Don Revie's Nightmare Journey From Plymouth to Leicester

[kushiro]

This is my first post here. I usually write historical pieces about Leicester City, and I come, of course, in peace.

I've been researching the Plymouth v Leicester game in April 1949 as it lies at the heart of a story about Don Revie, then a young inside forward at Filbert Street. It's been fascinating finding out about the history of Home Park, the Grand Hotel overlooking the Hoe, the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital on Lockyer Street, and much more besides. The Argyle site greensonscreen has been a great resource.

I really wanted to share the results with Plymouth fans, and ask for comments, as well as corrections if I've made any shocking factual or contextual howlers.

There's a link to the article below, and I hope you can spare ten minutes of your time to read the whole piece. The Plymouth game comes in the later part of the story, but it's worth reading from the beginning to understand the full context.


https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-king-captain-kushiro

 

[kushiro]

That Plymouth v Leicester game was pretty interesting by itself, even without the drama of Revie's taxi ride.
It's not made clear in the article but Plymouth as well as Leicester were in danger of dropping into Division Three South at that time. The point from the 1-1 draw was absolutely crucial for both sides.

This was the table after the game:



The report by 'Tamar' in the Western Morning News underestimates just how precarious Argyle's position was. Look at this report from the Monday after the game:




If Plymouth had indeed taken just a point from their remaining three games, they would have been relagated. Forest would have stayed up on goal average. Plymouth needed two points, and when they drew their next two games, 1-1 at Bury and 2-2 at Brentford, they were safe. The pressure was off in the final game of the season, and it showed - Spurs winning 5-0 at Home Park.

 

[memory man]

This is my first post here. I usually write historical pieces about Leicester City, and I come, of course, in peace.

I've been researching the Plymouth v Leicester game in April 1949 as it lies at the heart of a story about Don Revie, then a young inside forward at Filbert Street. It's been fascinating finding out about the history of Home Park, the Grand Hotel overlooking the Hoe, the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital on Lockyer Street, and much more besides. The Argyle site greensonscreen has been a great resource.

I really wanted to share the results with Plymouth fans, and ask for comments, as well as corrections if I've made any shocking factual or contextual howlers.

There's a link to the article below, and I hope you can spare ten minutes of your time to read the whole piece. The Plymouth game comes in the later part of the story, but it's worth reading from the beginning to understand the full context.


https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-king-captain-kushiro

A fascinating story. Thank you for sharing it. I have made a study of the period 1957 to 1964 at Argyle and former Leicester players feature quite often in that period. First to arrive was the giant centre half Gordon Fincham in the summer of 1958. We only got him due to a severe knee injury suffered at Leicester that many thought would prevent him playing again. Next came Bill Wright, signed from Newcastle in the summer of 1959 but at Leicester before that. He was a decent player but never fit for very long. Then, in January 1960, with Argyle under severe threat of relegation, we went after Forest's out of favour FA Cup winning captain Jack Burkitt, at that time out of favour. However, by the time our manager confirmed his interest with a bid, Burkitt was back in the Forest side so we turned our attention to Leicester's John Newman. Newman had captained City during their relegation fight in 1958-59 and was seen as a perfect fit. We survived and he went on to be one of our most revered players ever. And, finally, goalkeeper Dave Maclaren arrived in the summer of 1960. Another who had a very successful time at Home Park.
I remain in touch with John Newman and also with (the late) Dave Maclaren's family in Bendigo, Australia. I've lost touch with Bill Wright's son but I retain a lot of photographs from Bill's scrapbooks, including a number of pieces about his time at City. Fincham I found in 2008 but he was already suffering from dementia.
John Newman told me about the famous "Channy" and how he and Fincham travelled up to Leicester to play in Channy's testimonial. The fact that Arthur Chandler could not hit a barn door for QPR yet scored a phenomenal amount of goals for Leicester is enough on its own. And, of course, as a bit of a football historian, the story of Arthur Chandler and the 6 swans brings us directly back to Portsmouth!
Thank you for visiting - if you keep returning you will be made even more welcome if you use 'Argyle' and not 'Plymouth'.
PS: I think that when Leeds bought Revie from Sunderland in 1958 the £18000 they paid meant that Revie, in terms of the total of the fees paid by Hull, Manchester City, Sunderland and Leeds, he had become the most expensive footballer in history.

 

[memory man]

That Plymouth v Leicester game was pretty interesting by itself, even without the drama of Revie's taxi ride.
It's not made clear in the article but Plymouth as well as Leicester were in danger of dropping into Division Three South at that time. The point from the 1-1 draw was absolutely crucial for both sides.

This was the table after the game:

View attachment 14868

The report by 'Tamar' in the Western Morning News underestimates just how precarious Argyle's position was. Look at this report from the Monday after the game:

View attachment 14869
View attachment 14870

If Plymouth had indeed taken just a point from their remaining three games, they would have been relagated. Forest would have stayed up on goal average. Plymouth needed two points, and when they drew their next two games, 1-1 at Bury and 2-2 at Brentford, they were safe. The pressure was off in the final game of the season, and it showed - Spurs winning 5-0 at Home Park.

Footnote: I was interested to see mention of the "South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital". I had never known it as that. I think most locals just called it Lockyer Street.

 

[Mark58]

This is my first post here. I usually write historical pieces about Leicester City, and I come, of course, in peace.

I've been researching the Plymouth v Leicester game in April 1949 as it lies at the heart of a story about Don Revie, then a young inside forward at Filbert Street. It's been fascinating finding out about the history of Home Park, the Grand Hotel overlooking the Hoe, the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital on Lockyer Street, and much more besides. The Argyle site greensonscreen has been a great resource.

I really wanted to share the results with Plymouth fans, and ask for comments, as well as corrections if I've made any shocking factual or contextual howlers.

There's a link to the article below, and I hope you can spare ten minutes of your time to read the whole piece. The Plymouth game comes in the later part of the story, but it's worth reading from the beginning to understand the full context.


https://www.thefosseway.net/viewpoint/leicester-city-king-captain-kushiro

Fascinating - a great piece of writing. A masterstroke to combine the worlds of theatre and football. Excellent stuff!

 

[memory man]

Fascinating - a great piece of writing. A masterstroke to combine the worlds of theatre and football. Excellent stuff!

Exactly right.

 

[kushiro]

Here's a shot of the action that day, again from the Western Morning News.



Lovely socks.

That Leicester keeper in the picture Les Major was transfered later that year - to Plymouth.

Here he is with his wife and - who? - at the time he signed for Argyle (taken from greensonscreen again).



It's interesting that the story at the time was that being shown the beauty of the Hoe by Plymouth representatives had convinved Major to sign for Argyle rather than other clubs that were after him. But he would already have been familiar wih the Hoe having stayed at the Grand Hotel that weekend when Revie was rushed to hospital. Which doesn't mean it wasn't a factor in his decision, but there maay have been a bit of spinning of the story.

 

[memory man]

Here's a shot of the action that day, again from the Western Morning News.

View attachment 14875

Lovely socks.

That Leicester keeper in the picture Les Major was transfered later that year - to Plymouth.

Here he is with his wife and - who? - at the time he signed for Argyle (taken from greensonscreen again).

View attachment 14877

It's interesting that the story at the time was that being shown the beauty of the Hoe by Plymouth representatives had convinved Major to sign for Argyle rather than other clubs that were after him. But he would already have been familiar wih the Hoe having stayed at the Grand Hotel that weekend when Revie was rushed to hospital. Which doesn't mean it wasn't a factor in his decision, but there maay have been a bit of spinning of the story.

It is a true story and there is little chance of it being spin. It was something first developed by our first Football League manager, Robert Jack. He would take postcards of the city and especially the Hoe to show wives of prospective players. In December 1959 Jack Rowley used pictures of the city to work on John Newman's wife Jean (RIP). John was at Filbert Street training when Jack went to the house to convince Jean this would be a lovely place to bring up the child she was expecting.
Plymouth Hoe was also shown to the family of our highest post-war scorer Wilf Carter, who was recommended to our manager Jack Rowley by his brother Arthur.

I know those two stories are absolutely true because I got them direct from John Newman and Wilf Carter.

 

[kushiro]

Some nice detail there. Thanks.

 

[kushiro]

I came here for the Leicester game on Friday, and just like those away fans who make a long weekend of it, you can't get rid of me. But I hope you enjoy this new angle on last week's story.

You'll recall that Don Revie lost so much blood on the journey back from Plymouth to Leicester in 1949 that he almost lost his life. In response to this, a poster on here called @ChepstowGreen said 'I bet Revie remembered that every time he came back to Plymouth'.

'That's an interesting point', I thought. 'I wonder just how many times he did go back?'.

Well, though Revie was only 21 when he played for Leicester that time, he only came back twice more in his playing career. And both times, it turns out, were major turning points for him.

The first time was less than a year after that Plymouth v Leicester game. Revie had been transfered to Hull City, and he made the long journey to Home Park on January 21st with his side sitting third in Division Two, while Argyle were one off the bottom. Depsite that, Argyle would have had a spring in their step as the previous Saturday they'd pulled off the shock result of the season - winning 4-2 at promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday, which led to this wonderful headline in the the Sheffield results paper:



That cartoon refered to the Argyle kit as looking like 'a mouldy version of Arsenal', which is a bit rich for a paper that literally has the word 'Green' in huge letters on its masthead.

But the Argyle revival was short-lived. Revie played in his normal inside forward position as Hull won 3-1 at Home Park. That defeat saw Argyle fall back to the bottom of Division Two (and relegation would follow at the end of the season). The win took Hull into second in the table, and their player manager, the legendary Raich Carter, must have been pretty confident they could make it into the top flight for the first time ever.

But that victory was their high point. They went on a truly awful run, not winning again until April, and falling completely out of the race for promotion. It would be more than 50 years before they finally made it to the top flight.

Revie, a big fish in a small pond, quit Hull soon after to join Manchester City, and he would spend several seasons playing at a level that didn't involve long trips to the south-west.

His second return visit was more than ten years later, Plymouth v Leeds, March 4th 1961. Revie was now 33, and was considering the next stage of his career. He had approached Bournemouth about becoming their player-manager, and the club's representatives decided to go and watch him play in Leeds' next fixture. That happened to be the game at Home Park.

Revie was one of 12 players who traveled down with the Leeds squad, and here you can see the line-ups in the programme, with 'Revie or Smith' listed at number 8 (thanks so much greensonscreen):



In the end, Revie's trip was all for nothing, as was the journey of those Bournemouth representatives, because he was the unlucky one. The match finished 0-0, a result left Argyle 8th in the table, and Leeds two places lower. United were heading nowhere, and the following week, their manager Jack Taylor resigned.

The Revie-Bournemouth connection was still alive, and Revie asked Leeds director Harry Reynolds for a reference. He was happy to oblige, and sat down to write a glowing letter of recommendation, outiling all his qualities as a person, as a player, and as a potential manager. And then the penny dropped. Why on earth are we letting this man leave Elland Road? He is the perfect candidate to replace Jack Taylor

When I posted the original Revie story on a Leeds United forum last week, one comment was 'Lord only knows what would have become of Leeds if he hadn't survived that taxi ride'. It was after his final trip to Home Park as a player that his destiny was decided.

 

[PL2 3DQ]

Merged with the other Don Revie thread.

 

[memory man]

I came here for the Leicester game on Friday, and just like those away fans who make a long weekend of it, you can't get rid of me. But I hope you enjoy this new angle on last week's story.

You'll recall that Don Revie lost so much blood on the journey back from Plymouth to Leicester in 1949 that he almost lost his life. In response to this, a poster on here called @ChepstowGreen said 'I bet Revie remembered that every time he came back to Plymouth'.

'That's an interesting point', I thought. 'I wonder just how many times he did go back?'.

Well, though Revie was only 21 when he played for Leicester that time, he only came back twice more in his playing career. And both times, it turns out, were major turning points for him.

The first time was less than a year after that Plymouth v Leicester game. Revie had been transfered to Hull City, and he made the long journey to Home Park on January 21st with his side sitting third in Division Two, while Argyle were one off the bottom. Depsite that, Argyle would have had a spring in their step as the previous Saturday they'd pulled off the shock result of the season - winning 4-2 at promotion-chasing Sheffield Wednesday, which led to this wonderful headline in the the Sheffield results paper:

View attachment 14953

That cartoon refered to the Argyle kit as looking like 'a mouldy version of Arsenal', which is a bit rich for a paper that literally has the word 'Green' in huge letters on its masthead.

But the Argyle revival was short-lived. Revie played in his normal inside forward position as Hull won 3-1 at Home Park. That defeat saw Argyle fall back to the bottom of Division Two (and relegation would follow at the end of the season). The win took Hull into second in the table, and their player manager, the legendary Raich Carter, must have been pretty confident they could make it into the top flight for the first time ever.

But that victory was their high point. They went on a truly awful run, not winning again until April, and falling completely out of the race for promotion. It would be more than 50 years before they finally made it to the top flight.

Revie, a big fish in a small pond, quit Hull soon after to join Manchester City, and he would spend several seasons playing at a level that didn't involve long trips to the south-west.

His second return visit was more than ten years later, Plymouth v Leeds, March 4th 1961. Revie was now 33, and was considering the next stage of his career. He had approached Bournemouth about becoming their player-manager, and the club's representatives decided to go and watch him play in Leeds' next fixture. That happened to be the game at Home Park.

Revie was one of 12 players who traveled down with the Leeds squad, and here you can see the line-ups in the programme, with 'Revie or Smith' listed at number 8 (thanks so much greensonscreen):

View attachment 14954

In the end, Revie's trip was all for nothing, as was the journey of those Bournemouth representatives, because he was the unlucky one. The match finished 0-0, a result left Argyle 8th in the table, and Leeds two places lower. United were heading nowhere, and the following week, their manager Jack Taylor resigned.

The Revie-Bournemouth connection was still alive, and Revie asked Leeds director Harry Reynolds for a reference. He was happy to oblige, and sat down to write a glowing letter of recommendation, outiling all his qualities as a person, as a player, and as a potential manager. And then the penny dropped. Why on earth are we letting this man leave Elland Road? He is the perfect candidate to replace Jack Taylor

When I posted the original Revie story on a Leeds United forum last week, one comment was 'Lord only knows what would have become of Leeds if he hadn't survived that taxi ride'. It was after his final trip to Home Park as a player that his destiny was decided.

Whilst you are correct that Revie did not play the match did not finish 0-0. It finished 3-1 to Plymouth Argyle with all the goals coming in the second half. Argyle's Wilf Carter scored a hat-trick with goals on 51, 75 and 89. Colin Grainger (having scored earlier in the season when Leeds beat Argyle at Elland Road) equalised for Leeds on 67 minutes. Eric Smith may have wished Revie was included for he was injured in the second minute and was a passenger for the remainder of the game. Jack Charlton too was injured and finished the game at centre forward with his arm in a sling. Each time Charlton and the Argyle centre forward that day, George Kirby, met one or the other was injured. Indeed, when he finished playing Charlton said that Kirby's only reason for going on a football field was to hurt people.
The match was unusual inasmuch that at half-time, with the score 0-0, the Plymouth Argyle chairman went into the dressing room and altered the team around. That information and the correct score is on GoS.
As you say, (just over) a week later Revie took over (as player-manager) from Jack Taylor but history shows that initially he struggled. In the remainder of the 1960-61 season he won just one of 9 games played. The following season, after opening with 2 wins, Leeds quickly fell into the bottom 5 and remained there for the rest of the season. Revie even recalled himself for 7 games but failed to arrest the slide. Indeed, a home defeat to Argyle on the last Saturday in February 1962 - I think still our only ever win there - sent them to the bottom. They remained in the bottom two for the whole of March before a run of five draws and a win hoisted them to 19th out of 22. It is interesting to note that in his final game as a player (365 days after that non-playing visit to Argyle), Leeds went to Huddersfield and lost 2-1. They were mesmerised by a young outside left called Mike O'Grady. 4seasons later he signed for Leeds and at the end of his first season collected a First Division runners-up medal. Revie had arrived!


I have made an intensive study of the period 1957 to 1964 and am always happy to help confirm detail.

 

[kushiro]

Cheers @memory man. No idea where I got 0-0 from.

Well, I've enjoyed this trip to Pasoti. Time to head home. I'll sign off with a little anecdote. I've never been to Home Park and I've only been to the fine city once. I was at Exeter University in the early 90s and they had a campus radio station called URE. I was covering Torquay United home games for the Saturday sports programme and used to head down to Plainmoor to phone in reports. Before one game I thought I'd head a bit further south and have a look around Plymouth. It must have been about 11am as I was wandering round the Hoe and I saw a group of athletic young men strolling around in tracksuits. One of them looked very familiar. 'That's John Wark!' I realised.

Ipswich were playing at Home Park that afternoon (Argyle won 1-0). They must have been staying at the Grand Hotel, just like Leiceter back in 1949 (I'm presuming it still was the Grand Hotel in 1990)

I headed off to Plainmoor to see Torquay and Farnborough Town draw 1-1 in the FA Cup (the Gulls lost the replay).

Good luck for the rest of the season and it's possible we might be back next year!

 

[Quintrell Green]

Whilst you are correct that Revie did not play the match did not finish 0-0. It finished 3-1 to Plymouth Argyle with all the goals coming in the second half. Argyle's Wilf Carter scored a hat-trick with goals on 51, 75 and 89. Colin Grainger (having scored earlier in the season when Leeds beat Argyle at Elland Road) equalised for Leeds on 67 minutes. Eric Smith may have wished Revie was included for he was injured in the second minute and was a passenger for the remainder of the game. Jack Charlton too was injured and finished the game at centre forward with his arm in a sling. Each time Charlton and the Argyle centre forward that day, George Kirby, met one or the other was injured. Indeed, when he finished playing Charlton said that Kirby's only reason for going on a football field was to hurt people.
The match was unusual inasmuch that at half-time, with the score 0-0, the Plymouth Argyle chairman went into the dressing room and altered the team around. That information and the correct score is on GoS.
As you say, (just over) a week later Revie took over (as player-manager) from Jack Taylor but history shows that initially he struggled. In the remainder of the 1960-61 season he won just one of 9 games played. The following season, after opening with 2 wins, Leeds quickly fell into the bottom 5 and remained there for the rest of the season. Revie even recalled himself for 7 games but failed to arrest the slide. Indeed, a home defeat to Argyle on the last Saturday in February 1962 - I think still our only ever win there - sent them to the bottom. They remained in the bottom two for the whole of March before a run of five draws and a win hoisted them to 19th out of 22. It is interesting to note that in his final game as a player (365 days after that non-playing visit to Argyle), Leeds went to Huddersfield and lost 2-1. They were mesmerised by a young outside left called Mike O'Grady. 4seasons later he signed for Leeds and at the end of his first season collected a First Division runners-up medal. Revie had arrived!


I have made an intensive study of the period 1957 to 1964 and am always happy to help confirm detail.View attachment 14956

Cheers @memory man. No idea where I got 0-0 from.

Well, I've enjoyed this trip to Pasoti. Time to head home. I'll sign off with a little anecdote. I've never been to Home Park and I've only been to the fine city once. I was at Exeter University in the early 90s and they had a campus radio station called URE. I was covering Torquay United home games for the Saturday sports programme and used to head down to Plainmoor to phone in reports. Before one game I thought I'd head a bit further south and have a look around Plymouth. It must have been about 11am as I was wandering round the Hoe and I saw a group of athletic young men strolling around in tracksuits. One of them looked very familiar. 'That's John Wark!' I realised.

Ipswich were playing at Home Park that afternoon (Argyle won 1-0). They must have been staying at the Grand Hotel, just like Leiceter back in 1949 (I'm presuming it still was the Grand Hotel in 1990)

I headed off to Plainmoor to see Torquay and Farnborough Town draw 1-1 in the FA Cup (the Gulls lost the replay).

Good luck for the rest of the season and it's possible we might be back next year!

I wonder if Don Revie found his uncomfortable taxi ride back to Leicester any more of a personal trial than his embarrassing surprise resignation as the England International Football team manager in order to chase the dollar as a football coach in the Middle East. I recall at the time him being severely pilloried in the English national press.

 

[Aldershot Exile]

Cheers @memory man. No idea where I got 0-0 from.

Well, I've enjoyed this trip to Pasoti. Time to head home. I'll sign off with a little anecdote. I've never been to Home Park and I've only been to the fine city once. I was at Exeter University in the early 90s and they had a campus radio station called URE. I was covering Torquay United home games for the Saturday sports programme and used to head down to Plainmoor to phone in reports. Before one game I thought I'd head a bit further south and have a look around Plymouth. It must have been about 11am as I was wandering round the Hoe and I saw a group of athletic young men strolling around in tracksuits. One of them looked very familiar. 'That's John Wark!' I realised.

Ipswich were playing at Home Park that afternoon (Argyle won 1-0). They must have been staying at the Grand Hotel, just like Leiceter back in 1949 (I'm presuming it still was the Grand Hotel in 1990)

I headed off to Plainmoor to see Torquay and Farnborough Town draw 1-1 in the FA Cup (the Gulls lost the replay).

Good luck for the rest of the season and it's possible we might be back next year!

Interesting information. I have enjoyed reading your posts - thanks.

Funnily enough I went to the Farnborough v Torquay replay, as I lived nearby. I can't remember the exact score but it was high scoring and a really exciting game under the lights.