Keep Fighting (14 page)

Four days after the Cup final it was back to European Cup action and the second leg against Celtic, at Hampden Park. In the fourteenth minute, Leeds answered their doubters with a stunning Bremner goal which levelled the tie on aggregate.

Gary Sprake went some way to redeeming his dire Wembley performance, and produced a number of top-class saves to deny Celtic a goal. Eventually, with tiredness beginning to takes it toll, the Glasgow side began to dominate. It came as no surprise when a John ‘Yogi’ Hughes glancing header flew past Sprake into the net. Celtic had regained the advantage. Later, a clash between Hughes and Sprake saw the Leeds player stretchered off and applauded by the crowd for his valiant performance and bravery. His replacement was David Harvey and the youngster barely had a
chance to settle when, before he even got a touch, his first and unenviable task was picking the ball out of his net. Bobby Murdoch scored the second Celtic goal of the night, giving the Parkhead side a 3-1 aggregate lead, more than enough to see them through the remainder of the game against an exhausted Leeds United.

Bremner recalled: ‘It was a gruelling night at Hampden Park; Celtic were a great team and really exploited our tired state. It was the one game I saw what Gary Sprake could give us as a team. His head was on the game and he knew he needed to make amends for his abject display at Wembley, not only to us but to the supporters. He was really hurt in that collision with “Yogi” Hughes and I felt for him. Afterwards I think we could all see the strain and exhaustion on our faces. It wasn't so much a long season but the amount of big games we had to play in a short space of time. Ridiculous really. Mentally we had to tough it out – if we approached the Chelsea replay in anything but the right frame of mind then we could be punished and lose.’

The Old Trafford replay was no different from Wembley. Leeds had the play and pressed forward from midfield, and in the thirty-fourth minute took the lead through a first-class finish from Mick Jones, after an Allan Clarke pass had split the Chelsea defence. Late in the game came the Chelsea equaliser, a diving header from Osgood, which broke the resilience and will-power of a team running on adrenalin. Again the final went into extra time. Intense Leeds pressure persisted, yet Chelsea stood firm and began to look dangerous. When David Webb ‘shouldered’ the ball into the net late into extra time, the trophy was heading to Stamford Bridge. Leeds United left the field thoroughly dejected and trophyless:

‘I don't think it was so much losing to Chelsea that hurt us, more the way our season ended. We had chased three major trophies – the European Cup, the League, and the FA Cup – and had just failed in all of them. We had too many important games crammed together and despite official appeals we were forced to play them without a reasonable break in between, as dictated by the football authorities. No thought was ever given to the
physical strain such a season placed on the team. For the first time in my football career I felt physically and mentally drained and needed a break and a lift.’

The final game of the season closed a decade of first-team football for Billy Bremner. A decade that by his own admission had been a rollercoaster ride, from reserve-team football to lifting the League Championship trophy, the Inter Cities Fairs Cup trophy, the Football League Cup trophy, the FA Charity Shield plus the consolidation of his first-team place in the Scotland international team.

By 1970, the slightly built ginger-haired boy from Raploch had matured into a world-class footballer, and was accepted in football as a true leader of men:

‘I don't think I changed as a person during my first decade at Leeds, but I had become more aware of other people's perception of me. At first I found it difficult to understand why the press would wish to undermine the success of a British football club or of individual players but the sad thing is that they did, and to this day they continue to do so. It's a sad indictment of society and the game but success ultimately breeds contempt.

‘Leeds were initially despised by some of the press. Condemnation in those printed column inches spread such animosity to football supporters throughout the land that our football was often condemned as cynical, and as an individual I was classed as “dirty”. Eventually such tags wear thin and we were forced to maintain an aloof approach with much of the press.

‘With that said, you can imagine my surprise and pleasure when I was told that I had been nominated and voted as “Footballer of the Year” by the Football Writers Association. What a fantastic accolade, one which had previously been bestowed to the boss, Don Revie, at the end of the 1954-55 season. By winning this award I had joined some illustrious company, yet not once did I consider myself as good a footballer as some of those previous winners. Billy Bremner, Footballer of the Year – it was unbelievable! Yet it was true, it had really happened, the boy from Raploch had done good.’

10

SIDE BEFORE SELF EVERY TIME

The new decade brought new hope, and with it new promise to Elland Road. An opening-day fixture at Old Trafford against Manchester United provided a distinctly difficult start to proceedings:

‘The boss didn't want any hangovers from the way the previous season had ended, but I felt okay. Winning the Footballer of the Year award was an unexpected honour and kept my mind focused on keeping my performances at their very best.

‘Old Trafford was always difficult terrain for us at Leeds, the two teams were so closely matched in skill and ability and the supporters had their own enthusiastic agenda on the terraces. Whenever we played Manchester United the noise level seems to lift – it's a game everyone looks forward to, especially the fans of either club.’

The game itself was typically close with Leeds winning 1-0 courtesy of a first-half strike from Mick Jones. The team set off on a run of five straight victories as they stormed to the top of the league before Arsenal snatched a point in a dour nil all draw at Highbury:

‘Mick Jones was a great lad to have up front; he put away so many chances, and what an athlete he was. He never stopped running throughout a game, fantastic energy and commitment. Both Mick, and his partner up front Allan Clarke, were a threatening strike force and they took so much pressure off us defensively by holding up the ball and chasing lost causes.

‘At the beginning of the 1970 season we were playing some of our best football and everyone looked comfortable on the ball.

Once again there was a general feeling that in most areas (goalkeeper excepted) we were invincible and could go through a whole season without losing. It was never openly discussed amongst the players, but I know that privately, such a belief existed. Whenever I mentioned it to the boss he would say that we had to take one game at a time.’

If the players were feeling unbeatable, then such arrogance was to disappear during one week in September. First they suffered an ignominious defeat in the League Cup competition, losing 1-0 to Sheffield Wednesday. Then, four days later, the unbeaten league start was not so much stopped, but battered from them one afternoon in Stoke. At City's Victoria Ground, the Potters taught Leeds a valuable lesson that football can be a great leveller. Stoke showed concentration, determination and desire for the full ninety minutes, giving Leeds not a moment to dwell on the ball or the opportunity to get into their passing game. Once the home side scored, in a one-sided first half, the result and outcome of the game was never in doubt as Leeds suffered a humbling 3-0 defeat:

‘Stoke City were a funny sort of team; on their day they could hammer anyone, they had the players and the determination to cause damage to the most disciplined of sides. I can't say I have many fond memories of playing at Stoke; I never used to like playing against them as they were one of the few teams who seemed to know how to counter our game. Terry Conroy and Mike Pejic in particular were tremendous servants to the club and both were very good footballers. Some people said they were the “Bremner and Giles” of the Stoke team. I don't know about that, but what I do know is they were bloody tough opponents and real characters too. I was always surprised that Stoke did not compete for more trophies, albeit they had this inconsistent side to their game. They would stuff us one week then lose to a team struggling near the bottom of the table. It must have been hugely frustrating for the manager and the fans that that form could not be maintained.’

Gradually, as the season progressed, the odd defensive
weakness or lapse in concentration crept into games and cost the team dearly. In one game at Crystal Palace, and with Leeds leading, Gary Sprake chose to have one of his ‘moments’. As the game moved into its final minute Palace defender and captain John Sewell hoofed a clearance up field which went towards the Leeds goal and was never a threat. Cue Gary Sprake. The Welshman moved to catch the ball which sailed through his hands into the net. John Sewell recalled the goal:

‘I only scored about nine goals for Palace but that one was a freak. I just kicked the ball up field, there was no thought of shooting or scoring. I was knackered and was relieving the pressure. When it sailed right through the goalkeeper's hands I couldn't believe it. The whole ground was delighted, it was the first time I heard a crowd of 35,000 laughing in unison. After, Sprake wasn't at all remorseful; it was obvious that many of the Leeds players were unhappy with him but he didn't appear to care.’

Unfortunately for Leeds it wasn't to be the only costly error Sprake made that season. Billy recalled the fluke goal at Crystal Palace:

‘I would like to say that I couldn't believe what Gary did that day, but that wouldn't be accurate or true. His cock-ups were never far away and were becoming more frequent. Only he can justify why it continually happened, but my belief is that he didn't keep his eye on the ball, and when he had time to think about making a save, he was prone to fluffing it. Anything that required concentration and he was liable to cock it up. No matter how much we tried to lift his concentration levels and spirits, he didn't seem to bother, he just kept doing the same thing over and over again.

‘I wasn't alone in feeling unhappy with him but it was the boss who picked the team and not us players, so we didn't really have a lot of say. It was obvious to everyone that Sprake was our Achilles heel.’

Come the end of the season the point dropped at Selhurst Park was to prove crucial.

In January 1971, the team suffered a shock second league defeat, when Tottenham snatched a 2-1 win in front of 43,907 Elland Road fans – a crowd that included an injured Billy Bremner:

‘Whenever I was out injured or through the odd suspension, I would watch the games sat in the West Stand with the supporters and cheer the team on alongside them. It was a real surprise to lose at home to Spurs but we never looked in control, or like winning the game, and seemed nervous on the ball. The fans around me were willing me to get back out there as soon as possible. I assured them that it was a one-off result and that the players would be well and truly pissed off in the dressing room. That helped keep things in perspective.’

With Bremner absent through injury, Leeds temporarily stuttered and in early February lost another home game, this time 1-0 to Liverpool. Things were to get much worse before they improved:

‘We had got through to the FA Cup fifth round and were drawn away to a Fourth Division side, Colchester United. It wasn't the sort of game that should cause us any problems – we were generally professional enough to treat every opponent the same. The usual preparations were made for the game and the boss pointed out the obvious threat of their forward Ray Crawford, who was well known to most of us from his days and goalscoring exploits at Ipswich and for England. The boss seemed a little out of sorts before the game. I wasn't playing but we had a bloody strong team despite that.’

Revie later recalled the game:

‘I've been in some intimidating stadiums in my time but Layer Road at Colchester was claustrophobic as well. There just wasn't any room and the fans were right on top of the players, touching them when they took a throw-in or a corner. It was a Cup upset waiting to happen and I sensed that the minute I walked into the ground.’

Colchester sat seventy-four positions below Leeds in the football league placings and had four players aged thirty-five or
older in their team. They had been meticulous in their assessment of the Leeds threat minus Bremner. Manager Dick Graham knew that Leeds like to get the ball wide and to counter this he had chairs and benches placed at a safe distance round the outside of the pitch to make it appear more cramped. In the week leading up to the tie he had his players practising crosses in the realisation that Gary Sprake was the weak link and could prove key to Leeds’ undoing.

A partisan crowd of 16,000 crammed into the tiny stadium and there witnessed one of the greatest FA Cup shocks of all time. Leeds weren't able to compete in a first half that saw them fall behind to two Ray Crawford goals. The first was a thumping header and the second a shot that slid past the hesitant Sprake in the Leeds goal. In the second half, David Simmons ran through onto a looping ball and again Sprake hesitated, allowing Simmons to get his head onto it and past the flailing arms of the Leeds keeper to make the score an unbelievable 3-0.

Leeds did pull two goals back in the second half, through Hunter and Giles, but it was too little, too late. ‘Grandad's Army’ as they were labelled, won the game:

‘It was an awful experience. No one knew what to say, we were dreadful and deserved to lose that day. I think the overall performance put things in perspective for us all, there is no getting away from it – we had let everyone down. Even Gary Sprake was disappointed in his game and gave some sort of apology to the boss but that didn't help erase the memory of our nightmare in Essex. There was a belief in the team that if the game had gone on another ten minutes then we would have won. I don't subscribe to that thought. We deserved to lose on the day, and once again Mr Sprake gave us an indecisive performance in goal.’