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| Leeds United did by far the most of the attacking in the final at the Parc de Princes stadium, and in the first 45 minutes had two loud penalty appeals turned down before, in the second half, Peter Lorimer volleyed in an unstoppable shot from 15 yards range for what everyone thought was to be the historic goal that won United the European Cup. The linesman in that half of the field thought so and ran back to the centre-line to take up his position for the re-start, but the French referee thought otherwise and decided that two Leeds players were stood in offside positions when Lorimer shot, and he ruled that they were interfering with play and so disallowed the 'score'. The West Germans could hardly believe their luck and they went to the other end and scored two excellent goals that were allowed to stand, to leave United staggered at their misfortune with their fans so incensed that the hooligan element among them found the perfect excuse for violence and the wrecking of seats in the stadium. |
April 1975: Watched by Billy Bremner (left), Allan Clarke shoots United's second goal against Barcelona which gave them a 2-1 victory. A draw in the second leg in Spain, before 110,000, sent Leeds into the European Cup final in Paris. |
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As had happened so often in the past then, Leeds United were deprived of an honour that they had deserved in controversial circumstances, and in looking back over the 12 seasons of this story it is surprising just how often United did finish second in various tournaments as they were in fact 'bridesmaids' on 11 occasions! The club's critics had always taken a delight in saying that Leeds were the best runners-up in the business, yet they chose to ignore the honours that Don Revie's team did win which were:- Division One Champions - twice, Division Two Champions, F.A. Cup Winners, League Cup Winners, European Fairs' Cup Winners - twice. To finish second can not be anything less than success and when it is realised that Leeds United, at their peak, won six major trophies in the space of seven years, it is clear that as a team they were nothing short of phenomenal. Yet beneath all the trophies and records credited to United, there were also numerous individual awards, which emphasised the highest esteem in which they were held, for Don Revie was three times the winner of the Manager of the Year title in 1969, 1970 and 1972 and Bobby Collins (1965), Jack Charlton (1967) and Billy Bremner (1970) were each elected by the sports writers as their Footballer of the Year, whilst Norman Hunter was the first recipient of the professional footballers own Player of the Year award in 1974. At one time there had been no fewer than 14 players on the books at Elland Road, all of whom had full international honours to their name, so that no one could seriously fail to recognise the club's pedigree and standing in modern day football. But for all that, there were those who had always, it seemed, been searching for something to complain about, and an epitaph to the Don Revie era at Elland Road could well be that - Leeds United were too professional for the amateur idealists and too successful for the jealous. |
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