Mighty Leeds Weblog

Eric Cantona was an incredibly cool footballer. He kung-fu kicked racists, talked Kanye-esque bollocks in press conferences and played the game with a collar-up verve and nonchalance only the very best can pull off. It seems only fitting, then, that Cantona was the man to score the first ever hat-trick of the Premier League era. Yet when the Frenchman plundered three goals in Leeds United’s 5-0 victory over Tottenham in August 1992, he was decidedly uncool. The only way to describe Eric Cantona that night at Elland Road is to use a very un-Cantona word; he was very, very giddy. It’s perhaps understandable. It was Cantona’s second hat-trick within a month, having already put Liverpool to the sword at Wembley as Leeds beat the Reds 4-3 in the Charity Shield. Leeds were the reigning champions of England, the last winners of the old First Division, and his relationship with Howard Wilkinson had yet to reach breaking point. The Peacocks’ defence of their title ultimately proved disa...

Leeds United will be defending their top-flight status when the new season begins over the first weekend of August. By Lee Sobot Thirty years ago, the Whites were defending their top-flight title, and beginning with a victory as Lee Chapman’s double sealed a 2-1 triumph against Wimbledon at Elland Road on the opening day. Jesse Marsch's Whites will find out their opening weekend opponents next week when the fixtures are released at 9am on Thursday, June 16. Leeds are heading for a third consecutive season back in the Premier League following their final day ‘great escape’ from relegation via victory at Brentford coupled with Newcastle United’s triumph at Burnley. The Whites were also heading for a third consecutive campaign back in the top division back in 1992 but Howard Wilkinson’s side were approaching that campaign as newly-crowned champions of the land. Leeds had only been promoted back to the top tier as champions of the old Second Division in the Spring of 1990 a...

Chelsea are heading to Elland Road next week at a time when Leeds United are scrapping away for top-flight survival. By Lee Sobot But 30 years ago the Whites were battling it out for top-flight supremacy and beating the Blues in West Yorkshire as part of the club’s glorious title-winning campaign. Howard Wilkinson’s Whites were only in their second season back in the big time following promotion from the old Division Two as champions in the spring of 1990. But Leeds stormed to a fourth-placed finish upon their top-flight return and then further strengthened their ranks the following summer with the acquisitions of Rod Wallace and his twin brother Ray, in addition to Tony Dorigo, Steve Hodge, David Wetherall and John Newsome. The following January, the Whites then signed a 25-year-old Frenchman by the name of Eric Cantona from Nimes – and he netted a wonder goal to help to see off Chelsea 3-0 at Elland Road on Saturday April 11, 1992. Wilkinson’s Whites approached the fixtur...

Leeds United were crowned English football's First Division champions on 26 April 1992 as the Whites defeated Sheffield United 3-2 at Bramall Lane By Joe Donnohue Much has changed since Leeds United last claimed a major honour in English football. On this day thirty years ago, the Whites were crowned First Division champions following a 3-2 win over Sheffield United at Bramall Lane. Leeds were one point ahead of arch-rivals Manchester United before kick-off, knowing victory would force Alex Ferguson's side to match Leeds' result against Liverpool later that afternoon, or hand the title to the Whites. It was the club's bright yellow change strip which Leeds adorned on the day but the game itself was anything but a sunny affair. Leeds were jittery and conceded the first goal as Blades striker Alan Cork reacted quickest inside the Whites' penalty area. Gordon Strachan's quick-thinking at a short free-kick allowed Leeds to draw level before the break as Ro...

Howard Wilkinson arrived at Leeds with a ten-year plan. Within four, they were champions Howard Wilkinson is not the man he seems to be. The only living English manager to have won the league title is often characterised as glum and pedantic. It is true that the hunger for learning that nourished his teaching career when he dropped down from playing with Brighton into the semi-professional game made him appear stilted, while his fondness for impenetrable pronouncements – for example “Zinedine Zidane could be a champion sumo wrestler, he can run like a crab or a gazelle” – left him vulnerable to ridicule. His thoughtfulness and tendency to weigh every word fed into his dour public image yet his players remember a tinder-dry sense of humour and his pragmatism. Wilkinson’s fitness regime and the sacrifices it entailed enforced changes to his teams’ diet while his rigorous drilling of set-pieces and his belief in the importance of the second ball, especially the knockdowns and flick-on...

Steven Chicken Strachan. McAllister. Batty. Speed. If you were tasked with building the archetypal midfield quartet from scratch, Leeds United’s 1992 midfield would be your model. The 35-year-old savvy veteran and inspirational captain, slighted by his former mentor and with a point to prove. The tough-as-nails young local lad who would put himself on the line for the cause. The intrepid, spry and versatile left winger who came up through the youth academy. Strachan. McAllister. Batty. Speed. You can’t live in Leeds for very long without becoming very familiar with those four names, always presented in that exact order, always rolling off the tongue as easily as you could name members of your own family, always spoken with the utmost reverence. In 1990, Leeds won promotion back into the top flight in Howard Wilkinson’s first full season in charge after eight long and difficult years in the Second Division. Gordon Strachan, signed from Manchester United and installed as ...

HOWARD WILKINSON Leeds United, 1988-1996 “There’s a plane sitting on the runway. It’s going to take off and it’s going to fly. You have three weeks to decide whether you want to get on it or not.” This was October 1988. My first day at Leeds United, and these were my first words to a group of players who’d had an awful start to the season. Leeds were fourth from bottom in the Second Division. I was leaving Sheffield Wednesday, in the First Division, to go there. Everyone said I was barmy. Including my wife. Her exact words were: “You’ve got to be joking. Aren’t they in the Second Division?” “Yeah, but I think it’s a great chance to really fly.” Paul Cooper Maybe it was all down to Vince Lombardi. I’d been captivated by the coach of the Green Bay Packers American football team ever since I first discovered his books. I was 23 years old at the time, and searching for ways to fill my time when I wasn’t training at Brighton (below). I’d already taken on one extracurricula...