By Rob AtkinsonHistory, they say, is written by the winners. In last night’s “Match of the Day”, the BBC provided ample evidence to show that it is also rewritten by hypocritical sycophants who should know better.
The events of the afternoon had not panned out as the scriptwriters would have wished, though all looked well ten short minutes from the end of Man U’s match at West Brom, S’ralex’s last game as manager. The Plastic Champions were 5-2 ahead, and John Motson had purred, gasped and chuckled his way through 80 minutes of exhibition football, punctuated by comical home defending, and it looked very much as though another team was going to roll over meekly for the men from Salford. Then S’ralex brought on Paul Scholes for the Ginger Minger’s own last appearance before his latest retirement. The cameras prepared to adjust to soft focus, Motson drew in another breath preparatory to more shudderingly orgasmic tributes as he was consumed by an ecstasy of highly marketable sentimentality. The stage was set for the Govan Guv’nor to stump off into the sunset, his purple-blotched features lacerated by a parody of a smile. Then it all went wrong. West Brom struck three times in the last ten minutes, Ferguson’s smile dropped to the floor quicker than a Gareth Bale dive and the mighty Man U were holding on at the end to avoid saying goodbye in the face of a last blast from a defeated Hairdryer. 5-5 it finished, and the BBC were denied their expected valedictory stroll in the sun; the Baggies had pooped the Corporation’s party. Maybe it was this that prompted the spite and small-minded pettiness of the montage which prefaced the Match of the Day highlights late last night. More likely though that it was always going to be yet another calculated slap in the face to the memory of a great man, a man whose boots the assembled hacks and ex-pros on the MOTD couch are not fit to lick, a true great of the game that the Establishment seem determined to pretend was never there. Ferguson was painted in admiring and rose-hued tones, to a background of his many achievements as compared to the other “managerial greats.” Bob Paisley, Brian Clough, Jock Stein, Bobby Robson, Ron Greenwood, Bill Shankly, Matt Busby, Bill Nicholson; all these legends were held up as examples of managerial excellence to be rightly lauded for their achievements and the mark they left on then game. But no mention of the greatest of them all: Donald George Revie OBE. This was no mere oversight. It’s been going on for years, and it’s a premeditated and vicious attempt at the excision from public memory of football’s greatest manager, a cowardly and shameful act of malice aforethought. It reflects ill on the researchers who put these things together; aren’t they aware of their history, we in the know might wonder. Don’t they have access to Google? But they know all about the Don, they know he transformed a tired old joke of a football club into the most feared and respected force in Europe; they know he did it without massive financial backing and without paying obscene wages; they know how he did it all to the dubious background of an initially apathetic support, fans who had only ever known mediocrity at best, and expected nothing else. Out of all this, Don Revie wrought a miracle – a team that respected judges of the game have described as the finest club side in English football history. The accidental omission of Revie’s name for any TV item concerning itself with managerial greatness would be unforgivably slipshod; the act of a clueless nincompoop. But this was much, much worse than that. It was an exposition of hypocrisy underpinned by malice and the bile of fifty years’ accumulated resentment. It was a crass attempt at revisionism, a blunderingly clumsy try at pretending Don Revie never existed. It was wishful thinking in its bitterest and most destructive form, a playground insult to a giant of the game. The BBC cowards and toadies have exposed themselves as classless fools, deserving only of contempt and ridicule. “And Leeds will go mad. And they’ve every right to go mad!” – as Barry Davies memorably put it back in the day, in more realistic times before the game turned plastic, when everybody knew who the heroes were and we weren’t fed a diet of pap and lies. And Leeds should go mad again. The city, the club, the fans – none of them should continue to lie down and accept this disgraceful treatment, this attempted erasure of an iconic figure whom we all worship as “Simply The Best.” There should be a loud outcry, a vehement protest. This is my small contribution, but the fans as a body have form for hitting back at media and establishment when they feel one of their own wronged. In 1994, the FA handed down a mandate that all clubs should observe a minute’s silence in respect for the late Matt Busby. They did this because it’s what you do when a respected figure dies – except of course they’re not consistent. They failed to mark the death of Don Revie, a tragic and cruel end from Motor Neurone Disease. They failed even to send a representative to his funeral, although – to his eternal credit – Alex Ferguson was there, and Denis Law, as well as most of the Leeds United greats and other proper football men. But none of the hypocrites in suits from the game’s ruling authorities saw fit to get off their backsides and pay tribute. Revie was dead; let them get on with pretending he never existed. So in 1994, when they were supposed to lapse into a respectful silence, the Leeds fans at Blackburn Rovers’ ground exploded in a raucous and repeated cry of “One Don Revie! There’s only one Don Revie!!”The great and the good of the sport were scandalised. People pursed their lips and shook their heads sadly. How dare these yobboes ruin our tribute to our Chosen One? But I’m so, so glad that it happened. We should not knuckle under to the official view; we should never bow down before such blatant hypocrisy. They’re getting wise to rebellion now. There tends to be a minute’s applause these days, lest any disrespectful mob should see fit to assert their unwanted point of view the next time some officially-beloved figure keels over. But the fans will be heard, believe me. And if the media – typified by these contemptible fools in charge of the increasingly poodle-like Match of the Day – continue so determinedly to ignore and try to obliterate the legacy of The Don, then I hope that defiant cry will be heard again, loud and proud. While ever Leeds United fans are prepared to stand up and be counted, happy to raise their arms and voices and be heard – then Don Revie will never be forgotten, whatever the wishes of the pompous suits and deluded TV types. Don Revie, “The Don” (1927 – 1989) A true legend and a great of the game. Whatever you might think of him – and God knows, I’m no fan – just ask S’ralex.
81 Comments
Aaron Pearson
19/5/2013 08:20:55 pm
Was very noticeable Motson didnt mention him. But then should we be surprised by the Biased Broadcasting Corporation? The old Match of the 70s spin-off gave a number of clubs their own designated videos, even the likes of Man City and Middlesbro have one. But not Leeds,,,,
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Alex
20/5/2013 12:08:11 am
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leeds-United-Glory-Years-1965-1975/dp/B00004CJEI
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ian cairns
20/5/2013 01:23:55 am
i carried that great mans golf clubs at pannel as a boy in the 70s he came into the kitchen there to sign posters for me & my mates,a true gent.why bother with the bbc they cannt even afford live games.rip don you were the best.
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Paul
19/5/2013 08:23:28 pm
why the hell don't we just get over ourselves, he achieved peanuts compared to the rest of the managers named above and was an arrogant idiot as show in the Damned United, he did not grace the same as fergie or Clough he won a few trophies and then was a flop with England he just had a lucky spell with us for a few years and fans need to relise this its time to move on and look to the future
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Rob Atkinson
19/5/2013 08:30:25 pm
If you're really basing your assessment on that black comedy The Damned United, then you need urgent help. But I suspect you're just another manifestation of my own personal troll who can only operate by disguising himself and is too cowardly to stand up and be counted.
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20/5/2013 06:10:58 am
Paul your either a low life who knows 'nowt, - or a low life who knows 'nowt.
Craig
20/5/2013 06:00:05 pm
Well said. If he had any brains he would have read the prologue at the films beginning. ....this dramatisation is based on events.
Steve
19/5/2013 08:31:09 pm
You call yourself a Leeds fan? You need to use a fictitious film as your guide? also Fergie and Clough didn't manage England so cannot be judged in that job. Please don't use the term "us" because you are not in any way a Leeds fan!
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don revie was not like he was shown in the dammed united all that was a bunch of lies and the writer got sued by players and staff of leeds united when it was written.he acheived a lot of great things with leeds and we were noit a famous team harldy anyone heard of us before revie took over and noiw becuase of him we are known all over the world.
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Malcolm
20/5/2013 03:18:48 am
Paul please arrange to stand next to Billy's statute and repeat your comments anytime
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20/5/2013 06:08:49 am
Paul, your either a low-life who know's 'nowt, - or a low life who knows 'nowt.
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Dave
20/5/2013 06:13:17 am
Paul...He won six trophies with Leeds and runners up countless times many of which Leeds would have won if the fixtures were kinder ie playing league deciders two days after a major cup Final. His small squad regularly played 70 games a season. Also you have to look at where the club were when he took over. Ron Greenwood won two cups (of note) with West Ham so you argument does not stand in my eyes. He was a great manager.
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Mark
20/5/2013 06:35:19 am
That's appalling Paul,probably the worst thing I have ever read.You cannot be Leeds...shocking
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Michael
20/5/2013 02:38:42 pm
Welcome the website stranger! Bump into Michael Sheen in the street and I guess you will ask him for his autograph and wonder why he hasn't signed it Cloughie. No doubt SAF has a great record, but at national level, it is not as good as DRs. I dont think that national level stats are ever going to be a true reflection. Look to the future we will, but no denying the respect that is due to - if nothing else, to have the balls to manage England at that time.
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Jacko
20/5/2013 07:01:03 pm
Paul...............
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Stuart
21/5/2013 07:28:40 pm
What an ill mannered, ignorant clown you are. Get back under your stone, or better still your head back down the bogs at OT. I met the great man more than once and you are a cluless cretin. And if you believe that crap TDU then you are a bigger idiot than I took you for
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Mikey
19/5/2013 08:30:14 pm
SHAME ON YOU BBC... RIP DON REVIE.. TRUE LEGEND MOT!
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Chris Barnikel
19/5/2013 08:30:15 pm
Disgraceful revisionist bias from BBC's MotD.
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colin doyle
19/5/2013 10:24:24 pm
When i watched I said to my mrs why the hell havent they included Revie and Ron frigging Greenwood its the west ham connection. simply appalling they'll have Keegan on thete vefore Revie
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Jon Davies
19/5/2013 08:32:54 pm
First thing that occurred to me when I heard this. Let's just rewrite history eh BBC? Pretentious Southern a**holes
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champ20ns
19/5/2013 08:34:43 pm
You just sound like a bitter fool.
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Maz
19/5/2013 08:35:24 pm
The comments made by "Paul", who clearly has no affinity with LUFC are ignorant, stupid and pathetic and reveal a level of ignorance and lack of knowledge of the history of our Club! Go back to watching the salford boys from the comfort of your armchair.
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Maz
19/5/2013 08:36:56 pm
The comments made by "Paul", who clearly has no affinity with LUFC are ignorant, stupid and pathetic and reveal a level of ignorance and lack of knowledge of the history of our Club! Go back to watching the salford boys from the comfort of your armchair
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Diov
19/5/2013 08:41:00 pm
Pissed at the BBC so launch into Ferguson. Jesus THAT'S bitter
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Phil
19/5/2013 08:52:53 pm
Well, It is a known fact that Motty is a DCFC sympathiser and his son a true Rams fan. Motty himself a big Clough fan. No oversight!!!!!
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JDC
19/5/2013 08:53:28 pm
The omission of Don Revie's name last night was nothing but an absolute disgrace and a display of hypocrisy by the BBC, a public service broadcaster who have a duty to the people who support LUFC as well as the supporters of other, currently more fashionable clubs and, perhaps we should all demand a full public apology for their disgraceful omission, to LUFC, the family of "The Don" and his memory and the rest of . The fact that his name is followed by OBE suggests that there was universal recognition for what he achieved at Leeds United.
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Rob Atkinson
19/5/2013 09:11:42 pm
The "God knows, I'm no fan" refers to Ferguson, whose attendance at Don's funeral I had acknowledged.
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Andy
19/5/2013 08:57:36 pm
Lets make the first home game next season a tribute to Don Revie -Lets organise a huge noise from the Kop !!
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Ilkleywhite
19/5/2013 09:02:27 pm
Leeds are the team everyone loves to hate, why? Because the media say’s so, this “declared state of war” between the media and Leeds United has been going on for YEARS, and shows no sign of ending, and, as Leeds fans, we should be used to it by now, who started the term “Dirty Leeds” it was the media, they couldn’t face the fact that Leeds were a great team, yes they were hard, but not dirty, so they must have cheated, that’s what they said, this label sticks, who started the bribery allegations against Don Revie? This story comes up every year, ask someone from abroad about Leeds, we are the city where ALL the football hooligans come from, really?
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kevin baxter
19/5/2013 09:31:49 pm
Well said mate you just about summed everything up there but their nothing we can do about it write to points of view ha that's a joke wouldn't get a second look we were always the team they all love to hate but i don't give a damn will the Don and his great team ever get the recognition they deserve NO all we can do is make sure our kidsand grandkids know then they will never be forgotten
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Ilkleywhite
19/5/2013 10:37:34 pm
Well said Kevin, my kids certainly know all about the "Don"
old comrade
19/5/2013 09:04:11 pm
how anyone can assess The Don based on the "acting" in The damned united is beyond me. Mr Revie was a true legend who put his stamp on a failing side and gave us the Leeds side that also acheived legend status. The BBC have obviously got issues with Leeds, but feck em, we Leeds supporters know who the real Gaffa was.
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martin rooney
19/5/2013 09:15:59 pm
i didnt watch the end of match of the day last night but now im glad i didnt.the bbc and most sports bodys are a complete disgrace as far as the don is concerned so it doesnt suprise me at all they didnt mention him these people need to take a good look at themselves and try and remember were they came from they think their a cut above everyone but really they are idiots don revie done wonders for leeds utd with what he had and made us a force round the world he made leeds one of the most feard clubs in europe and hepled put british football were it is today so the bbc and other media who dont give him his credit need to hang their heads in shame so lets stand up for the don and if they push us then we will let the world know because if any other top football man dies will he get a min silence from the leeds fans i say not we will make enough noise to let the world no why. ONE DON REVIE R.I.P
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Rob Atkinson
19/5/2013 09:31:31 pm
Amusing how fans of lesser clubs feel compelled to have their bitter and spiteful little views included on a thread of interest only to Leeds fans.
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Bob
19/5/2013 09:34:14 pm
Way to make yourself look like a tit.
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JT
19/5/2013 09:38:07 pm
Stevo...or bell***, or t***** or 'plastic manc'? Silly man. Probably a little man. In fact, are you a man?
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Kieran Dobson
19/5/2013 09:42:39 pm
Don Revie had no management experience prior to signing for Leeds United. He was a very successful player who arrived at Elland Road at the end of his career. When it was time to appoint a new manager, Revie was there. All he had to back up that appointment was the vision in his own mind and an eagerness to make that vision a reality. The rest, as they say is history. The managers mentioned in lastnights 'Match Of The Day' would be rolling in their graves knowing that the Don had been included along with them. One believes that even Sir Alex would question why the BBC had so publicly shunned the Don last night. That Man United team containing the Neville brothers, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Butt etc, had clearly taken inspiration from how Don Revie had built his magnificant Leeds United side with young players from the youth academy. Sir Alex has even gone on to pay his respects on more than one occasion when one of our legends has passed away; the Don in 89', Billy in 97' and the Gentle Giant in 2004.
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Kieran Dobson
19/5/2013 09:53:16 pm
I notice an error in my comment.
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I am a staunch Revie fan, and have been Leeds through and through for coming up 50yrs in August, and yes Jon Davies a southerner, who with one other, started the trend of following Leeds to end up with 7 coaches of Southend whites fans, "Long live the memory of the Don"
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Jon Davies
20/5/2013 12:31:14 am
Apologies Bigcat, I have nothing but respect for fellow whites wherever they may hail from. I should have referenced the 'liberal elite' at the BBC who in common with the rest of the media have always maligned and undervalued the impact the great Don had on English football. He was a visionary manager and a true great. And as for the dirty Leeds tag, was I the only one that saw how Chelsea tried to kick us off the park in the 1970 cup final and in the replay Billy was kicked in the head before they scored.
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bigcat54
20/5/2013 04:23:41 pm
Jon,
old comrade
19/5/2013 10:23:10 pm
Stevo, stevo, whats the matter with people like you ? most reasonable people afford credit where credit is due and find no need to write the utter shite that you childishly wrote in your comments, the Don was important to leeds as was old red nose to all the synthetic Mancs, as was all the other managers that have done great work for their respective clubs.No reason to sully the memory of a family man. Grow up.
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Rob Atkinson
19/5/2013 10:28:16 pm
I've complained to the BBC in the following terms:
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Irving08
20/5/2013 11:03:30 pm
Good man.
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JonnyLosAngeles
19/5/2013 10:29:08 pm
Disgraceful!!!!!
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Keith Nash
19/5/2013 10:33:33 pm
We Leeds fans know the truth, other comments on Sir Don are just bitter and irrelevant , thanks Rob great article .
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conker
19/5/2013 11:02:22 pm
I expected as much from BBC. They are pathetic. Down was a gentleman, a visionary and proud man. We know what he meant to us and more importantly so did he and his family. Legend.
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Tare
19/5/2013 11:21:43 pm
What has red nose done to the World football except inventing the wheel again? International level I dare to say that his version of the beautiful game has been very orthodox one.
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Irving08
19/5/2013 11:23:09 pm
We have come to expect this. All the same, Don would not be my Number One post-WW2 English League and British-born Manager. That has to be Ferguson, followed in descending order by (2) Clough, (3) Revie, (4) Shankley, (5) Busby and (6) Paisley. Hurts to put Cloughie (just) ahead of Don, but he did it with two clubs that were no more fashionable than us, and his teams did play consistently great football.
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jimat37
20/5/2013 12:21:00 am
Clough is further down as for play great football did you see forest and Derby of 70/80s? Jock stein, Ferguson, The Don, shankley are the top four in no particular order for me.
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Alan
20/5/2013 01:15:03 pm
I tend to agree with you with your top four selections as all four were a cut above the rest and did it on their own.
Irving08
20/5/2013 11:01:10 pm
Stein managed in Scotland; that's why I excluded him. He'd be in my top five of British managers. Clough surely just pips Don because he won the League with two clubs and his team won the European Cup twice while he was their Manager; at any rate, he equals him. I'd like not to have Fergie at number one, but all those titles....
Rob Atkinson
19/5/2013 11:40:47 pm
To deal just with your first two - Ferguson has had all the financial advantages and the backing of powerful lobbies within the media, especially Sky, which tended to "help" decisions go his way. He couldn't buy a league title before Sky took hold, but after that he bought 13. It's too sharp a dividing line to be coincidental. Clough was not half the manager without Taylor, so he had no chance at Leeds. Taylor is criminally under-rated by history, but any brief research shows that Cloughie ticked best when his buddy was beside him; on his own, he was good, but not great. For picking a club out of the dust, and raising it to the very highest heights, it has to be Revie, followed by Busby (who created 2 great teams before Munich and one after, but had a head start in a club with history and tradition behind it, and then Shankley who was such an individual.
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Irving08
20/5/2013 11:31:28 pm
Ferguson built and dismantled several teams, which included
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Matty
19/5/2013 11:43:17 pm
I sent direct tweets to @bbcmotd & Lineker himself asking why Don was omitted & who was responsible for the montage Motson narrated. No reply from either (Lineker's usually keen to interact with followers). I sent a follow-up tweet to @bbcmotd asking if they were going to honour Leeds fans with a response... Still nothing.
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jimat37
20/5/2013 12:17:05 am
Exactly right The Don should be in with them all. I put my thoughts on MOT facebook website last night I suggest all leeds fans should do the same. The BBC is meant to be even handed and fair and not there to play up to the 'establishment' of plastic fans and sound bites.
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tc
20/5/2013 12:38:34 am
BBc = bent biased cynics ....try listening to the bbc radio Leeds its best example of what your article stated they even did a "fergie special" when he retired ...together with presenters who are Everton fans etc ....tba its more than a lufc with beeb they always disliked Leeds after all its Eng. third largest city not that youd ever know it on the beeb ....worst thing is we all pay for the privilege ...mot
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Andy
20/5/2013 01:40:20 am
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/
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Alan
20/5/2013 01:10:35 pm
That is a good link and I have just used it to pen my complaint too. I hope many more Leeds supporters do the same.
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Steve A
20/5/2013 04:50:28 am
I once wrote a magazine article based on the English Division One between 1964-65 and 1973-74 which were the years Don Revie was managing a first division team. When I compared them with Man United, Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham & Everton, all of who were in the top league all those years. I made it into one big table from 1964-65 to 1973-74 and the difference in the points total and goal difference was more than significant. When also compared with European games and FA Cup games, the same team consistently went the furthest. Im not going to tell you who that team were, you should work it out for yourselves. Do it and see for yourselves
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jerry
20/5/2013 07:16:01 am
Everyone who knows me, knows I love Leeds United. . And that's thanks to the late great Don revie.. Thank you Rip
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I'm a Leeds fan for 40 years and this article is the kind of thing that is an embarrasment to the club. Don Revie, as much as Leeds fans rightly revere him for his achievements, has achieved nothing close to what AF has acheived. I wish he had done, but he didn't.
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Jack0
20/5/2013 07:56:31 pm
Man U in disguise
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Jack0
20/5/2013 08:45:56 pm
Well, you must be in the 0.0000009% of Leeds FANS, that think like you, patronising pr1ck
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Jack0
20/5/2013 09:19:49 pm
Aye good lad...............MOT
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John
20/5/2013 06:45:17 pm
A long long time ago, I was a young lad out having a meal with my family at out a pub on Harrogate Road, Chapel Allerton when who walks in but the man himself, and he sat down with his family on the table behind, and he was sat with his back to me, for a young lad who was footie mad and as now is a Leeds man through and through, as they write now OMG, never a moment to forget. Don things will get better, we have to believe but how we remember those glory days. MOT
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Jack0
20/5/2013 08:12:40 pm
My complaint to the Beeb.
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Jack0
20/5/2013 09:23:04 pm
Cheers David.....
Rob Atkinson
20/5/2013 11:28:34 pm
Well David that's an hour of your life you'll never get back, and you used it to try and convince proper fans that you're not a plastic scummer - failing utterly of course. I don't know why Man U fans can't just stand up and be counted - are they ashamed? Yes, probably - the majority are just insecure gloryhunters
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Jack0
21/5/2013 01:31:42 am
Well said Rob, probably nothing else to do with his time, he's as bad as that West Ham Clown who is never off our blogs (Game's gone crazy or whatever) Stick to their own site's is what i say.....
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Stevo
21/5/2013 05:11:16 am
I remember the Don and his fantastic team, great times, but I also admired quality player's from other clubs. The '60's- '70's to me was a golden age, I enjoyed the mini-revival under Wilko, but things definitely started to go downhill with the Sky revolution. Now I'm just a cynical old git.
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David, please can you help me out here. Is reference ever made to Bobby Robson's discussions and subsequent move to PSV at the point when he was England manager? And can you let me have a list of the players subsequent to AF's youth team of 1992, who have been home grown? Sky money has changed proper football since 1990's. If AF spent £20m on a cr@p player he could always just go and buy another. This was never a choice for the managers of 60's, 70's and 80's and they played with just one sub.
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dewssbury white
27/5/2013 11:33:43 pm
Jutting want to add my bit to this article ,, on the night we played the Turkish scum at ER , semi final of the uafa cup , i met two Spaniards outside ER , they were real Madrid fans who had stayed over from the previous nights match they had with man u , they laid a flag at billy's feet in memory to OUR brothers murdered in Istanbul , i just looked at the real flag and thought the lads would be proud of that as it was the late great don who chose white in the hope we would play like the great 50's real Madrid team , the dons dream came true and he built a team just as good if not better ,, RIP DON AND UP YOURS BBC
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Didsbury Blue
2/8/2013 10:23:56 am
Found this article on Google doing a search on Revie.
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