Trevor Cherry
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Trevor John Cherry (born February 23, 1948 in Huddersfield, England) was a defender who made his name with Leeds United in the 1970s.
Cherry joined his hometown club Huddersfield Town as a 17 year old in 1965 when he was spotted playing for the local YMCA. He quickly established himself as a useful and inspirational defender who could play anywhere across the back line. Huddersfield won the Second Division title in 1970.
Cherry then earned a dream move along the M62 in 1972 when Leeds paid 100,000 pounds to Huddersfield - who had just been relegated again - for his services. With the veteran Jack Charlton at the point of retirement, Leeds manager Don Revie needed to find someone to step readily into his defence for when Charlton quit.
Cherry ended up playing both alongside and instead of Charlton in his first season but was predominantly at left back, with the continued absence of broken leg victim Terry Cooper further depleting Revie's defensive resources. By the end of the season Cherry had amassed 38 League appearances and was selected by Revie for the FA Cup final.
The game was eventful for Cherry, as it was his first final. The other ten Leeds players who started the match had all played in the win over Arsenal twelve months earlier. Cherry was easily the most inexperienced player in the Leeds team but although the side as a whole played disappointingly, Cherry did not.
A defender always winning to join in the attack, Cherry played his part in what would become one of the FA Cup's most famous moments in that Wembley final. Leeds were a goal down to opponents Sunderland midway through the second half when Cherry made a late run to meet a long cross from Paul Reaney with a vicious flying header which was heading for the far corner. Sunderland goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery made a fine save but pushed the ball into the path of Peter Lorimer, whose goalbound shot was somehow saved by a swiftly recovering Montgomery, turning the goalkeeper into an icon of his club and the FA Cup as a whole. Sunderland held on and Cherry would not ever win the FA Cup.
He did, however, win the League championship with Leeds in 1974, as the team went on a record 29-match unbeaten run at the start of the season to make sure the title would be theirs. Again, Cherry spent much of the season at left back.
1975 was a mixed year for Cherry. Injury curtailed half of his season, but he recovered in time to help Leeds in their European Cup campaign as it progressed towards the semi finals and a game against Barcelona. Cherry marked Dutch legend Johan Cruyff out of each leg as Leeds reached the final, but after missing subsequent League matches through suspension, manager Jimmy Armfield did not recall him for the final in Paris against Bayern Munich, which Leeds lost 2-0.
In 1976, Cherry became Leeds captain after Billy Bremner left and won his first England cap, his own career progressing on a personal level as Leeds United's standards as a club started to slip. Most of the side which Revie had put together prior to his departure for the England job in 1974 were either leaving or just ageing, and Leeds no longer found themselves forcing issues in any of the major club competitions.
Cherry was sent off while playing for England against Argentina in 1977 - only the third England player to receive his marching orders in a game, and to this day the only England player to be sent off in a friendly. Yet it was an unjust decision, with Cherry losing two teeth after being punched in the mouth by one of the Argentine players. He maintained his England career through the rest of the 1970s even after his mentor Revie left the job, but England did not qualify for the 1978 World Cup.
When England finally did qualify for a major tournament - their first in ten years - Cherry made the squad of 22 which travelled to Italy for the European Championships in 1980. His input on the pitch was limited, however, to a single substitute appearance against Spain in a group game. England were knocked out of the tournament at the same stage.
Cherry continued to play for Leeds until 1982, the year that the club were relegated under the management of his former team-mate Allan Clarke, exactly ten years after Cherry had suffered the same fate with Huddersfield. Cherry played three months of Second Division football before leaving for another neighbouring club in Bradford City where he became player-manager.
Cherry quit playing after one season to concentrate on management. He was in charge when Bradford won promotion to the Second Division in 1985 but then were devastated by the fire at their Valley Parade ground on May 11 that year, which took 56 lives. The subsequent fund to raise money for the bereaved families attained more than four million pounds, and Cherry was among the mourners at many funerals.
In 1987, Cherry gave up management and football in general. He now runs a promotions and hospitality company in Huddersfield and is married with two sons.
