Is Leeds United’s Elland Road atmosphere declining? — Leeds All Over 3/3/25

Kris Smith

Leeds United fans have grown very used to victories in the past two seasons at Elland Road, but a by-product of that is that the atmosphere has dwindled quite significantly alongside it.

There’s no denying at its best that Elland Road is probably one of the best arenas in English football, that was on display in games against Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Norwich City, and Sunderland since Daniel Farke took over the club.

The issue is that these games where the home crowd is truly bouncing are increasingly few and far between at the moment.

An early goal for Junior Firpo looked to be setting Leeds on the way for another crucial victory, but after the dust settled from that opener, West Brom’s side and fans grew into the game and the Baggies got their reward when Darnell Furlong looped a header over Illan Meslier to equalise.

It was what the away side deserved and their fans clearly sensed an opportunity to build on their leveller, as the home crowd equally worried of the tide turning on Saturday afternoon.

In the end, the game settled into Leeds controlling the second half but having little ingenuity to carve out many big chances, with the crowd frustrated as a five-game winning run came to an end – albeit with the unbeaten run (17 games now) still intact and Leeds top of the league by three points still.

A lot of the games this season have been like Saturday’s in terms of the mood inside the ground, most expectant of a home win and the focus on getting another victory ticked off on the way to hopeful promotion.

Due to that high bar of expectation, LS11 very rarely feels vibrant for these ‘run of the mill’ fixtures (no disrespect to 6th-placed West Brom) that Leeds need to see off.

There’s been few times where the crowd has properly risen to the occasion, outside of wins over Sheffield United, Middlesbrough and Sunderland where the atmosphere definitely contributed to Leeds getting over the line.

What may be concerning is that the noticeable tension inside Elland Road can also contribute the other way, as the Baggies dictated the tempo for most of the first half, the home crowd were tetchy as a result, which is just the reality of each match being high-pressure from March onwards, but a worry for Farke and the 49ers going forward.

The proposed 53,000-seater expansion will be viewed by the 49ers as a doorway into a bright era for the club, but it’s unlikely to have a drastic impact on what we’ve seen at Elland Road in the past 20 months.

Perhaps there’s a case to be made that Leeds fans will still turn up to sell out regardless of the opponent this season, but there won’t be much fanfare made for some of the EFL sides this season has offered up, as opposed to the two years of Premier League fixtures in front of fans prior to that.

The ‘meh’ feeling of dropping points at home to an impressive playoff side isn’t the end of the world – that being said, knowing that it’s getting to crunch time in the promotion race, the absence of peak atmosphere in Elland Road for plenty of games this season is an issue, and the last thing Farke could do with is a tense feeling inside his fortress.