This book is stunning: more than a piece of sports journalism, it is an intense psychological examination of a city with a turbulent life story, an enduring image (not always complimentary) to outsiders, and a fierce and passionate character which burns to this day.
Taking as his central motif the sign which was once on display high and proud at Leeds train station declaring 'Leeds - The Promised Land Delivered', Clavane examines that very character, telling an epic saga which weaves together the story of the football club, of the city, and of the Jewish community in which he himself grew up.
His reflections are searingly honest. Famous vignettes from the seminal New Wave film 'Billy Liar' (originally written by Leeds-born Keith Waterhouse) are recurring scene-setters, which Clavane builds upon to charactise the city as an historically ambitious place where idealistic dreamers have come to achieve: Hull-born architect Cuthbert Brodrick who built the majestic Town Hall; and of course Don Revie, the man who took over as Leeds United manager in the sixties, ordering his team to play in an all-white strip like that of world-class Real Madrid.
Yet that ambition, that apparent self-confidence Clavane suggests betrays a rather more deep-seated insecurity about ourselves: that no matter what pretentions we might ever adopt towards worldwide greatness, we will never lose our abiding provincial roots.
A book which gives every Leeds lad or lady a great deal to think about. It is at once a nostalgic tread through footballing history; a treatise on sport and culture; and a fascinating treasure chest of stories - mostly now forgotten and little-told - about a city and a football club which continues to have its "ups and downs".