William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stamina. He played for Leeds United from 1959 to 1976, serving as captain from 1965, in the most successful period in the club's history.
At Leeds, Bremner won the First Division (1968–69 and 1973–74), Second Division (1963–64), Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (1968 and 1971), FA Cup (1972), League Cup (1968) and FA Charity Shield (1969). The club also finished second in numerous competitions, being runners-up five times in the English league and seven times in cup finals, including the 1975 European Cup. He was also named as the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1970 and was listed on the PFA Team of the Year in 1973–74. He has since been voted Leeds United's greatest player of all time and has a statue outside the south-east corner of their Elland Road stadium. He has also been included in the Football League 100 Legends and is a member of both the English Football Hall of Fame and Scottish Football Hall of Fame.
Bremner played for Hull City from 1976 to 1978, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978. He spent seven years as Doncaster manager, guiding the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1980–81 and 1983–84, before he took on the manager's job at Leeds United in October 1985. He failed to gain promotion to the top flight and left the club in September 1988. He returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991.
Bremner is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than 50 caps for Scotland. He captained his country at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, where Scotland failed to advance from the group stage despite being unbeaten in the competition.
Billy Bremner was born in Stirling on 9 December 1942. His parents, John William ('Pop') and Bridget ('Bess'), lived in the Raploch district, reputedly a "tough area" in the shadow of Stirling Castle. His father was a storeman working for the Ministry of Defence at its 'Back-O-Hill' army barracks, located near Raploch.
Bremner, whose childhood nickname was 'Brock', attended St Mary's Primary School, which was "literally round the corner" from the family's home, till he was eleven. He played for the school's football team from the age of nine. In 1954, aged eleven, he left St Mary's and went to St Modan's High School, also near his home, and continued to develop as a footballer. Even as a boy, Bremner exhibited the sort of skill and determination that would become the hallmark of his professional career. He joined a local club called Gowanhill United when he was thirteen and soon earned a place in its under-21 team. Gowanhill's home ground was a piece of spare land called Shell Park which was between Raploch and the barracks.
In November 1957, Bremner was one of two St Modan's boys given a trial for the Stirling Schoolboys County team. He was mentioned in a notice that appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News issue of 15 November 1957. He was selected to play for the county and his performances in those matches led to selection for Scotland Schoolboys. He made his international debut, aged fifteen, against Northern Ireland Schoolboys at Windsor Park on 28 March 1958. The match, played under floodlights, ended in a 2–2 draw.
Bremner played in three more matches for Scotland Schoolboys in the spring of 1958. His second appearance was against Wales Schoolboys at Somerton Park on 4 April, and this also ended 2–2. Next, on 26 April, Bremner made his first of many visits to Wembley Stadium, playing against England Schoolboys, whose team included Terry Venables, Phil Chisnall, and Ronnie Boyce. According to the Evening News, there was a crowd of over 90,000. England Schoolboys won 3–1 but Bremner, playing at inside left was praised for his quick through-ball passing and for his "remarkable stamina". He was interviewed by the News Chronicle after the match and surprised the reporter by saying that he wanted to join an English club, because "English football is faster". Bremner added that, if he didn't become a professional footballer, his choice of career would be glazier. Bremner's last match for Scotland Schoolboys was on 18 May, a return against England Schoolboys at Ibrox Stadium. It ended in a 2–2 draw and Bremner again received praise for his efforts. The News Chronicle said the midfield tussle between Venables and the "wee but tough Willie Bremner was one of the highlights".
After the schoolboy internationals, Bremner received invitations from Arsenal and Chelsea to play in trial matches. They both offered terms and Bremner went back to Scotland while he considered his options. He was then approached by both Celtic and Rangers. He favoured Celtic, whom he supported, but agreed to talk to Rangers first. After learning that Bremner was a Catholic, however, Rangers ended their interest. Bremner's father then stepped in and told him he should not join either of the two clubs because of their sectarian antipathy. Bremner said later that his father's final words on the matter were: "You're going to England, and that's that".
In early 1959, soon after his 16th birthday, Bremner was invited to join Leeds United by team manager Bill Lambton. Bremner accepted and joined the Leeds ground staff along with his friend Tommy Henderson, who had also played for Scotland Schoolboys. Lambton had recently signed Don Revie from Sunderland.
Leeds had been promoted from the Second Division in 1955–56, the season in which Jack Charlton became a first team regular, but they had struggled since John Charles left in 1957, and were relegated after the 1959–60 season.
Jack Taylor replaced Bill Lambton as team manager on 1 May 1959. One of Taylor's first junior signings was fifteen-year-old Norman Hunter, who arrived at Elland Road in the summer and joined Bremner on the club's ground staff. Bremner signed a professional contract with Leeds on 12 December 1959, soon after his seventeenth birthday. Six weeks later, on 23 January 1960, Taylor gave Bremner his first team debut at outside-right in a 3–1 win against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Bremner played alongside Revie, who was the team's inside-right. Yorkshire Evening Post reporter Phil Brown noted that Bremner showed "enthusiasm, guts, intelligence, most accurate use of the ball and unselfishness" despite poor weather conditions. Regular outside-right Chris Crowe was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1960, allowing Bremner to take his place on a permanent basis.
Returning to the Second Division for the 1960–61 season, Leeds were beaten by future rivals Liverpool at Anfield in the opening match, after which Bremner was dropped from the team. He won his place back later in the season after meeting with Jack Taylor to explain his frustration at being left out. In March 1961, with the team in the lower half of the Second Division table, Taylor resigned and Revie took over as player-manager until March 1962 when he retired as a player and became the full-time manager. This was significant for young players like Hunter and Bremner because Revie initiated a youth development policy which was the basis of the club's future success. Among others who graduated were Paul Reaney, Peter Lorimer, Terry Cooper, Eddie Gray, and Paul Madeley. Revie rejected an offer of £25,000 from Hibernian for Bremner, despite the player wanting to return to Scotland to be with his fiancée.
Leeds struggled in the 1961–62 campaign, finishing just three points above the relegation zone, despite 12 goals in 45 appearances from Bremner, who finished as the club's joint top-scorer with centre-half Jack Charlton. In March 1962, Revie retired as a player and became the full-time manager. In the same month, Revie signed Bobby Collins from Everton; Collins helped to create the "win-at-all-costs" attitude that defined Leeds and Bremner throughout the rest of Revie's 13 years as manager.