The Man Behind The Mask — Square Ball 28/5/26
Balaclava Man Written by: Rob Conlon David Ekin can still remember the exact moment his friend Andy Metcalfe fashioned the makeshift balaclava that became one of the defining images in Leeds United’s history. “It was February 1975,” Ekin says over a cup of tea in the living room of his home in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. “Middlesbrough away. We won 1-0, Allan Clarke scored. A load of us went up on a train from York and we stopped at Darlington. It was early in the morning. I think the pubs opened at half ten, so we got into this boozer and we could see Andy on his own in the corner up to something. He had his woolly hat and he was smoking. He came up with the idea of burning two holes in it so he could see, and then burned a hole for his mouth so he could keep smoking.” Ekin was friendlier with Metcalfe’s younger brother, Rob. “Andy wasn’t really a big mixer with the lads,” he says. “He was a bit of a lone wolf. You had to keep an eye on him because he was always up to some...
