Billy Bremner: Leeds United’s Ultimate Legend

I don’t think there’s really any contest here when it comes to the all-time best Leeds United player and one I wish that I had seen play, Bremner, from the footage I have had the pleasure of watching was a cut above the rest.

Almost the apple of legendary manager Don Revie’s eye, Bremner was essentially a surrogate son to him during the glory days, though he had been at the club from a teenager.

He signed a professional contract in December 1959, not long after turning 17 and then manager, Jack Taylor, gave him his debut the following January playing as an outside right in a 3-1 away win against Chelsea.

His performance was enough to take the place of regular Chris Crowe, who we sold to Blackburn Rovers not long after.

Eventually, Bremner formed the nucleus of a team that I’ve heard many good things about, which included, of course, Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Paul Madeley, Paul Reaney, Eddie Gray and Terry Cooper, thanks to the emphasis on youth by Revie when he took over as manager.

Early Years At The Club

It became a period of time where we basically started to dominate opponents – not only that, almost intimidate them, becoming known as ‘dirty Leeds’ to rival fans due to our tough, no-nonsense approach to challenges and defending.

Bremner was a key component of this and I just wish I’d have seen him play alongside Johnny Giles (who signed from ‘that lot’) – the two looked formidable, basically becoming the most feared duo in football over the course of a decade or more.

We were Second Division champions for the 1963/64 season – our first taste of major silverware for a while and in 1965 we had a visit to Wembley, only to be denied in extra-time by Liverpool – a 2-1 scoreline in the FA Cup final.

In the 1965/66 season we came closer than ever to becoming English champions, finishing six points behind Liverpool, with Bremner being made captain and playing an instrumental part.

The Glory Days At Leeds United

He helped steer us to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final in 1967 against Dynamo Kyiv, only for us to lose 2-0 on aggregate and the following season, Bremner led us to a Cup double. We beat Arsenal in the Football League Cup and then went one better in the Fairs Cup, as we recorded a 1-0 aggregate win over Ferencvaros.

By this time, it was obvious that Bremner wanted more and during the 1968-69 campaign, our skipper played in every game as we became the champions of England for the first time, finishing six points clear at the top. Bremner opened the following year with a 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Charity Shield.

Revie actually shifted Bremner’s role slightly to be more attacking, for the 1973-74 campaign, after we endured a frustrating few years being pipped a couple of times to the title. This time around we won it by five points over Liverpool and Bremner notched 11 goals – his most for 12 years. Bremner finished his Leeds career with 91 goals in 587 appearances and is remembered by many as our greatest ever – commemorated by a statue of him outside Elland Road. Meanwhile,in 2024, a plaque was unveiled in his childhood home of Stirling.