Leeds Utd a sad sad story.

[The Camel]

Come to think of it all the teams who were most hated still had/have loveable or widely admired players:

Man Utd: Best, Law, Charlton, Giggs
Liverpool: Barnes, Keegan, Shankley, Dalglish
Arsenal: Henry, George, Bergkamp
Chelsea (even Chelsea, although it's harder than those above): Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Hoddle (as a player, not a manager!)
I don't think I need to bother with lists for other big teams. Newcastle, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc etc

Now try and name some widely admired, respected and loved Leeds players/?

Hmmm..

Cantona: more associated with Man U and hardly loved.
Bremner: LOL
Tony Currie: Maybe, but I would guess most link him with Sheff Utd
Wilkinson, Revie, O'Leary: No thanks.
Hunter: Not really.
Batty: I actually really liked Batty. But I would guess I'm in a huge minority
Chapman: Popular amongst wife beaters probably.
Vinnie Jones, Deane, Palmer, Bowyer, Haarland, Smith, Mills, Viduka: Need I go on?


I finally found one: Lucas Radebe.

But it took alot of searching.

[cdw1111]

Gary Speed
Gary McAllister

Two Leeds players with redeeming features lol.


Leeds away was my first experience of being a travelling fan(Nufc,early 80s).The game had everything,passion from both sets of fans,intimidation,violence and Chris Waddle in goal.

Elland road will always be my favourite English away ground.

[sovietsong]

I think Leeds are the most hated team amongst people my age and older.

I can (just) remember the Revie team and how much they were disliked by so many.

Add that to the hooligans of the 70's and 80's (and seemingly of the 2000's too).

Howard Wilkinson wasn't admired or loved by anybody.

A little essence of Peter Ridsdale and the arrogance of the early 2000's

Throw in Ken Bates.

Mix togther.

i thought ken would help our image...

[The Camel]

Gary Speed
Gary McAllister

Two Leeds players with redeeming features lol.


Leeds away was my first experience of being a travelling fan(Nufc,early 80s).The game had everything,passion from both sets of fans,intimidation,violence and Chris Waddle in goal.

Elland road will always be my favourite English away ground.

I dunno, I don't associate either of them as "Leeds players". Yeah, they played a long time for Leeds but had decent careers elsewhere and Gary Mac I'll always remember for that Liverpool goal.

I agree about Elland Road though. One of the best places in Britain to watch football. Almost always a cracking atmosphere, the fans (who aren't thugs) are amazing.

[cdw1111]

Favourite Elland Road memory;

Gotta be early 90s.

It's half time and several Leeds fans are pulled out of the crowd to take a penalty against a tarpaulin covered goal with 3 holes in it,2 larger ones in the corners for a grand and 1 the size of the ball right in the centre for a Ford Fiesta iirc(all going on at the far end from the Newcastle fans).Much hilarity from all sides of the ground at the terrible efforts with alot of piss taking from our end,couldn't score in a brothel etc.all the standards.
Then up stands the last guy takes a huge run and belts it straight through the centre hole and wins the car to wild cheers from the Leeds fans and shock from the Mags.So then the big mistake,the fella is put in the car and it's driven around the cinder track with him waving out of the window.As it passed the 6k Newcastle fans there were more pings and tings than a chinese phone book,the poor guys face was priceless.
Oh so cruel but funny.I hope they gave him another car.

[Acidmouse]

Come to think of it all the teams who were most hated still had/have loveable or widely admired players:

Man Utd: Best, Law, Charlton, Giggs
Liverpool: Barnes, Keegan, Shankley, Dalglish
Arsenal: Henry, George, Bergkamp
Chelsea (even Chelsea, although it's harder than those above): Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Hoddle (as a player, not a manager!)
I don't think I need to bother with lists for other big teams. Newcastle, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc etc

Now try and name some widely admired, respected and loved Leeds players/?

Hmmm..

Cantona: more associated with Man U and hardly loved.
Bremner: LOL
Tony Currie: Maybe, but I would guess most link him with Sheff Utd
Wilkinson, Revie, O'Leary: No thanks.
Hunter: Not really.
Batty: I actually really liked Batty. But I would guess I'm in a huge minority
Chapman: Popular amongst wife beaters probably.
Vinnie Jones, Deane, Palmer, Bowyer, Haarland, Smith, Mills, Viduka: Need I go on?


I finally found one: Lucas Radebe.

But it took alot of searching.

I dont think we gonna change your views on Leeds but out championship winning side of 91-92 had alot of decent friendly players! DAVID BATTY,ERIC CANTONA,LEE CHAPMAN,BOBBY DAVISON, MERVYN DAY,TONY DORIGO,CHRIS FAIRCLOUGH
STEVE HODGE, GARRY KELLY, JOHN LUKIC, GARRY MCALLISTER, JON NEWSOME, SCOT SELLARS, CARL SHUTT,GARY SPEED, MEL STERLAND, GORDON STRACHAN, MARK TINKLER, RODNEY WALLACE, DAVE WETHERALL, CHRIS WHYTE
DAVID ROCASTLE, FRANK STRANDLI.

[The Camel]

Come to think of it all the teams who were most hated still had/have loveable or widely admired players:

Man Utd: Best, Law, Charlton, Giggs
Liverpool: Barnes, Keegan, Shankley, Dalglish
Arsenal: Henry, George, Bergkamp
Chelsea (even Chelsea, although it's harder than those above): Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Hoddle (as a player, not a manager!)
I don't think I need to bother with lists for other big teams. Newcastle, Spurs, Everton, Villa etc etc

Now try and name some widely admired, respected and loved Leeds players/?

Hmmm..

Cantona: more associated with Man U and hardly loved.
Bremner: LOL
Tony Currie: Maybe, but I would guess most link him with Sheff Utd
Wilkinson, Revie, O'Leary: No thanks.
Hunter: Not really.
Batty: I actually really liked Batty. But I would guess I'm in a huge minority
Chapman: Popular amongst wife beaters probably.
Vinnie Jones, Deane, Palmer, Bowyer, Haarland, Smith, Mills, Viduka: Need I go on?


I finally found one: Lucas Radebe.

But it took alot of searching.

I dont think we gonna change your views on Leeds but out championship winning side of 91-92 had alot of decent friendly players! DAVID BATTY,ERIC CANTONA,LEE CHAPMAN,BOBBY DAVISON, MERVYN DAY,TONY DORIGO,CHRIS FAIRCLOUGH
STEVE HODGE, GARRY KELLY, JOHN LUKIC, GARRY MCALLISTER, JON NEWSOME, SCOT SELLARS, CARL SHUTT,GARY SPEED, MEL STERLAND, GORDON STRACHAN, MARK TINKLER, RODNEY WALLACE, DAVE WETHERALL, CHRIS WHYTE
DAVID ROCASTLE, FRANK STRANDLI.

Hardly a George Best, Kenny Dalgish or Thierry Henry amongst those listed..

Lee Chapman has been arrested 3 times for assualting either his wife or her sister. Every time the charge has been dropped when the witness/victim withdrew their eveidence. he sounds like a lovely fella.

[Acidmouse]

Yes I am sorry we dont have a legend in the ranks.

[Linux]

What about Tomas Brolin

He even crushes live poker now hes retired, what a guy!

[sovietsong]

we also had ian rush, playing just in front of the back four. 

most people class ian rush as leeds over liverpool right?

[gatso]

we also had ian rush, playing just in front of the back four. 

most people class ian rush as leeds over liverpool right?

I always think of him as a sheffield utd player

[Josedinho]

Who didn't love Yeboah?

[Longy]

we also had ian rush, playing just in front of the back four. 

most people class ian rush as leeds over liverpool right?

I always think of him as a sheffield utd player

Juve imo.

[matt674]

leeds still at number 1 most hated imo. don't think being 3rd tier's changed it much

people seem to have come round to manu a bit in recent years at least down my way

probably because most of the united fans now live down your way

still a tie between Leeds and Liverpool in my book

[TightEnd]

The only time I have encountered real trouble, personally, was at Leeds. It was 1992, I think, very late season and we went to Leeds who had won the title. Memories of Bournemouth were still fresh amongst a lot of fans and Elland Road was a very intimidating place to go.

We lost, 2-1. Strachan scored the winner I believe, and I had to walk back to Leeds train station to get the train back to London and I was on a tight deadline to make it. The quickest route took me across a park towards the City Centre. I was naive, clearly. Walking through an underpass I was asked for the time and answered. One said "He's not from Leeds" (no shit sherlock) and held my hands behind my back while two others took turns to nut me. One night in casualty/on the ward later and I was let out with a closed eye, a fantastic black shiner and stitches in my lip. Was subsequently able to ID two of the three assailants who got sent down for multiple offences.

Elland Road was a quality quality ground before a lot of other grounds were redeveloped. Before the big side stand was built the wind would whip in into the corners as the stand on that side only stretched across two third of the pitch length.

Been back several times since, last time was the 1-1 draw last season. Over time, it seems less and less intimidating to me, less of an atmosphere of trouble.

Got to admire the Leeds' fans passion, and I have a footballing soft spot for Grayson who captained us to victory in a Wembley play off final

Was also a huge admirer of Gary MacAllister who left us to go to Leeds.

Over the years we've had some great games. One of my classics was at Filbert Street. 2-0 down at half time to Strachan's 2 goals we pulled it back to 2-2, went 3-2 down and won 4-3. We were habitually crap then, and this was a monster game

I vaguely recollect the 1974-75 team and I think this is where a lot of the dislkie of Leeds comes from. These days I don't think the dislike is anything near as strong on the footballing side, and the troublemaking contingent is no greater than any other high profile club. As us old dinosaurs, 40 years old plus, get fewer and fewer, I think Leeds is no longer one of the most disliked. Perhaps that would revive if Leeds were back at the top level again