LUFC Matchday Magazine, 4th March 1998 v Spurs
"I am certain Tottenham will survive because there are worse sides than them, but that is the only
reason I can give for believing they'll stay up. When I was at Leeds United with Don Revie in charge
we were what I would call a together club. It seems to me Tottenham are not. If you are going to be
successful in football these days everyone has to be pulling together."
Push and run
Terry talks affectionately of his time at White Hart Lane. "Keith Burkinshaw signed me and he was a super
bloke. Tottenham were a wonderful team to play for, with great support. Their fans have always been brought
up on good football, the old push and run. Talk to any Tottenham fan and he will tell you that's the kind of
football he wants to see, win lose or draw.
"Some clubs resort to Route One, but Tottenham fans would never agree to that. It is tradition."
When Terry first signed for Spurs he was deployed as a central defender, and he couldn't have made a worse start. He signed on the Thursday before the season's opening day and made his debut against Middlesbrough in a 3-1 defeat.
Then came successive 4-1 losses against Stoke and Norwich, leaving Terry needing to win over the fans.
Burkinshaw helped him to do so by switching him into midfield for the next match a League Cup tie against
Manchester United. "We won 2-1, Glenn Hoddle scored a sensational goal and I won the fans' approval," Terry
recalled. "I just loved it at Tottenham. I was still living in Coventry but Keith Burkinshaw would give me a
few days off here and there. He would say to me: 'Listen, you are a good pro, so stay with your family in
Coventry for a couple of days and I'll see you at the match on Saturday.' I really appreciated that."
How Leeds move fell through
Among his team-mates at White Hart Lane were Ossie Ardiles, Ricky Villa, and Hoddle, but Terry says
the lack of a top class goalkeeper and centre half hindered the team's progress, Ray Clemence arriving later.
It was during his spell at Tottenham that United tried to buy Terry back. "Allan Clarke was in charge at Elland Road at the time and because I was so happy at Tottenham I didn't really want to go. Yet when someone says they have accepted an offer from another club, you know they are trying to tell you something and from that moment I knew I was on my way out, even though Keith Burkinshaw wanted to keep me as a coach.
"I'll always remember the day I was told Leeds wanted me back. We beat Birmingham at Tottenham in the cup and Keith called me in afterwards to tell me Leeds had offered £300,000. The Board had said that as I was 31 or something they thought it was a good offer and had accepted it, so was I willing to go and talk to Leeds'?
"I would have loved to accept the coaching job at Spurs but I rerkoned I still had a few years' football left in me so I went to Leeds, talked to Allan Clarke and it all went haywire.
"For a start, he offered me less money than I was on at Tottenham. Then he fell out with Manny Cussins, the
chairman, and there were all sorts of things going on behind the scenes, so the bottom line was that I didn't
sign for Leeds, but my life at Tottenham changed because I realised they were willing to get rid of me."
Switch to Vancouver
Eventually Terry joined up with his former United colleagues Peter Lorimer and Johnny Giles at Vancouver
Whitecaps and there were club moves to bradford City, Swansea City and Huddersfield Town, as well as
international appointments with Wales and the Lebanon ( more about his experiences in these jobs in the next
programme).
Leeds United, however, will always hold a place close to Terry's heart. He still lives in Leeds and when someone
at Huddersfield Town asked him recently which club he followed he replied: "I am sorry, but it is Leeds. That is
the club I will always follow."
Discovered by Pickard
Cardiff born Terry was discovered by United's famous Welsh scout Jack Pickard. "We had a pub in Cardiff and Jack
liked a pint," Terry recalled, adding with a grin: "In fact I think he liked a pint more than he liked me! Anyway
he came to see me play a few times and Leeds eventually invited me for trials one Christmas.
"Unfortunately, it was snowing heavily so I couldn't make the trip and it was postponed until Easter. After two weeks Leeds must have seen something they liked because they asked me to sign. There were no other clubs interested at the time.
"Leeds were in the FA Cup final against Liverpool that year and finished second in Division One, so to be asked by them to sign and by nobody else was hard to work out. At least it didn't leave me with a choice!"
Terry has a vivid memory of Don Revie watching him play for Wales Schools against Scotland Schools at Morton, and the Leeds manager actually waved to him as the teams were lining up.
"For someone like Don Revie to do that was fantastic, especially when you consider his other commitments at that time. It is something I shall never forget," he said.
"Don knew everyone at the club, from top to bottom, If someone's wife was ill he sent her flowers and it was that
attention to detail and family spirit that helped to make him so successful as a manager."
Good luck card
When Terry landed the coaching job at Huddersfield last summer, he received a card from Don's widow Elsie wishing
him luck.
Although not one of the most skillful members of Revie's team at Elland Road, Terry was a fully committed, aggressive player who won 59 Wales caps, 28 of them when he was at Leeds. He played 142 league games, 17 FA Cup ties, 11 League Cup ties and 27 games in Europe for the club, scoring a total of 12 goals.
Looking back, he says: "They were wonderful times because we were involved in so many exciting cup runs and tilts for the title. Highlights were the cup finals, including the European Cup final against Bayern Munich when we lost in Paris but should have won."
From Elland Road, Terry went to Coventry in August, 1976, for f140,000. He captained the Sky Blues and again enjoyed his stay, though he quips: "I didn't learn very much while I was there. I made a lot of friends, though, and it was a good move for me at that stage of my career.
"Mind you, the best part about it was the stepping stone it provided to the Tottenham move."