"What I expect
from my players"
by Don
Revie O.B.E. (Manager of Leeds United).
Some time before Leeds
United won even the first of the several honours that
have come our way in recent seasons, I told a gathering
of the players that if they became champions they would
realise, I hoped, that there was more to it than being
the top team. I cannot recall my exact words, but
remember well the gist of them, which was that it was not
sufficient merely to become champions; of equal
importance in my book was to behaved like champions, off
as well as on the field.
This can have many
aspects: behaviour on the field, behaviour away from it;
appearance on the field, conduct of it. Many aspects, but
all contributing towards the hole the complete, educated,
accomplished footballer of today.
Many years ago the
great Scottish club Rangers had a foreign manager, one
Willie Struth.Over the years many tales have been told
about him, some perhaps they embellished with the passing
of time and in the retelling. But from at least one or
two of them there shines a fine example of what I mean,
and what I expect from a champion team.
There is the story
about how he used to order any player with hair nearing
his collar to attend upon the hairdresser; how the roared
out two players found in the cheaper seats in a Glasgow
cinema with the blast "As Rangers, will occupy seats
befitting your position".
He was said to have
been something of a martinet, but I doubt whether any of
his players suffered because at that. Indeed, from some
who served under him I had heard nothing but praise, and
certainly he produced in his players a terrific pride in
their club and in their profession.
That of course is how
we should be. The more so today when not only the salary
but also the image of the player has risen to
unparalleled heights; when the public, particularly its
younger members, set their sights on the footballer and
their standards by him. In addition, any club enjoying a
fair measure of success, and certainly any player within
any such club, is subject to pressures of publicity never
before experienced in the game.
So we have today a
situation in which a team taking the title, indeed long
before actually achieving it, becomes subject to constant
survey - has the eyes of public upon it's every action,
both on the field and away from it. In addition, as more
and more clubs enter into European competition so the
image of the British footballer, and through him the
Briton himself, is spread the that and further afield
with more and more coverage what press and television.
We thus have the
situation in which any club and its players are faced
with the dual problem - that of winning matches and doing
so with dignity on and off the field.
I could be said,
perhaps, to be particularly conscious of this, because of
what I still believe to be a totally unfair impression
given abroad about Leeds when we first started to chase
the honours. I refer, of course, to the suggestion that
we were more physical than skilful. I have never
subscribed to any such view, neither did I to any
suggestion that we were more a defensive side than
anything else. Fortunately, for my beliefs the events of
the past few seasons have spoken for themselves and by
now the Leeds are hailed as a side containing as many
skills as any, and more than most.
I recall George Best
being asked last season and, just before we met them in
the F A Cup semi-finals, how he rated Leeds. He replied,
"Their strength is that they have no weaknesses:
they also possess a tremendous team spirit and players of
great individual skills". I like to think that
George was echoing the thoughts of most of the people in
football, but for a long time we had to suffer other
things being said about us, and bare it with dignity. And
that is what being champions is all about really - a
wearing a crown with dignity.
Let me stress straight
away that I am not suggesting an 'after you' type of
player on the field. Perhaps it would be as well if I
said at this stage what I expect from a player of Leeds
United.
On arrival at Elland
Road any new boy, be he a young apprentice professional
or an already established star, is quick to appreciate
that he should combine courage, hard but fair play and
complete confidence on the field, with courtesy, good
conduct, manners and humility away from it. I do not
intend to speak on this need for soccer skills, already
obvious or latent. That goes without saying.
To assist in this we
hold our own 'educational classes' at United, with
members of the staff as the tutors and the incoming
teenagers as the pupils. Augmented by advice from outside
professional and trade organisations, we inculcate into
the lads a knowledge of dining out, checking in to and
our of hotels, how to travel in comfort, even how to
reply to toasts and many other things. In addition there
is the emphasis upon religious advice if they want it and
talks on girlfriends, male and female fans, etc.
Everything and anything in fact.
The idea behind all
this is to insure that so far as is humanly possible
every lad on the staff has, within a short time of
joining Leeds United, been taught sufficient to to feel
comfortable in any kind of company, able to enter any
hotel he wishes and also made aware of the temptations as
well as the honours and awards that can come his way.
I have heard it said
that this is not the function of a football club; that a
club's sole concern should be in the promotion of a fine
football side and to the winning of more matches than
achieved by the opposition. But surely it is all part and
parcel of the same thing.
Let me say immediately
that no one is more aware than we at Elland Road of the
importance of winning matches and of establishing a fine
football side with which to do so. Indeed that is the
major purpose behind everything we do, but there are
others ancillary things to be considered.
One is that while
winning matches is of vital importance, the manner in
which successes are achieved must also be considered.
The other vital factor
ancillary to winning matches, and winning them in at the
right spirit, is that the boys who obtain these honours
for a club and its city, and in turn is feted by them,
should be honourable representatives of that club, and
that city.
As I said earlier, let
there be no question of us trying to put manners before
everything else. We are part of a football club, and a
successful one at that, and such successes have been
achieved only by a complete one hundred per cent
dedication - being able to match skill with sinew when
required in hard but fair combat with the opposition.
But within that
requirement it is possible, must be possible, for
football to uphold the dignity it has brought into the
twentieth century's later years. At the turn of the
century and for many years thereafter this great game was
considered something of a festival of the cloth capped.
That was never completely accurate. The game has always
attracted the intelligentsia - though in much lower
numbers it must be admitted - now, of course, are there
are almost as many egg-heads as those of other shapes
attracted to, and attending a the game.
In turn the game has
received recognition at the highest level, with Her
Majesty the Queen bestowing knighthoods and other
decorations (of which I have had the great honour to
receive one), upon people in the game.
Football has indeed,
arrived. It is recognised for what it is a great game for
the masses, a source of entertainment for the millions
and a combination of employment and enjoyable activities
to the fortunate thousands learning their living from the
game.
The eyes of the world
are upon us and, being under such scrutiny, it behoves us
all to do nothing to belittle the game.
Often I think that
winning a trophy is almost the easiest part of the
exercise. Retaining it, and at the same time one's sense
of purpose, modesty and place in things is infinitely
more difficult.
But that's what I
expect from my players.
From The Park Drive
Book of Football. 1970, Published by Pelham Books Ltd for
Gallaher Ltd.
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