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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
The book captures the complete history of Leeds United, 13 Jun 2000
By A Customer
What have footballers Harold Jacklin and Leonard Baker got in common? The answer is that both were former Blackpool players who joined Leeds United in the early 1920s and both are pictured in Leeds line-ups in the first few pages of a new book which forms part of the admirable Tempus Publishing series entitled Images of Sport.Leeds United, perhaps surprisingly, were only formed in 1920 when the old city club, Leeds City, suffered expulsion from The Football League for making illegal payments to players during the First World War. And United were quick to get their name on a trophy when the club won the Division Two championship in 1923/24 when Baker played 10 games for them but Jacklin, after just one game at Blackpool, had moved on to Doncaster Rovers after just three games at Leeds! It was to be a short stay in the higher echelons of football for the club was relegated in 1926/27 only to bounce back as runners-up in 1931/32. The 1930s thereafter saw the club hold on to their status but with only three away wins in 1936/37 it was a struggle with only a plethora of goals from South African Gordon Hodgson, 53 in 86 games in his Leeds career after 233 in 258 games for Liverpool, saved them.After a break for World War Two, it was the arrival of King John, John Charles, that saw Leeds enjoy some of their best supported years as Charles, not only a great player either up front or at the back, was a charismatic draw both home and away; it was a sad blow when Leeds had to bow to the hefty offer of £65,000 from Italian giants Juventus who enticed the gentle giant to Turin. And in Italy he once again became a folk hero with his tremendous goalscoring achievements. Andy McCall, a one-time Blackpool player, featured in the side alongside John Charles before moving on to his final League port of call, Halifax Town. But it was from 1961 to 1974 that were the Leeds glory years and the catalyst was a certain Don Revie who had been signed as a player for £12,000 by short-term manager Bill Lambton. He made 80 appearances for the club and scored 12 goals but his significant contribution came as a manager. Promotion back to the First Division came in 1963/64, an FA Cup final defeat by Liverpool in 1965, the Inter Fairs City Fairs Cup was won in 1968 and, thanks to unlikely goalscorer Terry Cooper, Arsenal were defeated 1-0 in the 1968 Football League Cup final. The late Billy Bremner was a proud man on 28 April 1969 for he collected the First Division championship trophy for the first time in the club's history and in the 1969/70 season Leeds regularly fielded a team of 11 internationals. A loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup, a further Inter Cities Fairs Cup win over Juventus in 1971 and a Centenary Year FA Cup final victory over Arsenal led to a Don Revie/Billy Bremner farewell which resulted in the First Division championship being won again in 1973/74. Bayern Munich administered a European Cup defeat in 1975 and in the 1981/82 season came relegation to the Second Division. Promotion as champions in the 1989/90 season was but a prelude to the First Division title in 1991/92 and with Leeds youngsters winning the FA Youth Cup in both 1993 and 1997 a challenge for the Premiership was the least the club could expect. After a poor start in 1998/99 when George Graham's "messy drawn-out departure to Tottenham" did the club no favours, 1999/2000 sees the club mounting a serious title challenge although they still require a good number of points to catch the perennial title chasers Manchester United. The book captures the complete history of Leeds United along with all the great personalities involved in the club in words and pictures and is a worthy addition to what is rapidly becoming a definitive illustrative series of football books from Tempus.
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