Service with a smile, Revie style
BEING a scribe of some repute on the subject of comedy, smiley faces are William Cook’s bread and butter. Don Revie’s Leeds United team of the 60s and 70s, however, were no laughing matter. The combination of the gang’s all-white enamelling, he said, and the infamous smile embroidered on their chests was “macabre; like something from A Clockwork Orange.”
It’s hard to disagree. But the so-called “Smiley” badge’s two interlocking yellow forms on a blue circle are also an evocative and enduring signifier of an era in which Leeds United oozed an artistry seldom seen in football before or since. The game, via the choreographed showbiz as prescribed to Revie by Paul Trevillion, was absorbing the vibrant graphics and fashions of the epoch and taking its first, tentative, steps towards mass commercialisation.
It might look cheery, but “surely the greatest emblem football has ever witnessed” has a lot to answer for. Leicester-based Admiral Sportswear, who introduced it at the expense of the austere “LUFC” styling synonimous with rival manufacturer Umbro, clung to Revie’s coattails when he claimed the England manager’s job in 1974. Above, it features in a short clip from the evidently slick titles of The Don of Elland Road, a half-hour eulogy which first aired on Yorkshire Television as his reign was ending gloriously, as league champions for a second time.
The documentary was directed by Pudsey-dwelling Geordie darts nutjob Sid Waddell at the time he was also producer on Indoor League; a show in which one man’s hand-knitted cardigan skittles to smithereens almost everything I’ve just said about Leeds United and sartorial elegance in the 1970s. Ah, well. I’ll sithee.
Always been torn between the smileys and the script for my favourite badge. Always thought one of them should be brought back as I’ve never been a massive fan of the current one, and the script usually comes out on top due to it being completely timeless. It’s just classy, like Leeds United. MOT
We’ve had so many badges, and the present cut-and-shut job references at least two of them. Would the Smiley work for Leeds today? I don’t know. More preferable, I think, would be something utterly new. Sounds easy, but…
Am I a lone voice out here ?
I like the ‘new’ badge, and as I don’t like changing it over and over again, think it should stay.
It oozes European class – which surely is what we are – Europes finest Football club – it all seems very straightforward to me !
Y’know, I never bought its supposed “Europeanness”, Andy. That seems to me like something Ridsdale just said it was (that, and its introduction coinciding with club’s return to prominence on the continent) rather than any style it exudes. If it was ditched, I rather not see in its place a similarly half-baked mash of ideas (a bit like the bloke wot commissioned it).
Some should be careful what they wish for over the badge issue. Firstly, I love the Smiley, but do not think it should be brought back. You can just imagine some cocky whizzkid trying to re: design it for the Youf ov 2day and it looking shite. Secondly, Bates has mentioned this issue more than once and you can imagine his ego would be stroked if he got rid of Liesdales and had one of his own crests on his hotel till the end of time! For me, there is no issue with the current badge other than the person who commisioned it and the memories it brings. Something that we all hope will fade over time…
I think you’re right; the Smiley should remain “of the fans” and not the club for precisely the reason you mention. It crossed my mind a few years ago that if Ken ever did have his way we’d have a nice blue lion on our badge with the claim it stands for those outside Leeds Town Hall, and therefore the city as a whole, or somesuch bollocks.