Football world points to Norman Hunter's fighting spirit in Leeds United legend's battle against coronavirus

The defender did not earn the nickname of Norman ‘Bites Yer Legs’ Hunter for nothing.

And now everybody connected with Hunter and the football world in general hopes the 76-year-old can use his battling qualities to beat coronavirus amidst a wave of support far beyond just the city of Leeds.

With Leeds United, Hunter made 726 appearances during a 15-year spell at the club that began aged 15.

During that decade and a half, the Gateshead-born teen became a feared, no-nonsense centre-back that helped the Whites to two First Division titles, an FA Cup, League Cup and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups.

Hunter was also part of the Whites side who were controversially denied a European Cup via defeat to Bayern Munich in the 1975 European Cup final in Paris.

But now the defender who overcame so many tough battles in his playing career faces a battle of a different kind with a virus that has caused devastation across the globe.

The hope is that if anyone can beat it, it will be tenacious Hunter who is also a national hero and part of England’s 1966 World Cup-winning squad.

Hunter did not play in England’s triumphant World Cup campaign as he could not break the partnership of Whites team-mate Jack Charlton and Bobby Moore.

But amidst the ‘66 glories, the Three Lions had a defender made of stern stuff waiting in reserve and the hardy centre back earned 28 caps for his country all told.

Hunter’s club career also extended beyond Leeds with the defender going on to play for Bristol City and Barnsley and later managing Barnsley and Rotherham United before a brief caretaker spell in charge of Leeds.

Ask anyone who has met Hunter at Elland Road or beyond and they will tell you it would be difficult to meet a nicer man who has a suite named after him at second home Elland Road.

Yet Hunter took no prisoners on the football field with his daily dose of Harvey’s Bristol Cream washed down with a raw egg chaser under boss Don Revie.

Once Hunter had chased you down on a football field, it usually ended in tears though the defender was never intentionally that type of player.

The Bite Yer Legs nickname came from a banner displayed in the 1968 League Cup final against Arsenal.

‘Norman Bites Yer Legs’ it said.

“I didn’t think much about it (the banner),” said Hunter, hailed in a Football League Greats feature by the EFL in 2012.

“It didn’t make me more aggressive and I certainly never thought about trying to live up to the description.

"And that was at a time when you virtually had to commit murder to get sent off.

“You never intentionally went out to hurt anyone but that will to win became so strong and you’d get wound up and the red mist would come down sometimes.

“Things happen in the heat of the moment but nothing was premeditated.

"I was never concerned about anyone outside the Elland Road dressing room.

“Don (Revie) always used to tell me to go in hard with the first tackle because the referee would never book you for the first one.

"We used to call it the freebie. I’d go in hard, pick ‘em up, say sorry to the referee and sometimes you’d never see them again.”

This, though, is now a different battle and one in which Hunter’s revered fighting spirit will hopefully see him through.