RESPECT PAID TO LORRO – A TRUE LEGEND OF LEEDS
LEGEND has always been a term used too lightly.
But whether as a card player, a tennis opponent, a drinking partner or just one of the lads, Peter Lorimer – Lorro – was always unquestionably a legend.
That was how I became lucky enough to know him.
And apparently, he could play football a bit as well.
His untimely passing at the age of just 74 after a long illness has meant those old show reels have been aired again.
Scotland manager Tommy Docherty once described him as “the greatest player in the world” and in the 1970s scientists found his shot to be the hardest in the game.
“90 miles an hour!” the Leeds fans would cheer as each rasping drive found the top corner.
His own celebration was generally a mix of giddy excitement and often ended with a handclap high above his head to acknowledge the fans who appreciated him.
Having grown up in a bedsit near Carnoustie golf course with his parents and four siblings, football would take Lorro all around the world.
He had spells with Cape Town City, Toronto Blizzard, York City, Vancouver Whitecaps, University College Dublin, Whitby Town, and Hapoel Haifa. But he will
always be Leeds, Leeds, Leeds.
Having made his debut as just a 15-year-old, he amassed 705 appearances in two spells at the club.
He won two league titles, two Inter-city Fairs Cups, the FA Cup and the League Cup, but, rather cruelly, his two stand-out moments were ‘what might have beens’.
It was his thunderous follow-up shot which Jim Montgomery miraculously saved in the 1973 FA Cup Final to enable Sunderland to hold on to a shock victory.
Then Franz Beckenbauer talked the officials out of awarding Lorimer a clearly legitimate goal in the 1975 European Cup Final against Bayern Munich because the completely passive Billy Bremner was standing narrowly offside.
Alongside young commentator Ian Dennis, his soothing Scottish burr,
smoothed by so many years in Yorkshire, would offer pertinent viewpoints to listeners to BBC Radio Leeds from some of the grandest stages on the continent.
When not on duty during these trips, he always seemed relaxed but underneath was a mischievous humour.
But Lorimer was not just there for the good times and it should not be underestimated how important he was in the dark years following the financial implosion under Peter Ridsdale.
Lorimer was given a place on the board and his calm dignity, even-handedness and the trust he had from the fans saved the club from losing its soul.
His moral compass always pointed to the institution he had helped the great Don Revie to build.
Thank goodness Lorro was at least with us long enough to see his beloved Leeds get very much back on their feet.