Man with the Plan
The Man with the Plan: Howard Wilkinson's Leeds United is the extraordinary tale of how Wilkinson revived a football club that had fallen on hard times, and developed the best team in the country.
When this master builder became manager of Leeds United in 1988, the team was struggling at the bottom of the Second Division, but a meeting of the minds with chairman Leslie Silver and a ten-year plan for the transformation of the club was hatched. In less than four years, Leeds had won promotion to the top flight, become Football League champions and were back in European competition for the first time in 13 years.
It was an extraordinary period in the history of the game: at the start of a new era at home and abroad, with the arrival of the Sky-backed Premier League and UEFA's new-look Champions League. With both came a new level of wealth thanks to ground-breaking television deals. Leeds were once again at the top table of English football. However, Wilkinson was sacked a little over four years after his success, and Leeds collapsed in similarly spectacular fashion.
The Man with the Plan provides a fascinating insight into what made Wilkinson so successful (he is still the last Englishman to win the title) and examines his methods and footballing beliefs, while reflecting on an incredible time in the history of Leeds United.
Dave Tomlinson has written eight books about Leeds United Football Club including Leeds United: A History, Dirty Leeds: Don Revie & the Art of War, Super Leeds: The Second Title, Leeds United in the 21st Century and Bielsa's Leeds: Redemption. An acknowledged expert on the club's history, he is a lifelong supporter of the club, was one of the voices of Leeds United fans in a BBC TV feature on the rivalry between Leeds and Chelsea, and is the webmaster behind mightyleeds.co.uk, a site dedicated to providing the definitive history of Leeds United.