biggest regrets

[Westminster]

Just to expand on my list on a previous page - I know he wasn't a very popular player, but I think getting rid of Terry Yorath was a big mistake.

Yorath went on to do very well as captain of Coventry and then did OK at Spurs. He was only 26 when we let him go and I think having Yorath alongside Tony Currie would have worked well. Stick them between Arthur Graham on the left and Carl Harris on the right and it's a decent midfield.

It would, more generally, have been good to have somebody like Yorath around when things were starting to fall to pieces under Adamson and then Clarke. Terry Yorath would still have been better than most of the Leeds squad at that time.

[Selby White]

Yorath went on to do very well as captain of Coventry and then did OK at Spurs. He was only 26 when we let him go and I think having Yorath alongside Tony Currie would have worked well. Stick them between Arthur Graham on the left and Carl Harris on the right and it's a decent midfield.

We didn't have Arthur Graham in our squad when we sold Yorath, Eddie Gray was left wing.

We got a decent price for Yorath in my view as Trevor Cherry was playing DM at that time before switching to Full back later. Peter Hampton & Frank Gray were our full backs most of the time in 76/77.

[Mr Russell]

Yorath had a chance to return in 1981 under Allan Clarke, it never happened though. Makes you wonder what would have happened if he did!

[Westminster]

Yorath went on to do very well as captain of Coventry and then did OK at Spurs. He was only 26 when we let him go and I think having Yorath alongside Tony Currie would have worked well. Stick them between Arthur Graham on the left and Carl Harris on the right and it's a decent midfield.

We didn't have Arthur Graham in our squad when we sold Yorath, Eddie Gray was left wing.

We got a decent price for Yorath in my view as Trevor Cherry was playing DM at that time before switching to Full back later. Peter Hampton & Frank Gray were our full backs most of the time in 76/77.

Well, Yorath went in '76 and Graham came a year later, so their careers would have overlapped substantially if Yorath had stayed.

Hampton and Frank Gray were both left-backs (or sometimes left-side midfield in Gray's case). Paul Reaney was still at right-back until '78. Either way, I think it would have been useful to have Terry Yorath around in the late-70s, by which time we were a team in decline.

[Westminster]

Yorath had a chance to return in 1981 under Allan Clarke, it never happened though. Makes you wonder what would have happened if he did!

I never knew that. Yorath would at least have got stuck in, unlike some of the players at that time.

[Selby White]

Well, Yorath went in '76 and Graham came a year later, so their careers would have overlapped substantially if Yorath had stayed.

Trouble is we didn't have big squads in those days, as I said Cherry started in midfield so £125,000 was good money.
Clubs weren't rich like today and we only could use one sub so nobody would pay for a player to sit around on the chance he was needed a year later, didn't work like that.
Also Yorath was a international player so suspect he wanted first team football, a winner for both us and TY

Hampton and Frank Gray were both left-backs (or sometimes left-side midfield in Gray's case). Paul Reaney was still at right-back until '78. Either way, I think it would have been useful to have Terry Yorath around in the late-70s, by which time we were a team in decline.

Yes you are right it was Byron Stevenson I was thinking about who was the emerging RB although i think you are right and Reaney played most of the games in that position.
Also we still had Paul Madeley playing either in defence and midfield so were well covered.

[Westminster]

Well, Yorath went in '76 and Graham came a year later, so their careers would have overlapped substantially if Yorath had stayed.

Trouble is we didn't have big squads in those days, as I said Cherry started in midfield so £125,000 was good money.
Clubs weren't rich like today and we only could use one sub so nobody would pay for a player to sit around on the chance he was needed a year later, didn't work like that.
Also Yorath was a international player so suspect he wanted first team football, a winner for both us and TY

Hampton and Frank Gray were both left-backs (or sometimes left-side midfield in Gray's case). Paul Reaney was still at right-back until '78. Either way, I think it would have been useful to have Terry Yorath around in the late-70s, by which time we were a team in decline.

Yes you are right it was Byron Stevenson I was thinking about who was the emerging RB although i think you are right and Reaney played most of the games in that position.
Also we still had Paul Madeley playing either in defence and midfield so were well covered.

Your first point, yes. Only having one sub and running the risk of being clobbered with a fine for 'squad rotation' - not to mention the money side of things - meant clubs just couldn't maintain such large squads. I'm still not sure I'd see it as a winning situation for either party though.

Yorath was a first-choice player after Johnny Giles left and going to Coventry was a step down really. Plus, as I said, I think he would have been a handy lad to have around in the late-70s. A Currie-Yorath midfield might have been a nice combo. A mix of silk and steel.

I'm not sure I'd describe our right-back situation as well covered though. Yes, Reaney and Madeley were still around but both were past their best by then. Byron Stevenson, I never thought much of, tbh. Nor Kevin Hird who also played right-back for us under Adamson.

Ok players, yes. But a significant step down from the guys they replaced.

Trevor Cherry, by the way, I always saw his best position as centre-back, preferably playing alongside a big man.

[Westminster]

Going a bit further back, Terry Hibbitt is a player we might have kept for longer had bigger squads been the norm in the '60s and '70s.

[farcebandit]

Greenhoff might have been sold for his temperament as he resented Revie poking too deeply into his private life - as did O'Grady. Mick Jones was the ideal target man the team needed as he could endure punishment and hold the ball up for the others. Perhaps in a parallel universe, Jones and Greenhoff form a formidable duo as Jones did with Clarke. Sadly, the unjustified booing from the Gelderd End forced Yorath out. He flowered away from Elland Road once the pressure was off. Selling Hawley and Hankin was rank stupidity - was Adamson a deep cover agent from Old Trafford? Of course, the biggest regret was selling King John to Juventus.

[Saxon]

Greenhoff might have been sold for his temperament as he resented Revie poking too deeply into his private life - as did O'Grady. Mick Jones was the ideal target man the team needed as he could endure punishment and hold the ball up for the others. Perhaps in a parallel universe, Jones and Greenhoff form a formidable duo as Jones did with Clarke. Sadly, the unjustified booing from the Gelderd End forced Yorath out. He flowered away from Elland Road once the pressure was off. Selling Hawley and Hankin was rank stupidity - was Adamson a deep cover agent from Old Trafford? Of course, the biggest regret was selling King John to Juventus.

I never heard anything about Greenhoff's temperament or Revie poking into his private life. I did know about Mike O'Grady night clubbing,sometimes night before the game with one of his old Huddersfield Town team mates. You cannot question Greenhoff's playing record with Leeds, Stoke, and Man United, he was mentioned at the time, along with Howard kendall as the best player ever, not to be selected for England
I still believe that if he stayed at Leeds, Mick Jones would not have become a Leeds player. Just for the record, Mick Jones is my favourite Leeds player of all time based on unselfish graft for his team mates, plus he could play a bit.
If I was Terry Yorath I would never have set foot in Leeds again, sections of the Leeds crowd didn't deserve a player who gave his best at all times.The boo boys should have gone after the person who selected the team, or assembled a squad with an inferior player.