Anatomy of a super-team: behind the scenes at Leeds United in 1971 (part one)

(There's a lot to cover here so this has ended up being a two-parter; the second half will be with you on Friday)

First of all, and I think this is a first, I need to check you're old enough for the adult themes that will be discussed in this article, namely, bare boobs and bums: in a search for old Leeds United material to write about, I've been on eBay and acquired material of a different kind that has Leeds things within it. Namely, the June 1971 issue of Club Magazine, 'For Today's Man'. The cover is a photo of 'the brand new Brabham BT 36 Formula Two racing car', as driven by Graham Hill. He's not in the driving seat, though, replaced by someone identified only as 'the girl', who has her racing jacket zipped down. I don't think they usually let people on the race track is such a state of deshabille.

So anyway yes, this is a soft porn mag from the early seventies but I swear I bought it for the articles. It was actually making a bid for the classier end of the men's magazine market, 'high quality glamour and lifestyle'; it's a large format magazine, almost tabloid size, with densely typed sections of book, film and music reviews, plus travel, money and gambling advice; the adverts are for whisky, cigarettes and car tyres, and scattered throughout are full-page declarations in favour of cotton, placed by the International Institute of Cotton. Lyle & Scott have a full page trying to persuade people that their shirts are as good as their y-fronts. Features include an opinion column on the troubles in Northern Ireland, pages of men's fashion, an exploration of how records are bootlegged, and a consultant psychologist writing on sexual relationships, 'Part three of a social document every man should read'. There's a personality quiz to find out if you have 'what it takes' to become a 'top executive' - I discovered I'm 'Not in the top league of bright boys yet' and my 'youthful enthusiasm' (lol) could 'hurt you in some fields, notably accountancy and insurance'. I'm currently mulling the implications of this for being a Leeds United blogger. And yes, to go alongside that, are photos of Mary ('Holder of a BA in English at Durham University'), Jane (who refused a film part involving Jane Fonda and a bath) and Jan (a model who lives 'in a luxury penthouse flat in the heart of London' where she enjoys 'playing chess, crocheting, cooking, things like that').

Then there are the three serious journalistic features on which Club was resting its upmarket reputation - and it's worth a little mention about the implications of longform journalism being marketed as part of an aspirational all-male lifestyle as if women can't read but can be looked at alongside the serious men's writing, if only to say that's probably beyond the scope of what I'm writing here but it's not out of sight. So, from Monaco, there's 'the history of racing's most glamorous grand prix'. There's the second part of a long interview with new ex-Beatle John Lennon. And, first of all, there's 'Leeds United: Anatomy of a Super-Team'.