Brian Greenhoff, who has died aged 60, was a central defender with Manchester United and earned 18 caps for England.
Greenhoff’s years at Old Trafford (1973-79) were not among the club’s most illustrious. In 1974 United — who no longer enjoyed the services of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton — were relegated to the old Second Division (although they won promotion back to the First Division at the first attempt). Then, in 1976, they lost in the FA Cup Final to Southampton.
They were back at Wembley a year later, however, and this time won the Cup by beating Liverpool 2-1, thus preventing their Merseyside rivals from achieving a historic treble (First Division title, European Cup and FA Cup). It was United’s first trophy in eight years, and Greenhoff’s greatest moment in a United shirt.
Shortly afterwards the manager, Tommy Docherty, was sacked for having an affair with the club physiotherapist’s wife. He was replaced by Dave Sexton, who preferred Gordon McQueen (bought from Leeds) to Greenhoff at centre-back. United won no more trophies before, in 1979, Greenhoff was sold to Leeds for the then considerable sum of £350,000. In all he had made 271 appearances for United, and scored 17 times.
His time at Elland Road was less distinguished, and he later revealed that he had struggled with his weight. “I put my fingers down my throat a few times,” he told BBC Radio Manchester’s In The Spotlight. “I still enjoyed my weekends — that was the time I used to let my hair down because I’d worked hard for it. At Leeds, they used to weigh us on a Monday morning. I’d have weighed the players on a Friday, because if you’re half a stone overweight on a Friday, you wouldn’t be playing on the Saturday. We didn’t have dietitians in our day. I always ate before a match. I used to have tea, toast and jam. ”
After Leeds were relegated in 1982, Greenhoff left on a free transfer. He played briefly for the South African side Wits University before moving to Bulova SA in Hong Kong during the 1982-83 season. He then turned out for the Finnish team Rovaniemen Palloseura .
In March 1983 his older brother Jimmy (who had played alongside Brian at Old Trafford in the late Seventies) was appointed player-manager at Rochdale, and that December Brian joined him as “player-coach”. He made 16 appearances for the club, but when Jimmy was sacked after only a year, Brian also moved on.
For a time he worked as a sales rep for a sports goods wholesaler in Manchester, visiting stores across the north of England. He later lived with his family in Minorca, taking occasional jobs as a waiter, before finally returning England and settling at Rochdale.
The son of a professional footballer, Brian Greenhoff was born at Barnsley on April 28 1953. He played for Yorkshire Schoolboys and was signed as an apprentice by Manchester United in 1968 (the year the club won its first European Cup). He made his first team debut against Ipswich in September 1973, starting out as a midfielder. It was Docherty who moved him to centre-back, where he developed a fruitful partnership with the Scotland international Martin Buchan.
Buchan later said: “[This] came about more by accident. We were playing Red Star Belgrade in a pre-season friendly when our other centre-back, Jim Holton, twisted his knee in the warm-up and had to be carried off. Tommy Docherty told Brian he was moving from midfield to alongside me in central defence. We were 3-0 down by half-time. However, we came back to recover and that was the start of our partnership. We weren’t the tallest, but we developed an understanding.”
Greenhoff played four times for the England Under-23 side, and won the first of his 18 full England caps against Wales in May 1976.
He is survived by his wife, Maureen, and three sons.
Brian Greenhoff, born April 28 1953, died May 22 2013
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