How Carter lost the services of the great John Charles but still kept Leeds up

From Brian Clough to Kevin Blackwell, Jimmy Armfield to Eddie Gray, the procession of able men unable to impose themselves on the task of putting Leeds United at or near the top of English football has proved that it takes something special to bring any club – even one with as solid a base as Leeds – more than fleeting contact with glory.

Among the list of those who tried was Horatio Stratton Carter – although only his mother would have known him by that name. And yet to judge Raich Carter a failure at anything is cruel beyond belief for Carter was – and remains – a footballing legend.

As a player he was close to a genius, the supreme inside-forward – a favoured partner of Stanley Matthews – who was unfortunate that the Second World War interrupted his career. Otherwise he would surely have won more than 13 England caps in an international career which spanned 1934-47 and brought him seven goals.

He was 23 when he captained Sunderland to the 1936 League championship and the following year scored in a 3-1 win over Preston North End in the FA Cup final.

He won a second Cup-winners' medal with Derby County in 1946 – becoming the only man to win a Wembley final either side of the war – and completed his playing career with Hull City. He then became manager at Boothferry Park where a young Don Revie was among his signings.

He also managed Mansfield and Middlesbrough but it was his period in charge at Elland Road between 1953-58 which proved to be the pinnacle of his managerial career.

Raich Carter, a man with football in his veins, performed the impossible.

He took Leeds United into the First Division after nine years of life in the Second Division but was well aware that his team relied heavily on the fabulous talent of John Charles.

His brilliance came in keeping Leeds in the First Division after the sale of Charles to Juventus had deprived him of the best footballer in the world. His reward was the sack.

Carter's first full season with Leeds in 1953-54 was remarkable only for the fact that Charles broke the club record with 42 League goals but the next campaign saw Leeds just miss out on promotion.

It was a team which introduced a generation to a game they would follow for the rest of their lives, enjoying amazing success and desperate setbacks along the way.

The following season Jack Charlton forced his way into the side in November and enjoyed a run of 34 games, learning much from Charles who initially switched to right-half to accommodate the young man who would become another Elland Road legend.

The key moment came in the autumn when Carter decided to move Charles up front and the team suddenly gathered momentum. They needed only a point from their last match – at Carter's old club Hull City – to earn promotion as runners-up to Sheffield Wednesday and secured a 4-1 victory, a penalty from Charles completing a

29-goal haul for the season.

They quickly rose to second place in the First Division behind Manchester United but their momentum was halted on Tuesday, September 18 when a fire destroyed the main stand at Elland Road.

The club's insurance proved inadequate and although a public appeal brought in 60,000 and Leeds City Council offered support, the eventual cost of a replacement stand, opened at the start of the following season, would be 180,000; Leeds United were in a parlous financial position.

Their form dipped slightly before victory at Newcastle in November lifted them back to fourth place but the turn of the year brought a change in fortune and Leeds, without the injured Charlton, began a worrying slide until a late rally enabled them to finish in eighth place, the highest in the club's history.

The cash-strapped board then announced that they would listen to offers for Charles, who had scored 38 goals – the highest total in the First Division that season – although they were adamant they would not sell their star to any English club.

The young chairman of Juventus, Umberto Agnelli, watched his target in action for Wales, a fee of 65,000 – a British record – was agreed and after a decade at Leeds, during which he had scored 154 goals, including 11 hat-tricks, Charles was gone.

Now Carter faced the ultimate challenge: competing in the First Division without their talisman. He spent 12,000 on Scottish centre-forward Hugh Baird and gave a chance to a highly-promising young forward in Chris Crowe, a Geordie who would go on to score 27 goals in 98 appearances for Leeds.

Carter was unhappy after Leeds collected only four points from their opening seven games but the arrival of Wilbur Cush from Glenavon for 7,000 had a beneficial effect and Leeds steadied before victories over Blackpool and Newcastle eased the pressure.

Only one defeat in their final nine matches ensured that Leeds would survive in the top echelon and they were happy enough to finish 17th. Carter could reflect on a job well done, but not for long. His contract was due for renewal but the board decided not to offer their manager new terms. Carter was disgusted, considering that the directors did not understand the magnitude of his achievement.

The board offered the post to Carter's assistant Bill Lambton and, despite their First Division status and impressive new stand, those who had enjoyed the club's rise on the talents of the John Charles and Raich Carter began to fear for the future. Their fears were soon to be confirmed.