The Super(ish) Leeds United Thread

[SLIGONIAN]

Forest drawing great result, it'd be good for Fulham to mess up, March 18th looking bigger by the day.

[Rufus T Firefly]

We play Fulham at home on March 18th, the biggest game in a long time.

Certainly since last season. The Fulham game for me brings back memories of our home match against Sheffield United last season - which was also very close to St Patrick's Day - and proved to be so pivotal in our season. I hope that is not an omen!

Let's be honest, the reality is that Hull were awful - sold their best players and were missing a few more through injury - and yet I would take a lot of positives from the game, beyond the win. The team appear to be playing with confidence again and the appearance of Roberts suggests that we might have another option for goals. Meslier came in and although far from perfect with his distribution, looked assured in dealing with any balls into the box. He will take confidence from that.

On paper, the fixtures still seem to favour us, but to state the obvious, it is essential that we do not have any slip ups. Each game now seems to grow in importance as the Holy Grail gets closer. It will be a white knuckle ride!!   

[Rufus T Firefly]

Very good win at Hull combined with West Brom losing . A good weekend.

A good weekend yes, but if I'm honest, I'd have swapped West Brom losing for Fulham to lose. Going up as Champions would be nice - but going up - whether first or second - is the bottom line here. 

[seafoid]

Very good win at Hull combined with West Brom losing . A good weekend.

A good weekend yes, but if I'm honest, I'd have swapped West Brom losing for Fulham to lose. Going up as Champions would be nice - but going up - whether first or second - is the bottom line here.

Fair enough but Fulham still have to play Brentford, Nottingham Forest and West Brom in addition to Leeds.

https://www.skysports.com/fulham-fixtures

[Tony Baloney]

I hope they can finally do it so the Leeds fellas* in work fcuk up about it.


*Unsurprisingly in their 50s!

[Dinny Breen]

Do Leeds fans under the age of 50 exist in Ireland?

[Billys Boots]

Do Leeds fans under the age of 50 exist in Ireland?

I can honestly say I've never met one.  And I don't think any would exist if it were not for John Giles. 

[Mourne Rover]

It is probably fair to suggest that most Leeds supporters are on the mature side but you have to remember that we were in all our prime when the club was still in the premiership. All the subsequent years of financial disaster, heart-breaking play-off defeats and plain old bad luck have taken their toll with a sense that another catastrophe is always waiting around the corner.

However, we now definitely have our best manager since Wilkinson and a squad which has never been closer to securing promotion. If the new keeper stays calm, Philips remains fit and some combination of Roberts, Bamford and Agustin crucially deliver a few goals, we will be well on course.

Hammering Fulham would be great but a draw would also take us pretty close to the glorious day when we throw away our walking sticks and zimmer frames and start dancing around the living room.

[Hound]

Do Leeds fans under the age of 50 exist in Ireland?

I met a teenage Leeds fan from Kildare when we were away during the Halloween mid term break! Forced into it by his father of course 😃

[SLIGONIAN]

I'm 37 but my Dad is Leeds fan and so is my Sister, she is 36. We actually went to leeds v hull a few years ago, first time Dad seen us win in the flesh but he hasn't been to many. He became a fan because of Giles and has been following ever since. I used to go a lot when I lived in London.

I live and work in Vancouver now and a bunch of Leeds fan got together to watch the 1st leg of Derby playoff in Irish bar here last year, it was the same day as European cup final with Leinster so only 1 tv was showing Leeds the other 20 showing the rugby. The place was packed, it was 9 am kick off here, about 30 lads showed up and mostly young late 20s/30s.

When Roofe scored we went mental and the whole bar was just looking at us jumping on top of each other.  Id say it was sight.

You can watch all the games over here on LUTV because we are international. The only hard thing is the time difference, I got up at 4.30 am on Saturday to watch and then listened to Sligo beat Wexford on Oceanfm. The 3pm kick offs are 7am here. Midweek games are the best 11.45 am kick off, I watched them at work but now run my own business so its even better. the last 2 games Derby and Charlton are at 1 and 12.30 which will be tough.

You would be surprised though at the age profile when I went back to College to finish my degree in LIT, I remember coming out of a bar waiting on bus and 20 lads in early 20s started chanting Marching on Together so obv I joined in but I was as surprised as anyone, the whole group were chanting.

[Rufus T Firefly]

Do Leeds fans under the age of 50 exist in Ireland?

Fair question, alright!   

There's a couple of lads in work here who are well under 50 and support Leeds, but in each case their dads did as well!! 

I get a sense that there are a lot of non Leeds fans would like to see us go up. It's not out of any love for Leeds, but (again my sense) is that Leeds will add a lot to the top division and - given the length of time away - be refreshing.

[ONeill]

Always had a soft spot for Leeds. Stems from the Gray/Bremner period in the mid 80s. They went close a couple of times I think to promotion and I remember them nearly reaching the final as a 2nd division club the year Coventry won it. Rennie, Baird, Sheridan and Ritchie.

[ziggy90]

I hope they can finally do it so the Leeds fellas* in work fcuk up about it.


*Unsurprisingly in their 50s!

Us oldies understand loyalty!!
Great club, 'old school' belligerent supporters who 'get' their club.
I just hope for the sake of The Championship they dont get promoted.
KRO.

[lurganblue]

Do Leeds fans under the age of 50 exist in Ireland?

Fair question, alright!   

There's a couple of lads in work here who are well under 50 and support Leeds, but in each case their dads did as well!! 

I get a sense that there are a lot of non Leeds fans would like to see us go up. It's not out of any love for Leeds, but (again my sense) is that Leeds will add a lot to the top division and - given the length of time away - be refreshing.

I know a couple of younger Leeds fans but yeah it has been passed down by their fathers. 

Long suffering.  Would be good to see them in the PL again. Just hope they don't swap places with Villa.

[seafoid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2020/04/17/norman-hunter-collosus-time-hard-men-revelled-reputations/

In an era of great English footballers and great England football teams, Norman Hunter played alongside the best and although that was only a bit-part role for his country, there is no question that for Leeds United he was a colossus in their glory years.
This was a time when hard men revelled in their reputations and Hunter, who died today aged 76, was no different. His role in that infamous 1975 on-field punch-up with Francis Lee is part of his legacy but he also played in a hugely successful Leeds team of which he was a crucial part. A product of the club's youth scheme, originally from County Durham, he was a regular for 13 seasons in the centre of Leeds' defence, going from the old Second Division to winning league championships and a European Cup final.
He was an archetype of the era, a ferocious centre-back who mixed intimidation with bravery, commitment and a total dedication to the art of defending. But he was appreciated by his fellow professionals and voted the first-ever PFA Player of the Year in 1974. He was there for some of the epochs of the era including the 1966 World Cup finals and England's failed defence in Mexico four years later. He played through Don Revie's reign at Elland Road, the 44 days of Brian Clough in 1974 and then the defeat in Paris to Bayern Munich in the European Cup final the following summer.
His management career did not hit the heights that one might have expected given some of the great names he had played under, although that was largely the case for all Revie's great Leeds players many of whom won six major trophies as well as the 1964 second division title. Hunter was given the nickname "Bites Yer Legs" - unusually long-winded, albeit accurate - which began with a banner at the 1972 FA Cup final and entered popular culture when repeated by Clough on television.

Hunter slides in to block Liverpool's Roger Hunt in 1965 CREDIT: PA
In an interview with TV Yorkshire in 2015, Hunter said: "Defending and the game then was slightly different - the physical side and the tackling side. You never got booked for your first tackle. It was always free so you went in that little bit harder. I am not saying it was right. Nowadays you wouldn't get away with it. But I could play as well because of the players I played with, Johnny Giles, Billy Bremner, Bobby Collins. I enjoyed coming out and playing but the gaffer told me: 'Your job is to win the ball and give it to those who can play'."
He joined Leeds aged 15 having already left school to be an electrical fitter and was given his debut by Revie, a manager who inspired the devotion of his players. Hunter played alongside his fellow Geordie Jack Charlton in the centre of defence for around ten years although he was always behind the older Charlton brother when it came to England teams.
After Leeds' promotion as champions of the second division, the league championship was won five years later in 1969 and then again in 1974. They won the 1968 League Cup, the 1972 FA Cup, and the Uefa Fairs Cup in 1968 and 1971. Between promotion in 1964 and the second of their first division titles ten years later, there were five runners-up places and Leeds never finished outside the top four. They reached the European Cup-winners' Cup final in 1973 where they lost to AC Milan and were beaten in the European Cup final two seasons later.
They were on the wane by November 1975 when Hunter and Lee landed blows on one another during a game at the Baseball Ground, a fight that stands as a benchmark for the free-for-all football culture of the era. Hunter had already split Lee's lip and both had been dismissed when hostilities resumed as they left the pitch. "A fight's going on off the ball!" exclaimed John Motson in the Match of the Day commentary as he caught sight of round two before the BBC cameras picked it up.
In the second part Lee swung and connected with the taller Hunter who stumbled but got back to his feet before finally the two were parted. Both men were knocked down by the other but, as was typical of the era they were playing in, both were eager to demonstrate they had not been hurt. The priority then was to retaliate rather than appeal to the referee.
In his autobiography years later, Lee's Derby team-mate Roy McFarland recalled the efforts of him and two staff to keep Lee from storming into the away dressing room afterwards to attack Hunter again. When Hunter and his team-mates arrived post-match in the Baseball Ground's players' bar – a move interpreted as provocative – Hunter was warned by McFarland he should leave. McFarland wrote: "The reply was a sneering: 'We're only stopping for a quick one, but make sure Lee gets the message — he doesn't frighten me.'"

Hunter pictured outside 10 Downing Street in 2009 CREDIT: PA
Hunter played on for six years after leaving Leeds in 1976, at Bristol City and then Barnsley. As a manager at Oakwell he had moderate success and was in charge for four years. There were other spells as a manager at Rotherham United and Bradford.
Hunter won 28 caps for England between 1965 and 1974 and was a member of Sir Alf Ramsey's World Cup squads in 1966 and 1970 although he did not play a game in 1966. Along with all the non-playing members of the squad in an era when there were no substitutes, he was told by Ramsey to be on the touchline at full-time of the final. Hunter was stuck in a Wembley Stadium lift with Jimmy Armfield when West Germany equalised before the end of 90 minutes. Non-playing members did not get a winners' medal until 2009 when they were issued with them retrospectively by Fifa.
Hunter played one game at a World Cup finals, the defeat to West Germany in 1970, as a late substitute. He played in the 1968 European Championships in which England finished third, and was part of the side that failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup finals. He started the fateful final qualifier against Poland at Wembley in October 1973 in which a draw was not enough to take England to the World Cup finals. His last cap was the following year against Czechoslovakia, which was also Revie's last game in charge of the national team before his shock resignation.
Hunter never bore any grudges for being an understudy to Jack Charlton and Bobby Moore and had the greatest respect for Ramsey although in that television interview he did wonder wistfully what it would have meant to be part of the golden XI that lifted the Jules Rimet trophy. "The only disappointment is you are part of the squad but you never played," he said, "those lads who actually did must have felt awesome."