A football fanatic and Leeds super fan has curated Leeds United mementoes and souvenirs in a hidden museum at his home. The LUFC mad footie fan has been collecting the LUFC themed items for years.
Ben Hunt, 44 has been a lifelong LUFC fan ever since his uncle recommended the club to him. His treasured collection includes shirts, retro sock tags and random artefacts including an old west stand seat from Elland Road.
It is a family affair as Ben, who lives in Denby Dale met his wife after a Leeds match. The couple have two children Bernie, 11, and Grayson, 10, who may well inherit Ben’s impressive LUFC memorabilia one day.
As reported in LeedsLive, Ben’s collection includes hundreds of match-worn shirts played in by some of the all-time greats up to present day, including Billy Bremner, Mark Viduka and Jermaine Beckford. He also has items from the Don Revie era in the 1960s and 1970s including match shirts from FA Cup Finals in 1965, ‘70, ’72 and ’73, and the ‘68 League Cup Final shirt.
Random artefacts from the club's history include the original Lucas the Cop Cat mascot costume. Other quirky additions are actual seats from the West Stand and a life-size cut-out of David Batty because Ben’s wife “loves him”.
Ben, who’s been a season ticket holder for more than 25 years, said: “My first shirt was an Eddie Gray from the late 1970s. Bought that, blowing my first ever wage packet basically.
“Now, I’ve got over 400 match worn items and museum pieces and have regular visitors to the museum. It paved the way for meeting Marcelo.
“Me and family were invited to Thorp Arch to meet him. He wanted to gift me something for the museum.
“I had him sign my arm so I could tattoo it. I told him I was 'el Loco', not him!”
Ben also has a full set of retro sock tags and the club emblem taken from East Stand entrance. Other impressive items on display include, a model stadium that was on Blue Peter in 1986 and road signs, man of match trophies, boots, keeper gloves and kit bags.
Former head coach Marcelo Bielsa parted ways with Leeds United following the 4-0 hammering from Tottenham Hotspur. American coach Jesse Marsch, who used to manage Red Bull Slazburg and RB Leipzig, has since taken the Argentine’s place.
Ben said: “Bielsa going is like a kick in the b****. It feels like someone you loved has died, I'm gutted. Jesse gets my full backing. I'm sure Marcelo would want all Leeds fans to back him and the team to the end, it's what we do best.”
Asked if he was going to mix-up the display following Bielsa’s departure, he said he wouldn’t be making a dedicated display for Bielsa. Ben said: “I keep changing displays inside anyway to freshen it up for people visiting.
“I'd love his bucket to be honest. I get the feeling if I did anything specific for him, he'd want to know why not Revie or Wilkinson instead. He's that type of guy. Bless him."
Ben has written a book with football author Robert Endeacott about the history of the club’s kits and pictures of his collection, which can be found on his website.
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