Leeds 100: Time to give civic recognition for Leeds United’s famous Revie boys

Billy Bremner, Eddie Gray, Jack Charlton and the other stars of Don Revie’s magnificent United sides of the late 1960s and early 1970s are justly revered at Elland Road.

But, as the club celebrates its centenary, the YEP believes it is time they received official recognition from the city as a whole for their achievements.

A collective honour such as the freedom of Leeds or the council’s Leeds Award would also be the perfect way to mark 50 years since Bremner and co’s first league title win.

Sadly, some of the heroes of that era are no longer with us, but the goals they scored and the memories they created live on in the hearts and minds of Leeds fans everywhere.

Please get behind our campaign – together we can do our bit to help deliver a champion tribute to the Revie boys and the game-changing role they played in the city’s wider story.

They are names that echo down the decades, from a time when Leeds United ruled English football.

King Billy, Big Jack, Sniffer and their team-mates blazed a trail under visionary manager Don Revie in the late 1960s and early 1970s with their own version of what commentator John Motson described as soccer’s ABC – arrogance, belligerence and class.

And today, as the Yorkshire Evening Post kicks off a campaign for the Revie boys to receive proper recognition from the city of Leeds, it’s worth remembering exactly what they achieved.

Their record of two league titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup and two Fairs Cups in the space of a golden 10-year period speaks for itself.

There were also seemingly-endless near-misses and hard luck stories, from the agony of being denied the championship on goal average in 1965 to the injustices meted out in the Parc des Princes on the night of the European Cup final in 1975.

Leeds, with their sock tags and synchronised warm-ups, their win-at-all-costs style and their Saturday evening masterclasses on Match of the Day, were box office, genuine box office.

Every football fan of a certain age can still recite the ‘classic’ Revie XI - Sprake, Reaney, Cooper, Charlton, Hunter, Bremner, Giles, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Gray - at the drop of a hat.

Injuries and transfers meant the famous line-up actually only started one game together - a 2-0 win over Mansfield Town at Elland Road in the FA Cup in 1970.

But that in itself highlights the level of talent nurtured by Revie, with stars like Bobby Collins, Rod Belfitt, Mike O’Grady, David Harvey, Mick Bates, Gordon McQueen, Joe Jordan, Trevor Cherry and, of course, Paul Madeley - football’s Rolls Royce - serving Leeds superbly during his 13 years in charge.

With apologies to John Charles - the colossus who lit up Elland Road in the 1950s - it was these men who truly put United on the footballing map.

Even today, more than 40 years after The Don left for the England job and his legendary side began to break up, mention the city of Leeds anywhere in the world and the chances are there will be an immediate flash of recognition and an excited chat about the heroes of LS11, past and present.

That’s down to the Revie boys and moments such as Eddie Gray’s dribble against Burnley, Allan Clarke’s diving header in the cup final and the unforgettable olé-accompanied tormenting of Southampton.

They weren’t popular outside Leeds. Far from it. But did they care? Not a bit.

Brian Clough is once said to have informed Norman Hunter that “everyone” hated him, adding: “I know everyone likes to be loved, and you’d like to be loved too, wouldn’t you?”

Back came Hunter’s immortal reply: “Actually, I couldn’t give a ****.”

For Leeds’s fans, that teak-tough attitude only added to the appeal of a supremely-skilled team that in recent years has too often been defined by the caricatures that haunt the pages of The Damned United.

They weren’t damned, just damn good. The best we’ve ever had, in fact - and, as the club they made great celebrates its centenary, it’s time for the city to salute them.