Matches – 7 November 1964 – Everton 0 Leeds United 1
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Matches – 7 November 1964 – Everton 0 Leeds United 1 First Division - Goodison Park - 43,605 Scorers: Bell Everton: Rankin, Rees, Brown, Gabriel, Labone, Stevens, Temple, Young, Pickering, Vernon, Morrissey Leeds United: Sprake, Reaney, Bell, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Giles, Storrie, Belfitt, Collins, Johanneson There is no way of pinning down exactly when the infamous myth of 'Dirty Leeds' began: it could have been the day in early 1962 when Glasgow street fighter Bobby Collins answered the call of Don Revie, thereby importing an aggressive streak the size of the M1 into Elland Road; it might have been over Christmas 1963, when United clashed twice with promotion rivals Sunderland and players on both sides indulged in onfield thuggery of the worst kind; or perhaps the month before, when United entertained third placed Preston North End and the aggression was so intense that the referee halted the game after an hour to give the players a final chance to calm down and get themselves under control. Yorkshire Post 19 November 1963 - Preston clash with Leeds and the referee Certainly, the reputation of the club was warns the players to calm down - a typical scenario for United well established by the end of 1964. During October, the Elland Road crowd had struck up with a chant of "Dirty Tottenham … Dirty Tottenham," ironically mocking the castigation that United regularly suffered, as Spurs had four players booked in a 3-1 defeat. Whatever the truth, there was one specific day in the late autumn of 1964 that ranks very prominently in the development of the legend - Leeds United's clash with Everton on 7 November 1964 has gone down in the annals of English football as one of its most notorious confrontations. It took both sides to generate the heat that ruined the day, but it certainly cemented the reputation of the Whites for provoking controversy and rancour. It's a moot point as to whether Don Revie set out with the deliberate intention of his men kicking their way to success. The man himself always strenuously denied any such thing, choosing instead to lay the blame at the door of opponents, referees, commentators … anybody outside the confines of Elland Road would do, as long as it wasn't his charges who took the blame. However, there are simply too many examples of the Yorkshiremen being involved in appalling scenes for all his protestations of innocence to carry much credibility. www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 7 November 1964, Everton 0 Leeds United 1 1 Jack Charlton provided a telling hint of the Elland Road approach, whilst denouncing it, in his 1996 autobiography: "We made a lot of enemies in that 1964-65 season. I remember lying on the treatment table in the Leeds dressing room with one of the young lads, Jimmy Lumsden. He was talking about a reserves match the night before, and he told me that he had gone in over the top of the ball to a guy who had then had to be taken off. 'I gave him a beauty,' Jimmy said. Don murmured something approvingly. 'Jimmy,' I told him, 'Jimmy, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. That guy might some day play against you again, he will remember you and he might just go over the top to you when you're not expecting it. You might finish up breaking your leg.'" Irish playmaker Johnny Giles earned himself a darker name after his arrival at Elland Road. He was unequivocal about the reality of the professional game: "You had to establish a reputation that would make people think twice about messing with you … I have certainly done things on the football field then that I am embarrassed about now, but one has to put them into the football climate that existed then. It was a different game then, much more physical than it is today - vicious even - and people like Bobby Collins and myself were targets … Now you either took it or you responded to it, and Bobby and I responded to it … you had to get respect in the sense that people could not clog you without knowing that they would be clogged back. People might say, 'Oh, that's not right - it's not sporting,' but that's the way it was, a fact of life." Bobby Collins in his latter days at Everton - Collins bred a never-say-die spirit at The jutting-out chins, brash arrogance and shameless attitude of Elland Road and a will to win that United's players brought out the worst in others, provoking them sometimes bordered on recklessness to outdo Leeds at their own game. As often as not, uptight opponents would forget to play football in their eagerness to fight fire with fire and that usually spelled their downfall: United had gained the upper hand, earned the right to dictate terms and usually finished off their opponents with equal measures of skill and brutality. It mattered not which weapon was required, Revie's men were as adept with both bludgeon and rapier. The mood in the autumn of 1964, as Leeds made their way in football's top flight, was uncompromising. The paranoid siege mentality that so often characterised Revie as a manger came spilling over when he heard the news that the Football Association had named his beloved players as "the dirtiest side in the country". The FA were determined to take firm action against the game's worsening discipline and the Association's official journal, the FA News, carried an article in August examining the disciplinary records of its membership. Leeds United were highlighted as the Football League club with the worst record for players cautioned, censured, fined or suspended. United reacted angrily to the article, pointing out that it was not the first team, but the junior sides, that were responsible for the bulk of the numbers. Revie told Phil Brown of the Yorkshire Evening Post: "We did not have a single first team player sent off last season and we had only one suspended, Billy Bremner, after a series of cautions, which is a lot more than many clubs can say. The majority of our offences were committed by junior second team players or boys. For that I blame the tension which permeated the whole club in the long and hard drive for promotion in a very hot Second Division. It was a time of very great strain for us all, and the club spirit being as wholehearted as it is from top to bottom." www.mightyleeds.co.uk - Matches – 7 November 1964, Everton 0 Leeds United 1 2 United prepared a formal response to the FA, warning ominously: "We would also maintain that the Dirty Team tag, which was blown up by the Press, could prejudice not only the general public but the officials controlling the game, and to put it mildly, could have an effect on the subconscious approach of both referee and linesmen, to say nothing of the minds of spectators, especially some types who are watching football today. It could lead to some very unsavoury incidents." Revie feared an over reaction from the teams that United played. Certainly, that was how it worked out in the fierce clash at Goodison Park. Leeds were the form team of the two, sitting fourth in the table, on the back of four straight victories. Everton were eighth, without a win in a month. They remained a class act, though, and were eager to put United in their place. John Moores, after making a fortune with the Littlewoods organisation, took over as chairman of the Merseyside club in 1958 and financed their rebuilding plans under new manager Harry Catterick, appointed in 1961. The Toffeemen won their first title for 24 years in 1963, twelve months after Bobby Collins forsook Goodison for Elland Road. They were now one of the country's finest teams, boasting such talent as centre-half Brian Labone, Dennis Stevens (who took Collins' place in the team after arriving from Bolton), Scottish international right-half Jimmy Gabriel, goalscorer Roy Vernon and the fans' favourite, 'The Golden Vision', Alex Young. Everton had a number of players unavailable for the game, including Scott, classy utility player Brian Harris and Scottish international full- back Alex Parker. United had their own injury worries and former England centre-forward Alan Peacock had missed the entire season. Young Rod Belfitt, just turned 19, continued to deputise up front, scoring three goals in six appearances prior to the game. Everton manager Harry Catterick rebuilt his side after selling Bobby Collins to Everton's players expected a battle and were patently aware of United's reputation. Indeed, only those cast adrift in the Arctic for the preceding two years could have been unaware of their record - the autumn had seen Leeds implicated in several highly controversial moments. Richard Ulyatt of the Yorkshire Post: "On September 12, Gibson of Leicester City was sent off the field when playing on Leeds United's ground … On October 17 four Tottenham players had their names taken by the referee … On October 31, Badger, the Sheffield United full-back, was sent off … Sheffield were so incensed that their programme comments for last Saturday's home match against Chelsea included passages they may eventually regret. It described the Leeds match as a 'travesty of soccer'. It was said 'Badger was fouled and needlessly hacked' (a free kick was awarded against Sheffield, not Leeds) and it was added: 'It is significant that this incident was not the only flare up there has been at Elland Road in recent weeks.