Ronald Reng’s notorious account of the footballing career of Lars Leese finally hit the bookstores yesterday. Billed as "One man’s controversial story of life in the English Premiership", the book focuses mainly on the giant goalkeeper’s time at Barnsley.
Leese’s story is undoubtedly a fascinating one: he was third choice keeper at Bayer Leverkeusen, having spent several seasons playing minor-league football. Tony Woodcock organised a trial for him at Middlesborough with his old team-mate Viv Anderson. The trial came to nothing initially but Anderson mentioned Leese’s name to Barnsley boss Danny Wilson, and in a matter of weeks, Leese had signed for the newly-promoted Tykes. Leese was paid £2000 a week, double what he earned in Germany. Plus a guaranteed £18,000 at the start of each season. Oh, and £8000 relocation expenses. All this for a guy who had never played a professional game.
John Dennis even wanted to give Leese a 3-year contract, but the German asked for 2 years, because he didn't know how he and his wife would settle in the town. This one example illustrates just how lavish Barnsley’s Chairman and Board of Directors were in the ‘balmy’ summer that preceded our solitary Premiership campaign. An approach that, as we know, the club would later come to rue.
Unfortunately for Leese, this extravagance also created a split in the squad. Leese was on £2000 a week, when many of the players that had got Barnsley to the Premiership were on £2000 a month. The German was actually the lowest paid of all of the overseas players that Barnsley imported. It was almost inevitable that a ‘them’ and ‘us’ divide would occur, but that did not prevent Leese & his goalkeeping rival David Watson becoming firm friends.
On the football field, Leese discusses his debut against Bolton, his heroic display in the 1-0 win at Anfield and his frustration at Danny Wilson’s ‘goalkeeping rotation policy’ (Wilson now admits that he was wrong to keep swapping Watson & Leese about).
As for the ‘controversial insights’ into Barnsley’s off-the-field antics, the bulk of the revelations have already been printed in the Mail on Sunday: the hard drinking, the Christmas party featuring the Hitler fancy dress outfits and the punch ups (Martin Bullock & Mattie Appleby had a fight on the mid-Premier-season Majorca break).
The most interesting section of the book looks at John Hendrie’s appointment as player-manager following Barnsley’s relegation and Danny Wilson’s departure. According to Leese, Hendrie the manager was doomed from the start – surely no one would take the joker of the camp seriously as a boss? After Hendrie’s first meeting with the squad, Jan Aage Fjortoft summed up the feelings of his team-mates when he told the kitman "It’ll never work". Leese did not get on with Hendrie – "he wanted the foreigners out" David Watson later admitted – and couldn't believe he was dropped to make way for third choice keeper Tony Bullock. Knowing that he was on his way out, Leese felt dejected and bitter. He took his frustrations out on Bullock: when they went out to warm up before the start of game, Leese would deliberately shoot past Bullock, saying "Sorry, I forgot that you're not a good enough keeper to save these shots".
Leese left Barnsley at the end of the season and after a move to Hibs broke down, he went back to Germany, where he now works selling stationery. One thing that does come through is his affection for the people of Barnsley and the town itself: his wife breaks down tears in when they leave.
All in all, this is an interesting account for the general football fan, but for Barnsley fans who want to learn more about the "bling bling" of Clint Marcelle and the drinking habits of Darren Sheridan (and lets face it, who doesn’t?) it’s a must-read.
One last thing: a message for Ian McMillan, who wrote a poem featuring the phrase "Lars Leese, tall as trees". It doesn’t work, Ian: his surname is actually pronounced ‘lazer’…