Blood, snow & espionage — Square Ball 28/8/26

Written by: Rob Conlon

Behind the curtain

“This was one of the greatest performances I have seen from any team,” Don Revie said after Leeds’ 0-0 draw at Torino secured qualification from the club’s first ever European tie in October 1965. “They proved themselves real professionals. They have given everything and have not got an ounce left.”

United had won 2-1 in the first leg at Elland Road, refereed by a certain Michel Kitabdjian. In Turin, they held on for the final forty minutes while down to ten men after Bobby Collins had his thighbone shattered by a tackle from Fabrizio Poletti. Jack Charlton responded to the challenge by punching any Torino player who tried to move his captain on the floor, while Billy Bremner told Poletti, “I’ll kill you for this.”

‘In adversity they fought every inch of the way and were magnificent,’ wrote Eric Stanger in The Yorkshire Post. ‘It was one of the greatest victories in Leeds United’s history.’ Even the Italian press expressed their admiration: ‘The whole team seemed to be spurred by fire.’

The severity of the injury to Collins meant Leeds could not enjoy their success for long. Collins was a hero to many of the young upstarts around him. Eddie Gray called him “The Governor”. How could Revie replace the man who’d inspired United from the doldrums of Second Division to runners up in both the league and FA Cup in their first campaign back in the top flight the previous season?

As Johnny Giles wrote in his autobiography, he ‘took it for granted’ that he was Collins’ natural replacement in the middle of the pitch. Having been forced to play on the wing since moving to Elland Road from Old Trafford, Giles was ‘taken aback’ when Revie instead chose 20-year-old Rod Johnson to partner Bremner in midfield as Leeds drew 0-0 at Sheffield Wednesday followed by a 4-2 home defeat against West Brom in the League Cup.

Unable to hide his frustration any longer, Giles went to speak to Revie. ‘Watching Bobby Collins, who was such a fine exponent of the art of midfield play, I felt I had served my apprenticeship — and it was the best sort of apprenticeship too, the type you receive almost without realising it, just absorbing it all by being close to a master. I was about to explain all this to Don but, before I could speak, he told me he had already decided to play me in midfield for the following match. “I will give you six matches and we’ll review it after that.”’

The switch coincided with the signing of winger Mike O’Grady from Huddersfield, allowing Giles to move inside along Bremner. In Leeds’ next game, they thrashed Northampton 6-1 in the league. A few weeks later, both Bremner and Giles scored to secure a 2-0 win over Arsenal. ‘We never got around to that six-match review,’ wrote Giles.

Their first test in Europe without Collins came courtesy of a trip to SC Leipzig in the second round of the Fairs Cup, which meant an adventure behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany. Flying to Berlin, Leeds had to cross Checkpoint Charlie before continuing their journey to Leipzig.

‘Once on the other side you got onto an East German bus, which would be rust on wheels and be driven along pot-holed roads for two and a half hours in the snow as your first glimpse of the communist bloc,’ Peter Lorimer remembered in his autobiography. ‘A conversation between more than two of the local people was viewed as a conspiracy, so you saw very few people about. It was all very austere and quite unnerving.’

Still, Leeds’ journey was more comfortable than Manchester United’s, who were playing in East Berlin the same week. Upon crossing the border, defender Paddy Crerand listed his name as ‘James Bond’. Officials were unimpressed by the joke and kept the team waiting for four hours.

European ties in East Germany were developing a foreboding reputation. Four years earlier, Northern Irish side Linfield had been drawn against Vorwaerts Berlin, where they were followed everywhere they went by the East German police. In 1968, Cardiff faced Dynamo Berlin, whose honorary chairman Erich Mielke just so happened to also be the head of the Stasi secret police. Former Leeds manager Uwe Rosler started his playing career at SC Leipzig — by then known as Lokomotive Leipzig — and was once threatened by the Stasi to inform on any colleagues contemplating defecting to the West if he wanted to continue his career unimpeded.

“We all had to grow up fast in Europe,” O’Grady told the journalist Richard Sutcliffe years later. Collins’ injury had only confirmed what John Charles had told the team about Italian football upon his brief return from Juventus and what Leeds had experienced firsthand in friendlies against Roma, Cremonese and Prato. Skullduggery of all kinds was commonplace in European football. O’Grady was spat at and headbutted, another opponent tried to poke him in the eye. “What happened in those early European games had a big impact on how Revie wanted us to play,” O’Grady said. “He knew we had to look after ourselves.” Eventually Revie told his players, “This is what we’re up against, lads.”

Known for his superstitions and instilling of a siege mentality among his players, perhaps Revie was in his element amid such an atmosphere of paranoia. Against Torino, he’d sent his players out wearing the ‘wrong’ squad numbers to confuse the Italians’ man-marking tactics. Revie repeated the trick against Leipzig, left-back Willie Bell starting up front in the number 9 shirt before the players reshuffled back to their usual positions after five minutes.

Played in arctic conditions, six inches of snow had fallen on the pitch in the build up to the game. Rather than clear the pitch, a heavy roller was used to pack it down before a spiked roller roughened the surface. Leeds’ players had brought three pairs of boots each and were ‘smothered in an evil-smelling brew of various oils as protection against the cold’, but Revie had another trick up his sleeve.

To help his players keep their footing, the coaching staff shaved off the leather tips on the studs of their boots, allowing the nails to protrude. In order to pass the referee’s inspections, the nails were covered with a layer of cardboard that was promptly flicked off as the game began. Being able to stay upright was the aim, the blood of the Leipzig players soon staining the snow was a bonus. Their complaints to the referee fell on deaf ears as the official insisted he’d checked Leeds’ boots and there was nothing untoward.

East German footballers were trained in accordance with the principles of communism. Individual flair was eschewed for a collective, militaristic approach that favoured athleticism, power and tactical discipline. Leeds were confronted by the sheer size of the Leipzig side, with Bremner battling away against a 6ft 4in centre-half, deployed up front in place of the injured Alan Peacock.

Despite Leipzig taking the game to Leeds, the resilience and patience of Revie’s team was rewarded in the final ten minutes as Bell and O’Grady combined to create a chance for Lorimer that he finished with typical aplomb, before a mis-hit clearance was nodded on by Lorimer, allowing Bremner to recreate his back-header that knocked Manchester United out of the previous season’s FA Cup semi-final. Leeds had scored twice within sixty seconds, only for Leipzig to keep the tie alive with a freak consolation goal, Henning Frenzel spooning a shot over United’s defence and the on-rushing goalkeeper Gary Sprake.

Upon their return to Leeds, Revie and his players could have been forgiven for thinking they were still in East Germany. Heavy snowfall meant a league fixture against Manchester United in between the two legs was postponed. Eighty volunteers placed braziers all over the pitch and left them burning for a couple of days to ensure the return fixture could go ahead. Leipzig were forced to train on the dog track next to Elland Road and were photographed looking bemused at the nearby greyhounds, having never previously encountered the breed. ‘The greyhounds were unperturbed,’ noted one report, ‘they have seen footballers before.’

The conditions suited the visitors, who hit the post early on, but Leeds drew on their experience in Turin to navigate another 0-0 draw that ensured progression to the third round of the Fairs Cup.

Fast forward to the present day and fans buoyed by the optimism of a new season are dreaming of Leeds returning to Europe. That inaugural continental campaign is the perfect example of everything I would want from a season in the UEFA Conference League.

The run was eventually ended at the semi-final stage by former champions Real Zaragoza. Giles was sent off in the first leg following a scuffle with the opposition, but after two legs the scores remained level 2-2 on aggregate. Leeds won the right to host the replay via a toss of a disc, and Revie tasked the fire brigade with hosing down the pitch, hoping Zaragoza’s passing wouldn’t be so slick in a Beeston quagmire. If anything, it only slowed Leeds down as Zaragoza’s class told in a 3-1 victory.

But to reach that stage, Leeds had continued bloodying the noses of some of Europe’s finest. After the violence of Torino and espionage of Leipzig, two-time winners Valencia’s visit to Elland Road was marked by a mass brawl after the Spaniards had taken offence to Jack Charlton’s tactic of standing in front of the goalkeeper at set-pieces. Calm was only restored by the intervention of twelve police officers as Charlton chased ‘keeper Nito into the West Stand, before the referee took both teams off the pitch for ten minutes.

In the quarter-final, Leeds faced another trip behind the Iron Curtain to face Ujpest Dozsa. The first leg at Elland Road was best remembered for a dog getting on the pitch and stopping play for ten minutes, running rings around stewards and policemen until the referee got its attention by bouncing the ball in the middle of the pitch. The second leg in Budapest, meanwhile, was best remembered for the two teams brawling at a post-match banquet, with Leeds ultimately handing out another beating. It didn’t matter that Bobby Collins was no longer there to look after the team. His disciples had proved they’d grown up quickly. On or off the pitch, they were ready to keep fighting.