Richard Sutcliffe: Giles and Radebe lift lid but Bremner story waits to be told

A host of new books have appeared on the shelves during the past few months with no less than five major new Elland Road-related titles waiting to be snapped up across the county.

Among those is the long-awaited tome of Johnny Giles, who after years of resisting the temptation to commit his life to print has brought out a typically forthright autobiography, A Football Man. Particularly fascinating is his account of life at Manchester United and a fall-out with Matt Busby, while Giles's take on modern-day players will raise a few eyebrows.

The subject of the second Elland Road-related offering this festive season is the man who was, alongside the former Republic of Ireland international, the heartbeat of Don Revie's famous team.

Sadly, Keep Fighting: The Billy Bremner Story, written by Paul Harrison, does not match Giles's own effort with what, in parts, is little more than a whistle-stop tour of the Scot's life – as illustrated by his reign as Leeds manager being condensed into just two pages despite the club reaching an FA Cup semi-final, a play-off final replay and claiming to have made a bid to sign Maradona during his three years in charge.

A much more detailed look at the life of a United legend comes in Richard Coomber's Lucas: From the Streets of Soweto to Soccer Superstar, which includes an interesting insight into Radebe's early life in South Africa and lifts the lid on the club v country rows that dominated much of the defender's time in England.

A different take on the Elland Road story comes with Anthony Clavane's Promised Land: The Reinvention of Leeds United as the Sunday Mirror journalist pulls together not only the story of the football club but also the city itself and his own Jewish roots.

Before leaving the Leeds United-related offerings, it would be remiss of me not to mention Revie: Revered and Reviled by someone called Richard Sutcliffe.

I will leave the reviewing of such a marvellous book to others, though I make no apologies for stating that a contribution from every sale will be made towards the long overdue appeal to erect a statue of Revie outside Elland Road.

Across West Yorkshire, Bradford City may have made their now customary early exit from the FA Cup this season but supporters can, thanks to Glorious 1911, relive the club's finest hour-and-a-half.

City's museum curator Dave Pendleton, who wrote the book to mark the centenary of the Bantams lifting the FA Cup for the only time in their history, has uncovered many unseen images with my particular favourite being a shot of the Kop at Valley Parade where it seems every single member of the all-male throng is sporting a flat cap.

Another book focusing on the game's rich past is Yorkshire Football: A History. Written by Cameron Fleming, it charts the considerable ups and downs experienced by White Rose football since Sheffield FC were formed more than 150 years ago.

All the county's clubs are featured including a couple of former Football League members, while the final chapter tackles a question that crops up regularly among e-mail correspondence to this newspaper – namely, are Middlesbrough a Yorkshire club? Answers on a postcard to anyone but me, please.