Leeds United party expectation after special statement — Graham Smyth's promotion Verdict — YEP 22/4/25

By Graham Smyth

The Leeds United party started in the final seconds of Sheffield United's loss at Burnley and it will go on until the summer.

This is a club with a rich tradition to uphold, having historically dedicated itself as much to the celebration of achievements as making it all happen in the first place. The last time Leeds escaped the Championship the partying was restricted somewhat by a pandemic but players who had emptied the tanks to win promotion under Marcelo Bielsa gave it their very best as they 'refuelled'. One senior player did not make it home the night that promotion was secured and kipped at a team-mate's place after the Elland Road knees-up. On their way into training the next morning, on very little sleep, they made a pitstop so he could fill his sports bottle with alcohol in order to continue the party at Thorp Arch. His jaw dropped when it was announced they would still be running, but the right to party hard had been earned by playing hard.

The same is true of this current team. They won't be expected on the running track at Thorp Arch this morning but they will be expected to celebrate, hard, with their manager's permission. Monday night was a solid start, if Dan James' ability to walk in a straight line was any indicator. The scenes on the steps of the East Stand in front of a sea of supporters will live with these players for years, even if some eyes had already started to glaze over, and all of it was earned.

This team has been special this season. Not that you would have known it at Luton, where they drew 1-1 and faced a backlash from a section of the away section at full-time. As a backroom staff member put it, while looking on during the squad and fanbase promotion singalong: "They were booed off two weeks ago. Football is crazy." It is and so too is this club. Emotional is how Daniel Farke describes the club he manages and that run of six games that brought just one victory was evidence of just how wildly the mood can swing around Elland Road. Amid it all he appeared relatively unmoved, refusing to get drawn down to the depths of despair just as he has resisted the highs all season. A special team still needed a special mentality to deal with the noise and do their season justice with a good finish.

The three straight wins going into Easter Monday's clash with Stoke City were the best possible beginning of the end. Three hard-fought victories all by the margin of a single goal suggested Leeds were coping just fine with the pressure dialled right up. But still, the chance to put one foot in the Premier League with a win, before Sheffield United met Burnley, and the intoxicating Elland Road mix of hope, urgency and expectation could have done funny things to the most serious of people.

The question was whether or not Leeds could handle it, because last season they did not. When things got very real towards the end of the campaign, they ran into real trouble and the performance at Wembley against Southampton was more mentality minions than mentality monsters. Would the golden opportunity they had presented themselves and the emotions at Elland Road be too much for them or exactly what they needed?

Their answer could not have been more emphatic. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. And that was just the first half. It was a statement and Stoke had no response. The visitors won the coin toss, turned Leeds round so they were attacking the Kop instead of the South Stand and that was the last thing of note that they accomplished.

With Ilia Gruev and Ao Tanaka playing on the front foot, defending high up the pitch and winning the ball deep inside Stoke territory, Leeds went right to work on a shellshocked defence. Manor Solomon squared the ball and Joel Piroe's finish belied the seriousness of the situation and the tension in the air. Elland Road hadn't finished singing the Dutchman's name when Jayden Bogle nipped in to nick possession and passed it inside to Piroe. His second finish was even cooler than the first. Eight minutes had elapsed and Leeds were two up.

The third goal took a little longer to arrive as Leeds slowed down somewhat. There were 20 minutes on the clock when Willy Gnonto got a second chance to cross or shoot from deep inside the Stoke box, went for something in between and Piroe popped up at the back post to instinctively stab home and complete his hat-trick.

A 3-0 lead put Elland Road in party mood but Stoke were not invited to enjoy it even a little bit. They held out for six minutes before conceding again. Bogle tortured his marker and crossed low into the six-yard box where Junior Firpo miskicked the ball up into the air, over Johansson and into the net. At this stage Elland Road recognised, as one, that something special was afoot. Bogle in particular was playing like a man with a deep personal vendetta against the entire region of the Potteries and Mark Robins' men were in danger of a truly humiliating scoreline.

As for Leeds, all the tension was gone. The jeopardy had left the building and attention could already start turning to what Burnley might do to complete the job against the Blades. And when you're four goals to the good in the first half, what's one more between a team playing for everything and a team with nothing riding on it? This one was all about Bogle, too. Ilia Gruev sent in a decent cross, Firpo flicked it on and Bogle took it down while going past his man in the slickest of movements. Though his shot hit the post and bounced around the box, Piroe was able to get enough on it to claim his fourth and Leeds' fifth.

Robins made a triple change at the break and Stoke did start the second half with a half decent chance, Ali Al-Hamadi getting on the ball in the area and drilling wide of Karl Darlow's near post. But instead of things getting remotely better, they got worse. Stoke defended a corner, Brenden Aaronson found Solomon and his cross was perfect for Gnonto who arrived at the back stick to head home the sixth.

Harry Gray introduction

There were no more goals but there was more joy. Harry Gray, just 16, got on for his senior debut. At full-time he and his team-mates celebrated like a team knowing the job, their part of it at least, was done. Well they might too because to go out on the most important day of the season so far and hit a team for six while keeping a clean sheet was so far beyond expectation, even at this club. It was fitting, though, because Leeds have been the best attacking force in the division and boasted a defence second only to practically-watertight Burnley. A 6-0 win was the exclamation mark on a 44-game body of proof that they are the most exciting team in the division.

Where the title ends up is a matter for another day. Leeds want it, but they first want to party. So the players gathered to watch Burnley complete the other half of the job and as stoppage time came to its conclusion the first of many champagne bottles popped. The squad, staff, family and friends kicked off the celebrations and then headed across the pitch to the East Stand where, on police advice, they were split into two groups to engage with the thousands waiting to greet them at the gates. The thinking was that two areas of focus would keep supporters safe and prevent overcrowding in one area.

As they emerged from the concourse it was to a hero's welcome. For that's what they are. Promotion heroes. Players who picked themselves and the club back up from the Wembley floor and went again. They did it better this time round and they had to because in Burnley and the Blades they found adversaries just as insistent and relentless as the Championship promotion class of 2023/24. They romped to some wins and ground out others, but they won and they won and they won, scoring bucket loads along the way and defending from front to back.

The week that exists between the Stoke game and the next outing at Elland Road against Bristol City gives Joe Rodon every chance to work up a hangover to rival the one Ben White played with in 2020. It gives Bogle the opportunity to stop running and run up a bar tab in a city where he will never have to buy a drink again. It gives Farke time to unleash the 'fire beast' as he promised in his post-game press conference. It gives a city that was denied its rightful celebration five years ago the excuse to make and forget memories. Leeds United are going up. Party hard.