Keep Fighting (11 page)

The second leg at Elland Road resulted in a 2-1 Leeds victory, meaning the semi-final had finished all level at 2-2 on aggregate. A play-off game was necessary. Jack Charlton, who had been handed temporary captaincy following the injury to Bobby Collins, won the toss to give Leeds home advantage in the third and final game. From a Leeds perspective the game was very much a non-event. Zaragoza scored three times in quick succession, all inside the first thirteen minutes, to kill the game dead. As a spectacle the game was over but the fans did at least having something to cheer when a late consolation goal from Jack Charlton added a little respectability to the scoreline:

‘It was a depressing result, we quite simply did not get out of the starting blocks until half time by which time it was too late. We were taught a bitter lesson that game by a team with immense quality and focus. Thankfully we were willing scholars and profited from all of the experiences we encountered.'

8

‘LEADING LEEDS UNITED

WAS MY DESTINY'

The European tie against Torino was to have a great impact upon the playing career of Billy Bremner, far greater than he could ever have anticipated. He recalled a meeting with manager Don Revie shortly after the tie:

‘The boss asked me to give him half an hour for a chat and a catch-up meeting. He was worried about how the loss of Bobby's influence on the pitch had affected the rest of the lads. Big Jack had done a good job in covering the role, yet by his own admission, he had lost it completely against Valencia. It was obvious that Bobby was going to be out for a long time and that the boss wasn't comfortable with Big Jack as acting captain. I told him not to worry about it – as a set of players we would keep fighting and do our bit to make sure we pushed on. He said to me, “Bill, I like that attitude, keep fighting. How do you feel about taking over the captaincy?” It came as a bit of a surprise as I hadn't considered the situation. He told me that he thought I was the natural leader of the team and that I would make a great team captain. I told him that I would not do it if Jack (Charlton) was going to be upset by the decision. I had a lot of respect for the big man, we had an excellent understanding on and off the field and there was no way I would deliberately hurt or offend him. The fact that he was about four foot taller than me hadn't escaped my attention either!

‘Looking back, I can see that the boss was using his own management tactics to instil a more positive side to my game. I had, at times, an excitable temperament on the pitch, some
people called it a short fuse. One reporter said I was a keg of gunpowder waiting to explode, but that was far from true in my opinion. If anything, I was too honest. If I saw someone commit a foul against a fellow Leeds player and the referee missed it, then I would have a word with the player, but sometimes, very often really, the other player disagreed with my opinion which would end up with me getting into trouble. As team captain I had to lead by example so if I was sent off or was too hot-headed then this would affect the team. I had to take responsibility and show self-control.

‘From the day I took on the captain's role I felt that I matured as a person, it was a great honour. Looking back upon it now, it was my destiny to lead Leeds United; I feel I was born to be part of what I consider the greatest club in the world. How fortunate was I to hail from a great nation, too. I accepted the role and told the boss that I would maintain the high standards expected of an individual, given such an honour. I thought to myself, “Now I've got the captain's role I am not relinquishing it to anyone else.” I was rightly very proud – what an honour to captain Leeds United. It wasn't long after that I had the “Keep Fighting” number plate hanging above my dressing-room peg. I wanted it to be a constant reminder to the rest of the lads that no matter what we are faced with in life we will keep fighting until we can fight no more, and even then, defeat wasn't an acceptable option for us as individuals, as a team, or for Leeds United.'

The following season was in many ways less eventful. In the League Cup, West Ham United inflicted a 7-0 thrashing at Upton Park, and a few days later in a league game, Leeds went down 5-0 to Liverpool at Anfield. The FA Cup offered some solace, as the team battled through to the semi-final stages. Chelsea were the opponents in a game that took place at Villa Park. Trailing 1-0 to a Tony Hateley goal, Leeds mounted serious pressure on the Chelsea goal, yet, as was so often the case, they were denied by some poor refereeing decisions, one of which, to this very day, defies all logic and evidence of common sense. Leeds had reason
to feel aggrieved when a Terry Cooper strike was disallowed for a player being offside, yet worse was to come. Later, in more dramatic circumstances, a Peter Lorimer ‘special', with just two minutes of normal time remaining, was cruelly ruled out. No one, not even the Chelsea players, knew why the goal had been dismissed by referee Ken Burns. The Leeds players remonstrated with the match official, but he would have none of it. He later said that he ‘wasn't ready for the free kick to be taken'. This despite the fact that Chelsea were lined up in a defensive wall, whilst others took up positions marking the Leeds attackers in the penalty area. Clearly, the goal was a good one, yet incredibly, Leeds were punished for what should have been a free kick to their advantage. Billy recalled the game and the poor refereeing decision, with some harshness:

‘F—— Chelsea again, fair play to them, they did get at us in their usual dirty way. Name calling, over the top tackles and elbows in your ribs were very much part of their tactics. We just couldn't find a way through them. The free kick that Peter [Lorimer] fired home was as sweet as you will see anywhere, nothing wrong with it. Chelsea thought it was a good goal, so did everyone else, even the television commentator. The one bastard that mattered though, the referee, well he had other ideas. He was a bit of a larger than life character was Ken Burns, but I always thought he cheated us that day. I never forgave him for that and would never miss an opportunity to ask him if he had his spectacles with him whenever he refereed us after that. He would say, “We all make mistakes, young Bremner.” If that doesn't tell you something about what he realised, then nothing will.'

In Europe, it was once again the Inter Cities Fairs Cup competition. Aggregate victory over DWS Amsterdam (8-2) brought another tie against Valencia. All supporters of Leeds had been concerned about the return of Valencia to Elland Road, and the potential clashes that may occur on the pitch. I always recall my uncle telling me how the local police were apparently preparing for a situation not dissimilar to a war. They typically
over-dramatised the whole situation, something that still often occurs to this day, but now affects kick-off times and dates. Thankfully back then policing was usually a bit more sensible and individual officers took responsibility, part of which was ensuring that the crowd enjoyed the game. A strong police contingent was present and as a result, nothing untoward took place among the spectators. On the pitch, both managers were said to have warned individual players about the manner in which the game was to be played. Whatever was said, it influenced both teams, and when compared to their previous encounters, there were no incidents of any real note. Both sets of players had sensibly put their history behind them.

After beating Valencia (3-1), victories over Bologna (toss of a coin) and Kilmarnock (4-2) put United into the final against Dinamo Zagreb. There the success ended, as Zagreb ran out 2-0 aggregate winners:

‘We were disappointed when we lost the Zagreb first leg; it was the first time we had conceded two goals on foreign soil. It just didn't happen for us – we seemed to have a lot of the possession but didn't forge any chances. After the game we talked about where we had gone wrong, but to be honest apart from scoring there was nothing more we could have done. Both Zagreb goals were well executed and not down to any individual errors. In the second leg at Elland Road we were virtually camped in their half for the entire game, but they again shut up shop and defended too deep for us to exploit them. It was disappointing to lose the final but we had to recognise that we were beaten by a more clinical team.'

If the 1966-67 season was one of disappointment, the 1967-68 season was one of great celebration as two major trophies were brought back to Elland Road. In the league it was a lack of consistency that proved to be United's downfall, although a final league position of fourth was still attained. Some good league results were achieved, especially the 7-0 against Chelsea, in which Bremner's performance was described as ‘simply
outstanding'. January saw back-to-back 5-0 victories over Fulham at Craven Cottage, and Southampton at Elland Road, but it was the Chelsea result that Bremner recalled most vividly:

‘Oh that Chelsea result was simply fantastic, we completely outplayed them and I was teasing and hounding their midfield. We seemed to move to a new level in the 1967-68 season and we were maturing as a group, and as individuals and players. Some claimed we were too mature for our age, as we all enjoyed a game of bingo after training or when we were on our travels, and then there was carpet bowls! I'm not kidding you, we genuinely did play those games, and it was great for relaxing and taking your mind off everything. I still hated losing though.'

Once again it was in the cup competitions where United showed their resilience and determination to succeed. The FA Cup semi-final was again reached, after victories over Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Sheffield United. The semi-final paired them with Everton at Old Trafford, the end of the trail as far as United were concerned. The Goodison Park outfit clinched the tie 1-0, by virtue of what was fast becoming a typical Gary Sprake error. Clearing the ball whilst under no serious pressure he kicked straight to the feet of Everton's Jimmy Husband, who lobbed the ball back towards Sprake's goal. The retreating Jack Charlton did a better impression of being a goalkeeper than Sprake. The big centre-half was forced to handle the ball to prevent it going directly into the net. The referee instantly blew his whistle and pointed to the Leeds penalty spot. John Morrisey lined the spot-kick up, casually winking at a nervous looking Sprake as he drove the ball into the Leeds net. And with that woeful error went United's dreams of an appearance in another FA Cup final:

‘Big Jack wasn't the only one fuming with the blithering idiot. Gary was prone to making basic errors and not for the first time Jack and I tore into him in the dressing room afterwards. Typical of Gary, he refused to accept any responsibility whatsoever, and in his usual arrogant manner, threw insults back at Jack and anyone else who got involved. Gary believed that Jimmy
Husband should have been more closely marked, and if he had been then he wouldn't have scored. There's his stupid f—— logic for you!'

In some of the interviews we did, Billy would occasionally reflect on his colleagues, and clearly Gary Sprake was not one his favoured team mates:

‘To me, Gary Sprake was so bloody infuriating, he could pull off some fantastic saves and just occasionally, he was as reliable as any keeper in the land. Yet on other days he wasn't with it at all, his attention was all over the place, and his catching, kicking and communication were non-existent. As a set of players out on the pitch we could sense his poor attitude and it did make us very nervous as to how he would cope throughout the game. I had plenty of bust-ups with him over the years and I don't think I was alone either. He had a “couldn't give a damn” attitude that tended to wind a few of us up. In his world there was just one player of any note and importance at Leeds United and he would think of no one else but Gary Sprake. It was a great shame really, a waste of goalkeeping talent. Quite a few of the team felt that he was massively overrated by the boss; he got too comfortable in his position and cost us some very big games, and the trophies that went with them. The thing is, if you are a centre forward and you miss a golden chance, you get other opportunities to put it right during a game. As a goalkeeper one mistake can prove vital, and sadly, that's what Gary Sprake will be remembered for. I'm not saying he was universally crap, he did pull off saves that kept us in matches, and in some games I saw the world-class goalkeeper that he could be. Yet overall, he was an absolute liability to the team and the club, he was our Achilles heel, our weakness that other teams and supporters exploited.

‘I say supporters, because amongst them, outside of Wales, he was regarded as something of a joke. In one game at Liverpool he threw the ball into his own net and, at once, and in unison, the Kop and thirty thousand other people in the ground began to sing the Des O'Connor hit, “Careless Hands” to him. At Chelsea and Leicester they would scream whenever he went near the ball,
trying to make him nervous and put him off his game. He did react a couple of times, turning on the crowd to show his displeasure. We all told him to ignore everything but the game being played out in front of him. Sometimes he saw the funny side of how the fans related to him and he got a rapport going with them, other times he just didn't seem to concentrate.

‘It might well be that this made him even more prone to making mistakes. I don't know, he was so arrogant and full of himself, I couldn't be doing with it half of the time. Saying that, I wouldn't want to be a goalkeeper at any price.'

I had witnessed Sprake's arrogance as a supporter and, as sad as it was, he didn't always endear himself to the Leeds fans, despite many remaining loyal to him because he represented Leeds United. It was only after he left and sold his version of events to a national newspaper that we saw him in a different light. I lost most of my respect for him when I was a child meeting him at Newcastle, but I did occasionally feel sorry for him when he dropped one of his clangers. Billy Bremner had very definite views on this:

‘The boss had this thing that he had plucked him from obscurity as a teenager and nurtured him, and Gary would play on that, abusing the boss's loyalty to his own advantage. He reckoned he had film-star looks and at times was more concerned about his appearance than saving bloody shots. He was always chewing gum, too, and that would irritate me, trying to talk to him and his bloody jaw jerking from side to side.