian and I to travel to Oslo, Norway to see Bielsa give coaching seminars and talks to hundreds of people. We hoped to meet him too… Were we successful? Read it and see! As well as meeting up again with Ian (he travelled in from Toronto, Canada) and enjoying working with him, we were blessed to meet Teddy Moen who was, effectively, co-ordinating everything and running the show. Teddy treated Ian and I like VIPs and long-lost friends, he was an absolute gem of a fella. Tragically, he succumbed to cancer in 2023, and his passing makes this book even more emotional.
Cocker Hoop – Writing a biography of Les Cocker had been an ambition of mine for quite a while as I always felt he was a perfect example of an unsung hero in Leeds & England football history. Much of that public image was by personal choice, I suspect, as Les was never one for limelight longing! Similar to Don Revie in that respect, I think. I needed more than an ambition to write this book, though. The timing had to be right but above all I had to make sure Les’s family was in favour of it while there was always the potential worry that I wouldn’t be able to acquire interviews with significant people from Les’s life. Thankfully, his eldest son Dave is a very good friend and it was a privilege to not only delve into the Cocker history but also to chat openly about Les. And, thanks to Dave, I managed to reach some brilliant interviewees too; I am not exaggerating when I say I was honoured and absolutely chuffed to speak with certain people for this book. In no particular order, here’s a few who I loved chatting with: John Giles, George Cohen, Kim Revie, Nigel Davey, Glynn Snodin, Willie Bell and Eddie Gray. George and Willie, sadly, are no longer with us, and both were particularly splendid in conversation. Main targets for me when writing about real people is that they are fairly portrayed and that their loved ones approve of the final result. I am told that we’ve hit those targets in style!
The Leeds United Collection
The Leeds United Collection is a sensational, multi-coloured visual journey through the history of ‘The Whites’ (formerly ‘The Peacocks’), a unique and special insight into one of the most famous clubs in football. From 1919 to the present day, all Leeds kits are featured together with all the ups and downs of the club’s amazing life.
Robert Endeacott is a Beeston, south Leeds writer and novelist, and ‘pretend artist’, born in 1965. For anyone who thinks it’s relevant, his birth sign is Aries and he is a pukka April Fool, too.
Published works began in 2002 with Route and Robert’s acclaimed novel One Northern Soul.
The sequel No More Heroes came next, as well as the Leeds United fun compilation Fanthology (with Graeme Garvey).
The ironically-titled Dirty Leeds novel arrived in 2009, published by Tonto Books. It’s the life and times of Jimmy O’Rourke paralleled with that of Don Revie while manager of Leeds United.
The sequel, Disrepute – Revie’s England, followed, more stories of Jimmy and of Revie as England manager.
(The final part of the Dirty Leeds Trilogy is Scandal FC beginning in 2002. This book is currently available only in e-form.)
Publisher closure and Dirty Leeds out of print prompted the release of After Extra Time (Dirty Leeds Uncut) in 2012. It is the unabridged version of Dirty Leeds containing substantially more of Jimmy O’Rourke’s personal story.
In 2014, Soundcheck Books published Robert’s factual biography (of sorts), Peaches – A Chronicle of The Stranglers, 1974-1990. Robert’s favourite band remains The Stranglers and he is adamant there is never enough written about them.
In 2015, Milo Books published the factual account of the police operation dealing with Birmingham City’s Zulu Warriors in 1987. Co-written with the former chief officer of ‘Operation Red Card’, Mike Layton, Hunting The Hooligans has also been adapted into the screenplay Operation Zulu.
Late 2018 saw the release of The Gigante, the fictionalisation of Welsh superstar John Charles’ life in 1957 when leaving Leeds United for Juventus. It is not just a football story, much of the tale is his wife Peggy’s experiences of life in Turin.
‘Leeds United – A Celebration’ centenary book‘ – I was so pleased to be invited by ACA Creative to write this book and to work with the maestro photographer (and good friend/colleague) Andrew Varley. This photographic history of Leeds United was hard work for us all as we had only a short time period, but always enjoyable. The result is pretty blooming good too, I hope you all agree, even if this ‘coffee table’ publication possibly weighs more than an actual coffee table! There are signed copies of a leather-bound edition by Eddie Gray and Norman Hunter, too. God bless Norman, such a lovely chap.