That’s right. They said he was a boy soldier. Never knew about the Fran/Ian connection but the likeness is there I suppose.
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Was Ian Dempsey on the radio this morning? I was listening to Radio One myself.
John Giles was commenting on this last night.
He said he met Beckenbauer randomly at an English League match in the early 90s when Giles was doing commentary for RTE.
Giles was unsure whether Beckenbauer would recognise him but he did and gave him abuse about ‘Dirty Leeds’ from that match. Something to do with a Terry Yorath tackle.
Giles said he responded with ‘What about the fucking penalty you got away with?’, a reference to Franz’s tackle on Allan Clarke that went unpunished. It all got a bit heated so both parties walked away.
Giles said he was incredulous, given the accepted history of that match and the referee doing Leeds, that Beckenbaeur would actually feel aggrieved and be so aggressive. He did acknowledge Beckenbauer’s genius in the end.
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Into 'em Johnny
That Leeds shower had some chip on their shoulder. Shur they were fucking filthy
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What do you make of the Don Revie bribing rumours mate?
Fucking legendary stuff though.
No such team exists like that now with that type of identity.
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Fake news mate
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Ah yeah, I’d no issue with that, but surely Giles could acknowledge in his dotage that Beckenbauer had a point
Giles didnt see Leeds as dirty, at least no more dirty than anyone else.
My oul’ fella was at that final. It was two penalties Leeds were denied as well as the goal that would have put them ahead half way through the second half. Terry Yorath did the Bayern player alright. Leeds dominated the match.
I always got the impression Franz Beckenbauer was a charming sort - as long as you completely accepted his complete superiority over you in every facet of existence and agreed with everything he said and accepted that it was a tremendous honour for you to even share the same patch of ground as him for a short while.
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Thats the chip.
Giles at the time was player manager for the Ireland national team for which he either didn’t get paid or got paid pittance.
Leeds can’t have been too pleased with that. Jimmy Armfield was in charge and presumably didn’t want to rock the boat too much with Giles who he got the job over.
Giles would have had him sacked the way he did with Clough
That Leeds team was coming to the end either way with several key players reaching the end and the European Cup campaign was the last hurrah.
Armfield seemed a bit of a Moyes type character who was agreeable and nice except it was like if Mourinho had been briefly appointed and sacked before he came in.
Clough was a knob end.
It was good enough for him.
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Doesn’t sound like Sven Goran Eriksson will see out 2024. Terminal cancer.
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Saw an interview with him last night. His Dad is still alive. He was really dignified and just acknowledged that he had had a great life. The England players all loved him.
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