Terry Yorath

Infobox Football biography
playername = Terry Yorath


fullname = Terence Charles Yorath
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1950|3|27|df=yes
cityofbirth = Cardiff
countryofbirth = Wales
height =
position = Midfielder
currentclub = Margate (Director of Football)
youthyears =
youthclubs = Leeds United
years = 1967–1976
1976–1979
1979–1981
1981–1982
1982–1985
1986
clubs = Leeds United
Coventry City
Tottenham Hotspur
Vancouver Whitecaps
Bradford City
Swansea City
caps(goals) = 141 (10)
099 0(3)
046 0(1)
027 0(0)
001 0(0)
nationalyears = 1970–1981
nationalteam = Wales
nationalcaps(goals) = 059 0(2)
manageryears = 1986–1989
1988–1993
1989–1990
1990–1991
1994–1995
1995–1997
2001–2002
managerclubs = Swansea City
Wales
Bradford City
Swansea City
Cardiff City
Lebanon
Sheffield Wednesday

Terence Charles Yorath (born 27 March 1950 in Cardiff, Wales) is a former footballer and manager. He is also the father of television presenter Gabby Logan.

He represented Leeds United, Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur, Bradford City, Swansea City and the Welsh national team. He later became a football manager for Bradford City, Swansea City, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday as well as assistant at Huddersfield Town, and also internationally managed Wales and Lebanon.

Early career

Yorath was an apprentice at Leeds United signing professional forms at the age of 17. Along with other Leeds midfield players of the time, such as Mick Bates and Terry Hibbitt, he found it difficult to establish himself ahead of Don Revie's preferred pairing of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles. Between 1967 and 1972 he made just 14 League appearances for Leeds.

Leeds career

In the 1972–73 season, injuries and suspensions allowed Yorath to establish himself as a first team regular. However, his first season ended with two cup final runners-up medals; he was a substitute in the 1973 FA Cup Final, which Leeds lost 1–0 to Sunderland, and also appeared in the 1973 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final, which Leeds lost in controversial circumstances to AC Milan.

Yorath finally won some silverware the following 1973–74 season, where he was a key member of the Leeds championship winning side. The 1974–75 season saw Leeds reach the final of the UEFA European Cup, but again Yorath ended up with a runners up medal as Leeds lost 2–0 to Bayern Munich in controversial circumstances.

Yorath, a defensive hard-tackling midfielder had to suffer a lot of barracking from supporters who saw him as lacking the skills of his team-mates.

Post Leeds

Don Revie had left Leeds to manage England, and his eventual replacement Jimmy Armfield decided to dispense with Yorath's services in 1976, selling him to Coventry City for £125,000. During his time with Leeds, Yorath made 120 appearances and scored ten goals.

Yorath remained at Coventry for three years, playing 99 games and scoring three goals and was captain for most of this period. He moved onto Tottenham Hotspur in 1979 for £300,000, and then briefly to Vancouver Whitecaps in 1981, where he made 59 appearances, scoring four goals in his two seasons with the club.

International career

Yorath picked up the first of 59 Welsh caps in 1970 against Italy, and he maintained a regular presence in the international side until 1981. Yorath also captained his country on 42 occasions.

Management career

In 1982, Yorath joined Bradford City as player/assistant coach. He was injured during the Bradford fire disaster in 1985 when he was forced to jump out of a window after evacuating supporters from a bar. He subsequently took up the manager's position at Swansea City in 1986, and led the club to promotion from the Division Four to the Division Three at the end of the 1987–88 season.

In 1989, he was appointed part-time manager of Wales, eventually taking up the post on a full-time basis whilst still managing Swansea. However, this caused conflict with the club, and Yorath left Swansea to manage Bradford. Unfortunately, he was dismissed by Bradford after just one year in charge, and returned to manage Swansea again.

In 1991, after a run of nine consecutive defeats, he left Swansea for a second time to concentrate on managing Wales. Despite some splendid results, Yorath was unable to lead his country to the 1994 World Cup finals, and was dismissed by the Welsh FA.

Yorath joined Cardiff City as General Manager in 1994, and assumed control of team affairs in November of that year when manager Eddie May was sacked. However, his time in the hotseat with the Bluebirds was brief, and he was sacked in March 1995 with the club headed for relegation. He then took over as coach of the Lebanon national team, and helped them rise 60 places in the FIFA World Rankings before leaving in 1997.

Between 1997 and 2000 he worked as a coach at Huddersfield Town and Bradford City, before joining Sheffield Wednesday as assistant to Paul Jewell. Yorath retained his position when Jewell was dismissed, and eventually became manager in 2001. However, he resigned in 2002 after a run of five defeats in six league matches saw Wednesday drop into the relegation zone.

In June 2008, Yorath returned to football when he was appointed the director of football at Ryman League Premier Division side Margate, [cite news
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_conf/7432144.stm
title=Yorath lands Margate supremo role
date=2008-06-02
accessdate=2008-06-03
publisher=BBC Sport] where his brother Dai and nephew Dean had both played.

Personal life

Terry is the father of four children, two girls Gabby, the television broadcaster, born 1973, and Louise, born 1974, and two boys Daniel born on 25 July 1976 and Jordan born 1986. He has two grandchildren born to Gabby, Lois and Reuben born 2005. Daniel collapsed and died on 25 May 1992 in his garden, at the age of 15, as a result of an undetected heart condition just before he was due to begin a footballing career with Leeds United.

In 2004, Yorath was arrested after a car accident and charged with drink driving. Yorath knocked down 27-year-old call centre worker Raziya Aslam breaking her pelvis. Yorath pleaded guilty to all charges and received a 30-month driving ban and 60 hours community service. The trial judge had been seriously considering a prison sentence for Yorath, but his defence advised that there was a risk that Yorath would commit suicide if sent to prison. Yorath maintains that he would not have taken his own life if he had been jailed. [Sunday Mirror (19 December 2004), [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4161/is_20041219/ai_n12915391 Football: I'm rebuilding my life after a year in HELL] ]

References

External links

*soccerbase|8755|Terry Yorath
*soccerbase (manager)|1193|Terry Yorath