Interesting article

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My post in response to the author:

Fantastic article … very well researched and written. So, the “Dirty Leeds” tag. Well, what happened in the Revie era was that Leeds United, a small provincial club (as they were referred to by the London media in those days) came from nowhere, got promotion to the First Division, reached the 1965 FA Cup Final, won the 1968 League Cup and suddenly there was real opposition for the media darlings from Manchester. The press hated the fact that Busby’s team, due to dominate English and European football following their 1968 Euro Cup win, couldn’t live with that great Leeds team. Man Utd found that there was a new kid on the block, and the following season Leeds won their first title. Instead of ruling football, Busby’s team began to unravel over the next few seasons as Liverpool joined in with Leeds, culminating in the early retirement of Best and relegation at the hands of Man City in 1974, when Leeds won their second title.

The Man Utd loving media despised Leeds for upsetting the apple cart, and so the only thing they could do was use their poison pens and branded Leeds United as “Dirty Leeds”, easy bit of mud to sling that stuck. You see, the thing about that Revie team was they could match you and beat you any way they needed to. If you turned up and decided to play football, they would pass you off the park. If you decided to get stuck in and kick and scratch, they would front up and out muscle you. You chose the battle and they would beat you, regardless. Look at Wenger’s Arsenal over the past few seasons, teams like Bolton simply roughed them up and Arsenal wilted. Not the Revie team – rough them up and they’d give it back.

Excellent players like Bremner, Hunter and Giles were branded as thugs, yet all they did was fight for the ball. Every team had its share of hard men – Liverpool had Tommy Smyth to name one, Derby a certain McKay, and of Chelsea had the notorious Ron “Chopper” Harris, a player who delighted in his inability to trap a ball but “skilled” at maiming opponents. In fact, he is still proud of whacking ten bells out of Eddie Gray in the 1970 FA Cup Final Replay, claiming to this day that his thuggish actions “won the Cup for Chelsea”.

So, a jealous Man Utd loving media branded Leeds United, and the tag “Dirty Leeds” was picked up by fans across the country who believed whatever the papers wrote. Yes, there was the hooligan element during the dark days, but that was a widespread social issue that affected all clubs. Today Leeds fans simply shrug and smile when referred to as Dirty Leeds, because they know the truth. Thankfully the writer of this article has seen fit to write honestly about his experience. The fact that he chose an away day with 7000 Leeds fans is even more to his credit. It showed him the real Leeds. Maybe one day people will recognise what a fantastic team Revie built, and what a credit they were to the English game. Two European trophies won in that era was some achievement for a small club from the provinces. Today they are still a massive club, just not a TOP club, but surely Leeds will return to the Prem and add their flavour to it, for the Prem really needs this great club back in the fold.
 
Atmosphere has a lot to do with the ridiculous price of tickets in the pl and the middle aged farts like me who are now the majority
True but a hell of a lot more to do with their plastic following. Relegate any of them and see their 60 or 70k home crowds drop to 30k. Worst I've ever witnessed was the cl final between scum and Chelsea. The noise from the crowd that night rarely rose above a humm
 
Brilliantly written - made me regret not being there, and proud to be associated with a real club - MOT.