The Players Who Put a Shift In During Leeds United's Lost 1980s

Overview

The 1980s are one of the strangest decades in Leeds United history.

The previous decade had delivered league titles, European finals and domestic trophies.The next would eventually deliver promotion and another First Division title.Between the two was a long, uncomfortable struggle.

After Revie

The great Revie side broke up.

Bremner eventually left.Giles moved on.

The club slipped down the table and, in 1982, Leeds were relegated to the Second Division. The challenge became survival and rebuilding rather than challenging for trophies.

But relegation did not mean everybody walked away.

The players who stayed

One of the more forgotten aspects of the post-1982 story is that Leeds still had experienced players who chose to stay and try to drag the club back towards the top flight.

Frank Gray was one of the most important. Having returned to Leeds after winning the European Cup with Nottingham Forest, Gray stayed with the club after relegation and became a dependable presence during the difficult years. In 1982-83 he made 48 appearances in all competitions and scored five goals.

Paul Hart was another. He played 46 times in that first season back in Division Two and became club captain during the campaign. Arthur Graham also appeared 46 times, while forward Aidan Butterworth played 44 matches and finished as the season's leading scorer with 14 goals.

There were also signs of the future.

John Sheridan, still a teenager, made 29 appearances in 1982-83. Neil Aspin, another young player beginning to break through, made 18. They were not yet the finished articles, but both would become significant figures in the years that followed.

No instant bounce back

There was no immediate return to the top flight.

Leeds finished eighth in their first season back in Division Two, collecting 60 points from 42 league matches. Eddie Gray was now the manager, having taken over after Allan Clarke's departure.

The following seasons were hardly a straight line upwards.

Leeds finished 10th in 1983-84 and seventh in 1984-85. There were glimpses of a better team emerging, but promotion remained elusive.

Players came and went, but some of those who had emerged from the post-relegation years were beginning to form the next generation.

Finding heroes in difficult times

Not every Leeds legend needs a trophy cabinet.

The 1980s produced players who became important because they stayed, fought and represented the club during an era when very little seemed straightforward.

John Sheridan was one of them. He spent seven years with Leeds and became a major influence in midfield before leaving for Nottingham Forest in 1989. By then he had made 272 appearances for the club.

Ian Snodin was another. A relentless box-to-box midfielder and fan favourite, he won the Player of the Year award in 1985-86 for his high-octane work rate.

Ian Baird was a robust, aggressive centre-forward whose physical commitment and goals made him the quintessential hard-working talisman of the mid-80s. He would eventually spend six seasons at Leeds, making 191 appearances and scoring 39 goals.

Neil Aspin was a dependable, no-nonsense defender who became a mainstay during the decade. His importance grew year by year: he made 18 appearances in 1982-83, 26 in 1983-84, 33 in 1984-85, 42 in 1985-86 and 54 in 1986-87.

Vinnie Jones arrived late in the decade, in 1989, but he personified the culture shift of blood-and-thunder commitment that preceded the Howard Wilkinson success.

The emergence of David Batty

Batty's importance grew during the second half of the decade.

The Leeds academy product was beginning to establish himself as one of the finest young midfielders in the country.

By the end of the decade he would form the heart of Howard Wilkinson's rebuilt side.

But even Batty's emergence should be seen in context.

He was joining a team that had been trying for years to recover its identity. The players around him had already spent seasons battling in the second tier, often without reward.

1987: So close, yet so far

By 1986-87, Leeds finally looked capable of getting somewhere.

Billy Bremner's side finished fourth in Division Two with 68 points, earning a place in the newly introduced promotion play-offs.

The play-offs themselves became a miniature version of the decade.

First came Oldham Athletic.

Leeds won the first leg 1-0 at Elland Road but lost 2-1 away. The aggregate score was 2-2, but Leeds went through on away goals.

They were one tie away from the First Division.

The players who put a shift in

The statistics from that season show just how much was being asked of the players.

Ian Baird scored 15 league goals and 19 in all competitions.

John Sheridan scored 15 in the league and 16 across the season.

Neil Aspin was a constant at the back, making 54 appearances in all competitions, while goalkeeper Mervyn Day played 46. Brendan Ormsby, meanwhile, made 44 appearances and was the captain as Leeds pushed for promotion.

There were plenty of other contributors too: Andy Ritchie, John Pearson, Keith Edwards, Micky Adams, Jack Ashurst and Ian Snodin all played significant parts.

This wasn't a team carried by one superstar.

It was a team that had collectively dragged Leeds into contention.

Charlton and the heartbreak

Charlton Athletic stood between Leeds and promotion.

The first leg at Selhurst Park ended in a 1-0 defeat. Two days later, Brendon Ormsby scored at Elland Road to level the tie on aggregate.

So another replay was required.

At St Andrew's in Birmingham, Leeds finally took the lead when Sheridan scored early in extra time. The promotion dream was suddenly within touching distance.

Then came Peter Shirtliff.

The Charlton defender scored twice in extra time, turning the game around and sending Leeds back to the Second Division for another season.

Ormsby, the Leeds captain, who had been forced off in the 43rd minute after suffering a serious knee injury, watched the second half from the stands. When John Sheridan put Leeds ahead in extra time, Ormsby jumped up to celebrate despite the pain from the injury. It was a particularly cruel ending for the captain, who had played such a major role in taking Leeds to the play-off final.

Leeds had come within half an hour of promotion.

It still wasn't enough.

And then came another year

The frustrating part was that the 1987 play-off defeat did not immediately turn into a triumphant rebuild.

Leeds finished seventh in 1987-88.

They then finished 10th in 1988-89.

The long wait continued.

But there was a difference now.

The club had genuine building blocks.

Sheridan and Aspin were established players. Baird remained a key forward. Batty was emerging. Mervyn Day continued in goal. Players such as Micky Adams, John Pearson and Brendan Ormsby were also part of the developing squad.

And, in October 1988, Howard Wilkinson arrived.

Mel Sterland arrives

Sterland joined Leeds in 1989 after his spell at Sheffield Wednesday and immediately became a key part of Wilkinson's transformation.

He, Chris Fairclough, John McClelland, Mervyn Day and others formed the backbone of the team that would eventually win promotion.

And then came Strachan

The arrival of Gordon Strachan in 1989 changed the direction of the club.

But the important point is that he wasn't arriving at an empty club.

Players had kept Leeds competitive through the difficult years.Young players had been developed.Experienced players had continued doing the job.The foundations were already there.

Strachan didn't create the whole revival.

He helped finish the job that others had spent years trying to start.

The promotion

By 1989-90, the pieces finally came together.

Wilkinson's side were Second Division champions, with Lee Chapman scoring the decisive goal at Bournemouth.

The next chapter would be even more remarkable.

But some of the players celebrating promotion had been doing the hard work for years before anyone was lifting trophies again.

Why the 1980s matter

It is easy to remember the lost decade only for what Leeds failed to achieve.

That would be unfair.

The decade contained one relegation, years of mid-table Division Two football, a painful play-off defeat in 1987 and a long wait before promotion finally arrived.

But football clubs survive difficult periods because somebody keeps turning up and doing the job.

For Leeds, players such as Frank Gray, Paul Hart, Arthur Graham, Butterworth, Sheridan, Aspin, Snodin, Baird, Day, Ormsby, Batty and others carried that responsibility at different points.

They may not have all become household names outside Leeds.

But they kept the club moving.

The glory of 1990 and 1992 is better remembered.

The people who helped make it possible deserve to be remembered too.