‘Name your price. You can have whatever you want to come up here and help me. It’s too much for one.’
To Peter Taylor, who declined to join him at Elland Road 1974
‘I can warn the superstitious Leeds stars of this: the new boss will never join their pre-match Bingo sessions. I will give them my last breath, my last penny, but I absolutely refuse to play Bingo.’
His decision to change Leeds’ pre-match routine 1974
‘Chuck your medals on the table – ’cos you won ’em by cheating.’
His first team meeting at Leeds United 1974
‘The players have more meetings than the union at Ford.’
On dressing room opposition to his methods 1974
‘By next April, whether we win anything or not, I will have proved to Billy Bremner that I’m as good a manager as Don Revie – or better.’ 1974
‘I was prepared to show the white flag of truce. He shot me down while I was still fifty yards away ... He made me feel like an intruder, a gatecrasher at a New Year’s Eve party. Sometimes I don’t think he was aware of how he made me feel.’
On his relationship with Bremner 1974
‘It was 44 days of tension, conflict and unpleasantness ... and I wasn’t there long enough to find out where to park the car.’ 1990
‘I under-estimated the depth of feeling against me and ... I tried to change everything at Leeds much too quickly.’
On why he was sacked 1978
‘If the club had stayed loyal, and shown a bit of courage, I’d have given them the one thing Don Revie didn’t get his hands on – the European Cup.’ 1990
‘When the hurt of being out of work had gone, I wanted to kiss the Leeds board, not strangle them. I was the luckiest man alive ’cos I won the pools without filling in the coupon ... I was the richest bloke in the dole queue. I could have drunk champagne instead of Tizer, eaten caviar rather than fish and chips. All thanks to Leeds.’
On receiving what he claimed was £100,000 compensation from Leeds 1990
‘I remember that I took my cheque straight to the bank. If anyone was that shallow and stupid to sack me after 44 days, I didn’t trust them.’ 1989
‘I have been to the two extremes in football. I have been to the very top and I’ve got the sack.’ 1975