Yorkshire clubs offer tributes to 'legend' Yorath

The midfielder won the 1973-74 league title with Leeds and had spells with other Yorkshire clubs.

Terry Yorath playing for Leeds United in a plain white football top in 1969.
Midfielder Yorath spent nine years at Leeds United, winning the First Division title in 1974 [Getty Images]

Leeds United, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday have all paid tribute to Yorkshire football legend Terry Yorath, who has died aged 75.

Welshman Yorath was part of Leeds' First Division title-winning side in the 1973-74 season, before later playing for and managing Bradford City.

He went on to become assistant manager to Peter Jackson at Huddersfield, where they mastered an unlikely escape from relegation in 1998, before he took the manager's job at Sheffield Wednesday between 2001 and 2002.

In a statement, Leeds United said that everyone at the club was "devastated to learn of the passing of club legend Terry Yorath".

The club added: "Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Terry's family, friends and former teammates at this incredibly sad time.

"Rest in peace, Terry."

A combative midfielder, Yorath made his Leeds debut in 1967 and spent nine years with The Whites, winning the league title, and runners-up medals in the 1973 FA Cup final and 1975 European Cup final.

After spells at Coventry, Tottenham and at Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada, Yorath was part of Bradford City's promotion-winning side of 1985, playing for the club at the time of the Valley Parade Fire disaster of the same year.

Terry Yorath, pictured wearing a Huddersfield Town-branded tracksuit top and standing with his arms folded.
Yorath would later serve as assistant manager at Huddersfield Town [Getty Images]

He would manage the club for one year from 1989, a role he combined with the Wales national team job, before joining Jackson at Huddersfield Town in October 1997.

The pair kept a side that had failed to win any of its first 14 league games of the season in the second-tier Division One.

On social media, the club said: "Our collective thoughts are with Terry's family and loved ones at this time.

"Once a Terrier, always a Terrier."

Sheffield Wednesday, where Yorath managed between 2001 and 2002 said it was "extremely saddened" by news of his death.

In a tribute on X, former Bradford and Wednesday striker Dean Windass, who played under Yorath, described the Welshman as a "great man and a gentleman".

"Thoughts go to his family RIP," he added.

Yorath's daughter, the Leeds-born Match of the Day presenter Gabby Logan, had to leave the programme during a live broadcast on Wednesday evening to attend what was described as a family emergency.

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Category: General Sports