Norman Hunter – fiercely competitive and fiercely protected
Jon Howe takes a look at a Revie-era legend in our series profiling the club's greatest-ever players
Jon Howe takes a look at a Revie-era legend in our series profiling the club's greatest-ever players
Ask any respected scholar of the game and its history, and they would probably name Norman Hunter in a top ten list of players perceived to have the most fearsome reputation. Ask any football fan, skewed by years of hearsay and parochial bitterness, and they’d probably have him as the undisputed number one.
The nickname ‘Bites Yer Legs’ will follow Hunter to the grave, his notoriety cemented by a legacy of malice, underhandedness and spite. The fact that he was one of the most popular figures at Leeds United; amongst his fellow players, with the staff and with the fans, won’t mean much when you consider that the insular siege mentality that carried Revie’s Leeds so far at that time was formed on the back of that uniform unpopularity. When you consider, however, that Norman Hunter was a respected player amongst his peers, it paints a rather different picture.
Norman Hunter, former Leeds United defender
Norman Hunter won the first ever PFA Player of the Year award in 1974
Hunter was recognised as the first ever PFA Player of the Year at the end of the 1973/74 season. That this vilified figure, portrayed in the media and on terraces alike as typifying the ugly belligerence that Leeds United gloried in, was being honoured by his contemporaries as the best player they had faced that season, raised a number of eyebrows.
We know it didn’t do anything to change Hunter’s public image, but it did at least suggest that after the numerous calling cards had been tended to and patched up, and after the aura of intimidation had drifted off into the air with the tobacco smoke and liniment fumes, there was a level of respect out there that Norman Hunter was an outstandingly gifted footballer.
Hunter was one of the group of awkward youngsters famously thrown into the mix by an under-pressure Don Revie at Swansea Town in September 1962. Unlike a few of the others, he stuck around, playing 41 games in that breakthrough season, and becoming a resident feature for the next 14 years.
Hunter receiving a silver tray from Manny Cussins in October 1973 to mark his 600th game
That Hunter never suffered the debilitating injuries that bedevilled many of his teammates in that era is something of a miracle, given that he forged his sinister standing in the game on diving into crunching tackles without blinking an eye. Playing over 50 games a season for nine consecutive campaigns, and playing in every major final Leeds United contested between 1965 and 1975, was no accident. Somehow Hunter had a quality of endurance to match that of no-nonsense defending, but longevity was not in short supply.
Most managers pin their hopes on discovering at least one partnership on the field that they can rely on. At Leeds, Revie could point to several. Clarke and Jones, Bremner and Giles, even Reaney and Cooper developed an understanding of sorts as modern day full backs who liked to get forward. In Hunter and Jack Charlton, Revie developed a central defensive partnership that provided the bedrock of the side for over a decade; and proved to be the immovable bulk of unforgiving granite upon which many unyielding preconceptions were built.
Hunter and Charlton arrive at Elland Road in March 1965
Where Charlton was imperious in the air, Hunter would routinely sweep up behind. They had a telepathic understanding that allowed them to interchange and always subconsciously know what the other was likely to do. They were a manager’s dream, and in Hunter, Revie had a willing soldier who would do anything for the cause and for his manager.
Hunter’s ability to read the game and sniff out imminent danger was a chief weapon, but his one-dimensional image belied the talent of a cultured defender. 28 England caps included being part of World Cup squads in both 1966 and 1970; further acknowledgement that Hunter was far more than a prickly conduit to coercion and menace.
Much of that character came from high profile occasions where Hunter took centre stage for the wrong reasons. He was sent off for retaliation after yet another foul against him went unpunished in the closing minutes of the farcical European Cup Winners’ Cup Final v AC Milan in 1973. Unable to maintain a façade of fair play, Hunter lashed out against the growing injustice built up over the game, and was dismissed in disgrace as Leeds fell to a controversial 1-0 defeat.
Lee and Hunter after their Baseball Ground punch-up in November 1975
A couple of years later the Match of the Day cameras famously caught Hunter and Derby County’s Francis Lee trading punches as they left the field at the Baseball Ground. They were images that quickly became stitched into the fabric of 1970s football, but still act as a convenient reference point today for anyone seeking folkloric evidence of the ugly side of the game. Hunter’s name was forever sullied and while every club seemed to have a ‘colourful hard man’ in their midst at the time, Leeds were stigmatised merely with a preference for the dark arts.
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It is true that the name ‘Hunter’ does carry an element of visceral intimidation; almost like it is only ever spat out in a hateful rage. Conversely, the name ‘Norman’ suggests a homely, cossetted northern upbringing and Sunday afternoons eating bread and dripping together in front of a roaring fire. It offers visions of an honest, cosy family unit where everyone works hard for the common cause. Norman Hunter was central to the team that Revie created, and his teammates were fiercely protective of him, as if they knew more than anyone that his name was being unfairly blackened. To us he was ‘Norman’ to everyone else he was ‘Hunter’.
Leeds United players become Pantomime stars for Norman Hunter's benefit. He is seen here dressed as Prince Charming at Elland Road. 18th December 1974.
Anyone who has met Norman Hunter will leave with a warm glow, having had the pleasure of sharing time with an amiable, popular and lovable man. Perhaps it was this that rubbed off on the fellow professionals who had the unique and valuable insight of post-match beers and the real character that the outside world didn’t see. Perhaps it was this, coupled with his ungainly, hunched style on the ball that made Norman Hunter a cult figure amongst Leeds United fans.
Or perhaps, what those people who recognise Norman Hunter’s true qualities see, is a fierce competitor who simply followed the ‘win at all costs’ mantra to the letter. Any successful team needs a Norman Hunter, and only Leeds United had one. People never like what only Leeds United have. So in that sense, what other people thought of him then, or now, doesn’t matter one bit.
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