Reaney: Paul

1961-1978 (Player Details)

Right Back

Born: Fulham: 22-10-1944

Debut: Swansea Town (a): 08-09-1962

5’10” 11st 3lb (1971)

#15 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Right Back in Greatest LUFC Team

He was only a few weeks old when his family left London for Leeds, where he attended Cross Green School and played for Middleton Parkside Juniors. He was an apprentice motor mechanic when he joined Leeds’s groundstaff in October 1961. Reaney’s League debut followed less than a year later and he shared the ‘Glory Days’ under Don Revie. He impressed quickly and made thirty-five League appearances in his first season, and was part of the team which won the Second Division in 1964. Reaney settled into top-flight football, missing just one League game and scoring his first of six League goals for the club as Leeds challenged for both the Football League Championship and the FA Cup. Unfortunately, in what would become a recurring scenario for Leeds under manager Don Revie, they lost out on both. Manchester United winning the title on goal difference and Reaney also featured in the side beaten at Wembley, after extra-time, in the FA Cup final by Liverpool. Over the next three seasons, Reaney missed just a handful of appearances as Leeds made further progress. Their classic back four was formed by 1967, with Reaney alongside Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter and Terry Cooper with utility man Paul Madeley frequently stepping into any of their positions when needed. In 1968 Leeds won the League and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In 1968-69 they achieved their goal of the League championship. Reaney was an unsung but truly vital part of what had now become a feared and admired team. Just to round off the decade, he won his first England cap when he came on as a substitute in a match against Bulgaria in 1968. Leeds progressed in 1969-70 towards a unique "treble" of League championship, FA Cup and European Cup but Reaney suffered twice the heartbreak. Not ony did Leeds miss out on all three trophies. The League went to Everton on the last day; the FA Cup was won by Chelsea after a replay; and Celtic ended Leeds' European Cup bid in the Semi-Finals, but Reaney suffered a broken leg in a game against West Ham United and missed the run-in, including the FA Cup final. Paul Madeley deputised for him for the rest of the season and Reaney missed the summer's World Cup in Mexico. Leeds started the following season without Reaney as he battled back from what was the first serious injury of his career. He eventually returned to make eighteen League appearances and be part of the team which won its second Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, but missed out on the League championship on the last day again. He did however, win two more England caps, though no more would follow. Reaney was in the side which went yet again for the "double" in 1971-72 and this time was partly successful. They finally won the FA Cup in their third final, defeating holders Arsenal at Wembley, but then lost the League title after a last-day loss toWolverhampton Wanderers. In 1972-73 there was more disappointment for Reaney as Leeds lost the FA Cup final to Sunderland and a highly controversial European Cup Winners’ Cup Final to AC Milan. Reaney's career at Leeds passed five hundred appearances in 1973-74 as Leeds embarked on a record twenty-nine-match unbeaten start to the season to earn the League title for the second time under Revie, who then left Leeds to take over the England job. Reaney was in the team which duly progressed to the European Cup Final a year later, but yet again Leeds were defeated, and no more honours would come their way as the great team assembled by Revie began to age and split up. One consolation for Reaney was that in 1975-76 he was granted a testimonial by the club. It culminated in a match against Newcastle on 3rd May 1976, and he remained with the club for two seasons beyond that. He also became known during his peak years as the only player who could mark George Best out of a game, a fact acknowledged by Best himself. He continued to play at Elland Road until 1978 when he was given a free transfer after seven hundred and forty-five appearances. He was remembered fondly by Leeds fans for his pinpoint crosses, goal-line clearances, overlapping runs and just for being there as the player whose profile was possibly the lowest of all Revie's great players, yet who ended up third in the club's all-time appearance list, with only Jack Charlton and Billy Bremner having played more games for United than Reaney. Football remembers him as the strong, silent, untroublesome one in a great and controversial team. He collected two League Championship medals, an FA Cup Winners’ medal, League Cup Winners’ medal, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Winners’ medals and a Second Division Championship medal in seventeen years at Elland Road. He won three full England Caps and five at Under-Twenty-three level and represented the Football League on three occasions. Virtually ever-present at Leeds, he was dubbed “Speedy” for his quickness to overlap into attack and knock in teasing centres for his forwards. He was rated as one of the top markers of his day, as George Best would have to admit, being constantly subdued by the impressive right-back. At the end of his illustrious career with United he joined Bradford City on a free transfer and stayed therefore almost two years making thirty-eight League appearances, one being as a substitute, although by then he was past his prime. In 1980 he joined Newcastle KB United, in New South Wales, and was named Australia’s Player of the Year. He returned to England to live in Knaresborough and ran coaching courses at schools and holiday camps until 2000. After that he pooled together players from ‘the Golden Age’ of the Revie era and co-ordinates their work and appearances. Reaney can also be found during half term holidays running coaching sessions for kids at Potters Leisure Resort, Norfolk.