ADAM POPE

Born in Liverpool and raised on the Wirral, he watched both Everton and Liverpool as a kid in the 1970s and early 1980s, before opting for the Blues. Adam finally moved to Yorkshire as a teenager to study at Huddersfield Polytechnic. Mixing with supporters of clubs outside the top flight he soon learnt that ‘administration’ and ‘relegation’ were common parlance as well as ‘title-winning’ and ‘balmy European nights’.

This clearly held him in good stead to cover Leeds United, which he began doing for the BBC in 2005 after careers in builders’ merchants and brewing. Elland Road prior to that had been a place of intimidating misery, as Everton had almost always lost there during his lifetime. That he now is based high up in the West Stand, on the gantry with headphones and a microphone, commentating on one of the most fascinating and unique clubs, is still beyond his comprehension at times. To do so alongside Noel Whelan makes him realise just how much Leeds United means to so many people within the city and beyond.