Oral History of Leeds United's downfall over the last 15 years

Posted on 5/8/16 at 9:46 am

Posted by S

RIP Wayde

Member since Jan 2007

173831 posts

Posted on 5/8/16 at 9:46 am

kind of. and this was 15 years ago tonight

sophomore in high school S skipped the rest of the school day to go home at 1:45 and watch this

quote:
Stephen McPhail can pinpoint exactly when things began to slide.

It was mid-May, 2001 and Leeds United had just beaten Leicester City at Elland Road in the final game of the season.

But, results elsewhere had gone against them. It meant they finished fourth in the Premier League. It meant they had fallen short of Champions League qualification.

“I walked off the pitch and was thinking the atmosphere had changed”, McPhail says.

“Some players knew they wanted to be in the Champions League and were good enough to be there. Factions happened – not in the dressing room, but we knew the club was in trouble somewhere.

“We had those three or fours years of being in Europe. But Liverpool had pipped us by a point. And then the whole club just changed”.

quote:

Though Manchester United’s fabled Class of ’92 is the well-worn example of an immensely successful youth team, this was a glittering collection of talent.

Six of those players would be in the 18-man Leeds group that faced Valencia in the Champions League semi-final second leg on 8 May 2001.

quote:
At the end of the season, Leeds finished third in the league. The bar had been raised. Expectations were set. In the 2000/2001 campaign, Leeds would be playing in the Champions League for the first time. So, lots of money was invested. The club lavished £18m on the stylish West Ham defender Rio Ferdinand. A further £8.3m was spent on central midfielder Olivier Dacourt. Striker Mark Viduka arrived from Celtic for £6m.

quote:
Rio was on another planet at that stage. As soon as he walked in the door, you just thought, ‘This lad is unbelievable’.We’d play 8v8 games in training just to keep sharp because games were coming so quickly. We weren’t worried about shape so Rio would go up front and be incredible. He could play in midfield, at full-back. His natural ability was just frightening. His physique too. He just had a different aura about him. Woodgate beside him was a real strong character as well – he loved a tackle. The two of them rubbed off really well on each other as a partnership.”

quote:
“I could tell stories about Batts all day. He didn’t like football. He just wanted to go home. I’d be at the training ground and warming down, taking a few shots and he’d be going by in his car, waving at you. You’d be thinking, ‘How quick was that? He hasn’t even had a shower’. But that was just the character he was. He lived about 200 yards from the training ground and he’d still get in his big camper van and drive up. He was so old-school. He had a motorbike another time. Just so laid back. But that probably rubbed off on us.”

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“We were playing against Arsenal in London so we had three or four days before heading to Spain. One of the lads, maybe Danny Mills, had the razor. If you look back on the team photo, I think Hartey is the only guy who doesn’t have the shaved head because he was getting married in the summer. But little things like that calmed us down. The camaraderie was great and it wasn’t too serious. I heard Rio speak about it a few months ago – he was asked about the groups he’d been a part of. He mentioned how good Leeds was. And he’s right. You know when you’re in a special group.”

But when the dream died, it went quick.

quote:
I remember I got drug-tested afterwards. They walked me down the tunnel and put me in a little room. The door opened and Aimar walked in. I had an hour with him in the room. They had just got to a Champions League final and we were on our knees but he was so respectful. He didn’t have much English but came in and shook hands. There were people coming in and hugging him but he was so respectful, asking them to be quiet – and that always stuck with me. He was nice and gave me a hug going out and said good luck. We were devastated. We thought we’d do it.”

quote:
The season ended in anti-climax. Leeds had gambled on finishing in the top three. The financial plan revolved around Champions League qualification. When they fell short of the target, it was time to worry. But there was a reluctance to hit the panic button just yet. So, they gambled again. And threw more money at the problem. They signed Robbie Keane, Robbie Fowler and, infamously, Seth Johnson.

quote:
People were saying ‘I’m out of here’ before games. The day before games. It was madness. The club was putting out fires, financially, and trying to get money in. Random stuff happening made you think ‘This is a shambles’. It was proper turmoil. Every day you’d walk in and think, ‘What’s next?’ Our canteen staff didn’t turn up because they were sacked. Laundry ladies that we would’ve grown up with – they were like mothers to us. At 15, we’d have gone into them every day. They looked after us. Women that had fed us three times a day. It was heartbreaking to see.

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Ferdinand was sold to Manchester United for a British record of £30m. Woodgate went to Newcastle for the cut-price sum of £9m. After one season at Elland Road, both Keane and Fowler were traded in too. They went to Tottenham and Manchester City respectively for a cumulative loss of £10m. In January 2003, Bowyer, so influential in that 2000/2001 campaign, was transferred to West Ham for a mere £100,000 because he was in the final year of his contract and refused to sign a new one. Unsurprisingly, the club’s rapid descent was devastating. In May 2003, they finished just five points outside the drop zone. A year later, they weren’t so fortunate. Their relegation was confirmed at Bolton’s Reebok Stadium as they succumbed to a thumping 4-1 defeat. By that stage, Harry Kewell, Olivier Dacourt and Nigel Martyn had all left and after the club’s fate was confirmed, Robinson, Viduka and James Milner all departed too.

quote:
I played in Smudger’s last game – and it was signed, sealed, delivered that he was signing for United”, McPhail says. “There were tears in his eyes in the dressing room afterwards. He really didn’t want to go but he knew, for the club, that he had to. It was emotional. A kid from Leeds signing for Manchester United? Not the thing to do. But fair play to him. He did what he had to do for the club. But it was devastating for him. And for others who grew up in the city.” Within three years, 15 of Leeds’ 18-man squad for that Champions League semi-final second leg against Valencia had left the club.

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"We were so together. We had such belief in ourselves as a group. No one fazed us. My eyes were totally opened in that Barcelona game.’ Were we good enough?’ And within a week we responded to it. That was bred into us. We had always pushed each other. We were infectious, we had that energy.” And what of the current mess Leeds finds itself in? The obscurity? The no-man’s land? “It’s heartbreaking to watch”, he says. “Is it ever going to change? It’s hard for the fans. They’re the be-all and end-all of the club.”

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