RIP KEVIN KEEGAN: That Giles punch and the Liverpool-Leeds rivalry
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How did Liverpool–Leeds matches define the rivalry and its physicality?
What a game of football. What a game of football for the neutral, I suppose, watching it at home on TV.
What a day for our supporters of Westmeath and the people of Westmeath.
Yeah, it was, you know, as they say in those days, it was a man's game. So Liverpool-Leeds was a battle in more ways than one, but always great, great games to play in. I mean, you know, Leeds got this label, Dirty Leeds, but make no mistake about it, Leeds United, the Don Revy side that Jowsey played in with Billy Bremner and Norman Hunter and all these great players. They were a fantastic side. They could play. They could hurt you as well. They could stand up. to any challenge, you know, in terms of, you know, if there was tackles going in, but they could play as well. And, you know, you only have to look at what they won and what they nearly won as well. You know, every time they didn't win something, they would run us up, I think, four or five times.
it must have been a real test for a player like you, Kevin, as well. He was so technically brilliant at that stage. There were so many tough teams. You had to be ready for the fight as well. You had to be physically tough. It was all very well been skillful, but it didn't matter for much if you didn't have the other side.
No, you have to have both. That's why, you know, Leeds was such a great fight. I think, obviously, Billy Bremner, as Johnny knows, was an unbelievably gifted player. I mean, people, you know, yeah, we had our We had our sort of altercations at times and, you know, our little punch-ups. But at the end of the day, the respect that we had for each other was immense, you know.
What made the Don Revie Leeds side both feared and respected?
And, of course, later on in life, I got to know Don Revy very well, who was the manager of it. You know, Donnie was not just a great player. He was actually playing well and managing the sides as well. I think at West Brom and Republic of Ireland, you know, so... I don't know how he did that, mate. I had to go up managing later on and it's tough enough just picking a team and getting them out there.
John, Kevin mentioned the punch-ups and the scraps and scrapes and all that. It's funny how now you can look back in the 70s and go, it's a little punch-up. If that happened in this day and age, there'd be a public inquiry into it and it'd be the most outrageous thing football has ever seen.
Yeah, well, I mean, if he took the rules today and applied them to the Leeds-Liverpool games, we'd have finished... Well, Johnny wouldn't have been on the pitch. Billy wouldn't have been on the pitch. Norman Unser wouldn't. I don't think Alan Clarke would. Tommy Smith certainly would have probably got sent off in the kick-in. You know? It was a different time, a different era, and... You know, if someone like Johnny tackled you or Billy or Norman, I came up a lot against Norman Hunter, if he really hurt you, the first thing you really wanted to do was not to show that he'd hurt you. There was no diving cabbage. Yeah, don't show it, even if, you know, you could see your ankle hanging off there, you know, from a tackle.
You think, just walk away, you know, just make him think it didn't even hurt, you know. and then sort of cry after the game when you feel the pain going back in the car, you know, to your home.
I think the idea tonight and in those days, as Kevin said, that if somebody caught you, like if Tommy Smith was a hard nut, caught Billy, I would say caught me, you didn't want to show it. You know, you wanted to get up and say, well, you didn't really get me there. Whereas nowadays, somebody has to stand down looking to get Tommy Smith sent off. And as Kevin said there, Kevin got his fair share from the Leeds team.
How did players balance technical skill with toughness in the 1970s?
with Norman and a few of the lads. You're self-included. I'll include myself, Kevin, in that. But I have to say this about Kevin. We had our deal at Wembley, as you saw. But I'd have the highest respect for Kevin. In my opinion, Kevin Keegan transformed Liverpool when he came. Was it from Shrewsbury, Kevin? Scunthorpe. Sorry, scun talk, right? Liverpool went from 66 to 73 without winning a trophy.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
How did Liverpool–Leeds matches define the rivalry and its physicality?
0:01–1:58
2
What made the Don Revie Leeds side both feared and respected?
1:58–4:03
3
How did players balance technical skill with toughness in the 1970s?
4:03–5:35
4
What changed in refereeing and rules compared with modern football?
5:35–10:00
5
What happened in the infamous Wembley punch incident between Keegan and Giles?
10:00–11:56
6
Why did Kevin Keegan and Billy Bremner receive long suspensions after Wembley?
11:56–12:13
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from OTB Football
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