A harsh, but fair statement, given the reputation both players have as Leeds United players. Leeds United legends, indeed.Aces wrote:He always stood out for me personally, he was tall and elegant, easy on the ball, extremely fit and a touch of aggression, as we're all the players of that great Leeds side. He never seemed to nail a position down, but I think that's because all the other players were pretty much inked in to each of their positions. An awesome talent that's for sure.Malcolm Stark wrote:I read his autobiography, Leeds' Rolls-Royce, he was probably my favourite Leeds player from that great era. "Never a substitute", Sniffer said of him. He made the team more of a team. They really missed him for that home game against West Brom, I reckon. Would they have lost with him playing? I don't think so. Even with Tinkler's decisions.
I'd like to kill that, right now. For me, the best Leeds United side, EVER, was between 1969 and 1973. The "Four Seasons", I call them. Leeds won the title in 1969, but before Allan Clarke joined, and then they won the title, again, in 74, but after Jack Charlton retired. The best Leeds United eleven, ever, was obviously (Sprake), Reaney, Cooper, Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Lorimer, Clarke, Jones, Giles, Gray; right?
Firstly, during the two title winning seasons of 69 and 74, Eddie Gray played forty games while Paul Madeley played seventy games. Both players scored five goals over those two seasons, even though Madeley was a defender and Gray was an attacking midfielder.
During the "Four Seasons", 1969-73, when Leeds won nothing except an FA Cup and an Fairs Cup title, despite outplaying Chelsea for most of the Final, and also being cheated by the ref in the 73 ECWC Final, they were the best team in England, by far. Leeds won 93 First Division matches between 69-73, seven more than either Liverpool or Arsenal. Leeds scored 300 First Division goals between 69-73, 55 more than Derby County. Leeds lost only thirty First Division matches between 69-73, five fewer than Liverpool. Leeds gained 231 First Division points between 69-73, at an average of 58 points per season, a First Division record, and an average of 82.5 points per season with a 3 points for a win system. Liverpool gained twelve less points than Leeds, during the Four Seasons, just 219 points.
Over those Four Seasons, the greatest four seasons of any team in Football League First Division history, Paul Madeley played 156 First Division matches, at an average of 39 per season, while Eddie Gray played only 90 matches, at an average of 22.5 games per season. Forgetting my tactical reasons for including Madeley at 11, instead of Gray, there are clear statistical reasons why Madeley should be in an all-time Leeds eleven, ahead of Gray.
Okay, we all know about Gray tiptoeing round Burnley's defence to score "the Goal of the Century", and how he was man of the match in the 1970 Cup Final, before getting a couple of knocks in the replay from Hutchinson and Harris, and proving mostly ineffective. It's also easy to forget how mediocre he was in most league games after 1971, and how, in the 1973 FA Cup Final he never once got behind, around, inside, or past Dick Malone, the weak link of Sunderland's team, and was taken off.
Fact is, most Leeds fans of my era, and before, put Gray automatically in the 11 spot, but Madeley was a much better all-round player, during the very greatest of years in Leeds United's history. He never, ever had a bad game for Leeds, and when he finally did, against Liam Brady in the late Seventies, he decided it was time to go.
Paul Madeley is in that all-time team on merit.
