Football Pioneers: Leslie McDowall
In 1956, Manchester City won the FA Cup, defeating Birmingham City 3-1 in the final. The match is famous for the bravery of City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, who played on despite breaking a bone in his neck.
Yet City’s victory was also credited to a tactical innovation that became known in the press as the ‘Revie Plan’, named after their forward, the ex-Leicester City player Don Revie.
The Revie Plan reflected a growing awareness of the importance of tactics in English football during the 1950s. English football, at its best, was based on a balance of speed and stamina allied to individual craft and skill.
Since the 1930s, the W/M formation, popularised by Arsenal, had been the formation adopted by most teams. It bred a sense of insularity compared to tactical developments in Europe and English football became derided as ‘kick and rush’.
By the early 1950s, though, a mixture of styles had emerged, partly due to greater contact with the European game. Under Matt Busby, Manchester United combined long and short passes while Stan Cullis’ Wolverhampton Wanderers based their game on pressing the opposition and long passes to the wingers. Tottenham Hotspur, under Arthur Rowe, adopted a close passing, push and run style and won the league title in 1951.
English shortcomings, however, were starkly exposed in two heavy defeats against Hungary, 6-3 in 1953 at Wembley and then a record 7-1 loss in Budapest. They were particularly undone by the tactic of the ‘deep-lying centre-forward’, Nándor Hidegkuti, who played a deeper role which confused the English defence and created more space for Hungary to exploit.
It was this particular tactic that the Revie Plan was based on. Although Revie was given the credit, Leslie McDowall, the Manchester City manager, was its main instigator. Indeed, the Manchester City Reserves had been experimenting with a deep-lying centre-forward in the 1953-54 season, before it was tried out in the first team with Revie in the Hidegkuti role.
Results were initially patchy and McDowall thought of scrapping the tactic, but Revie persuaded him to persist. In 1955 Revie was voted Football Writers’ Player of the Year as Manchester City reached the FA Cup final but lost to Newcastle United.
In the following year’s final between Manchester City and Birmingham City the adoption of the Revie plan was crucial in City’s eventual 3-1 victory. McDowall was unable to repeat this success and City’s performances declined during the 1950s, something that was further illuminated by neighbours Manchester United’s success. McDowall eventually left Maine Road in 1963.
Revie, himself, following another of his frequent transfer requests, departed in November 1956 for Sunderland. He enjoyed a peripatetic playing career, which included spells at Leicester City and Hull City, but it was at Leeds United where he built his reputation as one of the influential managers in the history of the game. Yet some of the seeds of his successful management career were sown when he was a player at Manchester City.