Trials and tribulations
Posted: 17 Jul 2020, 16:01
This is a great read for all fans of LUFC
https://www.theinnersanctum.com.au/the- ... ds-united/
Sometimes I wonder how I’ve survived the last 16 years of my life as a Leeds United supporter.
My love for this football club is unwavering.
At times it’s been unsettling, it’s been uplifting, it’s left me in despair, it’s left me in tears, and at times it’s made me feel like the love of my life has just gotten up and walked out on me.
For 16 years, the trials and tribulations of proudly supporting the Whites have put me on a recurring rollercoaster I’m desperately pleading to get off of, yet somehow always go back for one more ride.
It’s the kind of rollercoaster that leaves you dizzy, in sheer terror, wanting to vomit up once your feet find land.
There is a terror associated with following Leeds. There is no easy game.
There is no telling what team will turn up, there is just no knowing – and for 16 years, it is the not knowing when we may return to the Premier League that has kept all who adore the team that resides at Elland Road on that proverbial rollercoaster.
Yorkshire’s biggest team and one of the UK’s largest clubs is just one point away from automatic promotion, returning to the Premier League after a decade and a half in the abyss.
With two remaining games in the season, Marcelo Bielsa’s men sit in first position in the Championship on 87 points, five points ahead of West Bromwich Albion and six points clear of third-placed Brentford.
As it sits, Leeds United need one singular point to gain automatic promotion to the Premier League and pending on other results over the weekend, may very well earn promotion without even needing points from its upcoming fixture against Derby County.
In order to understand where Leeds are now, first you must understand where they’ve come from.
It’s a painful history to look back on for Leeds people, yet gleefully hilarious for all who despise the Yorkshire team.
So how did this once-almighty club boasting the UK’s most passionate and best-travelling fan base come to be damned to 16 years in exile?
Strap into the rollercoaster and hold on tight, you’re in for a ride.
The year was 2004, and as the final minutes ticked by, an arm-in-arm rendition of ‘we will meet again’ by the travelling Leeds faithful engulfed Stamford Bridge as supporters, players and administrators were met with the inevitable.
Looking back, it reminds me of the scene in Titanic as the ship begins to sink and the violinist begins to play, “Gentlemen, it’s been a privilege.”
Leeds had succumbed to Premier League relegation and as Alan Smith wept, his head in his hands, wiping away tears with his shirt, breaking for a moment to kiss the Leeds United badge he so adored, it signified an almighty fall from grace.
Life as a Leeds supporter drastically changed, for only two seasons earlier, the Whites had featured in a Champions League semi-final. It was a stark reminder of how far the mighty had fallen.
It couldn’t get worse than relegation, right? Wrong.
And it’s here where the true story of Leeds United fortunes, perhaps misfortunes began.
As history would have it, Smith, who declared he’d never play for Manchester United, ultimately did so the following season.
It was a dagger through the heart of every Leeds person, however, it would merely be one of many chapters in a 16-year story that would form the backbone of a plot to return to the Premier League in 2020-21.
18 managers in 15 years are just a start, and it doesn’t end with former chairman Peter Risdale gambling £60m against future gate receipts, and subsequently putting the club in over £100m in debt, either.
Leeds United has been embroiled in off-field turmoil, debt and dodgy ownership since its an omission from the EPL and dropped as far as League One in 2007 and remained there for three depressing years.
1 of 3
https://www.theinnersanctum.com.au/the- ... ds-united/
Sometimes I wonder how I’ve survived the last 16 years of my life as a Leeds United supporter.
My love for this football club is unwavering.
At times it’s been unsettling, it’s been uplifting, it’s left me in despair, it’s left me in tears, and at times it’s made me feel like the love of my life has just gotten up and walked out on me.
For 16 years, the trials and tribulations of proudly supporting the Whites have put me on a recurring rollercoaster I’m desperately pleading to get off of, yet somehow always go back for one more ride.
It’s the kind of rollercoaster that leaves you dizzy, in sheer terror, wanting to vomit up once your feet find land.
There is a terror associated with following Leeds. There is no easy game.
There is no telling what team will turn up, there is just no knowing – and for 16 years, it is the not knowing when we may return to the Premier League that has kept all who adore the team that resides at Elland Road on that proverbial rollercoaster.
Yorkshire’s biggest team and one of the UK’s largest clubs is just one point away from automatic promotion, returning to the Premier League after a decade and a half in the abyss.
With two remaining games in the season, Marcelo Bielsa’s men sit in first position in the Championship on 87 points, five points ahead of West Bromwich Albion and six points clear of third-placed Brentford.
As it sits, Leeds United need one singular point to gain automatic promotion to the Premier League and pending on other results over the weekend, may very well earn promotion without even needing points from its upcoming fixture against Derby County.
In order to understand where Leeds are now, first you must understand where they’ve come from.
It’s a painful history to look back on for Leeds people, yet gleefully hilarious for all who despise the Yorkshire team.
So how did this once-almighty club boasting the UK’s most passionate and best-travelling fan base come to be damned to 16 years in exile?
Strap into the rollercoaster and hold on tight, you’re in for a ride.
The year was 2004, and as the final minutes ticked by, an arm-in-arm rendition of ‘we will meet again’ by the travelling Leeds faithful engulfed Stamford Bridge as supporters, players and administrators were met with the inevitable.
Looking back, it reminds me of the scene in Titanic as the ship begins to sink and the violinist begins to play, “Gentlemen, it’s been a privilege.”
Leeds had succumbed to Premier League relegation and as Alan Smith wept, his head in his hands, wiping away tears with his shirt, breaking for a moment to kiss the Leeds United badge he so adored, it signified an almighty fall from grace.
Life as a Leeds supporter drastically changed, for only two seasons earlier, the Whites had featured in a Champions League semi-final. It was a stark reminder of how far the mighty had fallen.
It couldn’t get worse than relegation, right? Wrong.
And it’s here where the true story of Leeds United fortunes, perhaps misfortunes began.
As history would have it, Smith, who declared he’d never play for Manchester United, ultimately did so the following season.
It was a dagger through the heart of every Leeds person, however, it would merely be one of many chapters in a 16-year story that would form the backbone of a plot to return to the Premier League in 2020-21.
18 managers in 15 years are just a start, and it doesn’t end with former chairman Peter Risdale gambling £60m against future gate receipts, and subsequently putting the club in over £100m in debt, either.
Leeds United has been embroiled in off-field turmoil, debt and dodgy ownership since its an omission from the EPL and dropped as far as League One in 2007 and remained there for three depressing years.
1 of 3