Leeds United headloss and grumpy performance — Graham Smyth's Championship title decider Verdict — YEP 4/5/25

By Graham Smyth

Leeds United left it late to claim the Championship title at Home Park.

In the seconds after Manor Solomon's title-winning goal hit the net, Joe Rodon's hands went to his head, as if to try and keep his brain together as it exploded. Is it even Leeds United if someone's cognitive functions aren't scrambled? This is a club that does that to people. To fans. To players. Managers. Directors of football. Owners. Leeds United history is littered with catastrophic head loss, often at moments when clarity of thought was most needed. Often when the pressure was on and the expectation ramped right up.

But Solomon's goal at Plymouth came in the 91st minute. So Rodon had to put the pieces of his mind back together for an additional five minutes of football and he was far from alone. The goal sent Solomon into celebration overdrive. Jayden Bogle, like Rodon, put his hands to his skull. Willy Gnonto simply sank to the turf and curled up into a ball. Overwhelmed. Overcome. Daniel Farke, meanwhile, was over it. The goal had come and gone in his head and his thoughts were turning to what needed to be done to preserve the 2-1 lead, with Largie Ramazani at right-back and Joel Piroe as a 6.

The manager's refusal to let this club send him to the madhouse on so many occasions this season was evidenced again at this moment. Yet when the final whistle sounded and his staff and substitutes raced onto the pitch, he was empty for Leeds United had finally reached deep into his head and taken the lot. Holding it together for two full seasons has taken a monumental effort, even for a man not prone to fits of giddiness or despair. But with 46 games played, his job was done and Leeds were not only going up but going up as champions.

It mattered, too. It mattered to Farke that they finish the season top of the table. It mattered to the likes of Rodon, who put a pretty swift halt to the initial promotion celebrations in order to go again twice more and complete the job properly. They wanted the (C) to replace the (P) ahead of their name in the league table and achieving just that was testament to a manager's mentality and a group of players who refused to suffer the same crushing fate twice.

Leeds United had big players for big moments all season

What it took to be in the driving seat before the final game of the season kicked off was a campaign full of consistent performances, high standards and big moments. They were consistently good. When they met their own standards they were largely unplayable. But no one plays their very best 46 times in a row, so it took a few big moments. A few late goals. A few players who put a huge club on their back and carried it over the line for three points. Dan James was one such player, responsible for big moment after big moment and Junior Firpo was another, but injury kept them out of the finale, so someone else would have to step up.

The Whites didn't exactly start as they meant to finish the season. It was a sleepy start - not for the first time in a 12.30pm kick-off away from home. The awkwardness of Argyle's targetman Muhamed Tijani was as much of a factor early on as any problems the attackers in White could create at the other end, though it wasn't for the lack of deliveries initially. Solomon and Bogle put a pair of dangerous balls into the box and Sam Byram headed the first at Conor Hazard before Brenden Aaronson failed to take the second in his stride.

Leeds were given a warning by Mustapha Bundu when he bundled his way through a clutch of challenges and struck the outside of the post with a thunderbolt, but if they heeded it they failed to take the necessary preventative actions. When Ilia Gruev's undercooked pass was cut out, Bundu was sent away down the left, went past the despairing trailing leg of Rodon and fired the ball off the far post, off Byram and into the net.

There was no such luck at the other end when Bogle smashed the ball into the middle of the box, Joel Piroe stuck out a leg and the ball deflected over the top. Gnonto headed another chance over. Aaronson forced a save. Solomon curled over. Ao Tanaka drilled wide. Aaronson volleyed over. Then he curled over.

The second half began in a similar vein. Piroe found Gnonto in the box and he passed it straight to a green shirt. Piroe blasted over. And then, finally, something a bit different brought a different outcome. Having cut inside several times already, Solomon mixed it up by shaping to repeat the trick and instead heading for the byline. His low cross was flicked on by Bogle and Gnonto arrived to tuck the ball home from a couple of yards. A little man, a big moment.

But with Burnley beating Millwall and time running out at Home Park, frustration began to build visibly for Leeds. It was a grumpy performance for a long time. Bogle snarling at team-mates not reading his cross. Byram and Solomon engaging in a shrugging match after failing to get on the same page. Ampadu screaming into the void at having to give away a foul after another attack broke down.

Leeds did put the ball in the net again only for Gnonto to be flagged offside. Plymouth began to run down the clock with players needing treatment, slow restarts and substitutions. Farke turned to his own bench. Max Wober for Byram. Largie Ramazani for Aaronson. Patrick Bamford for Tanaka. He threw Mateo Joseph on as well, withdrawing Bogle. None of the cavalry found themselves with anything like a chance to win it and the clock showed 90 minutes. Then 91. One last big moment was needed because the title was heading to Turf Moor.

A Gnonto pass for Solomon just evaded the lunge of a defender, put the Spurs loanee in space and he scampered into the box to put the title on the tips of his toes. Joel Piroe said after the game that he knew it would go in and he knew what it meant for the game and for the club. Solomon knew all that too. He knew that it had to go in because if not that might be the title gone. And he kept his head. The ball hit the net. The away end hit the roof.

There was still a job to do in the final minutes and Argyle did once come close enough to a leveller but Farke's inevitables were not to be denied the perfect, most Leeds United ending to a record-breaking season. One hundred points. Ninety-five goals. A goal difference of 65. Six straight wins to finish the campaign, 29 of them in total. Burnley's numbers were incredible too, not least their insane defensive prowess. But he who dares wins and Leeds risked more going forward all season while still putting together a remarkable defensive record of their own and doing both sides of the game so well was what put them over the top in the end.

The Clarets rightly celebrated with a promotion cup but Leeds lifted the real trophy and it was that which gave their celebrations in front of the away end such meaning and emotion. And now Rodon can lose his mind and let it remain lost for a while. The concentration and focus can be put to bed, if indeed these players see theirs at all for the next few days. Party or sleep, the choice is their own because champions can do what they please.