Don Revie

Don Revie

Personal information
Full name	Donald George Revie
Date of birth	10 July 1927(1927-07-10)
Place of birth	Middlesbrough, England
Date of death	26 May 1989(1989-05-26) (aged 61)
Place of death	Edinburgh, Scotland
Playing position	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1944–1949	Leicester City	96	(25)
1949–1951	Hull City	76	(12)
1951–1956	Manchester City	162	(37)
1956–1958	Sunderland	64	(15)
1958–1962	Leeds United	76	(11)
–	Total	474	(100)
National team
1954–1955	England	6	(4)
Teams managed
1961–1974	Leeds United
1974–1977	England
1977–1980	United Arab Emirates
1980–1984	Al-Nassr
1984–1985	Al-Ahly
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Donald George 'Don' Revie, OBE, (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989), was an English footballer who played for Leicester City, Hull City, Sunderland, Manchester City and Leeds United as a deep-lying centre forward. After managing Leeds United (1961–1974) he managed England from 1974 until 1977. He later managed in the Middle East at international and club level.

Playing career

Revie was born in Middlesbrough on 10 July 1927. He signed as a footballer for Leicester City in 1944. Leicester City originally thought him not good enough to turn professional, but he was taken under the wing of Leicester player Sep Smith who began to mentor Revie on many of his ideas about the game.^[1] He also learned the rudiments of the bricklaying trade outside football. From there he went on to play for Hull City in 1949 (transfer fee £20,000), Manchester City in 1951 (£25,000), Sunderland in 1956 (£22,000) and Leeds United in November 1958 (£12,000). The combined transfer fees paid over his career were at the time (1958) a record in English football.

Revie won six caps for England, was Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year in 1955 and won an FA Cup winners medal with Manchester City in 1956. At Manchester City the playing tactic of using a deep-lying centre forward (Revie's position, evolved from the more traditional inside right), and based on the style of the successful Hungarian national team, and in particular Nándor Hidegkuti, who invented the role. This helped Manchester City to a 3–1 victory over Birmingham in the 1956 FA Cup Final, a game best known for goalkeeper Bert Trautmann playing the last 15 minutes of the match with a broken neck.

Management career

Leeds United

Revie was made player-manager at Leeds United in March 1961, following the resignation of Jack Taylor. He had initially planned to apply for the vacant job at Bournemouth, but was persuaded by a local journalist to pursue the Leeds job.^[2] He immediately began to institute radical changes such as the implementation of a youth policy, and a change of kit from the traditional blue and yellow to an all-white strip.^[3] He also constructed a family ethos around the club's staff and players.

Although his tenure did not get off to a flying start he won the Football League Second Division within three years as manager. During this time Leeds broke their record transfer payment to re-sign John Charles from Juventus, only to sell him on for the same amount to A.S. Roma after only a few matches. Revie developed a close working relationship with the chairman Harry Reynolds who was keen to assist the manager in building Leeds into a powerful force. In 1964 Leeds won promotion to the First Division, topping the Second Division with 63 points.

Once promoted Revie took Leeds to second in the league and the FA Cup final in their first season in the top division. In the early years much of the team's attack was based around the South African winger Albert Johanneson. Revie added to his squad by signing Johnny Giles from Manchester United and Bobby Collins from Everton, both of whom had fallen out of favour with their managers. Revie had inherited Jack Charlton and Billy Bremner from the previous manager, and both players became cornerstones of the team during Revie's reign. In 1966 following a serious injury to Collins, Bremner was made captain.

The 1973 FA Cup Final which Leeds surprisingly lost to Second Division Sunderland

All in all, Revie guided Leeds to two Football League First Division titles, one FA Cup, one League Cup, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup titles, one Football League Second Division title and one Charity Shield. He also steered them to three more FA Cup Finals, one more Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final and one Cup Winners' Cup Final. In 1973 despite strong rumours linking him with a move to take over at Everton, a wealthier club which drew larger crowds, Revie chose to remain in Leeds.^[4]

Leeds 1–0 defeat to Sunderland in the 1973 FA Cup Final was seen by some as marking an end of Leeds' spell at the top. Revie was particularly disappointed by the defeat because Sunderland were managed by Bob Stokoe, a critic of Revie. There was a widespread belief that Revie would have to rebuild his team for following season, but Revie instead chose to continue with largely the same line-up.^[5] He was rewarded as Leeds won another league title, beating Liverpool by five points.

Following his departure in 1974, Revie was succeeded by Brian Clough, one of his major rivals. Clough had been outspoken in his attacks on Leeds' style of football and he was an unpopular choice with the players who would have preferred Johnny Giles to get the post. After a brief reign Clough departed and was replaced by Jimmy Armfield. The team enjoyed a final flourish, reaching the 1975 European Cup Final which they lost to Bayern Munich before the side began to break up. A succession of Leeds managers was unable to prevent the club dropping down the table, as attendances fell. By 1982 the club were in the Second Division again.

Just before departing from Leeds for the England job, Revie was a special guest on the TV guest show This Is Your Life.^[6]

England

Following the 1973–74 season, when Revie and Leeds won their second championship in the first division, he was widely acknowledged to be one of the most successful managers in the country and was considered a leading candidate to manage the England national team. The previous manager Alf Ramsey had just departed after England had failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup following a draw with Poland. In July 1974, Revie accepted the manager's job after Joe Mercer had turned it down because of his advanced years. The FA, particularly Ted Croker, were impressed with Revie's personality and ideas.^[7]

However, Revie was unable to reproduce the success he had enjoyed at Leeds. Revie's England failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championships and for the 1978 World Cup Finals. Criticism mounted over Revie's old fashioned and abrupt style of management and his failure to qualify for tournament football. He is one of the least successful managers of the England national team.

Middle East

In 1977, while still under contract to the English FA, he quit as England's manager to become coach to the United Arab Emirates. This was the first time a manager of England had resigned from the position. The circumstances of Revie's departure immediately provoked controversy. Revie snubbed the FA by selling news of his resignation to the Daily Mail, where the story broke before the FA had received his letter of resignation. Some football supporters were incensed at reports of Revie's lucrative contract with the UAE team (£340,000 for four years), and accused him of acting selfishly and disloyally. The FA suspended Revie from football for 10 years on a charge of bringing the game into disrepute. Revie contested his suspension in a lawsuit against the FA, and the court overturned the suspension.^[8] After leaving the UAE coaching role in 1980 he took over management of Al-Nasr, followed in 1984 by the Egyptian club Al-Ahly of Cairo. Revie then retired to Scotland where he and his wife enjoyed playing golf and being with family members.

Illness and death

In 1986 Revie moved to Scotland where he intended to retire. In September that year, he started feeling pains in his legs after playing golf. After tests, he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in May 1987. Revie publicly announced his illness that summer, but was still able to walk out to the Elland Road pitch in September 1987, where he watched Leeds beat Manchester City 2-0.

Revie made his last public appearance in May 1988 at Elland Road in a wheelchair. He died in a Murrayfield Hospital in Edinburgh on May 26, 1989, aged 61, and was cremated four days later at Warriston Crematorium in Edinburgh.^[9]

The FA did not send any officials to the funeral, nor was a minute's silence held at any football match in his memory, nor did any teams wear black armbands. However, even the Daily Mirror newspaper, once one of Revie's fiercest critics, slammed the FA for not sending any representatives to the funeral.^[10]

Those who did attend the funeral included Allan Clarke, Eddie Gray, Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles, Billy Bingham, referee Jack Taylor, Kevin Keegan, Brian Moore and Lawrie McMenemy.

Revie's legacy

Revie is best remembered for the important tactical innovations to which he contributed as a player and for the rugged and aggressively defensive style of football that brought success to Leeds United during his years as manager. He admitted in later years that he wished he had let his team "off the leash" earlier than he did.

Revie was however a controversial figure in his time, his team being criticised for their perceived overly physical style of play and alleged gamesmanship, which lead to the team famously being nicknamed 'Dirty Leeds'. One of Revie's most notable critics was Brian Clough (who like Revie hailed from Middlesbrough) who branded his Leeds side "cheats" and called for the club to be relegated to the Second Division on disciplinary grounds.

March 2011 marked 50 years since Don Revie became player-manager at Elland Road. Stars from his Leeds United days sent their tributes to official Leeds United site,^[11] while the BBC's Late Kick-OFF show broadcast a special tribute video of his career highlights.^[12]

Although Revie's legacy is still the subject of controversy, the former Leeds United and England manager remains a hero at Elland Road where a supporters group is currently raising funds for a statue to be made in his honour. ^[13]

Allegations of impropriety

Revie's reputation suffered in the late 70s due to the UAE scandal and the Admiral shirt fiasco (where Revie commissioned a widely unpopular sponsored England kit from Admiral sportswear), as well as highly controversial allegations by a number of senior players and coaches that Revie had attempted to bribe opposition players and managers during his career. Exposes by journalist Richard Stott were published in the Daily Mirror newspaper claiming that Revie had unsuccessfully attempted to bribe Wolverhampton Wanderers players before a match during the 1971-72 league title run-in and that he had also similarly tried to bribe Nottingham Forest players before another crucial match. The allegations were based on claims made by three Wolves players, the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Jim Barron and, most shockingly, Revie's own goalkeeper at Leeds Gary Sprake. Revie responded by denying the allegations and initiating libel proceedings against the Daily Mirror but he later dropped the libel action without explanation. Some years later Billy Bremner successfully sued another newspaper, the Sunday People, for repeating claims that he had been the "go-between" in one alleged bribery attempt (although Bremner had never sued the Daily Mirror when they had made the original allegations, nor taken any action against the players who had originated the claims). Sprake was ostracised by many of his former teammates who claimed he had only made the bribery allegations for personal profit after the Mirror offered him a substantial amount of money for his story.

Sprake later withdrew his allegations around the time of the Bremner libel trial but has since reversed his stance and repeated his original claims along with making some new bribery allegations against Revie. Additionally Bob Stokoe would later claim that while managing Bury in 1962, Revie had offered him a bribe to "go easy" on his Leeds side who were at the time struggling against relegation to the Third Division and that he had become enraged when Revie responded to his refusal to accept the bribe by asking "in that case, may I speak to your players?". Most recently, Frank McLintock claimed in his autobiography that Revie once offered him a bribe before a league match (although McLintock also states that aside from this incident his memories of Revie are good ones). Aside from Sprake, Revie's former players at Leeds have generally denied and poured scorn on claims that their manager attempted to fix matches although Norman Hunter, when asked about the allegations during a 2004 interview, stated that "he (Revie) may have bent the rules a bit, and I noticed certain things myself, but I still think he was the best manager I've ever seen. Well, I heard those things that Bob Stokoe said, and there's no smoke without fire...I never knew of money changing hands, not that I'd tell you if I did." However Revie was never formally charged with any offence relating to these allegations by either a footballing authority or the police (despite the fact that the Daily Mirror claimed they had delivered a 300-page dossier to the F.A detailing the evidence of attempted match-fixing against Revie, a dossier which the F.A later claimed was not in their possession) and none of the claims have ever been proven. Despite this, journalist Roy Greenslade claims that the allegations of match-fixing were the real reason the F.A. banned Revie from any involvement in football for ten years. ^{[14] [15] [16] [17]}

Revie's reputation has recovered somewhat since his death because he is held in high regard by Leeds supporters and beloved by his former team. The kop at Leeds United's ground, Elland Road, is named after him. Revie was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his impact on the English league as a manager. Players who defend him today, apart from the Leeds squad, include Kevin Keegan, Peter Taylor and Joe Royle.

Portrayals

In 2009, Revie was portrayed by Colm Meaney in the film The Damned United, which treats Brian Clough's ill-fated 44-day reign as manager of Leeds United in 1974 following Revie's departure for the England job.

Honours

As a player

Manchester City

FA Cup

• Winners: 1956
• Runners-up: 1955

As a manager

Leeds United

Honour	Winner	Runners-up
European Cup Winners' Cup		1973
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1968, 1971	1967
Football League First Division	1968/69, 1973/74	1964/65, 1965/66, 1969/70, 1970/71, 1971/72
Football League Second Division	1963/64
FA Cup	1972	1965, 1970, 1973
Football League Cup	1968
English Manager of the Year	1969, 1970, 1972
FA Charity Shield	1969
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off		1971 [18]

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
G	W	D	L	Win %
Leeds United		March 1961	July 1974	699	365	190	144	52.2
England		July 1974	11 July 1977	29	14	8	7	48.3
United Arab Emirates		1977	1980
Al-Nasr		1980	1984
Al-Ahly		1984	1985

Notes

1. ^ http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/managers/revie2.htm The Mighty Mighty Whites - The Definitive history of Leeds United - Don Revie - Part 2 Learning the ropes (1927-51) ] themightyleeds.co.uk, retrieved 3 April 2011
2. ^ Bagchi & Rogerson p.16-19
3. ^ Bagchi & Rogerson p.36
4. ^ Bagchi & Robertson p.182-186
5. ^ Bagchi & Robertson p.181-189
6. ^ [1]
7. ^ Mourant p.152-153
8. ^ http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/managers/revie8.htm
9. ^ [2]
10. ^ FA's Final Snub - The Daily Mirror – 31 May 1989
11. ^ "'He was our gaffer'". Official Leeds United site. http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20110316/he-was-our-gaffer_2247585_2317003. Retrieved 16 March 2011. 
12. ^ "50 years since Don Revie's Leeds United revolution". The Scratching Shed. http://www.thescratchingshed.com/2011/03/50-years-since-don-revies-revolution-video/. Retrieved 16 March 2011. 
13. ^ "Don Revie Statue". Don Revie Tribute. http://www.donreviestatue.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4. 
14. ^ James Corbett [3] 'King of the Damned', Observer Sport Monthly, 25 November 2007. Retrieved on 12 September 2011.
15. ^ Brian Viner [4] 'Norman Hunter: Leeds' legendary hardman bleeds for the soul of his once-great club', The Independent, 7 August 2004. Retrieved on 12 September 2011.
16. ^ Roy Greenslade [5] 'Why has Mirror scoop on Don Revie been airbrushed from history?', The Guardian, 14 March 2011. Retrieved on 12 September 2011.
17. ^ Padraic Halpin [6] 'Match fixing: a history', The Observer, 8 January 2006. Retrieved on 12 September 2011.
18. ^ (Decided who kept the trophy when the competition was replaced by the UEFA Cup)

Bibliography

• Bagchi, Rob & Rogerson, Paul. The Unforgiven: The Story of Don Revie's Leeds United. Aurum Press, 2003.
• Mourant, Andrew. Don Revie: Portrait of a Footballing Enigma. Mainstream Publishing, 2003.
• Sutcliffe, Richard, "Revie - Revered and Reviled". 2010.
• Hermiston, Roger. "Clough and Revie - The Rivals Who Changed the Face of English Football". 2011.

External links

Biography portal

• Don Revie career stats at Soccerbase
• Don Revie management career stats at Soccerbase
• Don Revie and Brian Clough video interview from 1974 on ITV Local Yorkshire
• English Football Hall of Fame Profile
• Don Revies managerial stats for Leeds United
• The king of the damned, Guardian News Article
• Don Revie at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Revie, Don
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	10 July 1927
Place of birth	Middlesbrough, England
Date of death	26 May 1989
Place of death	Edinburgh, Scotland