Billy Bremner

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Lore & Background

At Leeds, Bremner won the First Division (1968–69 and 1973–74), Second Division (1963–64), Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1968 and 1971), FA Cup (1972), League Cup (1968) and FA Charity Shield (1969). The club also finished second in numerous competitions, being runners-up five times in the English league and seven times in cup finals, including the 1975 European Cup. He was also named as the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1970 and was listed on the PFA Team of the Year in 1973–74. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the south-east corner of their Elland Road stadium. He has also been included in the Football League 100 Legends and is a member of both the English Football Hall of Fame and Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Bremner played for Hull City from 1976 to 1978, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He spent seven years as Doncaster manager, guiding the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1980–81 and 1983–84, before he took on the manager's job at Leeds United in October 1985. He failed to gain promotion to the top flight and left the club in September 1988. He returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991. Bremner is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than 50 caps for Scotland. He captained his country at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Scotland failed to advance from the group stage despite being unbeaten in the competition.

In Their Own Story

Jack Taylor replaced Lambton on 1 May 1959, signing Norman Hunter alongside Bremner. Bremner turned professional on 12 December 1959 and made his first-team debut just six weeks later, on 23 January 1960, at outside-right in a 3–1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Phil Brown noted Bremner's 'enthusiasm, guts, intelligence, most accurate use of the ball and unselfishness'. After Chris Crowe was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1960, Bremner secured his place permanently. Following a relegation back to the Second Division, he was briefly dropped but regained his spot after explaining his frustration to Taylor. When Revie took over as player-manager in March 1962 and later became full-time manager, he initiated a youth policy that brought Paul Reaney, Peter Lorimer, Terry Cooper, Eddie Gray, and Paul Madeley through the ranks. Revie rejected a £25,000 offer from Hibernian for Bremner despite the player's wish to return to Scotland to be with his fiancée. In 1963–64, promoted as Second Division champions, Leeds won no friends, labeled 'the dirtiest [team] in the Football League' by FA News. A violent clash at Everton in November 1964 saw the game stopped for ten minutes; despite only 12 fouls for Leeds against Everton's 19, it cemented their reputation. Revie moved Bremner to central midfield and signed Johnny Giles from Manchester United, forming an effective partnership that drove promotion to the First Division.

Reader's Guide

Billy Bremner was born in Stirling on 9 December 1942. His parents, John William ('Pop') and Bridget ('Bess'), lived in the Raploch district. His father was a storeman working for the Ministry of Defence at its 'Back-O-Hill' army barracks. Bremner attended St Mary's Primary School till he was eleven, then St Modan's High School. He played for Gowanhill United from age thirteen. He was selected for Scotland Schoolboys and made his international debut against Northern Ireland Schoolboys on 28 March 1958. After schoolboy internationals, he received invitations from Arsenal and Chelsea for trial matches. He was then approached by both Celtic and Rangers. He favoured Celtic, but agreed to talk to Rangers first. After learning that Bremner was a Catholic, Rangers ended their interest. Bremner's father then stepped in and told him he should not join either of the two clubs because of their sectarian antipathy. Bremner's father said: 'You're going to England, and that's that.' In early 1959, Bremner was invited to join Leeds United by team manager Bill Lambton. Bremner signed a professional contract with Leeds on 12 December 1959. He made his first team debut on 23 January 1960 in a 3–1 win against Chelsea.

Did You Know?

• Bremner's childhood nickname was 'Brock'.
• He played for Scotland Schoolboys against England Schoolboys at Wembley in front of over 90,000 spectators.
• Bremner was named FWA Footballer of the Year in 1970.
• He captained Scotland at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Scotland went unbeaten but failed to advance from the group stage.