Author:Phil Hay
The 2007-08 season for Leeds United Football Club will have been anything but regular. At the end of the previous season, one of England's most famous football clubs was relegated to what is in effect the Third Division. Still stricken with mountains of debt accumulated under an earlier regime, the club was put into administration, then hit with a 15-point penalty for the coming season due to alleged financial irregularities. With a young manager on board and a squad of players made up of trainees, reserves and cheap buy-ins or free transfers, the future looked bleak for a club that only five years ago was challenging for the Premiership and the Champions League.
But can dreams come true for their long-suffering and fiercely loyal fans? Thus far Leeds have won more games than any other team in League One and look more than likely to gain promotion at the first attempt. The club is on a roller-coaster ride to gain back its self-respect and an appetite for further glories in 2008 - so will the story run to a happy ending?
Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay has followed the team since the pre-season friendlies last summer and through their league and cup matches this season. He has interviewed players, coaching staff, board members and fans to get a true warts-and-all picture of life at Leeds United as they struggle for redemption. This is as dramatic a story of football as you will ever read.
As solid and as accurate as Louis's left jab (Book of the Week)
—— Sunday TimesA compelling account . . . highly recommended
—— Boxing MonthlyThe contrasting lives, bitter rivalry and latter-day friendship of Schmeling and Louis have been absorbingly chronicled in Ring of Hate, sensitively written by Patrick Myler
—— Independent on SundayAn entertaining read on a strange and dangerous time, when they each ruled the hearts of millions
—— Sunday TribuneIn the excellent Ring of Hate, Myler provides a fascinating build-up to the fight
—— Belfast TelegraphAn astonishing story expertly told
—— Weekend HeraldSome sporting events go beyond hyperbole. For that reason it's useful to have a grounded and sober account of what took place, which Patrick Myler provides in Ring of Hate
—— Daily TelegraphThe fight action is outstanding, but Myler continues the story after 1938 when both men became close friends and their stars flew in opposite directions
—— Yorkshire Post[H]is adrenalin-charged enthusiasm... delivers a good ride... The social history is snappy and his almost religious quest for ultimate craftsmanship full of wit.
—— James Urquhart , Financial Times