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“Before match against Real Zaragoza, Don Revie had asked the local fire brigade to flood the Elland Road Pitch to make the Spaniards struggle with boggy conditions”
In the long history of Leeds United, there was a classic tale about Don Revie and his dirty approach to playing football. This era has brought remarkable glorious moments for the club and also a disgraceful legacy that will never be forgotten.
The story began in the early 1961, Jack Taylor resigned as Leeds United manager and Don Revie, at 33 years of age, took over the job with a £20 per week contract as a player-manager. His career in Leeds United started far behind his best days as a footballer. With inherited coaching staff from his predecessor, Don Revie began one of the most transformative periods in British football history.
His managerial career with Leeds United has marked a revolutionary time in the history of British football. He is the one who started the present management style by the detail-orientated and believed in the dispassionate, cold analysis. His teams played with flair and skill, not to mention a large helping of passion.
Leeds United early success under Don Revie was built on niggling gamesmanship and hard tackling ferocity, but they later perfected a style of flowing football which carried all before it in the early 1970’s. The reputation that ‘dirty Leeds’ won in Revie’s first four years stayed with him and tarnished his name.