Colin Young meets the author whose new book springs from a lengthy friendship
A friendship sparked over a fruit machine in Darlington between local writer Paul Hodgson and legendary striker David Speedie has given rise to an autobiography of the former Scotland and Chelsea star just issued by Pitch Publishing.
The fiery striker made his first breakthrough at Feethams, leaving Darlington for Stamford Bridge, later starring for Liverpool and winning ten caps. He later returned to the North-East to see out his playing career at non-league level.
It was while he was first at Darlington some 45 years ago that Speedie, now 65, struck up a friendship with lifelong Darlo fan Hodgson. “I have known David for long, long time and even after he left Darlington we kept in touch,” Hodgson told Libero.
“In those days after the game, the team used to pop into the cricket club next door to Feethams for a post-match drink and I used to put a couple of quid into the fruit machine. One night he came over and we started chatting. Then it became a regular thing after every home game and we became quite good friends.”
Disabled as a result of childhood meningitis, author Hodgson has now penned seven books and several screenplays but working alongside a friend in Speedie has been one of the highlights in a long literary career.
“I kept pestering him about writing a book but it did take a while to persuade him. We’ve enjoyed it because we have become really good friends but when you’re writing a book for or about someone else, obviously you’re relying on them for the stories. David is a really good guy and he has some great tales to tell.”
“It also says a lot about David that he was prepared to trust me with his life story and it was a huge honour to write it and see it published now.”
As well as the highs and lows of a 14-year playing career, Speedie doesn’t shy away from his battle with depression after he was forced to quit following a troubling knee problem.
The definition of a fiery Scot, the diminutive, direct Speedie made life a misery for centre-halves in the 1980s. Starting at Barnsley, where he was brought up and had worked down the local colliery, he moved to Darlington, then Chelsea, Coventry and Liverpool as Kenny Dalglish’s last signing in his first spell as manager.
After Blackburn Rovers and Southampton – he was part of the deal which took Alan Shearer to Ewood Park – Speedie made sporadic appearances for Birmingham, WBA, West Ham and Leicester.
He played ten times for Scotland, although was left out of the 1986 World Cup squad by Alex Ferguson despite playing in the dramatic qualifying game with Wales, when manager Jock Stein died on the touchline.
His later years included a spell at Northern League team Crook Town, then managed by old friend and team-mate Kevan Smith. In Hodgson’s book, Smith says: “I signed him to come up and play as often as he could, it made the local newspapers. The last thing I said to him before he went on to the pitch was, ‘Don’t get sent off because you have a reputation… they will try to wind you up’.”
Speedie was duly sent off after 30 minutes for retaliation. The Scot now lives back in the South Yorkshire but was recently back in Darlington for a book signing before Darlo’s match against Hereford at their current ground, renovated rugby venue, Blackwell Meadows. There are plans for more book promotions at Chelsea and Coventry.
In the North-East, Speedie will forever be remembered for his skirmish with Sunderland legend and later Darlington manager Gary Bennett, now a BBC Radio pundit covering Wearside’s Premier League club.
The pair clashed in a Sunderland-Coventry match at Roker Park in January 1990. The tussle started on the halfway line, ending with full skirmish on the wrong side of the advertising hoardings. It has simmered ever since. The infamous incident takes up three pages of the book.
According to Hodgson: “I am sure I went over it with him four or five times to make sure it was his words and not mine. I’m just the writer!”
Writing about his personal lifelong love affair with Darlington FC as a wheelchair-bound supporter has earned Paul critical acclaim. His own autobiography, Give Them Wings, is a graphic insight into his struggles with the Community Care System and his experiences of assisting his mother, who had once pushed him to Darlington games, as she suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and several strokes.
The 2021 film adaptation, starring singer Toyah Willcox and Daniel Watson as Paul, won the Best UK Feature at The London Independent Film Festival.
While his experiences as a fan have been a source of inspiration, following Darlington has been difficult in recent years. The club left Feethams in 2003 after ambitious chairman George Reynolds, a convicted safe-breaker, insisted on building a 25,000-seater stadium outside town, unsurprisingly named the Reynolds Arena.
The club now plays sixth-tier football at the 3,000-capacity Blackwell Meadows nearby. “It’s sad what’s happened to the club,” says Paul. “Demotion to the Northern League was harsh. Unless we get a new ground and major new investors, I can’t see us getting back in the Football League.”
“I remember sitting next to my friend Ian at the last game at Feethams against Leyton Orient and we sat there for ten minutes after the game, in our own thoughts. He was four seats away from me and I turned to him and said, ‘This is the beginning of the end’.”
“I can still remember Ian pushing me home from Feethams for the last time that night and my mind went back to when my mam first took me when I was seven, and all the times afterwards. I just thought, ‘I wonder what she would make of all this’.”
After seven books, an award-winning film and this current big-name bio, you’d have thought she’d be pretty pleased.
The David Speedie Story by Paul Hodgson, Pitch Publishing.
