All white kit.

To quote from the book:

"It's been commonly believed that Revie changed the Leeds United kit at the start of the 1961-1962 season from the blue and gold strip they had been playing in since 1934 a club he had always admired"

"According to Jack Charlton, writing in his autobiography, this was a myth: "This (white) was the gear Real Madrid played in and the initial reaction was that Revie was aping the Spaniards. Not so, explained Don, In his opinion, white is the easiest colour to identify on a pitch. When you have only a split second to make a pass before the tackle comes in, you're more likely to pick up the right man oif he's wearing not red, or blue or green but white".
Actually Leeds choice of white as their first team colour predates Revie as manager and was first worn for a game against Middlesbrough on 17th September 1960, under Jack Taylor.

So nothing to do with the Don's well publicised superstitious nature or Real Madrid, maybe he just saw how well it worked under Taylor's management.

Interesting how many of us believed the myth, myself included.

I have never heard these comments in all the years I’ve followed the club….”urban myths” where?
Hunslet, Bramley, East End Park?

I have heard and read numerous accounts of the Leeds/Real colour connection….in fact it was the reason I adopted Real Madrid as my club to follow on the European continent.

comment by NJS (U8272)
posted 1 day, 5 hours ago
I have never heard these comments in all the years I’ve followed the club….”urban myths” where?
Hunslet, Bramley, East End Park?

I have heard and read numerous accounts of the Leeds/Real colour connection….in fact it was the reason I adopted Real Madrid as my club to follow on the European continent.
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Well NJS, according to Big Jack quoting the Don, changing our kits to ape Real was a myth, how true that is, I don't know.
I can find nothing in the book to suggest that Don had any affection for Real Madrid.
Not sure I could support any team that isn't Leeds.

Elsbels….Don Revie was very ambitious for himself and Leeds, in the early 1960s Leeds was more famous for its rugby league club….this is the context of the times, the fan base was relatively small and quiet, I know I was there.

It needed someone with a vision for the club, someone who could make dreams come true…Revie as far as I can remember wanted Leeds to play in all white and be a great team like Real Madrid…I read that and heard numerous people quote him on that….most everyone in that era admired Real and their players were worshipped….di Stefano, Puskas, Gento, del Sol, Santamaría et al….you would have to be virtually blind and ignorant not to admire that club.

Revie achieved his ambitions mostly, he had Bremner, Charlton, Hunter, Cooper, E Gray, Clarke, Jones, Lorimer, and others…worshipped many years on.

I don’t doubt you’re quoting from the book accurately but quotes passed down from some 60 years or so that are passed on from person to person can end up as misquotes and urban myths!

comment by Elsbels - El Jugador (U21658)
posted 2 days ago
comment by Elsbels - El Jugador (U21658)
posted 0 seconds ago
comment by WeallloveLUFC (U9685)
posted 5 hours, 27 minutes ago
Which book are you reading Els?
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Don Revie - The Biography by Christopher Evans really readable, mostly find biography's quite heavy going but this is very well written.
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Gift from a friend who is a sport's journo for a national, he says it's well researched.
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Cheers Els! I'll look it up

I often wonder why Leeds Rugby league and Leeds City in 1909 and then Leeds United from 1919 chose gold/yellow and blue for the colour of their strips.

With the white rose and Leeds also having it's roots firmly inbedded in wool manufacturing then why wasn't white the colour of choice in the first place?

I really don’t see the intrigue here … but I guess it’s served a useful purpose to fill the gap in Kinnear et al’s incompetent running of the club.

For whatever reason (because Revie wanted to emulate Real Madrid as a successful team … or because he associated their success with picking out a teammate with them wearing white), it’s clear that Revie wanted Leeds to play in white because Real Madrid played in white.

These possible explanations are not mutually exclusive.

comment by The Light Brigade (U22847)
posted 1 hour, 18 minutes ago
I really don’t see the intrigue here … but I guess it’s served a useful purpose to fill the gap in Kinnear et al’s incompetent running of the club.

For whatever reason (because Revie wanted to emulate Real Madrid as a successful team … or because he associated their success with picking out a teammate with them wearing white), it’s clear that Revie wanted Leeds to play in white because Real Madrid played in white.

These possible explanations are not mutually exclusive.
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Or Leeds were already playing in white and he noticed that when they did they played better.

What can I say the local press said he adopted the white kit because Real played in white, according to Big Jack, Revie denied it was the case and there is no indication in his history, that I can see, of that link.

You could argue, just as easily, given the fact that Revie took over in the early 60's, that he noticed how well Spurs were doing.

Why, you might argue, if he wanted to emulate teams that he admired and had affection for, didn't he adopt a pale blue kit, similar to that of City. At that time he would have bitten the hand off of their owners to manage them.

One more point, we all know Revie was very superstitious (gypsy curses, walking to telephone boxers, same suit, etc) but of the five clubs he played for, when he signed for them, three of them played in blue, what is there in that to suggest he was suspicious of blue and gold.

An urban myth, just paper talk that we all swallowed it appears.

Always hoped the Real stuff wasn't true. Never liked the club or their horrible entitled fans. Just like Man utd.

But who's idea was it to have us in red?..

https://www.google.com/search?q=youtube+leeds+united+in+red+kit+1973&client=firefox-b-d&ei=cI2cZN6FKNG9xc8P9dmokA4&ved=0ahUKEwje_dDp3Ob_AhXRXvEDHfUsCuIQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=youtube+leeds+united+in+red+kit+1973&gs_lcp=Cgxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAQAzIFCCEQoAEyBQghEKABOgsIABCKBRCGAxCwAzoFCAAQogQ6CAgAEIkFEKIEOgQIIRAVSgQIQRgBUJYQWKM1YOhPaAFwAHgAgAF5iAGbBJIBAzEuNJgBAKABAcABAcgBAg&sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:8fffaa08,vid:kGc5ba6sTVc

And Franks team played in blue ffs!..