Writing on together! Leeds United superfan Gary releases new book about the Whites

Leeds United superfan Gary Edwards has proved he still has the write stuff by releasing his FIFTH book charting the ups and downs of following his beloved football club.
Gary Edwards.Gary Edwards.
Gary Edwards.

Fifty Shades of White is packed with yet more of its 60-year-old author’s trademark madcap tales about life as a United supporter. Highlights include:

* The time he was asked to accompany a monk to a Leeds game as part of a BBC documentary;

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* His private meeting with controversial United owner Massimo Cellino;

* Arriving in Berlin for a Leeds game only to find it had been cancelled because of simultaneous marches by gay activists and a Far Right party,

* His visit to a church when – despite being an atheist – he asked for divine intervention to save United from relegation.

Gary, a painter and decorator from Kippax, told the Yorkshire Evening Post: “I’m pleased with how the book has turned out and luckily other people have said they like it as well.

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“I’ve already started on my next one, although it’s very early days. It’s provisionally going to be called Every Cloud and will be about [Leeds United’s forerunners] Leeds City.”

Gary added: “The crazy tales are always landing in my lap and it doesn’t seem fair to keep them to myself!

“The day I took the monk to Elland Road, the BBC just rang me up and asked me to do it.

“He was only about four feet tall and hadn’t stepped foot outside his abbey for 25 years.

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“We went on the Kop and he seemed to enjoy it, although he wasn’t too keen on some of the opposition’s players getting booed!”

Gary has famously been present at each and every competitive game played by United since February 1968.

His devotion to Leeds is such that he refuses to paint anything for his customers in the red colours of the club’s arch-rivals, Manchester United.

A stage play based on his best-selling first book, Paint It White, had a successful run in Leeds in 2010 and subsequently went out on a nationwide tour.

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His other books are The Second Coat, No Glossing Over It and Fanatical.

Fifty Shades of White is published by Pitch Publishing, priced £12.99 in paperback.

Featuring a foreword written by former Leeds head coach Neil Redfearn, it is available from outlets including Amazon, Waterstones, WHSmith and both of United’s club shops.

For more details, visit www.pitchpublishing.co.uk.