Matches – 27 March 1965
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Matches – 27 March 1965 – Manchester U 0 Leeds United 0 First Division - Hillsborough – 65,000 Scorers: None Manchester United: P Dunne, Brennan, A Dunne, Crerand, Foulkes, Stiles, Connelly, R Charlton, Herd, Law, Best Leeds United: Sprake, Reaney, Bell, Bremner, J Charlton, Hunter, Giles, Storrie, Peacock, Collins, Johanneson As the two Uniteds from Manchester and Leeds clashed in the semi final of the FA Cup at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium in March 1965, the records of the two clubs in the famous old competition could scarcely have been more contrasting. Leeds had only once before gone as far as the last eight, when John Charles was centre-half in the side that came close to beating mighty Arsenal in 1950. The Yorkshire club’s normal fate was an early exit, and the ten seasons between 1953 and 1962 had yielded not a single victory, an astonishingly tepid record by any standards. By contrast, the Red Devils had won the Cup on three occasions, with the most recent being only two years previously, and had finished runners up twice during the Fifties. Add in five League championship successes and six second places, and one can appreciate exactly how much richer was their history than that of their still relatively humble opponents. Indeed, the Peacocks could point to only two Second Division championships, in 1924 and 1964, in terms of any major silverware. However, as the two sides prepared for the semi final they were separated by just a single point in the chase for the First Division title, with only Chelsea (due to face Liverpool in the other semi) sitting above them. Willie Bell is chaired off by Les Cocker and Johnny Giles with Jim Storrie and The Yorkshiremen’s rise to prominence the Red Cross in close attendance during the bruising encounter at Everton under manager Don Revie had been startling, and they could point to a win earlier in the season at Old Trafford. That victory, gained at the beginning of December, had come during a lengthy unbeaten run, now extended to 20 games after a 4-1 victory against Everton. Leeds had earlier in the season also gained the scalps of reigning Division One title winners Liverpool and were www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 27 March 1965, Manchester United 0 Leeds United 0 1 confident as they prepared for the biggest game in the club’s history. Their Manchester rivals were also supremely self-assured, understandably so, given the renown of their all star forward line, John Connelly, Bobby Charlton, David Herd, Denis Law and George Best. They were determined not to be intimidated by the reputation of Leeds for roughhouse tactics. In October, the Whites had participated in an infamous clash with Everton at Goodison Park, when their 1-0 win was gained during a near riot with crowd and players alike losing their heads. The two sides did not really care for each other at all. The Yorkshire United were the classic outsiders, kicking at the doors of the feast, eager to prick the balloon of much vaunted opposition. Matt Busby’s world-beaters, on the other hand, considered their opponents uncouth and poorly qualified for being on the same pitch as them. George Best’s recollection is probably quite typical of the views held by his team mates: "That Leeds team are now remembered as the most cynical football team of all time. Although they did Pat Crerand gets the better of Billy Bremner on this particular occasion deserve that reputation, I hated playing against them, I really did, it must be remembered that they also had a hell of a lot of skill, too, but they were still a bloody nightmare. "But my little anecdote tends to sum them up. It concerns Matt Busby who, in a team talk before meeting Leeds, went through each member of their side. It must be remembered that Busby loved Man United but he was also a fiercely patriotic Scot. "Anyway, Matt went like this: ‘Gary Sprake, the goalkeeper . on his day a nasty piece of work. Right-back, Paul Reaney . dirty bastard. Left-back, Terry Cooper. even dirtier bastard. Johnny Giles. dirty little bastard. Centre-half, Jack Charlton . dirty big bastard. Right-half, wee Billy Bremner . good Scottish boy!’” For Best, Paul Reaney came to be a feared spectre at the feast over the years; he was usually detailed to man mark the gifted Irishman, and had done so successfully during the match between the two teams in December. But Best had enjoyed even closer attention from another player, as recounted by Rob Bagchi and Paul Rogerson in The Unforgiven: “In one of the autobiographies George Best gives a good example from that Old Trafford encounter of their adventurous aggression: ‘As the two teams walked down the tunnel,’ he wrote in The Best of Times, ‘I felt a www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 27 March 1965, Manchester United 0 Leeds United 0 2 terrific pain in my right calf as someone kicked me with brute force. I turned. It was Bobby Collins. “And that’s just for starters, Bestie,” he said.’ Reprehensible, obviously, and entirely contrary to the spirit of the game, but one can’t help being amused by the sheer audacity of the man – and the naked malevolence of the act. “Collins knew that fear worked. If a player is intimidated, the likelihood is that he will give his opponent more time – a footballer’s most precious commodity. Collins took it further than most would dare, far too far for some tastes, but it was highly effective. Over the next five years, as Manchester United conquered Europe and George Best was at his peak, he tore countless teams to shreds, but for all his sublime ability he never once dominated a game against Leeds United. It wasn’t because Best was physically frightened by Leeds, simply that Leeds were prepared to use every weapon at their disposal to stop him playing, whether physical, psychological, tactical or, like the tunnel assault, borderline criminal. “But it wasn’t a cowardly approach. Man U keeper Pat Dunne saves from Jim Storrie with Albert Johanneson in Nobby Stiles, Best’s protector in chief, close attendance took his team mate’s revenge. ‘Every time you come down our right hand side and kick George, you filthy bastard,’ he shouted at Collins, slamming him into the perimeter wall in a forceful tackle, ‘I’m going to friggin’ well hit you like that, only harder.’ Collins got up to score the only goal of the game. He had started it, taken the retribution as fair punishment, continued to hound Best despite Stiles’ injunctions and still led his team to maximum points. That was the hyperactive impudence that came to characterise Revie’s Leeds.” Certainly, Manchester United had little reason to look forward to the clash with Leeds. There was a bitter and unlovely tension developing between the players of the two clubs. The significance of the occasion and the evident determination not to lose only served to heighten that feeling. Both teams were at full strength for a match played in front of a capacity 65,000 crowd, and from the first seconds it was clear that this was to be a fearful war of attrition and anger, as reported in The Times: “This was a rough and tumble: tough, with the rumble of trouble from the start when Bremner sawed down R Charlton in full flight. The English player usually is the gentlest of creatures. But now he retaliated immediately in anger, wagged his finger in admonition and from that first act the battle quickly slipped into a black mood that only matched the dark stage itself, a heavy churned up pitch made sticky by heavy overnight rain. “Manchester, having heard of the dog’s bad name, clearly were themselves determined not to be bitten. But, in wishing to be master, some of them took matters too far and in the end it was Leeds, paradoxically, who were more sinned against than sinning as a final ratio of three infringements against the one in their favour showed.” www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 27 March 1965, Manchester United 0 Leeds United 0 3 Eric Stanger in the Yorkshire Post: “What went wrong? Three things, I suggest. In the first place, both sides tended to overrate each other and resorted to sheer physical intimidation out of fear of the other’s supposed superior skill. Secondly, the refereeing of Mr R H Windle of Chesterfield was tolerant to the point of weakness. Lastly, the pitch was all against clever, controlled football. The drying, sticky mud not only tugged at ankles and sapped stamina, but slowed down passes so much that the most simple move looked difficult to execute. A thoroughly wet surface would have been better.” For all that Billy Bremner provoked much of the early unpleasantness with aggressive assaults on both Law and Charlton, it was the Leeds man who suffered most during the opening twenty minutes. He was felled on a number of occasions, once rising with a bloodied nose, and shortly afterwards nearly scoring an own goal as he volleyed Connelly’s centre from two yards out. Sprake fielded his sliced clearance. Leeds soon rallied, and Peacock came close to steering home Collins’ free kick after 18 minutes with Storrie and Johanneson threatening. But it soon became very clear that this was not to be a flowing game as the teams dug in for trench warfare. Stiles played sweeper for the Red Devils, while Reaney, Bremner and Hunter seemed to be chiefly concerned with preventing Best, Law and Charlton from making any positive contribution.