What Archie Gray did at full-time of Leeds United’s semi-final win during rest of the squad’s lap of honour — Leeds United News 17/5/24

Danny Bloomer

Leeds United’s play-off semi-final victory over Norwich City won’t have meant more to anyone than Archie Gray.

Gray is a boyhood Leeds fan and given he is only 18-years-old, it wasn’t that long ago he was on the terraces himself supporting his club.

He is living the dream of every Leeds supporter right now and to have played his part on such a special night yesterday could well have even eclipsed the moment his deflected shot went in against Leicester City in February.

Having played as a number 10 at Carrow Road, Gray was back in the position he has spent much of the season at right-back last night, producing a ‘special’ performance in the eyes of Ben Parker.

Gray barely gave Norwich’s dangerman Jonathan Rowe a sniff and it was also his pass that set Willy Gnonto free down the right to cross for Joel Piroe’s header.

It was an incredible atmosphere from start to finish at Elland Road but there were certainly some partisan scenes at full-time when Leeds’ passage to Wembley was officially confirmed.

After Liam Cooper gathered the whole team for a huddle in the centre circle, the players did a full lap of the pitch to thank supporters and party alongside them.

However, Gray was actually the one player who was not involved in that post-match walk around the ground, as he instead opted to do his own thing.

According to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Gray stood alone in the centre of the pitch taking it all in, as Leeds fans belted out both ‘I Predict A Riot’ and ‘Marching on Together’ in quick succession.

He then proceeded to do a post-match lap by himself, before joining Daniel Farke and the ground staff in the Leeds manager’s customary wave after a win.

Despite it being just his first season in professional football, Gray has already been attracting interest from some of Europe’s elite, including Bayern Munich.

Promotion would put Leeds in a much stronger position to keep him next season, though failure to win the play-off final may see him sold.

49ers Enterprises have already acknowledged key players would have to leave if Leeds stay in the Championship, with the Daily Mail yesterday reporting £100m in sales would need raising.

Gray is undoubtedly one of, if not Leeds’ most high value asset and so a difficult decision would have to be made by the board if worse comes to worst.

Leeds United may have coasted to a 4-0 win over Norwich City in the play-off semi-finals, but that did not stop Joe Rodon from fuming at one of his teammates in the 90th minute.

The Whites produced a near perfect performance at Elland Road to move to within just 90 minutes of an immediate return to the Premier League.

With a raucous atmosphere behind them, it did not take Leeds long to open the scoring as Ilia Gruev’s clever free-kick found its way past Angus Gunn into the bottom corner.

Joel Piroe – who many believe produced his best display in a Leeds shirt – then doubled the lead shortly after, before Georginio Rutter ended his difficult run of form by adding a third.

Crysencio Summerville rounded off the scoring midway through the second half with an easy finish inside the six-yard-box, and in truth, it could have been even more.

Though Gruev finally broke Leeds’ duck of actually scoring from a set-piece, some of the other deliveries in the match certainly left a lot to be desired.

Leeds’ last goal from a corner came all the way back on December 23, when Pascal Struijk headed in from close range against Ipswich Town, in his penultimate game before getting injured.

Dan James was one of the culprits on Thursday night as twice in quick succession in the latter stages of the match he wasted two chances to get the ball in the box.

On what looks set to be his final appearance as a Leeds player at Elland Road, the crowd were urging Liam Cooper to score a farewell goal, but James effectively blew his opportunity.

First, he put a corner straight into the man at the near post before then ballooning a free-kick from wide left well over the crossbar.

And as a result of that, Rodon was not afraid to let James know he wasn’t happy, as he mouthed ‘something unflattering’ towards his Welsh teammate, as per Leeds Live.

Though James’ poor deliveries were frustrating, in the grand scheme of things they didn’t matter. However, it is good to see Rodon driving standards regardless of how easy a game might be.

Daniel Farke has mentioned how young Leeds’ squad on so many occasions this season and even though he is only 26, Rodon is one of the more experienced members.

Even though he doesn’t have the armband, Rodon is among the most vocal on the pitch every week and hopefully that wasn’t the last time he steps out at Elland Road in a Leeds shirt.

Liam Cooper could not have asked for a better send off from Elland Road in Leeds United’s 4-0 win over Norwich City.

Cooper is out of contract at Leeds next month and is not expected to be offered a new deal, which will bring an end to his incredible 10-year spell at the club.

With just two Championship starts in 2024, Cooper has played more of a bit-part role this season but was brought on for the final 10 minutes of last night’s victory.

Cooper was serenaded for much of the night every time he warmed up in front of the West Stand, and his introduction from the bench brought one of the loudest cheers of the night.

Daniel Farke handled his farewell in the perfect possible way and as he alluded to in the pre-match programme notes, Cooper is determined to sign off his time at Leeds with another promotion.

Prior to last night, Cooper had not played a single minute of football since he was brought back into the starting XI against Watford on March 29.

He endured a difficult evening at Vicarage Road, with it quickly becoming clear the decision to pick him and break up Joe Rodon and Ethan Ampadu’s partnership was the wrong one.