June 8 – Revie’s Flight of Fancy

AS ENGLAND took Brazil in Rio today in 1977 their manager Don Revie was not on the bench for the Three Lions. Nothing too fishy about this most people thought, as he said he was back in Europe on a scouting mission to watch their qualifying group opponents Italy take on Finland.

Fair enough, you might think. But hold on a minute, who’s that dodgy looking person in bulky overcoat and dark glasses sneaking onto a plane to the Middle East? When the England manager is dressing up like Carlos the Jackal, you know something is up.

It soon emerged that Revie had not been in Helsinki watching the Italians down the Finns 3-0, but on his way to the United Arab Emirates to discuss a new, highly-paid job.

Paranoid that England’s spluttering World Cup 1978 qualifying campaign was going to cost him his job, Revie had been tempted east by the promises of eastern petro-dollars.

Revie’s era as England manager started well, as he picked up the pieces following Sir Alf Ramsey’s exit after England failed to reach the 1974 World Cup, going undefeated in his first ten matches, with clean sheets in his first six.

The former Leeds boss also brought in some of the team-building exercises from his Elland Road days, as he organised games of carpet bowls and bingo, but he failed to build up the same team spirit that saw Leeds become one of Europe’s most feared sides.

As it became more and more evident that England were not going to qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Revie’s old neurosis kicked in. Worried about his financial future, Revie convinced himself he would soon be out of work so when the UAE offered him the job of head of soccer development, more than doubling his wages to £60,000-a-year tax free, with a £100,000 bonus his head was very quickly turned.

“This is an offer I can’t refuse,” said Revie. “If everything goes through OK it is an unbelievable opportunity to secure my family’s future. I had many offers to stay in England but the tax structure, let alone the salaries available, makes it impossible to earn this kind of money at home.”

Despite this honesty, the FA were furious and tried to ban him from the game for ten years for “bringing the game into disrepute.” They failed, but Revie never worked in England again and his reputation and place in football history suffered as a result.

Revie, suffering from motor neurone disease, died in 1989, on the same day as Arsenal’s last-gasp title win against Liverpool, and shamefully the FA did not send a representative to his funeral and the passing of one of English football’s greatest innovators went by unmarked.

See Revie’s in his emotional final return to Elland Road below and read about one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history today here.