On This Day in Football: The Revie Era begins, Port Vale miss out on European glory

On this day in 1961, Don Revie took over Leeds United as player-manager. And the rest as they say, is history.

Born in Middlesbrough, Revie was a prolific centre-forward who began his senior career with Leicester City (1944-49) before playing for Hull City (1949-51), Manchester City (1951-56) and Sunderland (1956-58). He was capped six times by the England national team in which he scored four goals.

In 1958, Leeds United manager Bill Lambton sought the experience of Revie to revive his club’s falling standards. Leeds were fighting relegation, and with Revie installed as the new captain, avoided the drop in the 1958-59 season. However, the club did get relegated in the following campaign under Jack Taylor. Revie, now 33, relinquished his captaincy, and was made player-manager in March 1961 after Taylor resigned from his post.

With Revie at the helm, Leeds were a force to be reckoned with in English football. A Second Division title win in the 1963-64 season saw them return to the First Division. Revie guided Leeds to league success on two occasions, once in 1969 and again in 1974. Other honours included an FA Cup win in 1972, a Football League Cup in 1968 and two Inter-Cities Fairs Cup wins in 1968 and 1971.

Revie left Leeds in 1974 to manage England but could not replicate his success with Leeds with the national team. He went on two manage in the Middle East following his England stint before retiring from football management in 1985.

Port Vale miss out on European glory

On this day in 1996, Serie A side Genoa beat Port Vale 5-2 in the last ever final of the Anglo-Italian Cup.

The Anglo-Italian Cup was a football tournament that was played intermittently between English and Italian cubs. The 1996 final saw minnows Port Vale line up against a Genoa side that had players like Vincenzo Montella and Fabio Galante in their ranks.

The final, played at Wembley, was watched by a disappointing crowd of 12,683 fans. Genoa opened the scoring in the 12^th minute and cruised to a 3-0 lead at half-time courtesy of goals from Gennaro Ruotolo, Galante and Montella. Ruotolo completed his hat-trick in the second half to establish a 5-0 lead. Port Vale pulled two goals back through Martin Foyle but it was too little too late.

Genoa followed in the footsteps of AS Roma, Cremonese and Brescia to become the fourth Italian club to lift the Anglo-Italian Cup.