too. He stood on my foot for a few moments when we were waiting for a corner to drop into the penalty area. So I pinched his arm really hard. I'll never forget it; he yelped like a dog and soon got off my foot, holding his arm like he had been wounded by a gunshot. The referee had seen the lot and was laughing at the pair of us.
‘Afterwards in the dressing room we couldn't believe we had lost 3-2 and vowed our revenge the next time we faced them. My other appearances for the Scotland under-23 team came against England (again) at Pittodrie, Aberdeen. In the England team were my Leeds pals Norman Hunter and Paul Reaney. I was working my butt off trying to keep Alan Ball in check, he was a livewire and I thought it funny that people often compared our game and style. For heaven's sake, he was English and couldn't possibly have the heart of a Scot. He was a good little player though and a right handful whenever I faced him. He had sprinting pace as a youngster and managed to turn me a couple of times, but kept away from me after I told him in no uncertain terms that he would end up in ‘row Z’ of the stands if he tried it again. The daft thing was, as soon as I said it, I heard a voice I instantly recognised, threatening to put me up there alongside him, if I tried it. When I looked round it was only Norman Hunter!
‘To be fair, the game was a bit of a non-event and we drew 0-0.I played and scored against Wales when we won 3-0. That match was played at Kilmarnock. It felt good scoring a goal for Scotland and although it was at under-23 level, it still meant a hell of a lot to me. I played in the game against France which we again won, this time 2-0. I don't think that's a bad under-23 international record; played four, won two, drawn one, lost one, scored one.’
5
MOVING ON UP
If the 1963-64 season was classed as a good one, then the 1964-65 one could only be described as unbelievable. The media, as is now generally the case, believed that the newcomers to football's top league would simply aspire to nothing more than stability. It was predicted that Leeds would find the pace and quality of the First Division vastly different from that of the Second Division and would struggle. Yet Revie and his players felt differently. Bremner recalls:
‘There was self-belief running throughout the team. We all knew that it wouldn't be an easy season, but we actually believed in each other, and that made a difference.
‘One enigma was South African winger, Albert Johanneson. Albert had joined the club in 1961; in training the things he could do with a football amazed us. Ball juggling, flicks and tricks, he could control a football like no other person I had seen. He had the potential to become one of the game's greatest players of the era. We called him the Black Flash because he was so quick, and he weighed in with goals too. The problem was he had very little self-confidence. No matter what we told him, as soon as an opposition player or the fans got onto him, he began to doubt his ability and would hide in games where we needed him. We all had belief in him, none more so than the boss. Saying that, we had players of real quality who couldn't get a regular first-team place, we had strength in depth and the best supporters in the land to back us.’
The season began with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park; this was followed by a midweek Elland Road clash against reigning league champions, Liverpool, as Bremner explained:
‘I don't believe we openly classed the Liverpool game as any different from any other league clash, although it's always nice to beat the reigning champions. The supporters were relishing the chance to see us match them. Privately, I think the boss and the rest of us saw it as a benchmark of how we would cope with life in the first division. It was a great game to play in, a real battle from start to finish, and something else to win 4-2. We left the field that night absolutely drained but emotionally
‘Afterwards in the dressing room we couldn't believe we had lost 3-2 and vowed our revenge the next time we faced them. My other appearances for the Scotland under-23 team came against England (again) at Pittodrie, Aberdeen. In the England team were my Leeds pals Norman Hunter and Paul Reaney. I was working my butt off trying to keep Alan Ball in check, he was a livewire and I thought it funny that people often compared our game and style. For heaven's sake, he was English and couldn't possibly have the heart of a Scot. He was a good little player though and a right handful whenever I faced him. He had sprinting pace as a youngster and managed to turn me a couple of times, but kept away from me after I told him in no uncertain terms that he would end up in ‘row Z’ of the stands if he tried it again. The daft thing was, as soon as I said it, I heard a voice I instantly recognised, threatening to put me up there alongside him, if I tried it. When I looked round it was only Norman Hunter!
‘To be fair, the game was a bit of a non-event and we drew 0-0.I played and scored against Wales when we won 3-0. That match was played at Kilmarnock. It felt good scoring a goal for Scotland and although it was at under-23 level, it still meant a hell of a lot to me. I played in the game against France which we again won, this time 2-0. I don't think that's a bad under-23 international record; played four, won two, drawn one, lost one, scored one.’
5
MOVING ON UP
If the 1963-64 season was classed as a good one, then the 1964-65 one could only be described as unbelievable. The media, as is now generally the case, believed that the newcomers to football's top league would simply aspire to nothing more than stability. It was predicted that Leeds would find the pace and quality of the First Division vastly different from that of the Second Division and would struggle. Yet Revie and his players felt differently. Bremner recalls:
‘There was self-belief running throughout the team. We all knew that it wouldn't be an easy season, but we actually believed in each other, and that made a difference.
‘One enigma was South African winger, Albert Johanneson. Albert had joined the club in 1961; in training the things he could do with a football amazed us. Ball juggling, flicks and tricks, he could control a football like no other person I had seen. He had the potential to become one of the game's greatest players of the era. We called him the Black Flash because he was so quick, and he weighed in with goals too. The problem was he had very little self-confidence. No matter what we told him, as soon as an opposition player or the fans got onto him, he began to doubt his ability and would hide in games where we needed him. We all had belief in him, none more so than the boss. Saying that, we had players of real quality who couldn't get a regular first-team place, we had strength in depth and the best supporters in the land to back us.’
The season began with a 2-1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park; this was followed by a midweek Elland Road clash against reigning league champions, Liverpool, as Bremner explained:
‘I don't believe we openly classed the Liverpool game as any different from any other league clash, although it's always nice to beat the reigning champions. The supporters were relishing the chance to see us match them. Privately, I think the boss and the rest of us saw it as a benchmark of how we would cope with life in the first division. It was a great game to play in, a real battle from start to finish, and something else to win 4-2. We left the field that night absolutely drained but emotionally
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