Why Leeds still owe everything to Don Revie exactly 50 years after he became their manager

By Mike Walters in Mirror Football Blog

Published 23:00 15/03/11

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Statues are seldom commissioned to honour managers who walk out on England for an Arab’s ransom.

Nor are memorials sculpted 7ft high in bronze to coaches whose teams were accused of setting the template for cynicism, or subjected to dark whispers of attempted bribery and match-fixing.

Yet exactly 50 years ago today, Leeds United appointed Don Revie as their player-manager, and 22 years after his death at the age of 61 – struck down by motor neurone disease – he remains worshipped at Elland Road.

Like Matt Busby at Manchester United or Bill Shankly at Liverpool, everything about the club today is based on Revie’s legacy.

When he took over, Leeds were among English football’s also-rans, the supporting act in a rugby league stronghold. By the time he succeeded Sir Alf Ramsey 13 years later, they were one of Europe’s most feared teams.

Later this year, to mark the half-centenary of Revie taking office, the club will unveil sculptor Graham Ibbeson’s tribute to a figure who split public opinion between reverence and revulsion.

But his players, with one notable exception, remain unswervingly loyal.

As Peter Lorimer – the Scot whose shooting power was the most thunderous of his era – recalls, Revie’s first move was to change the club’s strip from blue and gold, the same colour scheme as their rugby league brethren, to all-white.

“Don said he wanted us to look like Real Madrid and play like them,” said Lorimer. “When he said he wanted to make us the best team in Europe, there were probably a few people who thought he was crazy.

“But he was a visionary, he had ambition and in many aspects he was way ahead of his time.

“In terms of scouting the opposition, putting players on diets and bringing in rules like drinking no alcohol for at least 48 hours before a match... all those things were new to the game when Don introduced them, but everybody does it now.”

England 1966 World Cup legend Jack Charlton was the senior player Revie built his empire around and spent 21 years at Leeds.

First impressions often last the longest, and Big Jack happily concedes that his were inaccurate.

Charlton, now 75, said: “Don joined us as a player from Sunderland.

“Shortly after he arrived, we were playing in a practice match and he pulled me up for going forward too often at corners or set-pieces. He told me: ‘If I was manager of this club, I wouldn’t have you dashing around like that.’

“I remember answering back: ‘Well, you’re not – so b******s to you.’ A couple of years later, he was the boss – and what a team he built.

“It made me laugh when people referred to us as ‘dirty’ Leeds. Sure, we could look after ourselves, but Eddie Gray was kicked black and blue in the 1970 FA Cup final against Chelsea and it wasn’t us who nobbled him and reduced him to a passenger.

“It was Don who introduced the passing game, as we now call it, and I can’t imagine why we were singled out for being dirty.

"Looking back, he probably got me the job as manager of Middlesbrough. Don gave me this hand-written list of things to demand from the board and to insist that I would have control of everything on that sheet of paper.

“The chairman looked at me and said: ‘If we go along with all of this, you would be running the whole club’ and I replied: ‘Well, that’s what a manager does, isn’t it?’ Ten minutes later, they offered me the job, but it was Don who really swung it for me.

“With us, he was honest as the day is long. If he promised you something, he would move Heaven and Earth to make sure you got it. And in return the players couldn’t do enough for him.”

With England struggling to qualify for the 1978 World Cup, Revie’s sudden defection to the United Arab Emirates did not endear him to the Football Association, who were plotting to replace him anyway.

Former Leeds goalkeeper Gary Sprake’s bribery allegations to the Daily Mirror about sweeteners to opponents would also stay an indelible, if contentious, stain on Revie’s reputation.

But half a century after his accession as King of Yorkshire, nothing could be more fitting to Revie’s legacy than the vibrant Leeds team currently assembled by Simon Grayson winning promotion to the Premier League.

And it will for ever shame the FA that they did not send a single delegate to the funeral of one of English football’s greatest managers.

Don Revie tribute in archive photos and Daily Mirror pages  

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DON AND DUSTED: THE REVIE YEARS

1965: Just a year after promotion as Second Division champions, Revie steers Leeds to runners-up in the League and the FA Cup final. They were pipped to the title on goal average by Manchester United and beaten 2-1 in extra-time at Wembley by Liverpool.

1968: Mick Jones’ first-leg winner seals a 1-0 aggregate win over Ferencvaros in the Fairs Cup, forerunner to what is now the Europa League.

1969: Champions, for the first time in the club’s history. Leeds finished six points clear of Liverpool.

1971: Another Fairs Cup triumph, this time on away goals against mighty Juventus.

1974: Revie succeeds Sir Alf Ramsey as England manager after guiding Leeds to another title.

AND HERE’S ONE THAT SOURED IT ALL...

1977: Former Leeds keeper Gary Sprake tells the Daily Mirror that Revie and his captain Billy Bremner tried to bribe opponents.

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