Terry Yorath March 27 1950- January 8 2026
It is sad to report the death of former Coventry City and Wales captain Terry Yorath at the age of 75 following a short illness. Terry was captain of the club from 1976-79 and played 108 times for the club during a thrilling period that saw the club feted for exciting, attacking football. Brought up in the 'Leeds' way, he brought a touch of steel to the Coventry midfield, an attribute that allowed his skilful teammates such as Tommy Hutchison and Barry Powell and the striking partnership of Ian Wallace and Mick Ferguson to flourish. In the 1977-78 Gordon Milne's side scored 75 goals and played entertaining football wherever they went, only missing out on European football by virtue of Arsenal losing the FA Cup final. At the peak of his playing career in the mid 1970s there were few harder midfield players than Yorath. Later as a manager he had the honour of managing his country for five years.
Born in Cardiff, Terry was an outstanding schoolboy footballer and on leaving school was signed by Leeds United who were at the time becoming a major force in English football. Manager Don Revie gave him his first team debut as an 18-year-old but owing to the depth of quality in the Leeds side in the late 1960s he made only 30 appearances in five seasons. His contemporaries at Elland Road were Billy Bremner, Norman Hunter, Johnny Giles and Paul Madeley and he only got a game if one of them was unavailable. Playing in a defensive midfield role, he came to the fore in 1973 albeit on the losing side in both the FA Cup (to Sunderland) and European Cup Winner's Cup (to AC Milan). The league title went to Elland Road in 1973-74 and Terry was a regular in midfield in what was Revie's final season before becoming England manager. In 1975 Leeds reached the European Cup final against Bayern Munich. In a bad-tempered game Leeds protests about having been cheated by refereeing decisions were undermined by Yorath's heavy fourth-minute challenge on Bjorn Andersson, which broke the Swede's leg. In his autobiography, Hard Man, Hard Knocks, published in 2004, Yorath admitted it was a 'dreadful' foul, leaving him 'deeply ashamed'. By the time he left to join Coventry he had made 198 appearances, scoring 12 goals for Leeds.
Gordon Milne signed the Welsh national captain in August 1976, for £135,000, one of three masterful signings in a weekend (Ian Wallace and Bobby McDonald were the others), following a poor start to the new season. Like many of Revie’s side Yorath was hated by opposition fans but following his arrival at Coventry he became a fan’s favourite for his never-say-die attitude and inspirational leadership. One story about Terry's arrival at Coventry is that managing director Jimmy Hill had to give notice to his ex-wife to move out of her club-owned house as the Yorath family desperately wanted to move in.
Immediately made club captain, Terry was soon fighting for the Sky Blue cause and although his first season ended with a nail-biting relegation battle, the building blocks of an outstanding team were in place. In the final game of that season, the infamous match with Bristol City, he came up against his former Leeds team-mate Hunter and when it was clear, five minutes from time, that a draw would be sufficient to keep both sides up, the pair ordered their respective players to stop playing.
In 1977-78 Milne switched to a 4-2-4 formation with Terry and Barry Powell in the midfield of one of the most exciting teams in the club's history. Terry was the warrior in midfield and knew how to win the ball and deliver short passes to the play-makers Powell, Hutchison and Ray Graydon – the result was a thrilling campaign still fondly remembered by the older generation of Coventry City fans. The home victories that season were especially memorable including the 5-4 Christmas thriller with Norwich, a 4-2 win over league leaders Manchester City and a 3-0 New Year's Eve win over Manchester United. 48 league goals were scored at Highfield Road, the best total in the last 60 years, as City finished seventh in Division One, their second best final placing in 34 years in the top flight. Members of that team now attest to the team spirit and togetherness engendered by Terry as a major factor in the club's success that season. Terry wrote an amusing column in the club programme and it usually included a jibe at team-mate Jim Holton. In one programme he described how one of the directors had found Big Jim's false teeth at the bottom of his cup of tea.
City's form at the start of the following season was patchy but few fans were expecting a 7-1 hammering at West Brom and allegedly Yorath and Gordon Milne fell out after the game. As a result Terry was in the reserve team for several weeks and was close to joining Wolves. After City rejected Wolves' approach Terry regained his place and the rumoured rift appeared to be healed and the team finished the season strongly. After a magnificent battling performance in a 0-0 draw with Liverpool in March 1979 he was in a reflective mood, 'I think I owed the manager and the club a performance like that after the sort of season I have had'. The game also saw his competitive, sometimes vicious, engagement with Graeme Souness. The pair had several bone-crunching battles in games between the clubs. Despite Terry's 'hard man' image he was never sent off playing for the Sky Blues and received just one red card, for Leeds in 1976.
It was something of a shock then when at the start of the 1979-80 campaign Terry was sold to Tottenham for £275,000, a price too enticing for City to turn down. He had two seasons as the hardman protecting Glen Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles, often playing at centre-back. There followed two seasons in the NASL with Vancouver Whitecaps before in 1982 a return to England with Bradford City where he subsequently became assistant manager to his former Leeds team-mate Trevor Cherry. The pair took Bradford to the Division Three title in 1985, an event marred by the Valley Parade fire at their final home game in which 56 fans lost their lives. Terry risked his own life to try and save victims and only escaped by smashing a window with a chair. The events of that day were known to have haunted him.
Terry won his first Welsh cap in 1970 against Italy and went on to play 59 times for his country (20 with the Sky Blues), many as captain. In 1978 he came close to captaining his country to the World Cup finals but lost out to Scotland in a controversial game at Anfield.
His first managerial role at Swansea City saw him win promotion from Division Four in 1988 with a team including Tommy Hutchison, Peter Bodak and future City manager Chris Coleman. That led him to be appointed Wales' national manager and under him Wales attained what was then their highest ever FIFA ranking of 27th in 1993 and came close to qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. He was strongly tipped to become Coventry's manager in 1992 but the club opted instead for Bobby Gould.
Subsequent management roles at Bradford City and Cardiff were less successful but he had three good years coaching the Lebanon national team before coaching jobs at Huddersfield, Sheffield Wednesday and non-league Margate.
Terry had many personal issues to deal with including the death of his sixteen-year old son Daniel in 1992 and a drink driving conviction. His daughter, Gabby Logan, has carved a brilliant sports broadcasting career with Sky TV, ITV and since 2007 at the BBC.
Terry was a member of the Coventry City Former Players Association (CCFPA) and attended Legends Day in 2012 where I had the pleasure of presenting him with a shirt to commemorate him becoming the 200th member of the association. I can still recall a touching scene that day Terry and Alan Green hugged after not seeing each other for over 30 years.
RIP Terry
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