On top of all that there are authors such as Ray Simpson, David Wiseman, Tim Quelch and Mike Smith, plus Dave Burnley. And there really are some terrific Burnley books.   

This anniversary/special edition thing made me realise to my surprise (and horror) that I’ve been writing books now for ten years. The horror bit comes in when I realise that I was only 58 and still doing a bit of teaching when I did the first book and now I’m… well you can work it out. The first one came out in 2003 when Man City were still a joke, and petrol, gas and electricity were things that didn’t make us go pale when we got the bill.

     It was funny how that one happened. It’s Burnley Not Barcelona was just a fun diary I kept during one of Stan’s memorable seasons; memorable because it was filled with mammoth and improbably ridiculous scores. I phoned a publisher to ask a question about something else; we got talking and I mentioned the BFC diary and he said ooh I’ll do it. Burnley books sell and you are a headmaster so you’ll be able to spell, he said. Thus, I sent him the draft; but he was horrified at all the libel. So I trimmed it down, smoothed it out and we were in business. Within weeks of being published he went bankrupt and was never heard of since. It is therefore a bit disconcerting to think your first book put a publisher out of business.

     The next one No Nay Never Volume One was done at a time when Burnley were skint and there were even collecting buckets. Everyone was thinking how we could raise money for BFC so I thought ‘ooh I’ll do a book and donate the proceeds.’ I look back now and think with more horror how much I committed myself to paying the publisher to produce it, casually assuming that advance subscriptions would cover the costs. Luckily they did, but when I think it cost nearly £7,000 to get into print, if the subscribers hadn’t turned out in force, I’d have faced a massive bill out of my own pocket. And trust me; teachers didn’t get paid much back then. For that reason I never again considered self-publishing another book until the Charles Buchan Burnley Football Monthly in 2014.

     BFC decided to fund the second No Nay Never volume. For anyone who has both volumes; they are now out of print, difficult to get hold of and a volume three is a distinct possibility. In other words they have become two quite desirable books and you’d hope a third volume would sell well to those who already have the other ones.

     The pleasure in writing these books comes from meeting so many former Burnley stars; plus the satisfaction in getting permission from other authors to use their work in the anthologies. The esteemed Hunter Davies was the first author I ever wrote to in 2004 and I had no idea what to expect. He sent an immediate yes, and wrote a little note of encouragement on the postcard he sent from his home in the Lake District. I have it still, a reminder that people can be generous and helpful. In ten years only three authors have ever said no; though two eventually relented. The other one who shall remain nameless is just a miserable bugger. Publishers never say no; they either give a generous yes, or yes but we want a payment. The latter I just find a way to use the work without it being a direct quote.

     The Willie Irvine book was the first ghosted autobiography and what a treat it was to write it. The trip to Belfast and Carrickfergus to launch and promote it was the one and only time I’ve been to Northern Ireland. Legend and centre-forward Billy Hamilton attended the Carrickfergus function. The Saturday evening was a get-together with Willie’s family still over there. If this book did one good thing, it re-united Willie with family he hadn’t seen for years, including his brother.

     The Harry Potts book provided the opportunity to work with his widow Margaret. She was a hard taskmaster, knew exactly what she wanted, had me re-write several chunks over and again, and provided me with long hand-written letters, some of them a dozen pages long, during the months that we spent on it. They are now amongst my most treasured football memorabilia. She had the most amazing memory, lay awake at night re-living the events of her past as we wrote it, and I still say if I hadn’t put a time limit on the writing, we’d still have been writing it years later. Truth is, she was quite cross when I said we had to finish, but publishing deadlines had to be met. What came across most strongly was the dislike she had for her mother-in-law. Given the opportunity there would have been pages of it and I had to limit the references. Harry’s mother idolised him and was always cross that he married Margaret. Someone else she had no time for was Jimmy Adamson who she always accused of manoeuvring Harry out of the manager’s job. I could never persuade her that football moves on and it was a case of the new thinker replacing the man who still had one foot in the 50s. BY 1970 Harry was outdated and a bit of a football dinosaur. Jimmy was a visionary, a great coach and Bob Lord knew he had to make a change.

     I guess the greatest enjoyment I had from any football books were the two I did with Jimmy Mac. He was my boyhood hero. I could never quite get used to the idea that there I was working with him. While we worked on the books he came to stay in Leeds a couple of weekends. There was I, a mature bloke, in my 60s, an ex head teacher, and I’d stand there thinking; “Bloody hell this is Jimmy Mac in my house,” like a star-struck schoolboy. The Scrapbook is unique. There is no other football book like it. For several weeks we sat in the design studio looking at pictures one by one on screen and for each one Jimmy had a story. Many of them nudged long dormant memories. Sometimes his eyes were just a little moist. To produce this scrapbook was his choice and the biography went on the backburner. But I got the biog completed anyway and had a few mock-ups printed out with a smattering of pictures. He had no real interest in it until a close friend of his to whom I gave one read it and then asked him if he was having it published and persuaded him it was worth it.

     “Er what are we doing with this Dave?” Jimmy asked one day at the studios holding a mock-up in his hand. I grinned. “Whatever you want Jimmy,” I said. And so it was published at the same time as the scrapbook. Trust me if you have a copy of both, you have something special as it is unlikely that any more will be printed.

     When I think of Roger Eli I don’t think of goals against Derby or any of the games he played in; I think of huge breakfasts at the garden centre at Harden near Bingley. We met there most weeks for quite a few months and ate these gargantuan breakfasts, just occasionally downsizing to salmon and scrambled eggs. I enjoyed that book because it was about a period at Burnley that I knew little about and saw few if any games. Thanks for the Memories recalls all the best and worst bits of a footballer’s career. Roger had one memorable season at Burnley and the rest of his time in football was a struggle. ‘Thanks for the Memories’ is almost a textbook in how to cope and survive injuries, hardship and being out of favour. It describes the fragility of a football life and how brief it can be.

     The Fletch book followed on immediately. It’s unusual for me to do two books so close together in one year but it was Fletch who got in touch to say he had a book started and did I fancy working on it. Course I did. Much of it Fletch wrote himself and it was a case of me filling in the gaps, digging up more material and joining it all together. I read it now and struggle to identify the chunks that he wrote and those that I did.

     The result was ‘Magical’. Sometimes you struggle to find a title but this one was easy. It was a word he used a lot to describe his career. Fletch is bouncy and optimistic and the book is a reflection of that. If you read the Fletch book and the Eli book you couldn’t get a greater contrast in content and story.

     Entertainment, Heroes and Villains was almost accidental. There were supposed to be short chapters on Cotterill, Coyle and Laws for a third No Nay Never. But then when I got started on the Coyle stuff it became clear that there was a complete book. Unintentionally it’s almost a study on football management. They were three very contrasting managers, in both personal manner and style. I went to see Coyle at Bolton and asked him the question we all wanted to ask: how could he say the things he said about staying, and loyalty, and “I’m here for as long as the club want me.”

     Well they still wanted him in January 2010 but he must have forgotten what he said, as off he went. Anyway his answer to the question was; “Well when I say them at the time I mean it.” It’s in the book somewhere. Once or twice he texted to ask how was the book going. On completion I sent him a copy which I assume he received and haven’t heard from him since. No matter what we think about what happened and the manner of his departure; season 2008/09 remains one of the greatest periods in the club’s history.

     Next up is the Jimmy Adamson book I started for publication in August or September of 2013. Every book is different and the biggest difference with this book is that there is no subject to actually talk to. I could meet face to face with Willie Irvine, Roger Eli, Paul Fletcher, and Jimmy Mac; for the Harry Potts book I could talk to Margaret. But there was no Jimmy Adamson to talk to and boy did I regret being unable to see him more while he was alive. I met him once, years earlier, for a couple of hours at his home and he agreed to talk more and help with any book about the ‘Team of the Seventies.’ The next time I rang he was ill and May was protective and said he couldn’t see me. But in a way it has also helped inasmuch I have been able to make my own interpretations of why and how certain things happened. Maybe that will make the book more interesting when you can put your own reasoned slant on things. But another problem was he was such a private man and kept his thoughts to himself so that people who are still around and knew him have very little idea of what he really thought or how deeply he was affected by the events of ’76, or the events at Leeds United. I met up with Jimmy Robson and Jimmy recalled how he would walk by the Adamson’s house in the later years and there would be Jimmy and May sitting in the front garden ready to chat to anyone. But, Jimmy says, they never talked about football.

     His final year at Leeds was undoubtedly traumatic but he faced insurmountable problems, some of them stemming from directors, some from players, and many from abusive demonstrating fans. But he was just one part of the slide that took place after Revie. How must he have felt to learn that Revie was still on a retainer there and there were moves to bring him back in a consultancy role? Against all the odds in his first season there he achieved a fifth position, a semi-final place in the League Cup, and a place in Europe the following season. After that it was downhill all the way.

     The slant that I have taken is that this is a tragic story of unfulfilled dreams and hopes. They were hopes and dreams shattered by his dismissal at the hands of Bob Lord in January 1976. Here was a man who really should have been one of football’s leading figures for another 20 years or more, but within 5 years he had turned his back on the game; maybe not a broken man, but certainly a broken football-man. On top of all that there were the tragic deaths of his two daughters.

   Here was a man who was loved by just a small handful of players; hugely respected but unloved by a great many more. “Not everyone’s cup of tea,” to quote Colin Waldron one of his self-confessed disciples. Jimmy Adamson was an enigma; getting to the heart of this was the challenge.

     No-one expected the promotion that came at Burnley at the end of 2013/14. But by early March there was the feeling that something special might happen. Only then was there any thought of putting a book together. A publisher agreed to slot it into his schedules at very short notice but only if Burnley were promoted. The diaries I kept through the season were very quickly joined together and supplemented with features about manager Sean Dyche. I doubt I’ve ever cobbled a book together so fast with such tight deadlines. It was a fairy tale season with a wonderful ending.

     Who Says Football Doesn’t Do Fairy Tales is now available to order.

     Forgive the commercial plug, but copies of most books except for the scrapbook are available from me at beehivethomas@aol.com.