Paul Reaney (born 22 October 1944) is an English former international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

. He played primarily as a right-sided full-back. He made 745 first-team appearances at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

from 1962 to 1978, winning six major trophies under

Don Revie Donald George Revie OBE (10 July 1927 – 26 May 1989) was an England international footballer and manager, best known for his successful spell with Leeds United from 1961 until 1974, which immediately preceded his appointment as England mana ...

's management. As a player of mixed race, Reaney became the first non-white footballer to represent the men's senior

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

in 1968, when he gained the first of his three senior caps. Later in his career, Reaney played for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

and

Newcastle KB United Newcastle KB United are a defunct Australian association football club. They participated in the National Soccer League from 1978 until early in the 1984 season. History The first Newcastle based team to play in a national league, Newcastle K ...

Career

Leeds United

Reaney moved to the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

from London as a child and left school at 15. He was briefly a car

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

before

signed him for Leeds as an

apprentice Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

. He made his professional debut shortly before his 18th birthday, and went on to make 35 League appearances in his first season, and was part of the team that won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1964. In the 1964–65 season, Reaney missed just one League game, and scored the first of his League goals as Leeds challenged for both the League championship and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

; however, Leeds lost out on both trophies, with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

winning the title, whilst

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

beat Leeds in the FA Cup final. Reaney quickly earned a reputation as a fiercely competitive, disciplined defender, capable of closing out the most talented of attackers –

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

rated Reaney as one of the two best defenders he played against. In 1967–68 Leeds won the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and the Fairs Cup, and in 1968–69 they won the League championship. Leeds progressed in 1969–70 towards a "treble" of League championship, FA Cup and

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, but a broken leg suffered in a game against West Ham United meant that he missed the run-in to the end of the season – a factor that contributed to Leeds missing out on all three trophies. In addition, the broken leg meant that Reaney missed that summer's World Cup in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

. He eventually returned in the 1970–71 season to make 18 League appearances and be part of the team which won its second Fairs Cup, but which missed out on the League championship again. In the 1971–72 season he was part of the team that won the FA Cup, but which missed out the League Championship yet again. The following season saw more disappointment for Reaney as Leeds lost the

FA Cup final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and a controversial

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

final to A.C. Milan. Reaney's career at Leeds passed 500 appearances in 1973–74 as Leeds embarked on a 29-match unbeaten start to the season to earn the League title for the second time under Revie, who then left to take over the England job. Reaney was in the team which duly progressed to the European Cup final the following season in 1974–75 but was controversially defeated 2–0 by

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

Later career

Reaney remained at Elland Road until the end of the 1977–78 season when he was given a free transfer after 745 appearances. He joined neighbours

and then completed his playing career in Australia with

International career

In 1968, Reaney won his first

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

cap, when he came on as a substitute in a match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Reaney's appearance for England has assumed greater importance in recent years as even though he was regarded as "white" during his playing career, he is viewed by many as "black" or mixed race now. His England debut was nine years before that of Viv Anderson, who is widely credited as the first black player to appear for England. From that point on, he was regularly selected for the England squad (albeit not as first choice full-back) until a broken leg in 1970 prevented him from playing in the World Cup. The following year, he made his third and final appearance for England in a match against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Post-playing career

Since returning to England from Australia, Reaney has been running coaching sessions during school holidays for children at Potters Leisure Resort in Hopton. In 1993, burglars broke into Reaney's home and stole a safe containing his collection of medals, though left behind his trophies, caps and other honours.

Honours

Leeds United *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1968–69, 1973–74 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 1963–64 *

: 1972; runners-up

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

, 1973 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

; runners-up

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup ( ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

; runners-up 1967 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: runners-up 1973 *

: runners-up

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reaney, Paul 1944 births Living people Footballers from Fulham Association football fullbacks English footballers England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Leeds United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Newcastle KB United players English Football League representative players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia FA Cup Final players