‘HOT SHOT’
Another Legend left us. My prayers with the family. It has been an honour to meet you and host you at Elland Road, your home – Andrea Radrizzani ‘Great player, great lad and great goalscorer,’ pal Eddie Gray leads tributes to the Leeds ace with the 90mph
LEEDS’ legend and record goalscorer Peter Lorimer has died aged 74 after a long battle with illness.
Born in Dundee, Lorimer made his Leeds debut aged 15 years and 289 days in September 1962 and holds the record as the club’s youngest player.
He scored 238 goals in 676 appearances for Leeds in his two spells at Elland Road between 1962-1979 and 1983-1985.
He was a permanent fixture in Don Revie’s golden era, winning two Division One titles, two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, the FA Cup and a League Cup.
Operating on the right, Lorimer was famous for his venomous shots, earning him the nickname ‘Lasher’ and ‘Hot Shot’.
They were measured at speeds of up to 90mph and Leeds fans would sing “90 miles per hour” whenever he got within sight of goal.
He came to prominence in the 196566 season when he top-scored for Leeds with 19 goals.
He enjoyed his most prolific season when he netted 29 times in the 1971-72 campaign, when Leeds won the FA Cup for the only time in their history.
Lorimer had 21 Scotland caps and the high point of his international career was playing in the 1974 World
Cup. These were his peak years and he scored a crucial away goal in the Nou Camp as Leeds beat Barcelona to reach the 1975 European Cup Final.
The final in Paris against Bayern Munich went down in Leeds’ folklore as a great injustice and he controversially had a goal disallowed for offside at 0-0 before the Whites lost 2-0.
He left Leeds in 1979 and spent three years playing in Canada before making an emotional return to Elland Road in 1983 with David Harvey.
Leeds had been relegated from Division One the previous year and he delighted a new generation of fans with his displays in central midfield.
He made his last appearance aged 39 and finished his playing days at Hapoel
Haifa, where he agreed to be circumcised.
In the last 12 months
Leeds lost Lorimer and fellow club greats Jack
Charlton, Norman
Hunter and Trevor
Cherry. Eddie Gray was a part of that side and also
Lorimer’s best friend.
“As well as being a great player, goal scorer, he was a great lad,” he said.
“He was my room-mate for 12 years, all over Europe, up and down the country.
“He was a great lad, it’s a sad day for me and my team-mates that are still here, we’ve had a terrible year.
“I used to go over and see him every weekend before the lockdown, have a chat, reminisce, still enjoying watching the football club.
“The sad thing for Leeds United, there’ll be a lot of fans crying with the passing of Peter and they can’t go and watch their beloved club either, the club Peter loved so much.”
Leeds club chairman Andrea Radrizzani said on Twitter: “Another Legend left us. My prayers with the family. It has been an honour to meet you and host you at Elland Road, your home.” After retiring, he became a landlord of the Commercial Inn in Leeds and his love of the club endured.
He joined the Leeds board in 2004 as the fans’ representative and continued to write his column in the club programme.
In his last column he wrote about his excitement that fans could soon be allowed back into grounds and how he was “craving” to see a full Elland Road in the Premier League again.