Obviously I am far, far too young to remember the 1970’s heyday of United. So if you’ve got any particular recollections or information add a comment or contact me and I’ll pass them on to Eddie:
I'm writing for the official Leeds United magazine on the club's seemingly unbreakable Scottish connection – paricularly as we've just signed two more Scots, Ross McCormack and Neil Collins.
I'm also going to be speaking to Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray about the Elland Road "clan", but I really wanted some insight from more of a fan's perspective. If you have a few seconds, I'd love to know...
1. Whether in the 1970s particularly there was any allegiance to Leeds amongst Scots with all the Scottish players in the side? Did people want Leeds to do well because they had four, five, sometimes six Scots in the starting line up? Or, frankly, was that just the way football was back then – with every major club having two or three Scots?
2. That 1974 World Cup side in particular had a strong Leeds flavour... Lorimer, Bremner, Harvey and Jordan in the starting side, with McQueen also in the squad – in fact all the goals in the
tournament came from Leeds players. (Scotland even wore all white and used sock tags!) As Leeds had just won the championship, was there a feeling that Scotland was in the ascendancy football-wise at this time?
3. What the achievements of someone like Billy Bremner at Elland Road mean to people north of the border?
4. To what extent did that continue with the likes of Strachan and McAllister then coming to Leeds and helping win the title in 1992?
it carried on into the late 70s for Leeds and the Scot clan so after the obvious Bremner and Lorimer and Harvey we had
ReplyDeleteMcQueen
Joe Jordan
Dave Stewart (in goal)
Frank Gray
Eddie Gray of course - but a comeback and capped late 70s also
Derek Parlane
Arthur Graham
and of course JOCK STEIN who left us after 44 odd days or so for the national job
Arthur
if it hadnt been for the wing wizard and revelation John Robertson .. then Eddie Gray and Arthur Graham would have had more caps in that 77-80 era
ReplyDeleteAlways had a good Scottish link at Leeds - Yorkshire is full of Celts genetically - its in the DNA
We have Mac McCormack now too
AG
There were always memorable scots at ER winger George Meek was a real gem but the take off came with the arrival of Don Reive and his early signing of Bobby Collins from Everton - My father told me that Collins had been a Scotish international but was at the end of his time & just seeing out time at Leeds. Revie reoganised the team around Collins and things really took off, wayward young scot Bremner was moved into midfield alongside Collins and wow!
ReplyDeleteBobby was recalled to the Scottish team and had his best years - he was a real gem.
Lets not forget Johnny MaCole, Tommy Younger, Willie Bell et al.
IanB
Hi guys, author of the original e-mail here. Thanks for all the input.
ReplyDeleteLeeds has always had a decent smattering of Scots, including the likes of John White and Tom Jennings, who formed formidable attacking pairing in the late 1920s, and carrying through the 1950s with the legendary Jimmy Dunn.
I guess my question was less about the players, but more about the fans. Did the iconic 1970s team create any fans in Scotland? Do Scottish football fans have any special affinity with Leeds because of the likes of Bremner, Jordan, and the success of getting to the 1974 WC Finals...
I actually have a silk scarf from 1974, also the height of Bay City Rollers mania, which has tartan on one side and the faces of Bremner, Lorimer, Eddie Gray, Gordon McQueen and Joe Jordan on the other!
Any stories/anecdotes about Leeds-supporting friends from Scotland or similar would be great!
Thanks again!