Mighty Leeds Weblog

Nestor Watach “Coming away from this match I found myself muttering about how shit and boring and lucky Leeds had been,” is how an Arsenal fansite writer described the experience of losing 1-0 at home to Leeds United in February 1997. “We all knew as soon as George Graham left Highbury that he’d be back to out-Arsenal us like this one day.” Arsene Wenger had been appointed as Arsenal’s new manager three months prior and while that writer’s belief was early evidence of the aesthetic, right-way-to-play doctrine that would come to define the Gunners in their prime years, the Frenchman’s revolution was not yet underway: Patrick Vieira was the only non-British or Irish player in their XI as they succumbed to FA Cup elimination to Leeds. Yet there remains an acknowledgement of what Arsenal once were. After all, their fans ironically readopted ‘Boring, boring Arsenal’ and would proudly chant ‘One-nil to the Arsenal’ as Graham delivered two league titles and an FA Cup. They were master...

Nestor Watach Not every footballer gets a chance to return to their hometown club. Brian Deane had to forge his own path, away from Leeds, the city he was born and raised in. He represented Yorkshire Amateurs as a teenager, but broke his leg, and only after a long spell of rehabilitation did he get his break on trial at Doncaster Rovers. Still studying part-time at Leeds City College, Deane broke through at Doncaster, and went on to catch the eye on the third tier – resulting in Sheffield United signing him for £25,000 in 1988. The forward scored 30 goals in his debut season with Blades, firing them to promotion back to the second tier, and from there his burgeoning career ran parallel to Leeds’ ascent. Twenty-four goals followed in Deane’s second season at Bramall Lane, resulting in a second successive promotion. Dave Bassett’s Blades finished second, going up to the top flight alongside champions Leeds. While Leeds went on to win the title under Howard Wilkinson, Deane ...

Newcastle United are sitting at the wrong end of the Premier League table ahead of today’s clash against Leeds United at Elland Road. By Lee Sobot Matters were rather different for the Magpies some 25 years ago, the Geordies approaching the 1997-98 campaign following two second-placed finishes in a row. But that didn’t stop George Graham’s Whites recording a 4-1 success against Kenny Dalglish’s visitors back on Saturday October 18, 1997. Leeds had finished the previous season in 11th place, the Whites badly struggling for goals as part of a campaign in which Graham replaced axed title-winning boss Howard Wilkinson in September. The Whites netted just 28 times, scoring 45 fewer goals than Newcastle, who finished runners-up to Manchester United – the Magpies ending the season under Dalglish, who took over following Kevin Keegan’s resignation in January. The Magpies then began the following season in decent fashion but it all went wrong for Dalglish’s side at Elland Road as Le...

SAFE HANDS Written by Rob Conlon Signing Nigel Martyn for Leeds United in 1996 fit perfectly with Howard Wilkinson’s ten-year plan. Wilkinson had made sure Leeds were not left behind by the looming breakaway of the Premier League by winning promotion in 1990, and the club’s investment in the academy and youth development was beginning to bear fruit. Ian Harte was already in the first team, and by the end of the 1996/97 season, Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Stephen McPhail and Harry Kewell were lifting the FA Youth Cup, with Alan Smith not far behind. To aid the transition, in came Martyn, the most expensive goalkeeper in Britain, alongside Lee Bowyer, the most expensive teenager. The problem was that Wilkinson had undermined his own plan by making Leeds champions of England six years ahead of schedule, meaning fans and directors were no longer feeling quite so patient about finishing 17th, 5th (twice) and 13th after winning the title. Nigel Martyn spoke to us for an episode...

Leeds supporters have seen it all over the years and are now buckling up for the latest ride under a new, unpredictable owner By Rob Bagchi In the late Sixties when George Graham had a more mischievous, happy-go-lucky side, his irritation at his team-mates’ protracted post-match tactical dissections was routinely encapsulated by his exasperated plea to “put the ball away”. As a former Leeds United manager, he will recognise that the club have effectively heeded his injunction for the past 11 years. From the moment that Jonathan Woodgate was sold to Newcastle United in January 2003 and the full extent of Peter Ridsdale’s ruinous profligacy became too pressing to gloss over with mollifying corporate flannel, to the overturning of the Football League’s block on Massimo Cellino’s takeover 10 days ago, football has been the least of Leeds’s concerns. Don Revie once said that “Leeds United is a lump of ground – it’s the team that matters”, but for the past decade they have amounted to l...