By Mally (on 13/08/02)
August 13 2002

Leeds Tykes held their pre-season media event today, introducing the squad & revealing the new strip for the coming season. Camera crews were present from Yorkshire TV & Sky Sports, along with radio & newspaper journalists & Skibum & I were there representing the Independent Tykes website. New Kit

The day started with a squad photo on the pitch at Headingley – showing off the new royal blue and yellow home strip. It has been a common complaint on our Message Board and on the Official site forum that on last season’s kit the Leeds & Holbeck Building Society logo was just too big and dominated the shirts, making them virtually unwearable on anything other than match days.

The new kit is a vast improvement, the logo is still roughly the same size but is printed directly onto the background of the shirt rather than in a panel, making it less noticeable. There is also the added bonus that a dark shirt will not show up the beer & curry stains quite so much…! The new white shirt has maroon – red sections under the arms, similar to the current England shirt.

The Media Day

Following on from the squad photo the players were all lined up, and had their mugshots taken! Some appeared to enjoy the attention more than others – Tom Palmer didn’t stop grinning even when the Sky cameraman was panning round him!

After all photo session the event moved indoors, to a Bucks Fizz reception in the Premier Suite. It was an informal fairly relaxed set up, and we managed to end up sat on the same table as some of the players, including a bleached blond Dan Scarbrough, Japie Mulder, Stewart Campbell and Craig Emmerson.

Skibum did a very good job of promoting the site, and a couple of players had already heard of us and one had even read his player profile!

The two Phils, Davies and Daly, gave a brief introduction and then the player interviews took place, we got a couple of interviews which will appear on here in due course….

From the Independent Tykes point of view the day was a success. Not only on the interview front but also for the future, the club (from Phil Daly to Phil Davies and the players) were very positive about assisting us with future interviews. The impression Skibum & I had was that they are very keen to spread the word about the Tykes and do want our feedback and our support.

A big thank you to Phil Daly for the invitation, and to the players and Tykes coaching we spoke to for taking the time to talk to us.

Don’t forget to watch out for the report on Calendar (probably prior to the Leicester match) and for the Sky Sports reports, and of course keep checking this site! I’ll get the interviews up as soon as possible along with a gallery of the days photos, however just to wet your appetite, click the link below for the Tykes squad photo for the 2002 / 03 season.

Back row (l-r): David Foster, Isaac Feaunati, Cammie Mather, Phil Murphy, Stewart Campbell, Chris Murphy, George Harder , Dan Hyde, James Ponton, Martin O'Keefe, Alan Dickens, Peter Murphy

Middle Row (l-r): James Tiffany (team masseur), John Bentley (community marketing manager), Jon Carey (Equipment manager), Derek Hegarty, Rob Rawlinson, Matt Holt, Tristan Davies, Justin Wring, Gavin Kerr, Emmo, Gordon Ross, Jamie Mayer, Steve Carter (head of athletic performance), Giles Lindsay (team analyst), Vic Oliver (team manager)

Front Row (l-r) Scott Benton, Mark Regan, Braam Van Straaten, Tom Palmer, DoR Phil Davies, Mike Shelley (captain), Jon Callard (1st team coach), Carl Hogg, Dan Scarbrough, Japie Mulder, Diego Albanese.

Tykes Squad Photo