The Unforgiven: The Story of Don Revie's Leeds United

by Rob Bagchi (Author), Paul Rogerson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $3.30

  They were the team from nowhere. In 1961, when Don Revie became manager of Leeds United, they were a struggling Second Division club, in a city where sport meant rugby league or gritty Yorkshire cricket. By the time he became England manager in 1974, Leeds had won two League Championships, the UEFA Cup twice, the FA Cup and the League Cup, and players like Jack Charlton, Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles were household names. But The Unforgiven is the story of a football team that, for all their success, was never accepted. Leeds United may have been one of the most talented sides in English football: they were certainly one of the most controversial - inspiring loathing in opposing fans every bit as intense as the bellicose devotion to their own. On the field the artistry of striker Allan Clarke or Peter Lorimer's thunderous shooting was overshadowed by a reputation for a ruthless, win-at-all-costs professionalism ahead of its time, symbolised by the legendary scything tackles of Norman Hunter. Review's Leeds team - especially in the intimidating arena of Elland Road - took no prisoners. As this book shows, Leeds' unfashionable, outlaw status was hardly unearned, thanks to the eccentric personality of Don Revie himself. In retrospect this was a bizarre way to run a football club. Team-building sessions meant taking players like Paul Madeley, Joe Jordan and Terry Cooper to endless rounds of bingo and carpet bowls. The bad luck of losing three FA Cup finals and coming second in the League five seasons out of nine prompted Byzantine superstitious rituals, like the manager's pre-match stroll to a certain set of traffic lights in Leeds and the exorcism of a Gypsy's curse on the club's ground. Here reigned less a football manager than, in Revie's own estimation, the head of the family . But whenever his great side were, in the fiery Billy Bremner's words, let off the leash - toying with Southampton, for example, to inflict a 7-0 defeat now enshrined in Match of the Day mythology - their sheer brilliance made for a spectacle so compelling it was almost cruel. Now Rob Bagchi and Paul Rogerson, lifetime Leeds supporters both, have talked to surviving team members to tell the full story of one of the most defiantly unconventional sides in British football.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $12.00

  They were the team from nowhere...In 1961, when Don Revie became manager of Leeds United, they were a struggling Second Division club. By 1974 they had won two League Championships, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (twice), the FA Cup and the League Cup, and players like Jack Charlton and Billy Bremner were household names. Yet this was a team that inspired not admiration, not grudging respect, but a deep and visceral loathing, matched only by the bellicose devotion of their own supporters. The undeniable artistry of players like striker Alan Clarke was overshadowed by a ruthless - and thoroughly modern - professionalism, symbolised by the scything tackles of Norman Hunter. The new Leeds - especially in the intimidating arena of Elland Road - took no prisoners. At the heart of their outlaw status was the eccentric, superstitious personality of Revie himself. Clad in his lucky blue suit, a man for whom team-building meant rounds of carpet bowls, here reigned less a football manager than, in his own estimation, the 'head of the family'.But whenever his great Leeds United side were let off the leash - the 7-0 humiliation of Southampton is enshrined in Match of the Day mythology - their brilliance was compelling. So compelling it was almost cruel. The Unforgiven is the full story of the most defiantly unconventional team in British football. The book is reissued to coincide with the release of BBC Films' adaptation of David Peace's bestselling The Damned United (9780571224333) - starring Michael Sheen as Brian Clough and adapted by Peter Morgan (The Queen). It includes a new chapter detailing the aftermath of the Revie era - including Brian Clough's infamous 44 days at Elland Road; Revie's tenure as England manager; and his continuing influence on Leeds' fortunes to this very day.