Selby White wrote:Was at the match at Elland Road as a young boy so memory a bit sketchy, remember Lierse hammered us after we had won in Belgium and expected to cruise through.
Don Revie made one of his rare judgement errors playing virtually a reserve team was the consensus of opinion. Seem to remember he played the youth team goalkeeper who had a nightmare.
Believe it was the first year it was changed to Uefa Cup instead of inter cities fairs cup.
Another strange memory of Belgium teams was when we beat Anderlecht in dense fog in 1975.
First time I'd seen a team from the continent bring a decent number of fans to Leeds, strange but lots of the Belgium wore cowboy hats, never did find out what that was about.
Hi Selby, that's really useful to hear, thanks! Those cowboy hats are a very strange one, will try and ask around. James.
If you haven't already then I would recommend subscribing to the British Newspaper Archives for a short period - it will have reports from various newspapers in the UK - it's a bit fiddly but you def should find some great snippets before and after the match, from nationals and locals. YouTube or the old t'internet like Twitter might be useful. Ebay for virtually any match programmes at reasonable prices too.
Was it 0-4 at Elland Road, by any chance? That might have been John Shaw in goal for Leeds, subbed at half time or something - BUT then again it might well be a completely different match/season/life, sorry!
Clarke One Nil wrote:From the Irish Times on 30 Sep 1971:
Leeds United and Chelsea, for vastly different reasons, stole the limelight in British teams’ home games last night in the three European competitions.
Leeds, holders of the FAIRS — now the UEFA — Cup crashed 4-0 on their own ground to Lierse of Belgium, whom they had beaten 2-0 in the first leg. Chelsea, defending the Cup Winners Cup, scored a 13-0 win over Jeunesse Hautcharage of Luxembourg, and broke all European competition records with a 21-0 aggregate.
Hit by injuries, Leeds began without seven internationals, and with 17-year-old goalkeeper John Shaw having an unhappy time, they were three down at the interval. Though Gary Sprake came on in goal and Norman Hunter also reinforced the side after the interval, Lierse, full of confidence, won the game 4-0.
Don Revie, the Leeds manager, commenting on his side’s shock defeat, said: “We have no excuses. We were never complacent about the task and we did not underestimate Lierse. They might easily have had two goals in the first leg. We have to pick ourselves up and start again.”
The report also memorably says of the Chelsea v Jeunesse game:
Of the opposition, who included four brothers, a defender wearing glasses, and a one-armed inside forward, all one can say is that they never let humiliation affect their sporting attitude to the game.
Brilliant! That description of the team from Luxembourg made me laugh
