More than 70 Leeds United fans and one Newcastle United supporter braced for gruelling £50k mission
More than 70 Leeds United fans and one Newcastle United supporter will walk from St James' Park to Elland Road next week in the third Gary Speed walk.
The idea for the walk came from The Square Ball [TSB], a fanzine and podcast, who set out in 2022 to walk the 92 miles from Speed's childhood home in North Wales back to Leeds. It was a tribute to Speed's part in the '92 title win and a positive way to mark the 10th year of the former player's death. Sponsorship and donations amounted to £80,000 for men's mental health charity Andy's Man Club and The Samaritans.
In 2023 the group set off from Goodison Park, where Speed grew up supporting Everton, and walked 92 miles again back to Elland Road. Last year they took a break but next week they will don their walking boots once more, this time in Newcastle, and then walk 120 miles back to LS11.
So popular has the walk been with those who previously completed it that no new members were initially recruited this year, prior to a couple of drop-outs. The group is almost exclusively made up of Leeds United supporters.
Andy’s Man Club to benefit
"We have one Newcastle fan," said Michael Normanton of TSB, one of the organisers of the walk. "He works for Levis Solicitors and he did the first walk then got his cousin to do the second for him because he was injured. The reason he did it is because his brother had taken his own life. Other than him it's all Leeds fans. Obviously it's raising money for Andy's Man Club. And I know there are at least a dozen people within the group who have been to Andy's Man Club either pre or post the walks and attend on an ongoing basis."
The 2024 break gave the organisers some respite from the logistical difficulties and was designed to avoid what Normanton calls 'giving fatigue' in order to maximise fundraising for Andy's Man Club again with this year's walk, which he anticipates to be a gruelling affair.
"You think it's just walking, and if you walk 20 miles once, most people will be kind of alright with it, but it's the fact that you do 20 miles on day one, then you do 26 miles, then another 26 miles, then 25 miles. And it's the building on it day after day. And it does take its toll massively, on your feet, mainly."
Putting the walk together involves a fair bit of walking too, because the route has to be checked in order to declare it safe and appropriate for a 75-strong group.
"Truthfully, it was a pain in the ass to organise this one, because there's not really any towns between like Newcastle and Harrogate, there's just basically nothing, there's basically nothing there," Normanton told the YEP. "So when you're trying to find hotels for 75 people, it's a bit of a pain.
"The hotels are a problem on this one, because obviously you're trying to make it so the distance is walkable every day. But then you've also got to have a large enough hotel that can house 75 people. So you're going to limit it to a few big hotel chains. On this one, going Newcastle to Durham would have been logical. But then if you stay in central Durham it pushes it to 30 miles to the next hotel, which is a bit too far. So then we ended up going a bit south of Durham. So we're basically in a services there and the services again at Scotch Corner because we're just trying to zig zag about trying to get the hotels and get the distance so it's doable in a day, and so people will hopefully be able to complete it.
"The route was very hard, because A roads in this part of the country tend not to have pavements alongside them. So there's what looks like a direct route - if you put a route into Google Maps for walking, it'll tell you one version of it - but then eight miles of that might be along an A road with HGVs and no pavement. So it's not really doable as a walk. Pretty much every element of this has had to be tested as well. So I've done a couple of days, and then some of the people who were doing the walk, who live up kind of Richmond, North East, way, have done some of the testing as well. What looks like a foot path might turn out not to be a footpath, and if it's just you that's fair enough but if there's 75 people turning up to do it, it's, it's obviously quite a problem on the day."
Leeds United relationships
Talk to anyone who has completed the walk and you'll hear a variation on a theme. Jonny, a 69-year-old Leeds fan and artist loves it so much he's flying in from Spain to take part.Adam, one of the original walkers, told the Inside Elland Road newsletter earlier in the week that it has given him a new friendship group and changed matchdays into more of a social event.
Normanton knows of others whose relationship with Leeds United has changed because of the walk.
"I think some people have done it and have found a new group of mates from it," he said. "In a lot of cases, they're people who used to go to football, maybe with their dad or with some mates, and then their mates moved away, and so in some ways they stepped back from Leeds United a little bit. They've continued supporting and listening to the podcast and stuff but then through doing this they've all of a sudden got football friends again, who maybe they'd not had for years. So I think for those people, it's given them a bit of a sense of belonging, again, to the club and to a group of people. Everyone meets now in the Peacock and there's always like a dozen people in the Peacock who did the walk. You can just go to a bit of the pub knowing that you'll know someone there, I think that has been nice for a lot of people."
When they set off on Monday having taken a Leeds United-sponsored coach ride up to Newcastle United's ground, there will be a buzz about the group that will wax and wane as the week goes on, before a crescendo on Friday as they reach Beeston. Family and friends will be there to welcome them back and Leeds are putting together a reception for the weary travellers.
"There's always massive excitement at the start," said Normanton. "I do expect there to be a lull probably the end of day three, when it's coming off the back of a very long day, and still feeling like there's a long way to go. But I think by the time you get to the final night and then the final lunch break, the atmosphere is really building, and people can sense there's an excitement as well. Once you've got to that point, you think I've done this like I'm pretty sure one way or another I'm going to be able to hobble this last 10, 15, miles, whatever it might be after lunch. So the final lunch stop has always been brilliant, because that's kind of when the atmosphere gets going. It's almost a pre celebration aspect of it."
The walk raised £80,000 in its first year and this year's goal is £50,000. The impact of those kind of sums on a grassroots charity like Andy's Man Club is a significant one.
"After the first year, when I spoke to them about it, they said it basically allowed them to take on an extra member of staff," Normanton told the YEP. "For an organisation of that size, it was massive for them, because they are, for the most part, just run by volunteers, which is incredible in terms of such a great grassroots movement and everything. But at the same time, a big organisation needs a lot of stuff doing behind the scenes. So to have more people able to do that, I think it was a big help to them.
"I would really like to hit 50 grand again. And if we don't raise it through sponsors for the walk alone, we will get some other events in mind, or things we can auction off, little things we can do to try and boost it. I will pimp myself out wherever necessary. And if the [Leeds United] players want to chip in some money as well, they can."
For donations and information visit www.garyspeedwalk.com