The football world has come together to pay tributes to former Welsh international Terry Yorath, who has sadly passed away at the age of 75, including his former clubs Coventry City, Tottenham Hotspur and Bradford City.

It’s been a sad week for those of us who grew up watching football in the 1970s. First came the news of the passing of former Spurs and Norwich centre forward Martin Chivers, then we learned that Kevin Keegan had been diagnosed with cancer, and Leeds fans had the chance to pay tribute to the former Newcastle manager at St. James Park on Wednesday night.

Then, as we settled down to watch the highlights of that game on Match of the Day later that evening, we saw that Gabby Logan had to leave the studio after introducing the first game, due to what was described as a “family emergency”. I wondered then if that was anything to do with her famous father.

And sadly it was confirmed by lunchtime yesterday that it was. Terry Yorath had passed away after what has been described as a “short illness”. In announcing the news, the Yorath family said “To most, he was a revered footballing hero, but to us, he was Dad; a quiet, kind, and gentle man. Our hearts are broken, but we take comfort in knowing that he will be reunited with our brother, Daniel.”

Daniel was Terry’s son, who collapsed and died at the age of 15 in the middle of a back garden kickabout with his dad, due to a previously undiagnosed heart defect. The lad was on Leeds United’s books at the time, and by all accounts was regarded as quite a prospect as he progressed through our youth teams.

And it wasn’t the only time that Yorath’s life was marred by tragedy. He was at Valley Parade on the day of the terrible fire in 1985 as a Bradford City coach, and played a part in saving several people’s lives. As soon has he had ensured his own family were safe (including Gabby) he went into a bar where some fans were oblivious over the danger they were in, to urge them to get out of the building immediately.

Yorath joined Leeds in his teens in 1967, and while it was always going to be a challenge for a combative midfielder to break into the Revie team, he did manage to accumulate 198 appearances, including enough games in 1973/4 to get a league winners medal. He also played in FA Cup, European Cup Winners’ Cup and European Cup finals, though sadly he wasn’t on the winning side on any of these occasions.

The last of these matches was of course the infamous Paris 1975 final, the subject of the recent film, in which Yorath made a fourth-minute challenge Bjorn Andersson that would undoubtedly have earned him a straight red card today. It was common in the 70s for hard midfielders to get an early tackle in on their opposite number, but Yorath later admitted to being “deeply ashamed” of the tackle when he came to write his autobiography.

Yorath was still in his mid-20s at the time, so he might have been expected to have become a key member of the post-Revie side, once Bremner and Giles had reached the twilight of their careers and moved on. So it’s a bit of a surprise that he was sold to Coventry City in 1976, and he later moved on to Spurs, before ending his playing career at Bradford,

It was at Bradford that he took his first steps into coaching, and he not only went on to manage the Bantams, but to have two spells in charge of Swansea, and also came within a whisker of taking Wales to the 1994 World Cup finals, denied only by a missed penalty in a vital game against Romania. As a player he had won 59 caps for the Principality.

Daniel Farke stressed his Welsh roots as he paid tribute on our club’s official site. “Sad news and of course at this moment all our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones and his family. He will never be forgotten and always a part of our Leeds United family. His legacy will live forever.”

We spoke about our Welsh warriors here, especially with Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu and all the others. He was definitely a role model as a Welsh warrior and he has done so, so well for us as a club. He will also live always further on in our hearts and will always be connected and always be a proper member of our Leeds United family.”

While Former Leeds boss Simon Grayson posted on Instagram: “Rest in peace, Terry, a great footballer but a lovely man too. Thoughts are with all the family. Marching on together. He came through the ranks at Leeds as young lad and at that particular time we had a lot of top players, but he went about his role with a lot of tenacity and did very well”.

A tough player and a very good footballer, but above all he was a very good man." And Yorkshire TV commentator John Helm was one of those who knew Yorath personally, saying “‘Taff’ always had this twinkle in his eye. That’s what I’ll always remember about him, along with his tremendous sense of fun.”

As did Eddie Gray. “We all grew up together on the ground staff at Leeds, even though Terry was a couple of years younger than me. He was a tough man on the field, but you had to be at Leeds back then to play in midfield. Terry went on to have a great career, including after leaving Elland Road. He was someone who enjoyed every minute of his football.”

And Yorath’s other clubs have also paid tribute. On their official website Coventry issued a statement, “The thoughts and condolences of everyone at Coventry City are with Terry’s family and friends”. And similar sentiments have been posted on the official sites of Spurs and Bradford City.

Rest in Peace Terry, another 1970s Leeds United legend gone too soon. There aren’t too many left now.

Reuters