For those who don't know me, my name is Richard (Rich) and I was born in August 1962, in Sheffield South YORKSHIRE (off topic but I often have argued that Leeds United should be like the County Cricket Club used to be and only sign Yorkshire born players) Who are the best ever signings for Leeds United ? My top 5 are: 1. Johnny Giles (ex ManUre but sheer class - I've known a lot of scummers my age and they all say we got an absolute steal) 2. Gordon Strachen (another ex ManUre but contrary to what a lot of people think, he was not signed for them by his ex Aberdeen manager SAF). Wilko used to say he blessed the day he signed him. IMO no Strachen = no title in 1992 3. Allan Clarke (my first sporting hero...I was at Wembley in May 1972...enough said) Thanks Leicester 4. Gary McAllister - Thanks Leicester 5. Mick Jones (The Don knew a centre forward when he saw one)
Fair play poly,but non of your top 5 are from yorkshire,but yet you want to sign only yorkshire folk. I loved it when to play for yorkshire cricket club you had to be born in yorkshire,as I told my mrs,if they are boys were on the plane,anyway 2 girls. All this is done anyway with the bosman ruling,what a **** he was.
Can't believe The Don has't been mentioned. Might not have set the heather alight as a player, but if we hadn't signed him ..... well, it's too fraught to even think about! I put it to you, Gentlemen, that no signing has ever been more important to our club.
As soon as I saw the thread title I thought 'Johny Giles' I think we got him in exchange for a bag of crisps and a used copy of the Beano
Good call WJ,as my dad said to me :I remember revie signing, I said as manager, He said no as a player.
Darren O'Dea................. In the years ahead it will remind us of how bad things once were. Never again will we be complacent about a seat at the pantheon of European football.
I'm going to abstain from voting, Not being disrespectfull Polly, your post is a good one. Over years we'd had some good players who played great, and some great players who were good at playing great, and great players who always seemed to play great. One of many the factors is the different positions they played. One of the things about these type of votes is, most of our great players we signed are all part of different eras, going back to John Charles, Giles, Eddie Gray, Allan Clark, Mick Jones through to Strachan, Speed, Batty, McAllister, numerous good to great keepers and other great players of those eras. Who have we had since O'Learys team of 2001 that can be called great signings, Beckford? Becchio? McContract? Snoddy? Some will disagree but McContract was a one season wonder who for me scored so many goals cos he was the only striker we had at time, till Smith come in who then began scoring. I mentioned back then, when McContract leaves he won't be so prolific at scoring goals because there'll be other recognised goal scorers in team. McContract for me was conning everybody. Snoddy for me was a good to great player, on his day he was fantastic, on his off days he was mediocre to good but he gave great service to Leeds. Beckford and Becchio, the two Becs, a brilliant strike formation in my opinion, both needed each other to feed off, and they did with style. Once Beckford left it became obvious he was lost without Becchio, but Becchio showed he could raise his game and didn't need to rely on Beckford to become his own man, and a great goal scorer. Becchio gave Leeds United 4 1/2 seasons of good old Leeds United excitement and McAllister was good at recognising the potential Becchio had. Becchio left Leeds for Norwich, was his head turned? who knows, there were many stories going around that he didn't want to leave, Warnock said Becchio handed in a transfer request; whatever the reason, Warnock screwed it up by selling Becchio to Norwich in a player exchange deal and we ended up with the Wandering Nomad. Becchio had scored 19 goals before the season was half over before he went, he was definitely worth much more than what we got for him. Personally, I don't like the way Becchio has been treated at Norwich, and I was willing Cellino to bring him back at the request of Redders. In all honesty, I believe he would've been scoring for fun this season, despite him not playing regular football. He did continue scoring for Rotherham before a injury hit him. For those who don't know, Becchio is on the all time Leeds United goal scorers list, just 1 goal I think it is behind Mick Jones. In all honesty Poly, it's hard to pick a top 5 best signings list when we've had so many since Don Revie became manager. Good post Poly....
It's been like that Essex for as long as I can remember.......the stadium would be empty if it wasn't for the loyal fans who actually have to make a fecking effort to travel, win lose or draw.......
