Film of the Day #13: Leeds United’s Beaten Generation

Courtesy of Youtube’s “Beaten Generation,” here are poor Revie’s Leeds being conned out of a variety of cups and titles. The old rule that one refereeing decision against you is balanced by another in your favour never seemed to apply to the team in yellow.

1967: FA Cup Semi-Final vs Chelsea

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmLMb1su5Lg]

1971: Ray Tinkler robs Leeds of the League title

You need a heart of stone not to, don’t you?

1973: The European Cup Winners’ Cup Final against A.C. Milan. From Richard Corbett MEP’s website:-

Many Leeds fans still hold referee Christos Michas responsible for the defeat after a series of outrageous decisions allowed Milan to clinch a narrow 1-0 victory. Michas’s performance was considered so dubious UEFA banned him from refereeing for life. Despite rumours Milan had bribed the Greek official they were allowed to keep the trophy.

Richard said: “This is not the first occasion Italian clubs, and AC Milan in particular, have been involved in a match-fixing scandal. UEFA now has the perfect opportunity to prove it will not tolerate corruption in football by investigating any games in which match fixing may have occured and severly punishing guilty clubs.”

“Many Leeds supporters are still as mystified as me by the referee’s performance in the 1973 Cup Winners’ Cup final. It is games like these that UEFA must investigate and if Milan are discovered to have fixed the match then Leeds should be awarded the trophy.”

And, of course, 1975, and the European Cup Final against Bayern Munich.

Leeds finished that match with five Scots, five Englishmen and John Giles of Ireland. Any discussion of the disparity between English international success and English club success carries a Celtic tinge. But Manchester United won in 1968 with seven Englishmen; Liverpool in 1977 had nine Englishmen, and eight the following year. Nottingham Forest won their first European trophy despite carrying eight Englishmen in the Final, and retained it with six. The next year, Liverpool finished their winning final with nine on the pitch. Aston Villa had eight.

In 1984, Liverpool had three Englishmen (3 Scots, 2 Irishmen, an Australian, a Zimbabwean and a Welshman; substitutions brought on another Irishman and another Scot). By this stage, England’s national side were arguably over the worst of it. Strange!

Just to complete the picture, in the following tragic non-final, Liverpool were down to two Englishmen. And one of those was Paul Walsh. (4 Scots initially, finishing with 5, 3 Irishmen and Bruce Grobelaar).

Seven of the great Liverpool side of the seventies turned out for Ron Greenwood’s first match as England manager, against Switzerland on the 7th September 1977. The game was at Wembley, and ended 0-0. Do what you will as England manager, and it seems that the blue screen of death is waiting for you regardless.