THE MORE I ATE YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS THE MORE I SEEMED TO SCORE!
If it had been up to Tony Yeboah and his knowledge of English football, he might never have arrived to grace it in January 1995. “I never knew Leeds before I was told they wanted me – I’d never heard of them,” he admits to FourFourTwo, almost 26 years later.
But, of course, Leeds had heard of him. United’s scouting network could hardly have missed the Ghanaian at Eintracht Frankfurt in 1994, after he had picked up a second consecutive Torjägerkanone – or the Goalscorer Cannon, the Bundesliga’s very own Golden Boot.
Predictably, Bayern Munich were quick to pounce. The Bavarians had clinched the title in 1993-94 but they needed reinforcements upfront, with their top scorer Mehmet Scholl having finished on a meagre 11 league goals. Yeboah had netted 18 playing for fifth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt. Franz Beckenbauer had managed Bayern for their final 14 matches that campaign, and his summer priority was landing the striker.
“We met in Munich to talk personal terms and my role in their team,” recalls Yeboah. “I liked it, and the plan was for me to sign after I got back from holiday. But Frankfurt said no. They didn’t want to sell a top striker to improve an already decent Bayern side.”
Frankfurt were so intent on putting Yeboah off Bayern, they gave him 200,000 Deutsche Marks (around £80,000 back then). “It was a gift; a don’t-go-to-Bayern fee!” he laughs. “Can you believe that? Instead, they asked me to consider Leeds.”
And he did.
“FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION”
Yeboah is seated in a hotel room in Accra, Ghana’s capital. Relaxed and exuding the same confidence he carried throughout his hectic career, the 54-year-old is unhurried as he walks FFT through his life.
“I was born in Kumasi, in an area called Krofrom,” he says. “I came from a very poor family and didn’t think I’d go on to become a successful footballer. My family believed in education and really wanted me to finish my schooling. I wanted to just play.”
Yeboah’s parents preferred him to become a
