Billy Sharp ⭑ From A-Z since '92
Sometimes Billy Sharp looks like he has solved goalscoring, with the power to make himself inevitable in the right places at the right times. Although being in a Sheffield United shirt usually helped too.
Sometimes Billy Sharp looks like he has solved goalscoring, with the power to make himself inevitable in the right places at the right times. Although being in a Sheffield United shirt usually helped too.
If Paris in May 1975 was a funeral for the club's greatest era, this epitaph from its architect was defining.
"The lads played well, they played their hearts out," said Jimmy Armfield. "And I think that makes it worse."
Leeds had to turn their dominance into chances. They did. They had to get the ball past Sepp Maier. They did. They had to win the European Cup. They did enough.
The final at Parc des Princes was to be the greatest Leeds United team's last chance of glory. Bayern's players had that glory already, but their club couldn't let them quit the money.
Leeds were the outstanding side in the Second Division, a fine tribute to manager Dick Ray. But his young squad needed their best players to be at their best.
It took 243 days from signing for Billy Paynter to get his first goal. "Hopefully my luck has turned," he said. 403 days later...
Leeds United's young players couldn't score at Elland Road, but the explanation seemed simple. The fans.
Leeds United were relegated from the First Division in 1931, denting soccer's growth in a rugby obsessed city. But the manager was backing his young players to bounce back — and backing himself.
When the old West Stand goes down, almost 70 years of tradition will go with it. Meanwhile Leeds are going up, to the Premier League, where everyone is looking for something new. And expensive.