FEW men in English football polarise opinion more than Don Revie.

Worshipped by followers of Leeds United, lambasted by his many critics, he remains one football’s most controversial and complex figures.

During a 13-year spell as manager of the Elland Road club, Revie built a side that won League titles, an FA Cup, European trophies and a League Cup. He left the club in 1974 to take on the England job but, three years later, provoked fury among the sport’s establishment when he quit for a lucrative contract with the United Arab Emirates.

Sports journalist Richard Sutcliffe decided to write Revie: Revered And Reviled after the film The Damned United – focusing on Brian Clough’s disastrous stint as manager at Leeds – portrayed his predecessor Revie as a dour, miserable figure.

“It is almost as if, outside Leeds, he has been airbrushed from history,” said Sutcliffe, whose painstaking research reveals fresh insights into a manager ahead of his time, who also had a warm and generous side to his character.

The biography includes some intriguing stories, including one from former FA president Earl of Harewood about plots to replace Revie as England boss.

The book’s foreword was written by Kevin Keegan and there are contributions from numerous ex-Leeds stars and former England players, but the most telling contributions come from the members of the Revie family.

Part of the proceeds will go towards an appeal to fund a Revie statue outside Elland Road.