The man behind the Revie phenomenon

Don Revie sat attentively in the director's office. It was March 1961. The season was drawing to a close and the Leeds United forward realised his playing days were also coming to an end. Despite being just 33 years old Revie knew his future lay in management, and had persuaded club director, Harry Reynolds, to provide him with a reference with which to apply for the vacant job at Bournemouth.

Reynolds was more then happy to do so, for he knew that despite Revie's lack of managerial experience, he had an abundance of ideas and enthusiasm which would help him mow down any opposition in his path. Suddenly the director stopped writing, picked up the reference, and tore it to shreds. He realised Don could not be allowed to leave, he knew the man in front of him was the one to drag Leeds out of the doldrums.

Harry persuaded his fellow directors to give Revie a chance, and the rest, as they say, is history. By December 1961 Reynolds had succeeded Sam Bolton as club chairman, and immediately made funds available for the manager to go about securing the services of the best young talent around the British Isles. Harry himself played an active role in persuading parents that their sons would be looked after nowhere better than at Leeds United. The likes of Paul Madeley and Peter Lorimer arrived, along with Eddie Gray, who even turned down his boyhood heroes Glasgow Celtic in favour of the Revie revolution.

Despite having had no formal education Reynolds always possessed a steely determination to make it to the top. The self-made millionaire had begun his working life as a flour boy with Leeds Co-op before working on the railways, then as a fireman. In his later years he became a successful industrialist, building up an engineering and steel stockholding company.

But it his endeavours on behalf of United that are most dear to supporters, and for those he was deservedly appointed a life vice president of the club in 1967. We can only speculate on how different the clubs history would have been without the great mans faith in a young Don Revie.