Laura Reid
Published14th Aug 2025, 16:50 BST
Jonny never actually owned a copy of the book - Leeds United: A Complete Record (1919–1989) – until he found it for £2.50 in a shop in Cumbria many years later. But as a child, it cemented not just his love of the club, but his fascination with the data behind it.
Today, Jonny, who lives in Harrogate, is a statistician for sports analytics company Opta, collecting and contextualising football data and identifying trends for broadcasters, commentators and clubs. And, as his own team, The Whites, prepare for their first season in the Premier League after two years in the Championship, the lifelong fan has written a book exploring the stories, stats and trivia behind the club.
Published today, ahead of Leeds’ first game of the season on Monday, the book digs into the data to present an alternative history of the club, from the glory of the Revie years right through to lifting the Championship trophy under Daniel Farke - via the title win of 92, never-ending play-off heartbreak, a brief visit to League One and the era of former manager Marcelo Bielsa, who led the club to promotion to the Premier League after a 16-year absence.
Leeds United players celebrate promotion to the Premier League. Photo: Mike Egerton/PAplaceholder image
Leeds United players celebrate promotion to the Premier League. Photo: Mike Egerton/PA
Jonny says: “There's been so much written about Leeds, it's been a club for over 100 years so there's been loads of books and I've got plenty of them...But I really want people to read this and learn something new...Some of the best facts are the ones where you go down the pub and you can just quote them at your friends...I love all the quirky things that people might not have thought of. I’m always looking for the alternative angle. The headline stuff is really good, (but) it’s what’s the stat that maybe nobody's spotted that I can put out there?”
Leeds-born Jonny had already been mulling over a book about the club for some time when earlier this year he was approached on social media by someone from Orion Publishing suggesting he might consider a stats book on The Whites. “The timing was like serendipity. It was so weird. I was like I can't say no to this now, this might never come around again.”
“The book has changed over time,” Jonny continues. “It went from being just about the season just gone and us trying to get promoted to more about the history of Leeds with a couple of chapters on this season…We are a club who likes to do things the hard way. So there was a bit of worry that we might not get promoted and then nobody would buy a book about the season if we'd finished third and lost in the playoff final.”
As Leeds Go Marching On: A History of Leeds United Through Stories, Stats and Trivia was crafted by Jonny in a matter of months, with a statue of Bielsa watching over him from the shelves of his home office. The process was very much like a busman’s holiday for the 31-year-old, who has spent the past decade working for Opta. “There's loads of good opportunities to work with clubs and highlight the best players,” says Jonny, who regularly appears on The Square Ball Leeds United podcast. “Players like us are just human beings so even though people put them on a pedestal and they get paid loads of money, they actually do want to know that they are leading the league in a certain statistic. If a manager has broken a record, he wants to know about it no matter who it is.”
Jonny Cooper has written a book about Leeds United.placeholder image
Jonny Cooper has written a book about Leeds United.
Jonny is of a generation which has grown up with video games like FIFA, Football Manager and Pro Evolution. “You’re picking players based on what their rating is,” he says, “and I think people now they want to look at the numbers to inform them. Going back 20 years that wouldn't have been a thing. I've been told by people who've been at Opta for much longer than me that when we first started putting out stats like passes, people – newspapers or whatever – were saying I'm not interested in this. Now, it's just completely normal.”
Even as a child though, Jonny was fascinated. The first Leeds United season he can remember was in 1999–2000, when the club also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. Jonny was just five-years-old. At the start of the following season, his parents won a Yorkshire Evening Post competition and took him for a guided tour of Elland Road and within a couple of years, he had his first season ticket and began regularly attending matches with his dad, Roger. From then, Jonny would often be seen poring over Leeds United history books or his collection of Match and FourFourTwo magazines.
“I used to read the stats on the players and I used to be really interested in how many appearances did this player make and reading about all the great Don Revie players and that sort of era. It kind of grew out of that really. I always became known as the guy who you want on your team in a football quiz, always knowing all the stats and who played for which team.”
Still today a fountain of knowledge on Leeds, what does Jonny make of the season ahead? “It's going to be difficult. That's first and foremost,” he says. “I don't think any of us are expecting to win 20 games, finish in the top six or anything like that. I think we just need to be competitive...It will be interesting to see how Daniel Farke gets on...Hopefully he can keep us in the league and let's try and beat Man United a couple of times too.”
- As Leeds Go Marching On: A History of Leeds United Through Stories, Stats and Trivia is out today (Seven Dials, £22.00). Jonny is hosting a Leeds United quiz at Waterstones Leeds on August 20. For tickets, visit waterstones.com/events