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He remembers to the day when he caught the Leeds bug: 18 March 1970,
when they faced Standard Liege at Elland Road in the old European Cup.
Dave watched the game on his parents' little black and white television
and was struck by how unlucky Leeds were, pounding away at the Belgian
defence but having to be content with a single goal from a Johnny Giles
penalty. The course of the next month sealed it for Dave as Leeds stumbled through
their infamous Treble heartbreak experience. He established his mightyleeds.co.uk website in 1999, with the aspiration
of it being, in his words, 'the definitive history of the club'. It's
certainly an in-depth piece of work, revealing an amazing level of research
and capitalising on Dave's encyclopaedic knowledge of the club and its
doings. In 2014, Amberley Publishing approached Dave with the idea of a book
about the history of the club and a year later out came Leeds
United: A History covering the period from the emergence and fall
of Leeds City right up to the start of the 2015/16 season and the appointment
of Uwe Rosler (remember him). That same year, Dave also contributed the words for The
Pinnace Collection - Leeds United by Paul Days, a pictorial record
of United in the 1920s. In 2016, Dave worked on another title for Amberley with Billy
Bremner: 50 Defining Fixtures, a
loving recollection of the games that defined Bremner. In 2019, he published his most ambitious book thus far - Leeds,
Money, and Misery Me: Twenty Years of Hurt, 23 Mistakes and the Tale of
TOMA. This book tells the tale of the last two decades, the hopes
and dreams of one of the most committed sets of fans in Europe, the men
who let them down and abused their trust, the financial albatross that
dogged the club, the controversies, legal disputes, faux white knights
and false dawns. In 2020, he went back to the 1950s and 1960s to tell the tale of Dirty
Leeds: Don Revie & the Art of War. Out of the filth and hopelessness
of post-war West Yorkshire came Don Revie and Harry Reynolds who drove
their handcrafted football club from the depths of the Second Division
to the become the biggest club in the country, winning the league title
in 1969. In February 2021 Dave published his fifth book about Leeds
United, Bielsa's Leeds: Redemption - Chasing
the Dream. It covers the period from 2012 to 2021 and how Leeds
United finally found stability under the ownership of Andrea Radrizzani
and returned to the Premier League under the inspiring leadership of Marcelo
Bielsa, one of the most revered coaches in the world. September 2021 brought the sixth book, Leeds
United in the 21st Century published via Amberley Publishing.
It tells the tale of how Leeds moved from Champions' League glory in 2001
and being Everybody's Favourite Other Team through financial collapse,
relegation, liquidation, disastrous changes of ownership and on to the
recovery, inspired by Radrizzani and Bielsa and how we took the Premier
League by storm. Viva El Loco! In December 2021, Dave published his seventh book, Super
Leeds: The Second Title - Stokoe, Clough and Paradise Lost. Picking
up the story from Dirty Leeds: The First Title in 1969, the story
covers 1969/70, that Treble-chasing
heartbreak, moving through the transformation from Dirty Leeds to Super
Leeds in 1972, on to the glorious
second championship in 1974 and
then into the post-Revie collapse. Told through the eyes of United fans,
Revie and the United directors, this mythical tale runs through to the
denouement with relegation in 1982. In October 2023, Amberley Publishing released Dave's eight book, Leeds
United in the 1980s and 1990s. This book covers the period from
1980 to 2000, when Leeds crashed and burned before rising from the ashes
to become the last English champions and then Everybody's Favourite Other
Team under David O'Leary. In May 2023, Dave debuted on Pitch Publishing with The
Man with the Plan: Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United. This is the
story of a master builder of football clubs, who brought success back
to Leeds United in the early 1990s. Dave has also made a number of YouTube videos about Leeds United which
you can find on his Leeds,
Money and Misery Me channel. Away from his love of Leeds, Dave is an experienced NHS Director of Finance,
who works at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust.
He has experience in both the private and public sector and during his
career has been responsible for a broad portfolio of services in large
and complex organisations. The vast majority of his twenty-seven years in the NHS has been spent
leading in large mental health providers, including 12 years as Director
of Finance at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust where he established
the Trust in 2002 as a £100m turnover provider by bringing together services
from seven organisations, led the acquisition of a number of services
and established a commercial and property management joint venture that
delivered savings of £1m per annum. He has been Director of Finance at
Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust since April
2017. Dave lives with wife Adele, their three dogs and ferocious cats, in Birmingham.
Dave
Tomlinson is a lifelong supporter of Leeds United, despite hailing from
the Midlands. He grew up at a time when Leeds were seen as either Beautiful
Losers or Dirty Leeds, depending on your inclination.
NOW
AVAILABLE IN HARDBACK.