LEEDS BOOK 1963 - 1975

Leeds United
1964-65
A Season in Brief
DIVISION ONE
Preview
Don Revie surprised everyone when he
declared that he wouldn’t be adding to his
squad. Was this naivety, confidence or
lack of money talking? ‘Experts’ thought
it was essential that Bobby Collins had
a good season if United were not to be
involved in a relegation scrap.
Before the season started, the FA wrote
to the club, concerned about their rough
play. Would this alter the manager’s
approach to the new season? This was
also the year when Don Revie introduced
the ‘infamous’ dossiers, detailing the
opposition’s strengths and weaknesses.
The importance of these was perhaps
overstated through the years, as many of
the senior players such as Billy Bremner
said that they barely read them.
The Season
United began at Villa Park and after a
period of rushing around like ‘headless
chickens’, they finally settled down and
won 2-1. They then subsequently showed
that they were not overawed by any team.
Leeds continued with their ‘take no
prisoners’ approach, a prime example
was their game at Goodison Park against
Everton, this was a particularly feisty
affair, where the referee took both sets
of players off for ten minutes to allow
tempers to cool.
Seven consecutive wins took Leeds up
to third, and then they went top after
beating Sunderland, but Revie was still
consistently having to defend his players
against accusations of rough play, insisting
14 /((’681,7(’
that they were more sinned against than
sinners.
Alongside the great league campaign,
United were also enjoying success in
the FA Cup, eventually only Manchester
United stood between them and a first trip
to Wembley. After two epic games, Billy
Bremner came up with the winning goal
at the City Ground, Nottingham.
With a cup final to look forward to, could
Leeds now take the title as well? By Easter
things were looking good, three points
clear, but two defeats, one of those at home
to closest rivals Manchester United meant
they had to win the last game away at
Birmingham to stand any chance, whilst
their rivals had two fixtures to complete.
Things couldn’t have started worse, three
goals down against ten men, before the
famous fighting spirit pulled the game
level. They ended the season equal on
points with Manchester United. But an
inferior goal difference meant that Leeds
finished in second place.
The FA Cup final as far as Leeds were
concerned turned out to be a damp squib,
although they took the game to extra
time, they were well beaten, if only by 2-1,
Bremner was the Leeds’ scorer.
Postscript
A season that was expected to be a
struggle turned out to be a glorious
failure. Runners-up in both league and
cup, injuries, suspensions and perhaps
fatigue finally catching up with the team.
But there was no doubt that they were a
team on the up and would continue to
challenge for honours, plus there was
European competition to look forward to
in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup.
Highlights
Bobby Collins was given the accolade of
‘Player of the Year’, by the Football Writers’
Association and the club announced its
first profit for years, £78,000.
Lowlights
The pursuit of Don Revie by other clubs,
on this occasion Sunderland, was to be a
common feature of his time at the club.
He often felt unappreciated by the Board
of Directors, particularly with regards
to his wages and the length of contract,
in comparison with what he might have
expected elsewhere.
Leaving
Elland Road
Grenville Hair who had been at the club
since 1948 joined Wellington Town as
player manager, although he was to die
at the young age of 36 whilst at Bradford
City. Eric Smith also left to join Morton.