A Kilmarnock cup-winning hero has put his life into words.
Mark Reilly has this week launched a book detailing stories from his career and also fundraising efforts throughout his daughter’s journey with Rett Syndrome.
The 1997 Scottish Cup hero’s ‘The Lives of Reilly’ hit the shelves this week, and all proceeds will go to the Reverse Rett charity.
Ghost-written by David McCarthy and published by Dickson Telfer, the book is sure to be a huge hit with any football fan or non-football fan alike.
Asked how the idea for a book came about, Reilly told the Standard:“I came back from the Marathon Des Sables and it was a bit of a freak year in terms of temperatures and a stomach bug also ravaged the camp.
“Sadly a guy died on day two and another took a cardiac arrest, thankfully he was brought back though.
“I came home and did some daily blogs on social media and David [McCarthy] contacted me saying he thought there was a book in the story.
“He came up with the suggestion to do it for free and raise the money for charity, it’s something I couldn’t turn down.
“David then interviewed me for months, he put the manuscript together and we sourced Dickson Telfer as the publisher, he did a wee bit of editing on the manuscript and now we are where we are.”
He added: “The book is about three aspects of my life, the first is about my daughter Dionne and her journey with Rett Syndrome, the second part is some of the challenges that I’ve undertook over the years to try and raise funds and awareness for the condition.
“Then the third part is some funny football stories, some of the characters I met, to be honest it’s mainly about my time at Kilmarnock.”
Reilly is chuffed to finally see the finished product and is delighted that it will raise awareness for Rett Syndrome and his chosen charity Reverse Rett.
He said: “It’s great that it’s finally coming out, all the proceeds are going to charity which is the main thing.
“It’s great for raising awareness for Rett Syndrome and also the charity Reverse Rett.
“David McCarthy who wrote the book and the publisher Dickson Telfer have done a fantastic job with the whole project.
“They have made it an interesting read, there’s a little bit in it for everyone.”
He says it was impossible not to mention the Scottish Cup success, but he also says it’s more about funny stories than a play-by-play of his career.
He said: “Any Kilmarnock fans that read it will enjoy the football stories, obviously Tommy Burns played a big part in my career so there’s plenty of insight of what he was like.
“The cup final is mentioned, it’s more funny stories though – maybe things fans would never have heard, they’d read it and think ‘wow that’s unbelievable’.
“So it’s more cherry-picking some highlights rather than going through each game, but of course the cup final is a part of it with being such an iconic day.”
There is a book launch on Thursday, May 4 at Rugby Park’s 1869 Suite with limited spaces from 7pm for anyone wanting to get their hands on the book.
Otherwise, it can be ordered from namelesstownbooks.com at a cost of £10 with all proceeds going to Reverse Rett.
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