Where are they now:
Legend Jones is loving life back at Leeds
Squad rotation is taken as read in modern-day top-flight football – but the concept was a foreign one to Leeds United in their heyday.
And while striking legend Mick Jones is of the view that United paid the price for not operating the tinkerman tactics successfully employed by all of today's managerial giants – by way of silverware – he wouldn't have swapped eras for anything.
By any stretch of the imagination, Jones' Elland Road career was glorious.
It dovetailed perfectly with United's rise to the summit of English football under the masterful leadership of Don Revie following his big-money arrival for a whopping £100,000 from Tyke rivals Sheffield United in September 1967.
But while the Whites' trophy cabinet contained a fair few jewels in a glittering spell, the glaring fact that it wasn't bulging at the seams wasn't lost upon Worksop-born Jones.
For the record, the 63-year-old – now living in semi-retirement in South Yorkshire – won two championships and two Fairs Cup's under the stewardship of Revie, along with the FA Cup in 1972 when he was memorably helped up to the Royal Box with his arm in a sling after damaging his shoulder late on in the 1-0 win over Bertie Mee's Arsenal.
But two cup final reverses and countless other near misses at home and abroad – most notably in their abortive treble raid in 1970 – left deep scars and an undeniable sense of 'if only', allied to an unwanted tag of 'nearly men'.
Rotation at the business end of several campaigns could have yielded more tangible reward for United, who were basically victims of their own success, in the eyes of Jones.
And maybe it would have played a hand in prolonging a career which ended prematurely due to a serious knee injury at the age of 29.
Capped three times by England, Jones still looks back on his time at United – in a glorious era for post-war football as a whole – with a misty-eye, feeling fortunate enough to be able to recount his memories to young and old alike as part of his corporate hospitality work on match-days at Elland Road.
Back in his day, title races and cup chases contained more than the usual "top four" suspects who seem to have carved up the honours in the cash-rich Sky TV era.
While Leeds were the flag-bearers for Yorkshire, both Merseyside and Manchester giants – principally City – sporadically jousted for prizes with United in Jones' goal-den Elland Road stint from 1967 to 1974 when six different sides won the title.
The Midlands assault was headed by Brian Clough's Derby, while the likes of Wolves and Stoke also flexed their muscles and that's without even mentioning London's big hitters of Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea.
Jones told the YEP: "Our problem was we went for too much. We went out of three competitions in 10 days in 1970.
"In hindsight, we should have gone for two (competitions) each year and not three or four and that's probably why we didn't win as much as we should have done.
"The schedule was almost the same each year.
I think if you could fault Don Revie – we all thought of him as an absolutely marvellous man and manager – apart from his superstitions, it was that he didn't use his squad enough.
"There were 15 or 16 of us (internationals), but he stuck by more or less the same team, week-in, week-out and played the same 11 or 12.
"We had five internationals who weren't playing every week and playing them wouldn't have weakened the side.
"A pro called Carl Asaba asked me about two or three years ago how many games we played during a season? I said: 'oh, 70'. And he looked at me like I'd gone mad! We used to play on mudheaps as well and he said if he played 30, it would be plenty for him.
"We had to play on all types of pitches back then, you accepted it. It was part and parcel of the job.
"Looking back, that's maybe why I finished so early.
"We had six or seven games left in the 1973-74 season and I had got this knee problem. Don Revie wanted me to play, I'd got 26 league goals and was having a cracking season, and he said they'd get it sorted out at the end of the season.
"But the knee joint was worn, it had gone through. We won the league, but then I had a big operation and it didn't work and I knew I was finished at top level and 18 months later, I retired.
"But I wouldn't swap my career then for now. People say 'if you played now, you'd be a multi-millionaire'. But for me, I had a fabulous career and played with fabulous footballers who were all British. I'm not jealous of the money they get nowadays."
The heavyweight footballing clashes of the early 70s – invariably featuring Leeds – are stuff of legend in footballing circles, from the famous 1970 European Cup semi against Celtic – watched by an aggregate crowd of 182,000 people – to the Whites' famous Wembley cup finals against Chelsea, Arsenal and Sunderland.
Jones was privileged to play in all those games and a few more besides, with the seismic showdowns etched into United folklore.
On his medley of memories, Jones added: "Personally, one of the main games for me was the Fairs Cup final win against Ferencvaros in 1968 because Leeds had never won a European trophy. I got the only goal in the first leg, and we went to Budapest and drew 0-0.
"They hammered us, but Gary Sprake was absolutely fantastic. He took some stick, but when he was busy, he was brilliant.
"I remember the 1970 cup final at Wembley – they'd had the Horse of the Year show on it the week before. We took salt tablets before that game to stop getting muscle cramp; you walked on and you just sunk in the grass.
"Many went down with cramp at the end of the game. But we hammered Chelsea that day. I meet up with Peter Bonetti still and he always says: 'Christ, you hammered us at Wembley.' And then they won the replay at Old Trafford.
"Then there was the Centenary Cup final against Arsenal, which was watched by millions around the world.
"I'm remembered for that game everywhere I go – even now. It's nearly 40 years on, but people still come up to me and say 'you're the fellow who went down with the injury'. It's nice, although it wasn't a nice feeling at the time!
"1972 was a massive year – 1973 wasn't. After Sunderland, everyone was writing us off and felt we were finished and said we were too old.
"Don Revie said at the start of the 1973-74 season that we aren't going to lose a match and are going to win the league. And we went 29 games without losing and won the league and rammed things down people's throats.
"But after that season, the team was getting old and that was it. I finished with injury, John Giles was coming towards the end and the team was splitting up. Don Revie knew this and I think it was why he took the England job.
"It was a bad time after that. Brian Clough came and he shouldn't have come at that time, he wasn't right for Leeds United. If he'd have come five years later, he'd have probably been the right man. He'd have probably kept the club up there with a different set of players."
In today's transfer market, Jones would have been worth millions, but the down-to-earth young striker certainly wasn't courted by Revie amid a fanfare of publicity or secret meetings in plush hotels and the like – despite his hefty six-figure transfer.
More a visit from the great man to Jones' humble home, with not an agent in sight!
Jones – who worked in a cycle factory and played for a colliery side before being handed his first professional break at Bramall Lane – said: "It was a huge move at the time.
"The money for players is nonsense now, but back then, it was a British record for both clubs – £100,000 was mega money in those days.
"John Harris (Sheffield United manager) said he was going to resign over it, apparently. I'd come up from being a kid there and went onto play for England. I had a good time there.
"The move was a surprise, to be honest. You didn't have agents in those days and you dealt with everything yourself.
"Clubs never mentioned it when other clubs were after you. It came out of the blue, but apparently Don Revie had said he'd been after me for two years, which was news to me!
"Along with other clubs, like Arsenal and Liverpool, he said he'd put the best offer in for me.
"But Sheffield United never mentioned it. I only found out when I came home from shopping one Friday afternoon that him (Revie) and his chairman were at my house. I'd just got married and had moved into a semi-detacted house and he was waiting outside – that's how it worked then. It's a bit different now.
"I remember they said to me: 'Are you ambitious'. And I said: 'Very much so.' And Don said: 'Well, you're the man I want, I've been after you for two years.
"I'm remembered for that game everywhere I go – even now. It's nearly 40 years on, but people still come up to me and say 'you're the fellow who went down with the injury'. It's nice, although it wasn't a nice feeling at the time!
"1972 was a massive year – 1973 wasn't. After Sunderland, everyone was writing us off and felt we were finished and said we were too old.
"Don Revie said at the start of the 1973-74 season that we aren't going to lose a match and are going to win the league. And we went 29 games without losing and won the league and rammed things down people's throats.
"But after that season, the team was getting old and that was it. I finished with injury, John Giles was coming towards the end and the team was splitting up. Don Revie knew this and I think it was why he took the England job.
"It was a bad time after that. Brian Clough came and he shouldn't have come at that time, he wasn't right for Leeds United. If he'd have come five years later, he'd have probably been the right man. He'd have probably kept the club up there with a different set of players."
In today's transfer market, Jones would have been worth millions, but the down-to-earth young striker certainly wasn't courted by Revie amid a fanfare of publicity or secret meetings in plush hotels and the like – despite his hefty six-figure transfer.
More a visit from the great man to Jones' humble home, with not an agent in sight!
Jones – who worked in a cycle factory and played for a colliery side before being handed his first professional break at Bramall Lane – said: "It was a huge move at the time.
"The money for players is nonsense now, but back then, it was a British record for both clubs – £100,000 was mega money in those days.
"John Harris (Sheffield United manager) said he was going to resign over it, apparently. I'd come up from being a kid there and went onto play for England. I had a good time there.
"The move was a surprise, to be honest. You didn't have agents in those days and you dealt with everything yourself.
"Clubs never mentioned it when other clubs were after you. It came out of the blue, but apparently Don Revie had said he'd been after me for two years, which was news to me!
"Along with other clubs, like Arsenal and Liverpool, he said he'd put the best offer in for me.
"But Sheffield United never mentioned it. I only found out when I came home from shopping one Friday afternoon that him (Revie) and his chairman were at my house. I'd just got married and had moved into a semi-detacted house and he was waiting outside – that's how it worked then. It's a bit different now.
"I remember they said to me: 'Are you ambitious'. And I said: 'Very much so.' And Don said: 'Well, you're the man I want, I've been after you for two years.
YEP
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