\n<\/p>\n
As Leeds head to Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time on Monday, it gives cause to reflect on the numerous permutations of how things could have looked had Revie signed with the Toffees.<\/p>\n
It is possible Leeds could be heading to an Everton ground with a statue – or even a stand – commemorating their most famous manager.<\/p>\n
If Revie moved to Goodison Park, perhaps there would have been no ill-fated appointment as England manager a year later, by which time he may have fulfilled his intention to bring England internationals Norman Hunter and Trevor Cherry from Elland Road to Merseyside.<\/p>\n
Would there have been the infamous 44 days of Brian Clough and the Damned United? Or, had the board turned to the then Derby boss in 1973 after Leeds had finished runners-up in the league, FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup, would he have been given time to make the team his own?<\/p>\n
Would Everton have claimed the title under Revie rather than let it slip in 1975? Would they have been more than also-rans in two other title races?<\/p>\n
Revie was a revolutionary figure in terms of opposition analysis and attention to detail and it is no exaggeration to say this would have been a huge coup.<\/p>\n
So just how close did Leeds come to losing the man who ultimately led them to a second league title in 1973-74 after starting the campaign with a 29-match unbeaten run?<\/p>\n
Many Leeds players in Greece thought it was a done deal. The gold Merc looked set for Merseyside again.<\/p>\n
“Don was gone,” reckons Richard Sutcliffe, author of ‘Revie Revered and Reviled’, which he researched with the help of Revie’s son Duncan and defender Cherry.<\/p>\n
“Trevor also told me that as they flew out to Thessaloniki, everyone knew by then, and everyone thought it was a done deal.<\/p>\n
“He said it was such a depressed atmosphere at the airport as they were going out, because they thought ‘this is it’ . They were losing a father.”<\/p>\n
It is likely Revie felt he was not appreciated by the current board under chairman Manny Cussins and maybe joining Everton meant avoiding breaking up the side he had nurtured – having taken over as Leeds boss in 1961 – while securing his own future.<\/p>\n
But he stayed.<\/p>\n
“I never thought he’d go,” legendary Leeds midfielder Eddie Gray says.<\/p>\n
“Don was very shrewd as a manager and (in) financial matters. His wife grew up in a footballing family (her uncle Johnny Duncan managed Revie at Leicester) and she knew a great deal about football.<\/p>\n
“Between them they knew the ins and outs of how to deal with directors and chairmen. You put a little threat in here, you get a little rise. I don’t think Don had really any intention of leaving, just to put pressure on the board.”<\/p>\n
Revie did have form in this respect, previously turning down reported approaches from Sunderland, Birmingham City and Turin rivals Juventus and Torino.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As Leeds head to Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time on Monday, it gives cause to reflect on the numerous permutations of how things could have looked had Revie signed with the Toffees. It is possible Leeds could be heading to an Everton ground with a statue – or even a stand – commemorating<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6346,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/outdoorthrill.cfd\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}