I only sing when we’re winning (Marching on together) 😁😁😊⚽

Well with the Mighty Whites, finally back where they belong, I thought it would be a good time to blog about my support of Leeds United! At this point it should be noted that Margie often states when we talk about such matters, that I’m not a proper supporter as I’ve never been to Elland Road. This is blatantly untrue as I have driven down it twice although I will concede I’ve never been into the stadium. However we can safely ignore her opinion as she is an Ipswich Town supporter and as such knows nothing about football, apparently “Tractor Girl” isn’t yet recognised as a Mental Health condition but it surely can’t be long 😊at which point we can get her the help she obviously needs.

I have however seen Leeds play live on a few occasions, though I’ve never seen them win!! The worst was my first back in 1970 something when Leeds were on their record breaking undefeated  run ,I as a young boy was taken to Layer Road to watch them play lowly Colchester and they lost 😥,therefore establishing me as a Jinx so from then on I have done my best to avoid going as it never ends well, Indeed on one notable occasion in the early eighties on leaving Portman Road after another lacklustre display, I only escaped a well-deserved beating from a gang of 50+ (numbers may have been exaggerated for added peril!!)  of Yorkshires finest supporters who, while  rampaging through the town, had spotted me scarf less walking home from the match, because of my in depth knowledge of the Leeds Utd 1972 cup winning team, surrounded, my claim to being a Leeds supporter, despite the lack of scarf, was only accepted when I reeled off the names of the glorious boys of 72! 😊 😊

 I actually prefer watching football on TV from my armchair, allowing a much better view, replays etc, and allowing me to impart my brilliant tactical knowledge and punditry, which Margie really appreciates. At one point we thought that our TV was bugged as literally every statement I made was repeated 20 seconds later, pretty much verbatim by Glen Hoddle who is no doubt paid millions for his views! Indeed, had Hoddle, Capello, Sven Goran Eriksen, ET AL, listened to me England would have won every major trophy since 1978! 😊

So how, did it all begin, the first match I remember watching, as a 5 year old, was the Leeds-Chelsea FA Cup final of 1970 ,(where incidentally Leeds were robbed by a dodgy ref and cheating opponents, a scenario which has occurred again and again down the years🥵) I don’t know the exact reason or date it happened but my choice was made, my heroes were Peter Lorimer, Jonny Giles, Mick Jones, Alan “Sniffer” Clarke, Terry Cooper, Norman Hunter, Paul Madeley ,Paul Reaney, Eddie Gray etc etc Great players in a Great Team (allegations of an over physical approach were grossly exaggerated and were mostly inspired by   jealousy). We won it all ,great days and then there was the 1973 where Jim Montgomery produced the greatest goalkeeping display of all time to deny us back to back FA Cups!!

Time progressed Leeds fortunes waned somewhat as did the enthusiasm of my support although my interest in footy in general faded through my youth, distracted by a hedonistic lifestyle of Drugs, Sex and Rock & Roll ,ok was mainly Beer and Thrash Metal with very little sex, ,ok no sex but the principle’s the same!! 😉

Then came Howard Wilkinson’s boys of 91,when the greatest midfield line-up ever to lace up boots, brought us back to the big time ,Mcallister, Strachan, Speed and the inimitable David Batty swept all before them and took us to the last Title before the Premier League era, great days!.

Some reasonable years followed, George Graham produced an excellent young team, before  the stupidity of the O’Leary years, since then there have been some dark times notably a trip to the 3^rd tier after the disgraceful points deduction, unfortunately this period coincided with my employment at MGC, where my colleagues, Mr G, Scotchy  and DJ were merciless in their piss taking, can’t tell you how humiliating it is, to have to take that level of abuse from Ipswich Town supporters and unbelievably a Huddersfield Town fan!! (look where they are now,Ipswich languishing in the arse end of Division 1 and Huddersfield desperately hanging on for survival in the championship ,must be extra galling that there result sent us up!😁)  However, I stayed strong and our inevitable rise back to greatness has borne out my faith, (you would think that I would learn their lesson of not taking the piss as the tables may turn and it could be us down there again soon, but I haven’t). This abuse was to be expected of course coming as it did during Tea Wars, Tea Wars II (this time it’s personal),Tea Wars III (Armageddon) and Tea Wars IV (Final Victory)  and of course the travesty of the inter-departmental Come Dine With Me , my dentist still winces when he sees the havoc created by MR G’s Duck Breast!!! Anyway I’m not bitter at all, back to the footy!! Though Elmlea is not real cream!!! 😊 😊 😊 and more than one Mushroom is just Greedy!!

 Anyway as the golden years of LUFC’s future lie before us I fully expect us to be competing for the title next season, and the Champions League the year after, indeed we are only 3 or 4 players away from being a great team, I imagine the likes of Messi, Ronaldo ,Van Dyke etc will be knocking on Marcelo Bielsa’s door begging for a place in the team as we begin an era of domination the world will not believe!! My fantasy football team will be unbeatable, filled as it will be with white shirted heroes

I believe it was Bill Shankly who said, “football’s not as important as bird-watching, but it’s something to watch on a rainy Saturday afternoon” (quote may not be a 100% accurate)😂😂

We have lost a lot of Leeds legends recently, hopefully Big Jack and “Bite ya Legs” Hunter will take a break from kicking George Best in heaven and have a little smile knowing Leeds are back in the big time!!

So 50 years of support, 50 years of highs and lows, never a dull season ,here’s to the next 50 years, perhaps on my 106^th birthday I will take a seat in Elland Road to watch Leeds live and finally get to see them win a game in real life!!!

                                                                  

Marching On Together!!!!