Is it about time Leeds United didn’t fall apart again?

I, like a lot of Leeds United fans, are used to watching them fall apart. The League Cup Final in 1996 is one of my formative footballing memories. As a bright eyed thirteen-year-old I was all togged out in my Thistle Hotels shirt, white, blue and yellow scarf around my neck and a bloody big rosette bought at Leeds City Station before catching the train. The atmosphere in London was great too, bumping into Leeds fans all over the place, the platforms at Baker Street rammed full of white, yellow and blue. Then walk up Wembley Way with the twin towers in view, the chants and the songs sung loudly, what a day to be a Leeds fan.

The Leeds fans certainly turned up that day, but the team didn’t. The fireworks set off and the confetti fluttered as the teams came out, but that was as exciting as it got for the Leeds fans. Leeds lost three nil and still that day typifies for me what being a Leeds fan is all about most of the time. Even dating back to the Revie era, Leeds United had a habit of not turning up on big occasions. Sure there have been occasions when events, and people, have conspired against us, but more often that not Leeds just haven’t turned up.

In just three years between 2001 and 2003 we conspired to turn European semi-final nights into relegation at the Reebok Stadium and the eventual slide into League One, administration and a fifteen point deduction. The ultimate falling apart of a football club, so much so it’s referred to as ‘Doing a Leeds’. Our time out of the top flight did give us opportunities in the play-offs of course. First of all a trip to Cardiff and The Millenium Stadium to face Watford in the 2006 Championship Play-Off Final.

Once again, the fans turned out in force, clogging up every motorway and by-way heading for South Wales. The scene was set for the return to the Premier League. Unfortunately, the team did not turn up, but rather a pale imitation of the team that had comeback so valiantly against all the odds at Southampton, played Crystal Palace off the park in their own backyard and prevailed in the physical battle at Deepdale. It was a disastrous day for United and their expectant fans. They had no arguments they were outplayed, outfought and totally outthought by a Watford team who were better in all departments.





In 2008 Leeds were in another play-off final, this time under the new arch at Wembley against Doncaster Rovers. Although they produced a better display than against Watford two years earlier, they were second best for long periods, particularly in the opening thirty minutes of the game. Just two minutes into the second half Doncaster finally got the goal they deserved. Leeds tried to respond and despite Jonathan Howson's prompting they seemed strangely disjointed. Yet again, on the big occasion Leeds United failed to turn up.

Even under the great Marcelo Bielsa, Leeds United weren’t immune from falling apart. The losses to Wigan and especially to Derby in the play-off semi-final hurt so much because there was hope and hope is something which had been in short supply at Elland Road. Watching that mix up between Cooper and Casilla unfold before our eyes and the resulting complete and utter unravelling of everything we had built over the course of the season was one of the hardest things to watch in my lifetime of being a Leeds United fan.

It would be very harsh to say Leeds United had fallen apart this season. From where we were at the start of the year, to even be challenging Leicester and Ipswich in the closing stages was a remarkable feat. But given we once graced the top of the table, it did feel like we had thrown it away in those final few weeks. Whilst Leicester and Ipswich should have been revelling in their own glory, they were busy singing “I predict a riot” and “Leeds are falling apart”, for others having a dig at Leeds is just too hard to resist.

But for once it would be nice if Leeds United didn’t fall apart. Let it be us who has the last laugh come Sunday!