"Marching Together..."

Simon Wright looks at Leeds United:

I last saw the Yorkshire outfit at Elland Road at the back end of January. It was a sad, frustrated place so different from my numerous previous visits. The 20,000 crowd seemed inadequate for a 40,000 capacity ground and yet given the circumstances of a club rife with internal division, the turn-out was genuinely impressive. Ken Bates is hugely unpopular for a variety of reasons, not least his attempt to despoil the powerful, long running and supportive LU Supporters Club. He was also widely blamed for ludicrous admission prices (£35 main stand anyone?) which even he finally realised wasn't working and amended. Manager Dennis Wise with his Chelsea background was also a strange choice. The squad was disjointed, overlarge … and often overpaid.

Ultimately, United were relegated despite their late rally and enormous passionate support. Somehow, Bates hung onto the club despite massive opposition and then came the final whammy of a 15 points deduction.

Logically, this appeared to be the final straw to guarantee another miserable year. In fact, this season has proved the opposite. With an "us against the world" mentality club and supporters stood together, pushing their differences to one side and the outcome is remarkable. The Millwall (or more recently, the Milton Keynes Franchise) "No one likes us, we don't care." spirit. With that kind of unity, belief and results United supporters are probably having more fun that they've had for many a year. Maybe they understand for the first time that it's possible to get great pleasure from the Beautiful Game without being in the top flight.

Much has been written over the years about the behaviour of Leeds United supporters. It is mainly exaggerated. There are certain clubs (primarily Millwall, Cardiff, Chelsea and Man United) that will always draw out the city's resident nutter element. That's normal everywhere unfortunately. Think Cardiff at Edgar Street. But for the rest, there really isn't any problem. I've had no problems with Leeds supporters since the early 1980's. They are normal supporters with only one head and two legs. Before it was bulldozed, I was regularly invited into the United Social Club. I've had a ground guide tour and travelled to Elland Road twice as guest of honour at the Supporters Club annual dinner. I've sold Albion fanzines outside the home end with a very positive response. It's a big ground that I enjoy visiting – and there aren't that many where I can say that any more.

Frankly, Hereford Police aren't used to big matches and regularly go over the top – remember the stupid kick-off time last season for Wrexham and most laughably Port Vale? Not to mention the groups of Police standing around doing nothing between ground and town for the first dozen League matches. I can honestly say I've seen fewer Police at some Premier League games. It becomes a vicious circle - idle Police seizing on any trivial incident to relieve the tedium / justify their existence, leading to above average arrest figures, leading to more Police etc.
The kick-off undoubtedly will be altered and let's cross our fingers that the TV companies take it game because that is seriously big money for the Bulls – far more than ground receipts. Leeds will fill the away end. They always travel in numbers and this is a novelty for them as it is us. Let's just enjoy the moment – if we can. I thinking particularly of Chris Jones of Talking Bull – being a Hereford United and Leeds United supporter - who has a problem to thrash out…

---