Will Leeds United ever be a top club again?

[allblackcitizen]

Hear hear.

jim
quick question for you always click on the leeds thread just to make sure you have had your input,always makes me smile as did your yaya has he fucked off yet ,
just curious why leeds arnt your favorite club is it over one particular incident or is it everything connected around the Revie era or is it something else all together ?
for me it was the dirty leeds from the 70s i dont like ,just curious what dosnt float your boat ?

No sweat mtas. Back in the day (when dinosaurs roamed the earth etc, etc, yadda, yadda), that shithole was the nearest I came to a battering. It was january 1979, I was 15 years old (and would shit myself if next door's cat farted) and we'd escaped with a 1-1 (Kiddo with a late equalizer). Well, we were in that paddock in the corner of the ground, right hand end looking from the TV cameras' position. And to get back to the coaches, you had to walk behind that end beside where we were. Anyway; West Yorkshire's finest decided in their infinite wisdom not to hold us back but to let us out at the same time as the local neanderthals. And I was grabbed by one of the inbreds who proceeded to give me a couple of hard digs in the face. Luckily, his mate saw that I wasn't "up for it" and dragged the banjo player away from me. Never went back to that godforsaken tip (apart from a Queen concert in '82). Yes, I do realise that going to football today is nothing like the experience back in the seventies. But I fucking hate that club, and have lovingly nurtured a 36 year grudge against them. And lots of blues of my vintage can tell you similar stories. Fathers going to the game with their sons getting twatted for no reason etc etc. They can rot in hell for me.

I can picture Kiddo's goal that day like it was yesterday. Lovely volley from outside the box. I was in with the Leeds fans. I was 11 and had to keep it to a quiet fist pump.

We moved to Leeds in 1974 and I grew up as a lone City fan in a pretty hostile environment. I had one friend at school who supported Norwich and another Aberdeen, but everyone else was Leeds. Had no real trouble at school, but got twatted when Leeds lost to Bayern in the European Cup in 1975 and I took the piss. I got chased around town a few times as well if I was ever brave enough to wear my City scarf.

My dad used to take me to Elland Road a lot. He started supporting Leeds. I didn't, and grew up hating them actually more than the rags. Now I just feel a bit sorry for them. As someone has said above Elland Road now looks very run down and depressing. The club fucked it up 10 or so years ago and has now been left behind. Will take a miracle to get back to the upper echelons of the PL, though for some reason part of me would like to see them back in the top flight. Given the size of the city and the potential fan base it should have a top flight club.

 

[Rösler von Stretfordbömber]

Ha ha, I'll echo allblack as to "click on Leeds thread to see what Jim has to say." Recognising Jim as a fellow hater of that lot of many decades vintage.

For me, Leeds was my first day of going to football. My dad had to travel a lot for his work when I was growing up and - though a brilliant man - he lacked a bit of common sense in deciding to take young Rosler to his first match at that Star Wars Cantina of Helland Road. My dad is an enormous football fan now but back then I think he saw it as the sort of thing you needed to take a lad to once he reached a certain age.

I believe Notts County were the opposition. Leeds were on their way to relegation that year and their mutant fans were probably even more wretched and angry than their normal standard. So the crew from Mad Max did not take well to Dad's scouse accent and pretty much he and I ended up running for our lives. That's all it took. Wrong accent and nothing more. The whole experience put me off of football for a good ten years and I have hated that lot from that day to this.

Interestingly, there was a thread on a some other club's forum somewhere about "worst day out" where Helland Road claimed a good 50% of all entries. I cannot remember which club, but it was one with a generally notorious supporter base and even THEY expressed generalised horror and dismay over their experiences at Leeds. I am almost thinking Millwall, even, but I'm sure I would remember that if it was them saying it.

 

[marco]

went there for a league game late 70s i think, anyway i escaped the waiting mob after being chased around the ground only to climb back n the coach for the FA Cup draw which was Leeds away

 

[MancunianCitizen]

You can never say never with a club like Leeds, What it comes down to for me is Leeds getting a Dave Whelan type owner (without the casual racism of course) though I don't like Whelan you can't say he hasn't done wonders for Wigan an owner who is dedicated has alot of good to work with at Leeds in my opinion.

 

[marco]

id like to see them back and they would pull 45k plus at home, there not the only club from the 70s with bad fans in fact city were just as bad, if i recall we were in the top five worst places to visit around 1978, many away fans gave Maine road a wide berth especially the night games

 

[Hoghead]

I'd love to have them back, if only to piss off the rag scum!

 

[MancunianCitizen]

id like to see them back and they would pull 45k plus at home, there not the only club from the 70s with bad fans in fact city were just as bad, if i recall we were in the top five worst places to visit around 1978, many away fans gave Maine road a wide berth especially the night games

They would fill every away end as well, On City fans in the 70s though I wasn't alive my dad and his friends told some horror stories about how City fans would treat opposition fans in and around Maine Road.

 

[marco]

id like to see them back and they would pull 45k plus at home, there not the only club from the 70s with bad fans in fact city were just as bad, if i recall we were in the top five worst places to visit around 1978, many away fans gave Maine road a wide berth especially the night games

They would fill every away end as well, On City fans in the 70s though I wasn't alive my dad and his friends told some horror stories about how City fans would treat opposition fans in and around Maine Road.

there was no holding fans back in those days it hadnt been invented, the away section of the kippax was let out and dispersed into the back alleys so that became a free for all, they just got picked off, the coaches used to park all the way down princess parkway and had a police escort of around ten coppers, most of the time they simply didnt get back to there coaches and the times they did they had been wrecked, it wasnt scary for me as a 15 year old you just had to be a little street wise, i saw far worse at a celtic v rangers game when a rangers fan got his throat cut out with a bottle, he was literally breathing through his pipe that was hanging from his neck, a lone celtic fan did this in the rangers end at Hampden park, going away with city was safety in numbers so if you got off the train at Birmingham the worse thing would have been to put you collar up and make for the ground on your own, we always stayed with the nutters it was safe that way

 

[Blue Streak]

id like to see them back and they would pull 45k plus at home, there not the only club from the 70s with bad fans in fact city were just as bad, if i recall we were in the top five worst places to visit around 1978, many away fans gave Maine road a wide berth especially the night games

They would fill every away end as well, On City fans in the 70s though I wasn't alive my dad and his friends told some horror stories about how City fans would treat opposition fans in and around Maine Road.

Not quite the same really. Yes Maine Road was a terrifying ground to go to for some (especially if you were looking for trouble) but I don't recall stories of Kids and Fathers being attacked in the same manner as what happened to City fans at Elland Road. As for Leeds pulling in 45k plus for home games? I don't think they ever had sort of average attendance even during the peak years under Revie.

 

[gordondaviesmoustache]

id like to see them back and they would pull 45k plus at home

Their capacity is less than 38,000