Arsenal v Man City 1974
Photograph by Mark Leech ©Offside
Published in When Saturday Comes 233, July 2006

When Mark Leech was leaving school in 1973, his careers’ officer asked what he was interested in and he replied “football”. Expecting short shrift, instead he was sent to the agency Sporting Pictures for a vacant messenger’s job. Duly appointed, his task was to sit behind the front-line cameramen and be ready to run for them when their films needed developing.

He had not handled a camera in earnest before, but would carry a spare just in case as he learnt the trade. The runners’ position on the track at Highbury was perfectly placed to photograph this goal celebration. The police, squatted in the trench in front of the spectators, would place their helmets on the concrete ledge – probably at the behest of fans whose views they would have blocked. Brian Kidd takes advantage of the prop in the maverick Seventies goal celebration tradition.

Leech was an Arsenal fan and had to endure quips from mates on the North Bank. Arguably the only genuine terrace-era kop in London (The Shed was too far away, Upton Park’s North Bank too enclosed) the end was chaotic but photogenic with its uncovered corners, improvised vantage points and glimpses through to the Highbury streets. Arsenal were in the doldrums then, though a run of eight years without a trophy and the odd flirt with relegation would not count as hard times at many clubs. This was their only win in their first six home games that season, but fans did have Kidd’s goals (this one of two in a 4-0 win) and the first full season of Liam Brady (No 11) to enjoy.

Leech went up through the ranks and is much admired for his eye for action and appreciation of the physical qualities of the game. As an ardent fan he developed a style he describes as based on “slowing the game down in your mind and knowing the likely outcome of a run or cross before it’s happened”. When you had to wait for the film to return before you knew what you’d shot such intuitiveness was invaluable. Colleagues recall him apt to leave early, confident he’d got the image he wanted.

Less than a year after taking this picture he photographed the Leeds v Bayern Munich 1975 European Cup final in Paris. “It’s what you call ‘a meteoric rise’,” he jokes. His careers’ officer would have been proud.

Doug Cheeseman
Football Photography Writing

See more of Mark Leech’s work