My brother’s better than your brother

‘There’s nothing quite like a left-wing partnership between brothers,’ Eddie Gray writes in his autobiography. But if their childhood dreams had come true, Eddie and his little brother Frank would have lined up together for Celtic rather than Leeds United, alongside each other in central midfield rather than up and down the left touchline.

Don Revie had other ideas, persuading Eddie to swap Glasgow for Beeston, where he became the waltzing winger. At the age of eleven, Frank travelled to Leeds on his own to celebrate the New Year of 1966 with his big brother, who marked the occasion by making his professional debut on January 1st, scoring in a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. Frank was a ballboy at Celtic when he had the pick of clubs to join as a junior, but knew he had a home away from home in Leeds. Frank never got Eddie’s hand-me-downs growing up; instead, Eddie would post him Bobby Collins’ old boots because his feet were so ‘tiny’.

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