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Eddie Gray on Peter Lorimer

Gray salutes former teammate.

Eddie Gray Peter Lorimer Web.jpg

Eddie Gray has today paid tribute to his former Leeds United teammate Peter Lorimer.

Peter sadly lost his battle with a long-term illness on Saturday, leaving a huge hole within the Leeds United family.

The Scottish duo played for Leeds during the club's most successful era to date and Eddie spoke of his fond memories.

“Peter was a truly great player and a great man," said Eddie.

“First of all I’d like to send my condolences to his family, his wife Sue and his boys Simon and Jamie and everybody that knew Peter.

“I first saw Peter play at Ibrox in 1962 for the Scottish Schoolboys against England, I was a year younger than Peter and I couldn’t believe how good he was.

“I thought to myself that night at Ibrox, that if I want to be a player, I have to step up to the mark because he was truly sensational.

“In the same year, 1962, he made his debut for Leeds United at 15 years of age, playing alongside the great John Charles.

“After a long span of time, in 1982 when I was manager of Leeds, I brought him back to the club to play with players like Dennis Irwin, John Sheridan, Terry Phelan and Scott Sellars who were young lads and they all looked up to Peter.

“As well as being a great player and a great goal scorer, he was a great lad, he was my roommate for 12 years, travelling all over Europe and up and down the country together.

“Today you hear managers say they’re not going to be in the market for a £50-60m player, but you would need a lot more money than that to get a player like Peter.

“Peter was a great striker of the ball, as everyone knows, people used to call him ‘Hotshot Lorimer’, but he was also a great crosser of the ball.

“He was actually an inside forward when he started and I was a wing half and Don Revie asked Peter to play right wing and me to play left wing, which we did.

“Peter could do anything, he could go by people and he was a great crosser of the ball.

“People think of him for his tremendous shot and he was a great goal scorer and a great footballer, he had a great knowledge of the game, he worked hard as well, he was a fit lad and you look at the length of his career and he played for a long, long time.

“In later years he was an ambassador for the club and got on well with everybody.

“He had a pub close to Elland Road and every Saturday at a home game it was full of people from Scandinavia.

“He was president of the Leeds United Scandinavian Supporters Club and they’d all be in the pub, he’d join in and sing the Leeds United songs with them, before eventually having to throw them out, he really was a great lad.

“It’s a really sad day for the club, myself and all of his teammates who are still around.

“We’ve had a terrible year losing people at the football club, before lockdown we used to see each other at games, have a chat and reminisce about the good times, but we always enjoyed watching the football club playing just now.

“He will be sorely missed by all of the Leeds United fans, Peter loved the club so much.”

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