41 Facts About Billy Bremner

William John Bremner was a Scottish professional footballer and manager.

Billy Bremner played for Leeds United from 1959 to 1976, serving as captain from 1965, in one of the most successful periods in the club's history.

At Leeds, Billy Bremner won the First Division, Second Division, Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, FA Cup, League Cup and FA Charity Shield.

Billy Bremner 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.

Billy Bremner has 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.

Billy Bremner played for Hull City from 1976 to 1978, before being appointed player-manager at Doncaster Rovers in November 1978.

Billy Bremner failed to gain promotion to the top flight and left the club in September 1988.

Billy Bremner returned to Doncaster in July 1989, ending his second spell in charge in November 1991.

Billy Bremner is on the Scotland national football team roll of honour for having won more than 50 caps for Scotland.

Billy Bremner 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's father forbade him from joining Celtic as he did not want him involved in the religion-based rivalry with Rangers, and Bremner rejected both Arsenal and Chelsea as he did not enjoy his stay in London during trial spells with the two clubs, and was instead convinced to join Bill Lambton's Leeds United in 1959.

Billy Bremner joined along with his friend Tommy Henderson, who would return to Scotland due to homesickness without making a first team debut.

Regular outside-right Chris Crowe was sold to Blackburn Rovers in March 1960, allowing Billy Bremner to take his place on a permanent basis.

Billy Bremner was out of form and dropped from the first team during the end of season run-in, which contained a disproportionately large number of games due to the high level of postponements that occurred during the harsh winter.

Revie and Billy Bremner had a strong bond of trust, which was why the manager gave him the captaincy at such a young age.

Billy Bremner was named as FWA Footballer of the Year for the season.

Billy Bremner recovered from an ankle injury just in time to face Liverpool in the semi-finals, and scored the only goal of the two-legged tie with a header at Anfield.

Milan at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium in the European Cup Winners' Cup Final, though Billy Bremner missed the final due to suspension.

Billy Bremner was named on the PFA Team of the Year and finished second in the FWA Footballer of the Year voting to Ian Callaghan.

Revie's departure was tough for Billy Bremner, who had a strong bond with his manager.

Teammate Peter Lorimer insisted that the only criticism he had of Billy Bremner was in applying for the management job against Giles, which had caused to board to look elsewhere for fear of dividing the dressing room by choosing between Billy Bremner and Giles.

Billy Bremner went on to feature in qualifying games for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but defeats to Poland and Italy left Scotland second in their group, which was not enough to qualify.

Billy Bremner played in friendlies against Brazil and Portugal, and received a black eye from Pele's elbow in a clash during a high ball; despite this being an accident it still demonstrated to Bremner how he had failed to intimidate Pele as he had done to many other great players of the day.

Many teammates said that Billy Bremner held this match as one of the proudest moments of his career.

Billy Bremner captained his country throughout the process, having first taken up the armband in a friendly defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen.

However, Billy Bremner was nearly not selected by manager Willie Ormond after Ormond found him drunk in a bar not long after Jimmy Johnstone had to be rescued by the coastguard having gotten stranded in a rowing boat during a night out following a home international match against Northern Ireland.

Billy Bremner was later accused by Zairian player Ndaye Mulamba of racially abusing him during this match, as well as spitting at Mulamba and Mana Mamuwene.

Billy Bremner maintained his innocence, stating that the incident had been blown out of proportion by the SFA.

Billy Bremner was appointed manager of struggling Fourth Division side Doncaster Rovers in November 1978.

Billy Bremner appointed former Leeds coach Les Cocker as his assistant.

However a run of just one win in 15 games followed, for which Billy Bremner blamed his small squad and lack of training facilities.

Billy Bremner quickly reinstated Don Revie's philosophy and his little traditions, for example he reinstated the sessions of carpet bowls on Friday evenings.

Billy Bremner moved on the young players signed by former manager and teammate Eddie Gray, choosing to sign experienced players in their place.

Billy Bremner signed a new three-year contract in the 1987 close season.

In July 1989 Billy Bremner went back as manager to Doncaster, who had fallen back into the Fourth Division during his absence.

Billy Bremner had a ghost-written column in Shoot throughout the 1970s.

Billy Bremner's funeral, attended by many of Bremner's former team-mates and other football players and coaches, was held four days later in the Yorkshire village of New Edlington.

Billy Bremner was inducted into both the English Football Hall of Fame and the Scottish Football Hall of Fame.

Billy Bremner was inducted into the National Football Museum Hall of Fame in 2004, with the acknowledgement that: "his priceless precision passing, stamina and skill led him to become a Leeds United legend and one of the game's greatest midfielders" and that he "was not simply tough but a skilful player with an ability to score in crucial games".

Billy Bremner was one of Britain's most fiery, skilful and industrious footballers of the post-war years.

Billy Bremner was portrayed by Stephen Graham in the 2009 biographical drama film The Damned United, directed by Tom Hooper and starring Michael Sheen as Brian Clough.