They are Leeds, Leeds, Leeds. Nobody likes them and they don’t care. This has always been true, it comes with the territory. Nobody in Yorkshire’s largest city will shed a tear worrying about what other people think.
Except, anyone who has seen Leeds play this season surely cannot help but like and admire them. Anyone who considers the overall health of the Premier League must be hoping they win promotion in May.
They have been the most exhilarating and enjoyable team to watch in English football this season. Braver than Liverpool, bolder than Manchester City and far more exciting than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United. Watching the men in white shirts swarm around opposition players like wasps defending their nest, is a joy to behold.
To attend a game at Elland Road is to step into an amphitheatre of tribal passion, when thousands of white scarves twirl above the heads of the home supporters and the old stadium vibrates and throbs with noise. Hostile, intimidating and unflinchingly partisan, it is time for Leeds to re-acquaint themselves with some old rivals.
Apologies if this offends anyone, there will be those of you who cannot stomach what you have just read, but Leeds are back and English football is better for it.
Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa watches on during the first half during the Sky Bet Championship match between Leeds United and Bolton Wanderers at Elland Road
Marcelo Bielsa and his methods have proved a hit with Leeds fans since taking over last summer CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
The Premier League has missed them far more than it realises. Think of the fixture list, Leeds vs Liverpool, Leeds vs Manchester United, Leeds vs Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle United. Think of your history, think of the tradition, think of the romance and, if you are willing to be brutal, admit that those trips to Yorkshire in recent years, to play Huddersfield or Hull, have never matched that sense of occasion. It would be different with Leeds.
Think of your trip to one of the great northern cities, think of cheering your team on in a snarling lion’s den. Think of the joy a victory would bring, think how painful a defeat would be. Let your emotions take over and embrace them.
Sure, it was amusing at first, when perhaps the brashest and most abrasive northern club toppled out of the top flight 15 years ago, just a few years after playing in a Champions League semi-final.
There was some satisfaction to be taken in the fact that Leeds’ ambition got the better of them, that one of the self-styled bad boys of the game got a spanking. Seeing Leeds in League One felt good for a while, but it was a hollow sort of pleasure.
But not anymore, they have suffered enough. Just as a superhero is only as successful as the villain he fights, the big clubs need their old rivals to provide real excitement.
English Football League - Championship
Team P W D L GD Pts
1 Leeds United 37 22 7 8 25 73
2 Norwich City 36 21 9 6 27 72
3 Sheffield United 37 21 8 8 29 71
4 West Bromwich Albion 36 17 10 9 20 61
5 Middlesbrough 35 15 13 7 13 58
6 Bristol City 36 15 10 11 7 55
7 Derby County 36 15 10 11 2 55
8 Nottingham Forest 36 13 14 9 10 53
9 Sheffield Wednesday 37 13 13 11 -5 52
10 Aston Villa 36 12 15 9 9 51
11 Preston North End 36 13 12 11 6 51
12 Birmingham City 36 12 14 10 7 50
13 Hull City 36 14 8 14 -1 50
14 Brentford 36 13 10 13 11 49
15 Swansea City 35 13 8 14 2 47
16 Blackburn Rovers 37 12 11 14 -6 47
17 Stoke City 36 10 15 11 -5 45
18 Queens Park Rangers 36 12 7 17 -13 43
19 Reading 37 8 12 17 -16 36
20 Wigan Athletic 37 9 9 19 -19 36
21 Millwall 36 8 10 18 -16 34
22 Rotherham United 36 6 15 15 -21 33
23 Bolton Wanderers 37 7 8 22 -34 29
24 Ipswich Town 37 3 14 20 -32 23
Leeds are too big to be forgotten, too big to be ignored and they have never had a better chance of clambering back into their seat at the top table.
There is a reason Leeds have been on television more than most Premier League clubs this season. They are box office, they demand attention and they have a huge following, home and abroad. Television audiences for their Championship games are larger than those involving far too many Premier League clubs.
And if Leeds have always demanded interest, even if it has been through gritted teeth, this season, it has largely been for the right reasons.
That is down to manager Marcelo Bielsa more than anyone. The grizzled old veteran, with the obsessive personality and the attacking football philosophy that has spawned so many proteges.
Pablo Hernandez of Leeds United celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Sky Bet Championship between Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion
Spanish playmaker Pablo Hernandez is just one who helps to make the team tick on the pitch CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
He has made Leeds a joy to watch - like a speedway motorbike, they do not have any breaks. It is all or nothing and done at high speed.
More than that, Bielsa has won hearts and minds in Leeds. Even while admitting he had spied on every opposition teams training sessions earlier this year, Bielsa intrigued us. The confession felt right, it felt like he belonged, it felt like he had found the perfect English club.
They are Leeds, nobody likes them and they don’t care. And neither does Bielsa, the cigarette smoking Argentinean metaphorically ruffling the hair of England legend and rookie Derby County manager Frank Lampard, before beating his team 2-0 back in January in an embarrassingly one-sided contest against a supposed promotion rival.
If anything, the whole spygate controversy endeared him to Leeds supporters even more. The win at all costs mentality tapped into something that had lay dormant for too long at the club.
Leeds used to be winners, but they had become soft and complacent. They had become a scalp for smaller teams to take and cherish in the Championship, plodding along, muttering to themselves about former glories.
With Bielsa in charge, Leeds have got their edge back and the supporters have got a team and a club to be proud of again. The reconnection has been a powerful one.
There will still be some who want them to fail, to blow up down the home straight, miss out on promotion (not least those who follow Yorkshire rivals Sheffield United who they play this weekend) and are forced to face an uncertain financial future once more.
But those old prejudices need to be shelved. Leeds United need promotion, but the Premier League also needs them.
