What a difference a year makes.
It was the news that the annual Elland Road open day (dubbed the “Sunday Funday”) will take place on August 3rd this year and that the club are hoping beat the 3,000 attendance figure for last season, that set me thinking about the changes over the last year. Beating that attendance shouldn’t be difficult considering the different circumstances that prevail at Leeds United compared to just a year ago…
Twelve months ago an unpopular Dennis Wise, seen more as an ex-Chelsea player than Leeds Utd manager, was suffering fans’ protests at pre-season friendlies. He had to put a team together in just eight days following a relegation season and weeks of legal wrangling over administration and there was a real doubt that the team would even start the season.
Finally, the club faced what many felt would be certain relegation into the fourth tier of English football following the imposition of an unprecedented 15 point penalty, by the vindictive Football League, before the club to get its “golden share” back.
Pass the valium!
Fast forward twelve months and the club achieved 91 points on the pitch and missed the championship of League One by one point. Because of the 15 point penalty the Leeds fans got to see Leeds United play at the new Wembley rather than next season in the Championship.
But off the pitch Leeds Utd fans set over twenty new League One attendance records and had the highest single attendance, average attendance and aggregate attendance in the whole Football League, including the Championship clubs - despite the police moving over 50% of kick-off times at away grounds to try and reduce the numbers of Leeds fans attending. In fact half-a-dozen Premier League chairmen would have swopped their clubs’ dismal attendances for that of the United faithful.
On the pitch a new local hero emerged, Jonny Howson and Paul Huntington rose from the reserves to shake off the Carlisle United boo-boys and keep his place through the play-offs and on to Wembley. The previous season had seen Jermaine Beckford star in a promoted Scunthorpe United side as Leeds were being relegated; this year he won the League One Player of the Season Award in the white shirt of Leeds United.
In February Dennis Wise was replaced with the surprise choice of Gary McAllister who introduced a new passing game at Elland Road and made one low-key signing - Dougie Freedman - a striker in a squad that boasted Beckford and Kandol - but it was a masterstroke and the Leeds fans got one more, unlikely, hero in one of the most incredible season’s in its history.
The reviving stature of Leeds United was demonstrated at the end of May when Andy Robinson left new League One Champions Swansea City and Championship football next season to join Leeds United back in League One. Anthony Elding rejected a summer move to Crewe Alexandra, prefering to stay and fight for his place.
Although there will be departures of Dennis Wise’s signings - Matt Heath has already joined relegated Colchester United - Gary McAllister knows that he does not have to sell our best players, as has occurred in recent seasons, and he has a reasonable transfer budget that has come from the pockets of the Leeds faithful turning up in droves at Elland Road rather than borrowed from the banks.
To paraphrase a famous saying, twelve months is certainly a long time in the history of Leeds United and I think the club can look forward to a record attendance at the 2008 “Sunday Funday” at Elland Road, and deservedly so this time.
