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Season
1959/60
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Billy
the Kid and a fall from grace
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The team had rallied at the end of the season to finish 15th in division
one, but had enjoyed little success in the years since Raich
Carter steered them to promotion in 1956
on the back of the goals of John Charles.
Sadly, Elland Road was now but a distant memory for the awesome Welshman,
and he had been revelling in the sunshine of Turin with Juventus for three
years when Taylor arrived in Yorkshire. One of the new manager's first duties was to oversee the transfer of
two veterans with more than 700 League games behind them for the club.
Left half Eric Kerfoot joined third division Chesterfield, while Jimmy
Dunn, now 36, moved to the fourth with struggling Darlington. Both players
had served the club loyally for years, and Dunn's dependability in particular
would be missed. 'He was one of the best full-backs I played with, though
I think he could have passed the ball better,' said John
Charles, 'but he was very fit, strong and hard; and at covering, unbelievable.' While the sale of the promising George O'Brien to Southampton brought
in £10,000, Taylor's freedom to bring in new blood was restricted by the
financial difficulties which Leeds United always seemed to experience.
Even though he was allowed the whole of the O'Brien money to sign Bradford
City's powerful and confident striker John McCole shortly after the season
started, it was only after centre forward Alan Shackleton had left to
join division one rivals Everton. Shackleton led the Leeds forward line for the first two games of the
new campaign, both of which ended in 3-2 reverses, against Burnley and
Leicester City. Taylor had stuck with the side which had seen out the
tail end of the previous season - the acrobatic Ted Burgin in goal, the
full back pairing of Jimmy Ashall and the highly regarded Grenville Hair,
who had gained representative honours, young Peter McConnell, the argumentative
centre half Jack Charlton and Wilbur
Cush, who had played in the 1958 World Cup for Northern Ireland, were
the regular names in shirts 1-6. 19-year-old Chris Crowe was a rare early product of the youth development
programme which Bill Lambton had
resurrected and had already played for the England Under-23 team. He had
been in the Leeds side for a couple of years on the right wing, although
he featured at No 10 for much of 1959-60. The Scot George Meek was another
outstanding player on either flank, and partnering Shackleton up front
was a former England inside forward, the classy Don
Revie, who captained the side. Belfast born right winger Billy Humphries had shown enough promise at
Ards to convince Leeds to sign him for £5,000 the year before and completed
the line-up for the first match. However, Humphries was only seen as a
deputy for Meek, Jack Overfield or Crowe for most of his time at Elland
Road and he returned to Ards in November 1959, having failed dismally
to live up to his billing. The two opening defeats were the final games that Shackleton played for
Leeds. After arriving at Elland Road for £8,000 from Burnley the previous
October, just a month before Revie was signed, he finished the season
as top scorer with 16 goals from his 28 games. Revie, who had already figured at inside-left, inside-right and right-half
in his year at the club, was obliged to act as stop gap No 9 until John
McCole's arrival, in time for the trip to West Bromwich Albion on 19 September,
with Leeds already deep in trouble. Their 6-0 defeat at Manchester United
in the early part of the month was bad enough, but McCole's arrival coincided
with three straight defeats. The last of them, a 2-0 reverse at Birmingham
on October 3, left Leeds with just eight points from their 11 matches.
Birmingham City and Luton Town on seven were the only two sides below
them in the table. McCole impressed in that spell, however, and got off the mark with a
goal in his second game, a 3-2 defeat at home to Newcastle. He managed
a good little run of six goals in his opening eight matches and in fact
scored prolifically throughout the season. No blame could be attached
to his efforts, but he was one of the few players to emerge with any honour
from a pretty abysmal year. It was in defence that the problems lay, and no matter how many goals
came from McCole, Crowe, Revie and 5ft 5in Dubliner Noel Peyton (who made
a useful contribution after appearing sporadically in the autumn), Leeds
usually managed to concede one (or, more normally, several!) more. The
run through to the beginning of December was dismal - Fulham's 4-1 win
at Elland Road on 5 December was the fourth defeat in a row and the 11th
from 20 games. The defence had shipped three or more goals on 11 occasions
and had conceded 50 in total. Leeds United were now 21st in the table. Astonishingly the Fulham reverse acted as the trigger for an improvement
in form and the side rallied for the rest of the month. Don Revie scored
A week later, Leeds visited third in the table Burnley and came away
victorious after Jack Overfield scored the only goal of the game. On Boxing Day, table-topping Spurs won 4-2 at Elland Road, but two days
later Leeds shocked the football world by visiting White Hart Lane and
pulling off an amazing 4-1 triumph in the return, with McCole scoring
twice. It was enough to take Leeds out of the relegation places for a
day at least and stirred frozen Yorkshire hearts. The game at Elland Road
had pulled in over 36,000 fans, by far Leeds' biggest gate of the season,
and the contest at Tottenham drew a crowd of more than 54,000. To put the victory into context, one should remember that this was a
redoubtable Tottenham side, on the verge of greatness and a Double triumph
a year later. Striker Les Allen (father of Clive, who went on to such
goalscoring feats in the 80's with QPR, Spurs and Crystal Palace), made
his debut in the game at Elland Road after signing from Chelsea and scored
twice, but was always considered the junior partner to the big, bustling
Bobby Smith at centre forward. The real stars of the side, however, were
Danny Blanchflower, John White, Dave Mackay and Cliff Jones, football
immortals all, forming one of the best midfield line ups ever to play
in the Football League. Tottenham manager Bill Nicholson was building
a superb outfit, but they were not yet the finished article and Leeds
simply tore them apart in one of the upsets of the season. It was all the more disappointing, therefore, when Leeds could only draw
1-1 at home to bottom club Luton five days later, and then the following
weekend lost 2-1 to second division Aston Villa in the third round of
the FA Cup. Decent form returned for a while after that and wins by 3-0
against West Ham and 3-1 at Chelsea saw Leeds look more the part. Their
more optimistic fans prayed that they had turned the corner and would
start to climb away from the foot of the table. The Chelsea match enabled them to consider the talents of a young Scot
by the name of Billy Bremner who was making the first of almost 800 first-team
appearances for the club. Bremner came in on the right wing, and playing inside him was Don Revie
- the two, resembling father and son in age difference, almost immediately
formed a lasting bond. Bremner was just 17, and had opted to join Leeds
rather than any one of several other, much bigger clubs such as Rangers,
Celtic, Arsenal and Chelsea. He was unsure of himself and homesick, but
delighted to be in the same team as Revie, whom he already admired as
an outstanding passer and a deep thinker about the game. 'What impressed
me more than anything else was his vision on a football park... it was
tremendous. And after he had struck the ball, he would pose, as if for
a photograph.' By chance it was Revie who broke the news to the incredulous Bremner
that he was to make his first-team debut against Chelsea. 'He saw me in
the car park and gave me the news. Chris Crowe was doing National Service
and had to play for the army. So I played on the right wing.' The night before the match, Revie and Bremner shared a hotel room in
London. It was an occasion for the senior player to show an early sign
of the paternalism that would become one of his managerial hallmarks.
He insisted Bremner be in bed by 10.00 pm and then, the next day, forced
the young Scot to accompany him on a long walk. Bremner: 'I don't think any player ever really forgets his debut. I wore
a No 7 shirt and before the kick off I looked around and could see famous
faces everywhere. Once the game started, though, I forgot about that,
and it was not until it was all over that I once again took in the fact
that I had been playing football in the First Division surrounded by internationals.
We won the game 3-1, so you can imagine how I felt once it was all over.
Noel Peyton scored one and John McCole hit two.' That little run of success proved to be a false dawn for Leeds United,
but represented the big breakthrough for Bremner. He missed a few games,
but managed for the most part to retain his spot on the wing, flanking
Revie, and did so well, in fact, that within a couple of months manager
Frank Taylor felt able to part with another prized asset, Chris Crowe.
Blackburn Rovers stepped in with the sizable bid of £25,000 and Taylor
felt obliged to accept. Crowe had potential, but was often unnerved by
heckling from the fans, and allowed his form to suffer. Following the Chelsea match, West Brom came up to Elland Road a week
later and ended Leeds' run with a 4-1 victory. Three straight defeats
followed, including a 5-0 drubbing at Fulham, and Leeds were once more
battling for survival. There were still more than ten games to go, but
it already looked like bottom club Luton Town were relegation certainties,
with Birmingham and Leeds looking the clubs most likely to join them. Leeds struggled to a 3-3 draw at home with Birmingham on 9 March with
Revie scoring twice and Bremner hitting his first goal for the club. A
major opportunity to improve their position had been squandered. Manchester City were another club in the throes of a relegation struggle
and Elland Road hosted a match against them on 19 March. The tussle saw
Bremner in direct conflict with another talented young Scot making his
way at a new club, the legendary Denis Law. The Times: 'There was quite a flutter one way and another at Elland
Road, Leeds, on Saturday. Not only was this one of those edgy meetings
between sides groping in the dark wood of relegation, but there was also
about it a touch of the eternal Yorkshire-Lancashire argument in broad
accents, where words are chosen carefully and are meant to sting. 'To add spice to the occasion, too, here was the first appearance of
Law for Manchester City in the Championship. A fair haired young man,
frail in appearance, but of whip lash quality, he himself seemed the least
conscious of the golden yoke, valued at some £53,000, around his slender
neck. A fading fortune to revive, a duty to be done in a game which he
patently loves, he set out with a firm step under his new banner. Yet
in spite of his hypnotic appearance Leeds won desperately at the very
last breath and some 35,000 Yorkshiremen breathed a sigh as their team,
for the moment at least, took a step towards the light. 'That it needed two penalty kicks by McCole in the final stages to turn
apparent defeat into sudden victory merely added to the tension, though
in neither case did any real stigma remain with Manchester. They were
the sort of things that often happen in a match of this character where
nerves twang and where gentlemanly thud follows human blunder. Yet justice
was finally done in a roundabout way, even if the first of those penalties
- making it 3-3 - surprised even the mildest of Yorkshiremen, for in the
last analysis it was the goalkeeping of Trautmann, the eagle under the
Manchester bar, which for so long supported the attacking touches of Law
caught in the ebb and flow of an untidy battle. 'All eyes, of course, burnt deep into the figure eight on the back of
Law's shirt. He was the focal point of attention and long before the end
the 'The verdict on the larger issue - is any British footballer worth such
a sum of money? - may be withheld. The time to judge is at the end of
Law's career. Meanwhile he finds himself involved in a matter of values.
And at this moment Manchester City are badly in need of success. 'As to the player himself, judged in a less hysterical context, he is
an obvious footballer of flair. Poised, stylish, efficient and quick witted,
he is a combatant disguised in a slim frame. But his full value will only
be felt by Manchester City when his new colleagues learn to think as swiftly
and as broadly as himself. He has an eye and a touch more suited perhaps
to the subtle Latin gifts of di Stefano, Suarez, Kopa, and company than
to the more formal lines of the British game. 'Indeed, at times in the opening half Law must have doubted whether he
had stepped up into the supposedly higher grade of the championship, so
inaccurate and hesitant was the general pattern. Both sides struggled
with the neurosis of survival as first Revie with a sharp pass sent Peyton
in to put Leeds ahead, only to see the lead quickly squandered, as Gibson,
with a blind disregard, pushed the ball past his own goalkeeper at the
other end. Next Bremner, a 17 year old winger of some promise, sent Leeds
clear a second time through a scattered defence with a shot in off the
far post, but almost immediately, at the 25th minute, Law began to make
his presence felt. 'Manchester, indeed, now seemed to be heading for their first away win
since 15 December. A colonnade of tributes began to be prepared for Law
when suddenly the tide turned. Revie, slower than of old but still sophisticated
of touch, inspired a storming Yorkshire revival. Supported by the strength
of his full backs and Goodwin, a new colleague from Old Trafford in the
rear, and by the liveliness of little Bremner at his side, Revie mounted
the last counter challenge against a tottering, yawning defence. 'At the kick off the massed flight of photographers, amid mock boos and
cheers, had settled like vultures around the Leeds goal. Now Law produced
something for them to embalm on film and plate. Flicking a pass to Hayes
and sidestepping Gibson, he took the return in his stride, beat Ashall's
tackle, and flashed in a fine goal to make it 2-2. More and more now he
became the puppet master. But the cultured Barnes apart, few of the figures
around him answered his touches promptly until at last, 20 minutes after
the interval, another proficient pass from him sent Barlow in to put City
3-2 ahead. 'Trautmann made superb saves from Revie himself and McCole, both at point
blank range, then from Bremner: when he was beaten Branagan and Sear cleared
off the Manchester goal line. But with 10 minutes left came the twist.
McCole and Branagan both stumbled over the ball harmlessly. A penalty
was awarded mysteriously. McCole drove it home and then repeated the dose
in the dying seconds when Oakes impulsively handled Bremner's centre.
Leeds were home and Law, Barnes, and Trautmann, their efforts wasted,
became figures of dejection. It was payment deferred.' The two points enabled Leeds to move ahead of Birmingham City, who had
crashed 5-2 at home to Bolton, and left them just a point behind Manchester
City themselves. Again, however, it heralded no sustained improvement
in form and it was another four games before Leeds won again, by the only
goal at home to Bolton on April 16 with Jack Charlton the scorer. The
win was enough to take United off bottom spot, where they had been dumped
by Luton's 2-0 win at Blackburn the day before, but by now, Leeds had
fallen a couple of points behind Birmingham, and looked in the greatest
peril. There were just five games left. This was the start of the Easter programme, and Leeds now faced two games
in a couple of days against a Preston North End side with Tom Finney about
to finish his career. 14 years earlier, the same Finney had marked his
League debut with a goal in a victory against Leeds at Deepdale, but now
it was United who had the upper hand, drawing away and winning 2-1 at
Elland Road with Charlton and black right winger Gerry Francis snatching
the goals. Leeds had clawed back one valuable point on Birmingham, but
the Midlanders had by far the superior goal average, thanks to Leeds'
abysmal defensive record. Things had actually started to tighten up at the back, with much of the
credit going to former Manchester United centre-back Freddie Goodwin,
who had been signed for £10,000 in March and now partnered Charlton in
the rearguard. Goodwin had emerged at Old Trafford following the Munich
air disaster and the loss of the Busby Babes and played in the 1958 FA
Cup final defeat against Bolton. He brought a steadying influence to bear
in a chaotic situation, but the damage had been done earlier in the season. He could do nothing to prevent Leeds losing by the only goal at Everton
on April 23, a defeat which was doubly damaging as it allowed the Merseysiders
to confirm their own safety. The same day, Birmingham won 4-2 at Sheffield
Wednesday and Nottingham Forest thrashed Newcastle 3-0 to give the bottom
of the table an alarming look for Leeds United, now favourites to accompany
already relegated Luton Town into division two. The following Tuesday evening promised to be decisive with a couple of
games which would have a massive impact on the relegation dogfight. Birmingham
played hosts to a Burnley side still hopeful of winning the league championship,
while Leeds had to travel to Blackburn, themselves not yet clear of relegation.
And despite all the gloom, Leeds' fate still lay in their own hands. Their
final game of the season was at Elland Road against Nottingham Forest,
and two wins would leave them a point clear of the East Midlands club. Given the importance of the match to the club, one would have thought
the preparation would have been meticulous, but Leeds United were a very
disorganised club in those days, as Billy Bremner recalled: 'We went to
play a very important game towards the end of the season at Blackburn
Rovers. I remember thinking: "I wonder where we're going to eat."
In the end, we stopped off at a cafe and had beans on toast. It was all
a bit of a rush ... nothing had been arranged. And this was the most important
game of the season. We lost 3-2. Even as a young fellow, I thought "we
haven't really prepared well As if to compound the agony and make Leeds yearn for what might have
been, Birmingham lost 1-0 at home to Burnley, who went on to win the title. The die was almost cast, but United still had a mathematical chance of
staying up. However, it involved Birmingham losing their final game, at
home to Blackburn, 4-0, while Leeds would need to beat Forest by the same
score. Stranger things have happened, but only rarely. Leeds beat Forest 1-0 with a penalty from John McCole (his 22nd goal
of the season) before a resigned but hardy crowd of just 11,699, while
Birmingham confirmed their survival after winning by the same score. The
Elland Road club had survived four years in the first division, but their
time in the top flight was over. New stars had been thrown up in McCole, Bremner and Goodwin, but Leeds
United had conceded 92 goals and looked a very poor team indeed. Andrew Mourant from Revie: A Footballing Enigma: 'Over two seasons,
30 players had been employed, with Revie among just a handful who had
appeared more or less consistently. When, in 1960, Leeds United crashed
into the second division, there was no air of buoyant impatience for the
new season, no conviction that a return to the first would be swift and
successful.' Jack Taylor's influence had made scant difference, and the football loving
public of West Yorkshire had little reason for optimism that their exile
from the top flight would be a brief one. Other Football Highlights from 1959/60 |