Where are they now?
John Faulkner: Revie was key for me
For a man who lectures on high performance leadership at a university, it's fitting that John Faulkner started his first 'professional' career at the best football club in the land in 1970.
The defender, who made a dramatic switch from Isthmian League minnows Sutton to league champions Leeds United that March, may not exactly be a household name to Whites followers.
And while he may have only donned the first-team jersey of United a handful of times in his two-year stint in West Yorkshire, the impact of rubbing shoulders on a day to day basis with some of the biggest sporting figures in the UK – was never lost upon the aspiring centre-half.
Just over a decade ago, Kent-born Faulkner – now 60 – made a career switch from the world of sport to business and ultimately tutoring at Bedfordshire-based Cranfield University after successful stints as a coach and assistant manager at first Luton and then Norwich.
Having helped pioneer a leading management programme, Faulkner still regularly lectures at Cranfield, where he is a visiting fellow – applying his experiences in sport to a wholly different arena.
Within his remit is empowering people and making them a company's most important asset – a philosophy Faulkner's first professional manager Don Revie followed to the letter throughout his golden tenure at Elland Road.
The Revie era was a time when his players were treated like kings, with their every need batered for by the club.
The respect for the manager and his staff was all-embracing from his troops, whose payback came via a slavish devotion to the cause and a host of on-field glories – Revie's ultimate compliment.
And while Faulkner may have a been peripheral figure in the early 70s, the education wasn't lost on him.
Faulkner told the YEP: "I did take a lot from Revie. His teams practiced in training like it was a Saturday and that's not always the way in football.
"Revie was a man for detail and had some fantastic people around him and players and I learnt so much about what standards are.
"He was into nutrition and placed importance in what we ate, although there was a drinking culture back then.
"All the players had massages on a Thursday, which was ahead of its time. Revie also had his famous dossiers on opponents and it was a great education."
Leaving nothing to chance was taken as read with meticulous Revie and his support staff and while the fourth-round FA Cup tie which pitted mighty Leeds with Faulkner's Sutton proved a walkover – United winning 6-0 – it would be folly to even think that the legendary Whites boss would treat any opponent lightly.
Respect was given and while the Sutton crop who booked a cup date with Leeds in January 1970 featured a motley collection including a schoolmaster, a jig borer, a cable jointer, engineers and a panel beater, Revie still had the Surrey outfit watched three times more than he did Ujpest Dozsa – who knocked United out of the Fairs Cup in 1968-69!
Leeds – who came to Gander Green Lane riding high in the league and having booked a place in the last eight of the European Cup – proved a class apart en route to a final appearance against Chelsea.
But the lasting impression made by rookie Faulkner – despite his side suffering a buffeting – wasn't lost on Revie.
He snapped him up weeks later, with Faulkner managing a couple of cameos in the 1969-70 season when Leeds agonisingly missed out on glory on three fronts.
Playing-wise, that was pretty much as good as it got for Faulkner, who scored an own goal on his home debut and copped a serious injury in his second game for his sins.
But despite suffering wretched luck, the stopper still recalls with fondness his time at a genuine footballing giant.
Faulkner said: "I had a fabulous time at Leeds, even though I picked up a really bad injury."
On his path north, he continued: "I first played at Charlton as a kid and came out and started work like a normal person, as a quantity surveyor.
"I was training for that and playing football at Sutton. I actually changed position, I was a forward but went back to centre-half.
"I was only at Sutton for a year. But we had a great year and obviously played Leeds. They got through on the Saturday and our game was cancelled. We played (Hillingdon Borough in the third round) the following Wednesday and drew away from home. The fourth-round draw was already made and we had a replay and won.
"They came down and watched the replay. I was playing quite well at the time and Maurice Lindley, Syd Owen and Revie were there, so they'd seen us all before the actual game. Don didn't take any chances.
"Despite the result, I played reasonably well, marking Mick Jones. Allan Clarke got four and Peter Lorimer got two.
"Within a week, Revie phoned me up. I was only 20 and said they wanted to sign me.
"Arsenal had also jumped on the bandwagon and there were a few clubs after me. But I met Revie and he was top class and I signed.
"It was a fantastic club, full of characters.
"Leeds were chasing a cup and league double and I got to play a few games at the end of the season. Everton ended up pulling away from Leeds, but we reached the cup final and I played against Burnley just before that.
"It was a memorable game because Eddie Gray scored two unbelievable goals and he became quite famous for both of them.
"He dribbled around about eight players for one goal and for the other – I read his book and he reckons he lobbed it in from 40 yards.
I just thought: 'bloody hell, what a magician!'
"There was obviously the cup final and replay and I played in the league game against Manchester City before the second final game.
"But I fractured my knee cap and it took me about 10 months to get over it.
"I did get back and played a couple of European games. Revie was brilliant and I idolised Norman Hunter, although I never told him that.
"For me, it was just fantastic to be involved. But I got to about 22 or 23 and I wanted to play first-team football, but it was difficult with 13 internationals playing there.
"There were also some great players in the reserves, Joe Jordan came six months after me and turned into a fantastic player and coach. Terry Yorath was also around at the time, along with David Harvey, as Sprake was still first choice.
"I transferred to Luton on transfer deadline day (in 1972). Revie had offered me a contract and said 'stay with us', but I wanted to play."
A total of 250 games at Luton followed – with the Hatters enjoying a season in the old first division in 1974-75.
Skipper at Kenilworth Road, Faulkner joined the Anglo footballing stampede to the US in the late 70s where he teamed up with Eddie McCreadie at Memphis Rogues and then California Surf before returning home with his coaching career soon blossoming.
He added: "I came back to England in 1981. I hadn't sold my house, which was still in Luton and David Pleat asked me to be a coach. I wanted to get into the coaching side and liked working with people.
"Luton got in the top division and with the plastic pitch, had a really successful few years and I was youth team coach.
"We got to a couple of cup semi-finals and won the League Cup final and finished sixth one year and they were good times.
"After David went to Tottenham, I ended up as first-team coach (at Luton). A new chairman later came in, I got the sack, as did Jim Ryan, who was manager.
"He went off to Manchester United and I went off to Norwich as first the reserve and then first-team coach.
"Norwich had a very good first team and Mike Walker took over and the club had that really good cup run in Europe, beating Bayern Munich."
Faulkner left Carrow Road in June 1998 after working in several roles, most latterly taking responsibility for players' physical fitness and mental preparation before heading back to the classroom.
He said: "Running alongside my time at Norwich, I'd been going to Cranfield University, just up the road from Luton.
"A friend of mine worked on one of the management courses and suggested I tried one and I just loved it. It was very psychologically based on understanding people.
"Funnily enough, with all the maps and models on the boards there, I'd been doing that practically at clubs over the years.
"I started to do a lot for a department called Praxis, concerned with self-development.
It was very practical and a lot of people came in who specialised in subjects.
"I was made a visiting fellow, which is something I'm really proud of – not really being an academic. It was really nice and I've been going back ever since.
"I manage people on courses and it's basically transferring stuff from sport to business. Sport is all about performance and getting the best out of people. If you do that, they just might perform a bit better.
"I also worked this year at Glenn Hoddle's football academy in Spain doing sports psychology with some of the kids there. They are given intensive skills training, with a bit of psychology and hopefully they can get back in the (football) industry like I did after leaving Charlton."
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