A joker, a genius and a man for all football seasons... how Billy Bremner led Leeds to glory

The Player

DON REVIE’S Leeds United had been back in the top-flight for three years but a first major trophy was proving elusive.

Runners-up twice in the league, Leeds had also tasted defeat in the finals of both the FA Cup and Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Despite the growing sense of frustration felt by Revie and his players, however, Elland Road was still a fun place to be.

The dressing room, where many of its members had grown up together, was a strong one, thanks in no small part to the careful guiding hand of its father figure, Revie. The banter between team-mates, the one element that all retired former players miss once their careers are over, could be ferocious.

Practical jokes were also a permanent part of life at Elland Road, with Billy Bremner, as captain, often the leading protagonist. Eddie Gray recalls: “Billy was always up to something, a real character. No-one was safe from one of his wind-ups.

“One of his favourites was when we went over to Sheila’s Café for lunch after training. It was just over the road from the ground and owned by Terry Yorath’s in-laws.

“We had a ritual where we would toss a coin to decide who paid the bill for everyone’s lunch. If, say, 12 of us had gone across and eight called ‘heads’, then the four who said ‘tails’ would have to pay.

“Billy was not a big one for lunch and would usually just have a cup of tea and a Kit-Kat. But if a couple of the lads who were a bit tight ended up having called incorrectly, he would have the works.

“A full three-course lunch would be ordered and then he would also take a few Kit-Kats home for the kids. Often, he would leave the lunch untouched – and then get up to go home with a big smile on his face.”

It wasn’t just Bremner’s team-mates who could find themselves on the wrong end of a wind-up, either.

“There was one morning when we were training down at Fullerton Park behind the West Stand,” says Eddie. “A supporter, who looked drunk even though it was only 11am, had come down to watch.

“We had drawn the previous weekend and this fan was determined to make his point, shouting things like, ‘Bremner, you’re useless – I’m a better player than you’. He also told us all that we were ‘crap’.

“Billy had heard enough and marched over to where this supporter was stood and said, ‘So, you’re better than us are you? Prove it then’.

“With that, he walked off towards the little gymnasium that used to be under the main stand and the fan followed. We did the same, as we could clearly see Billy was up to something.

“Anyway, they got into the gym and Billy said, ‘Come on then, show me what your heading ability is like’. Billy then tossed him the ball and this guy headed it as powerfully as he could.

“Unfortunately for him, Billy had deliberately picked up a medicine ball and it knocked the guy clean out. Eventually, the fan came round and as he did, Billy walked off with a smile and said, ‘Well, you’re crap at heading for a start’.”

Members of the press also found themselves in the firing line when Bremner was feeling at his most mischievous. Mike Morgan, who has covered the Yorkshire patch for several national newspapers since the Sixties, recalls: “There was one European trip where Bill Mallinson of the Daily Mail was sitting in front of Billy on the flight. Nowadays, the press and team would be segregated on the plane but that was not the case back then.

“So, when Bill took his false teeth out in order to go to sleep, Billy waited until he had dropped off before swiping the teeth and putting them in his bag.

“Poor Bill woke up later and went ballistic, but still didn’t know who had taken his false teeth. It wasn’t until much later that Billy owned up and handed them back.”

The strong team spirit engendered at Elland Road had been no accident, Revie having worked very hard to create an atmosphere he felt was conducive to producing a successful team. Whether it was the groundsman, the tea lady or Jack Charlton, everyone had to feel part of Leeds United. No-one, Revie insisted, was allowed to feel they were more important than anyone else, a trait Bremner adopted once captain. Mike Morgan, who started covering Yorkshire football for the Daily Express before moving to the Daily Star and then The Sun, says: “Before a big game, Don made it open house in terms of the press and told us we could interview who we wanted. But Billy wanted to make sure everyone was involved, not just the ‘big’ names.

“He didn’t think it would be fair if, say, everyone spoke to Norman Hunter but not Mick Bates. So, he would quietly go round the press lads and ask if we would interview Batesy as well as, for example, Norman or Big Jack. Billy was a big one on the importance of everyone feeling part of the team.”

With the team together as one, Leeds finally broke their silverware duck during the club’s fourth season in the old First Division. It came on March 2, 1968 at Wembley in the League Cup final.

United’s opponents were Arsenal and Revie’s men started as favourites. A scrappy final punctuated by numerous flare-ups was settled in the 18th minute when Eddie Gray’s in-swinging corner was only cleared as far as Terry Cooper, who thundered a volley past Jim Furnell in the Arsenal goal.

Once ahead, Leeds opted to try and protect what they had. Such a negative approach led to the final being one of the worst seen at Wembley in a long time.

But, bearing in mind how many times United had gone so agonisingly close to winning a trophy in recent years, such an approach was perhaps understandable.

Jimmy Greenhoff, in the United starting line-up at Wembley, recalls: “The first trophy is always the most memorable and that League Cup win kick-started the success that followed.

“Our squad had a really youthful feel to it that day but, despite that, we were still geared towards playing well in the big games.

“It was something Don Revie had worked a lot on when we were 16 or 17. I am also sure it was why he opted for us to wear Real Madrid’s colours, in an attempt to try and instil that big game mentality in us.”

On the accusations that Leeds turned the 1968 League Cup final into a dull affair, Greenhoff adds: “As a spectacle, it was a bit of a non-event. Us scoring so early was probably the worst thing that could have happened for the neutrals because we just shut up shop.

“Don Revie was a very cautious man and, once 1-0 ahead, he always wanted us to protect what we had. It happened every week and Wembley was no different.

“I was on one wing and Eddie Gray the other, but all we did once ahead was sit in front of the full-backs. I helped Paul Reaney out, while Eddie did the same for Terry Cooper. It was effective, but I doubt anyone outside Leeds enjoyed the 1968 final very much.”

The celebrations that met the final whistle were a mixture of elation and relief at finally getting their hands on a major trophy. Revie’s son Duncan believes beating Arsenal was a pivotal moment.

“Leeds had gone very close to winning a trophy several times,” he says.

“So that day at Wembley was like a burden had been lifted. Everyone knew the breakthrough has been made and that the team, which was still very young at the time, was capable of achieving sustained success.”

A tale of success against all odds – like the day Rovers had to thumb a lift to the match and still won 4-0

The Manager

As the people of Doncaster sweltered during the summer heatwave of 1983, few realised the stormy times that lay ahead.

In common with the rest of the country, the town had suffered during the recession that eventually saw unemployment peak above three million.

But Doncaster and its surrounding villages seemed to be suffering no more than anywhere else.

All that changed, however, within a year when any semblance of normality was blown away by the start of one of the most brutal and bitter industrial disputes Britain has ever seen. The miners’ strike would bring great hardship and leave a legacy of social devastation that is still being felt today, more than a quarter of a century on.

Few businesses would prove to be immune from the fallout, including the local professional sports clubs, as a year without pay meant that trips to watch, for instance, Doncaster Rovers became a luxury many could no longer afford.

Only success on the field would be enough to maintain crowds at a respectable level.

Thankfully for Rovers, Billy Bremner delivered just that by steering the club to promotion from the old Fourth Division for a second time during his five-year reign as manager.

Promotion was secured with two games to spare courtesy of a 2-0 win at Stockport County. According to those at the club, Billy’s role in that success could not be overstated.

Assistant manager Dave Bentley says: “We were a team in every sense of the word and the signings Billy was able to make were crucial. Doncaster wasn’t an easy sell as a club back then and Billy’s name plus the respect he had was often all we had.

“At times, he had to really work on a signing. But, fair play to him, his words usually did the trick.”

Glynn Snodin, who scored 13 goals from left-back that season and is now the assistant manager at Leeds United, adds: “Billy was great with advice. But he also used to say to me, ‘My brain will be different to you, Snods, because we play in different positions’.

“He hadn’t played out wide so he would say, ‘You make the decisions, and if you make the right ones you will be fine – and if you make the wrong decisions then you will know why you are out of the side’. It was simple stuff, but spot on.”

Rovers’ third place finish came as a huge tonic for Doncaster, though the season did not pass without at least a handful of unexpected problems – including the April trip to Northampton Town, when the team bus broke down 45 miles short of the County Ground.

Jim Dobbin, who had joined Rovers from Celtic just a few weeks earlier, recalls: “These were the days before overnight stays became the norm for clubs so we would just travel on the day. We were going along nicely when, suddenly, the bus developed a problem and the driver had to pull over.

“It soon became clear we wouldn’t be going anywhere else on that bus.”

With the coach filling with fumes, Bremner ushered his players off and then told them to get changed as he looked for an alternative means of transport.

In the end, a plan was hatched whereby supporters driving past in their cars would be flagged down and asked to give a couple of players a lift.

“It was the only solution,” says Dobbin. “Funnily enough, the guy who gave me a lift in his car now works in the press room at Doncaster’s new ground. He is called Alan Smith and we still have a laugh about it whenever we meet up.”

Making the final leg of the journey by a fleet of private cars meant Rovers arrived late at Northampton, leading to kick-off being delayed by 11 minutes.

Any fears Rovers would be caught cold by the unusual travel plans were, though, swept away as goals from David Harle, Glynn Snodin and Dobbin put the visitors 3-0 ahead inside 28 minutes.

Colin Douglas added a fourth after half-time to leave Bremner delighted as the squad made the return trip north on a new coach.

Dobbin recalls: “Getting changed on the hard shoulder and travelling in supporters’ cars wasn’t ideal preparation, but it made no difference. Billy even joked afterwards that maybe we should thumb it to games more often.”

Bremner: The Real King Billy, by Richard Sutcliffe is available now, from Great Northern Books. To order your copy at £15 plus £2.85 p&p – saving £2 on rrp of £16.99 – call 01748 821122, Mon-Sat 9am-5pm. To buy by post, send a cheque made payable to Yorkshire Books Ltd to Yorkshire Books Ltd, 1 Castle Hill, Richmond DL10 4QP. To buy on- line visit www.yorkshirepost .co.uk/shop. Or call in at our reception Wellington Street, Leeds, Mon-Fri 9pm-5pm and save postage.