United had a more promising 1962–63 campaign, finishing four points shy of promotion, though Bremner was limited to 24 appearances. He was out of form and dropped from the first team during the end of season run-in, which contained a disproportionately large number of games due to the high level of postponements that occurred during the harsh winter. Revie moved Bremner to central midfield, and bought Manchester United's Johnny Giles to create what would prove to be one of the most highly effective central midfield partnerships of the next 12 years. With Bremner, Collins and Giles in midfield, Leeds went on to win promotion as champions in the 1963–64 season. The club won no friends in doing so however, and the following summer were labelled by the Football Association's own "FA News" as "the dirtiest [team] in the Football League. In November of the 1964–65 season Bremner featured heavily in a win at Everton that was marred by violent clashes on the pitch, the game was stopped for a short spell ten minutes before half-time as the referee felt that a spell of cooling down was needed to prevent further violence; despite the referee only giving 12 Leeds fouls to Everton's 19 the match helped to cement United's reputation as a dirty and overly physical team. A run of victories put the club top by the new year, however they lost the title on goal average to Manchester United after drawing the last game of the season with already-relegated Birmingham City. The Manchester club would become a keen rival, one which intensified after Leeds knocked them out of the FA Cup at the semi-finals after two physical encounters. Leeds faced Liverpool in the final at Wembley, and the game went to extra-time after a 0–0 draw; Bremner scored a half-volley in the 100th minute to cancel out Roger Hunt's opener, but Ian St John won the game for Liverpool in the 113th minute.