The Story of Don Revie and 'Dirty Leeds'.

Leeds are quite possibly the most under rated team in English football. They were outstanding for a good few years and while many didn’t appreciate the steel they had they set the standard and virtually every team that followed on from them had at least one enforcer. At the time is you didn’t have hard players back then they would have one F all.

As for the Clough debacle it was akin to us appointing Lennon after Gerrard leaves. The players and fans hated Clough and it was a disaster waiting to happen. The difference between Clough and Lennon of course is one is quite simply an outstanding manager while the other is a repulsive wee nyaff.
 
Great team who could certainly mix it, i still say Sunderland beating Leeds in the 73 cup final is one of the biggest upsets of all time.
 
Leeds United never were 'dirty Leeds' this is just a modern take from the book that vilified a great team with a great manager. In the early 70's Leeds were every Scottish kids team due to the influence of great players such as Bremner, Lorimer, Harvey, Gray McQueen and Jordan. The 74 World Cup team was built on that great Leeds team.
 
Leeds United never were 'dirty Leeds' this is just a modern take from the book that vilified a great team with a great manager. In the early 70's Leeds were every Scottish kids team due to the influence of great players such as Bremner, Lorimer, Harvey, Gray McQueen and Jordan. The 74 World Cup team was built on that great Leeds team.
They were vicious! Hunter had the reputation as a hard man but I never saw him go for a 50/50 tackle. There were much harder men in English football at that time. He never went near them. Giles was sneaky. Bremner thought he was hard. Dave McKay sorted him ought. John Boyle at Chelsea also flattened him. In 1972, they lost at Wolves in the last game of the season as a result of which Derby County won the league. In the days afterwards there were strong rumours that there were attempts before and during the game to offer inducements to the Wolves to ‘go easy’. Leeds were not squeaky clean.
Having said that, they came up against very suspect refereeing in the 1973 Cup Winners Cup Final v AC Milan and the 1975 European Cup Final v Bayern. They had valid goals disallowed and stonewall penalty claims ignored.
 
The book about Revie released just after The Damned United was great.

When he took over they were 4th biggest team in Leeds after cricket and both rugby codes. Most of the stuff about cheating is bullshit. Their success was incredible for a club never big before, and never really as big since.

What's the name of the book?
 
Giles was a really dirty player but terrific player. Lots of hypocrites talked about Dirty Leeds when most teams had hard men then
My old man played against that Leeds team once and said Giles was the dirtiest of them all. Souness mentioned this as well in No Half Measures. A great player but he would have snapped you in two if he thought it necessary. He put it down to IIRC Eddie McCreadie doing him once and resolved never to let it happen again. I regard Giles as a very good pundit as well and enjoyed listening to him on RTE where he talked a lot of sense. Interestingly he said that Revie kept them too regimented when if he had taken the shackles off they could have beaten most teams on ability rather than relying on physicality. He noted that After a bad start to the league in 72/73 they were out of contention by Christmas which lead to Revie letting them play with a bit more freedom. They then went on a great run where they played teams off the park including that 7-0 stuffing of Southampton. Also regarding the Damned United Giles stated that had the 3 main characters still been living the film would never have been made. Giles himself took a case against the makers and won. In saying that Martin Sheree was excellent as Clough.
 
They were vicious! Hunter had the reputation as a hard man but I never saw him go for a 50/50 tackle. There were much harder men in English football at that time. He never went near them. Giles was sneaky. Bremner thought he was hard. Dave McKay sorted him ought. John Boyle at Chelsea also flattened him. In 1972, they lost at Wolves in the last game of the season as a result of which Derby County won the league. In the days afterwards there were strong rumours that there were attempts before and during the game to offer inducements to the Wolves to ‘go easy’. Leeds were not squeaky clean.
Having said that, they came up against very suspect refereeing in the 1973 Cup Winners Cup Final v AC Milan and the 1975 European Cup Final v Bayern. They had valid goals disallowed and stonewall penalty claims ignored.

There were quite a few teams who could look after themselves in that league.
Leed's footballing ability far outshone their reputation as a team full of cloggers.
I thought they were a great side and as you say robbed of two European trophies.
 
Before my time I was 5
1970 against the papes they got beat in the semi , how did they play , did they deserve to lose ?
 
They were vicious! Hunter had the reputation as a hard man but I never saw him go for a 50/50 tackle. There were much harder men in English football at that time. He never went near them. Giles was sneaky. Bremner thought he was hard. Dave McKay sorted him ought. John Boyle at Chelsea also flattened him. In 1972, they lost at Wolves in the last game of the season as a result of which Derby County won the league. In the days afterwards there were strong rumours that there were attempts before and during the game to offer inducements to the Wolves to ‘go easy’. Leeds were not squeaky clean.
Having said that, they came up against very suspect refereeing in the 1973 Cup Winners Cup Final v AC Milan and the 1975 European Cup Final v Bayern. They had valid goals disallowed and stonewall penalty claims ignored.

Norman Hunter never went in for a 50/50? You’re probably right, he preferred the odds 70/30 against and still won most of them. You need to give your head a shake pal.
 
They were vicious! Hunter had the reputation as a hard man but I never saw him go for a 50/50 tackle. There were much harder men in English football at that time. He never went near them. Giles was sneaky. Bremner thought he was hard. Dave McKay sorted him ought. John Boyle at Chelsea also flattened him. In 1972, they lost at Wolves in the last game of the season as a result of which Derby County won the league. In the days afterwards there were strong rumours that there were attempts before and during the game to offer inducements to the Wolves to ‘go easy’. Leeds were not squeaky clean.
Having said that, they came up against very suspect refereeing in the 1973 Cup Winners Cup Final v AC Milan and the 1975 European Cup Final v Bayern. They had valid goals disallowed and stonewall penalty claims ignored.
I felt I had to be careful what I said a few days ago what with Norman Hunter’s recent passing but I would have to agree that I never rated him as a real hard man. More of a bully.
One of the posted YouTube clips of what he did to Howard Kendall of Everton I found to be disgusting.

The cheating allegations against Leeds weren’t help with Revie’s reputation from his playing days.
I read somewhere that the Sunderland Manager (Stokeo) from ‘73 Cup Final refused to acknowledge Revie leading up to the Final.
He claimed that in their playing days Revie had approached him to see if he could arrange for a few of his team to take it easy in a vital game against Revies team.

Maybe the word was out on the Super Leeds team and that’s why they never got the respect their performances deserved?
 
Revie himself could play a bit, saw him when Manchester City played us at Ibrox. He played the deep lying centre forward and I came away convinced he had not misplaced a pass in the match, while scoring a screamer.

Ancient Loyal
 
Without wishing to divert the thread, this is an article from today's Daily Mail about John McGovern and Forest's 1980 European Cup win over HSV. It also touches on his relationship with Brian Clough and his time at Leeds.

 
They were hacking basturds. The main reason I like Chelsea as my English team is because they beat them in the 70 FA Cup.

If you want to see what Leeds were like and get a taste of proper football as well, you should check out the two games in that final. I’m sure they are on YouTube
 
It was mentioned on this thread about Leeds being unlucky in some big games. Just seen the goal they had disallowed in the Europen Cup Final against Bayern. The decision looks a bit strange.

A bit strange. That’s the understatement of the year, mate.
 
Without wishing to divert the thread, this is an article from today's Daily Mail about John McGovern and Forest's 1980 European Cup win over HSV. It also touches on his relationship with Brian Clough and his time at Leeds.

I Believe In Miracles is on BT Sport 1 at the moment.
 
Only caught part of it, good stuff. Going to have to find the whole thing now.

Kenny Burns has enjoyed his retirement.
It's brilliant. I watched it on an Emirates flight last year, this is the second time watching it and its still a great watch second time round.
 
I absolutely detest Leeds United especially the team of 1970 that allowed the mhanks to beat them in the semi finals of the European Cup ;)At least the mhanks then met the beginnings of Dutch Total-Football in Feyenoord who dispatched them in the final.
Yes, there is a God after all!

Seriously, and this is so reminiscent of what happened to Rangers in our UEFA 2008 run to the final but Leeds United had an unbelievable series of games to play in the run up to that season's end. Within 42 days they had to play 3 FA Cup Semi Finals including replays against Man Utd. 2 FA Cup Finals against Chelsea (one of which was played on a ploughed field that was Wembley) and including the final replay at Old Trafford; 2 European Cup Semi Finals against Celtic; and seven League games where Everton ended up League champions and Leeds came second. Revie prioritised the Cups toward the end of that season although Leeds Utd had been favourites for the League 2nd year running. A brilliant but very unlucky Leeds United team whose luck would also desert them in Europe in future years of 1973 and 1975.

The secretary of the English FA, Alan Hardaker despised Leeds and he did everything he could not to assist them as they were going for an historic Treble. He fined them £5000 for fielding weakened teams despite a considerable injury list and he wouldn't extend the season. I've read that script before.

From the article below.
Consumer Warning: Contains references and some praise for the Mhanks.

 
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Before my time I was 5
1970 against the papes they got beat in the semi , how did they play , did they deserve to lose ?

Got dispatched pretty easily by them in the 1970 semi, beaten 1-0 in Leeds and 2-1 in Glasgow. My old man never forgave them for it, pretty much despised them the rest of his days.
 
The similarities between how both Leeds and Rangers are viewed in their respective countries by opposition fans is quite scary the " no one likes us we don't care " applies to both sets of supporters also , been to 5 Leeds games over the last 2 seasons both goal ends of the ground stand for the full 90 mins its a great fan experience
 
Leeds were the first side in Britain to adopt consistant aggressive tactics towards referees. They would claim for every decision even if it was blatantly against them and attempt to bully the official. Different players would take turns at this and also they would target opposition players who they thought posed a threat.Clough attempted to curb this but at Wembley against Liverpool they basically gave him the two fingers This was a side of football that was always present but Revie ramped it up to a new level. Baw face at the piggery adopted these intimidationary tactics up here and the mentally challengeds are still using them.
 
They were always a team I enjoyed watching.!
After my first Rangers and then Scotland ( I know ) strips my third one was Leeds.
Still look for their results today, would like to see them back in amongst the big boys.
Same here. Although Scotland now a very distant third (if I can be bothered even).
 
Got dispatched pretty easily by them in the 1970 semi, beaten 1-0 in Leeds and 2-1 in Glasgow. My old man never forgave them for it, pretty much despised them the rest of his days.

Wasn't a bad thing actually, they got cocky and though theyd already won it. And underestimated Feyenoord.
 
Hate Leeds the Legend Clough was right on meeting the players he said.Throw all your medals in the bin you never won anything fairly you won them by cheating
 
I used to have a video called 'Leeds United: The Glory Years, 1965 to 1975' and it's amazing how many times they were runners-up in competitions they ought to have won. They won a fair amount but they were beaten finalists in various cup competitions and runners-up in the league umpteen times, and suffered a ridiculous number of refereeing cock-ups (we know how that feels), not least the infamous WBA game in 1971 that cost them the league, and two blatant cheating performances by referees in the 1973 CWC Final and the 1975 European Cup Final. They were a hard team, dirty to some, but they played some fabulous football, especially from 1969 to 1974.

They were a hard team, dirty to some, but they played some fabulous football, especially from 1969 to 1974.

Pity they couldn't have done it in the spring of 1970.
 
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Never been a fan of Leeds think its mainly down to there fans they just remind me of Aberdeen fans living in the past but still thinking they are massive.
 
Never been a fan of Leeds think its mainly down to there fans they just remind me of Aberdeen fans living in the past but still thinking they are massive.

What do you base that on? Most Leeds fans know our station in the grand scheme of things.
 
What do you base that on? Most Leeds fans know our station in the grand scheme of things.
Worked in Yorkshire for 2 years all I heard was how much bigger club they were to Rangers and how they are a top 6 supported team in England . Cloud cuckoo land .
 
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