Dominic Sandbrook and Anthony Clavane on football and the Seventies

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Podcast of James Brown’s interview with Anthony Clavane for Random House.
PODCAST: James Brown Interview

Interview Extract

The Damned Utd v The Promised Land: David Peace in conversation with Anthony Clavane

AC: I wanted to be very honest and open about the dark side of Leeds. During the late 70s and 80s there was this dark side which made me pull away from the club, from the city. There comes a time in a love affair when you walk away, then you go back again. But let’s not pretend that there wasn’t a really nasty side to the city at the time. The Service Crew represented all that was bad in football, in Leeds United, and I hated that period when hooliganism and racism ruled the roost and I wanted to write about that.

I write about being chinned during a match, but if I was black I would have had coins thrown at me. The NF paper was sold outside the ground. So I wanted to look at the good – the great – of Leeds; but also the bad and the ugly.

For more go to http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk

Review: Red Ladder

“An absolute winner. Leeds fans will flock to buy it. As a life-long Liverpool fan I have hated Leeds as much as I have hated Man U – but to read their story has really opened my eyes. I could not put the book down – I loved it. I’m a Red and my son is also – but we both were fascinated by the whole Leeds story and the agony of being a Leeds fan.”

Rod Dixon, director of Red Ladder

Review: Caryl Phillips

“I found it a riveting, and ultimately very moving book. A great tribute to Anthony Clavane’s family, to the city of Leeds, to the Jewish community of Leeds, to the writers of Leeds, and to LUFC. Not an easy juggling act to pull off, but he does so eloquently. I truly hope this book gets the national attention it deserves. This is a really major piece of work about the city with all its complex, frustrating, nonsense thrown into the mix.”

Caryl Phillips, author of A Distant Shore

  • Daily Telegraph sports books of the year (2010)

    "For the year’s most successful marriage of social history and sporting drama, turn to Promised Land. Anthony Clavane’s enchanting evocation of his four decades as a Leeds United supporter. Clavane writes translucent, simple prose, full of vivid details. Leeds United becomes a prism for the city: the “New Jerusalem” that could never quite escape the stain of its industrial past. Both insightful and humane, this is sportswriting at its very best."

  • James Lawton, The Independent

    "Brilliantly sculpted. Absorbing and superbly wide-ranging. Most impressive is that, when you put down the book, you feel you know not just the story of a football team but the city it represents."

  • Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

    "A well-written, emotional and thoughtful chronicle."

  • Praise for Promised Land

    "Clavane, erudite, educated, an adopted southerner, hardly ascribes to the Elland Road stereotype, yet there is an emotional intravenous drip connecting him to Yorkshire’s West Riding. A wordsmith’s ability, coupled with a history teacher’s instinct, and framed by a deep passion for all things from the city of Leeds, has resulted in an extraordinary book."

    Janine Self, SJA website

  • "Even if you're not a Leeds fan, read Promised Land by Anthony Clavane - wonderfully written."

    Patrick Barclay, The Times

  • "One of the best football books I've read for a long time."

    Brian Glanville

  • "A compelling read."

    Henry Winter, Daily Telegraph

  • "A riveting, and ultimately very moving book."

    Caryl Phillips

  • "Fascinating beyond mere football."

    Ben East, Metro

  • "Superbly written and a great read."

    Robert Endeacott, Leeds Leeds Leeds magazine

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