A business graduate from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) who always dreamed of writing a book has won rave reviews for his biography of a rugby legend.
Dean Eldredge said he “could barely believe” it when he finally held the finished hardback copy of The Death of Rugby, the autobiography of England and Leicester Tigers rugby star Neil Back, which he co-wrote with the famous flanker.
And the 32-year-old said that he felt he was able to achieve his dream because of the skills he originally learned on a part-time Master of Business Administration course at DMU.
He said: “Juggling full-time work and the MBA, along with the skills taught on the course itself, gave me the dedication and time-management I needed to make the business work.
“Writing the book has taken six months and I’ve had to fit it in with my other commitments. I learned how to do that back at DMU.”
Dean took the brave move of starting his own marketing agency, alongside his business partner Gary Webster, after studying the MBA course at DMU.
Since then Soar Media has expanded and now produces Leicester City’s award-winning matchday programme, along with running NHS health campaigns and providing media and marketing services for charities and sports clubs.
As the company grew, Dean spotted the opportunity of starting Oporto – a sports management company - using the contacts he had built up at Soar Media.
With two companies to his name, Dean was approached by England and Tigers star Neil Back, to help write a gritty new autobiography, covering Back’s long and varied career, from his anti-hero role as 'The Hand of Back' in Leicester
Tigers' European Cup triumph over Munster, to Grand Slam glory and the 2003 World Cup with England.
Meeting Neil in a coffee shop every Wednesday, armed with a Dictaphone, Dean slowly began to gather the material needed for the book.
He said: “Before starting Soar Media, I had always wanted to get into media and journalism. Writing a book had been a dream.
“But at around 80,000 words it was the biggest writing project I’d taken on. I would map out a chapter, meet Neil, talk it through and then go back and write it up that afternoon.”
Eventually, the book was completed – with Dean managing to oversee his other two businesses at the same time – and published.
It was named Book of the Month by the influential Rugby World magazine and praised by a raft of reviewers across the country.
Dean said: “When the first copies arrived and I picked one up I could barely believe it, really. It was a real dream.
“It was a labour of love and I’d do it again; in fact I’ve been approached by a former footballer but we haven’t quite signed the deal yet.”
Posted on Thursday 5 November 2015