THE dream move was to Leeds United and their manager was Brian Clough. Brian had been at Leeds just over three weeks when he offered Derby £125,000 for both John O'Hare and I.
The chance to team up with him again at a club which had won the League Championship the previous season was too good an opportunity for us to turn down.
I was well aware that Leeds had the famous midfield duo of Billy Bremner and Johnny Giles pulling the strings but Brian pointed out that neither of them were getting any younger.
I knew that with Cloughie in charge I would get a fair chance to show what I could do and it was up to me to impress.
What I didn't know at the time I put pen to paper on a contract which gave me a small increase on the money I had been earning at Derby, was that I was about to walk into an atmosphere that at times you could have cut with a knife.
I wasn't aware of what Brian had said and done with the players but it soon became clear that he wasn't exactly flavour of the month with nay of them, or indeed with anyone associated with the club.
The supporters hated him, the players who he had so often castigated in the press wouldn't accept him, while even the office staff's response fell just short of open hostility.
There was a distinct anti-Clough feel about the place, so having two of his former players coming into the club was hardly likely to go down too well. He upset the whole group by having a jibe at Eddie Gray, telling him that if he had been a racehorse he'd have been put down years ago.
Just to add insult to injury he then went on to tell that, despite all the cups and titles they had won, they could throw all their medals in the bin because they hadn't won them fairly.
Things might have been different if we had been winning.
We could only manage a 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Luton. It turned out to be my last appearance at Elland Road and I was crucified by the crowd. It was something that had happened to me with a section of the supporters at Derby. It was not a pleasant experience.
A late equaliser from Peter Lorimer saved the side's blushes at Huddersfield.
Two days later Brian Clough was no longer manager.
He had been sacked and as part of his settlement he had managed to secure a six-figure sum after tax, and keep the Mercedes car the club had given him. It was a huge settlement in those days and probably set him up for life financially.
After 44 days in charge of the club he walked away with a fortune, but his reputation and ego had taken a serious knock, there was no doubt about that.
As for me, after 25 days I found myself at a club whose fans clearly couldn't stand me, with players who saw me very much as a Clough signing.