Norwich City (a) - Play-offs SF Leg 1 - 12 May 2024

May 12, 2024

Norwich v Leeds United 12th May 2024 - Carrow Road, Norwich

2023/24 EFL Championship Play Off - First Leg


Before I start my blog, I want to wish the Leeds fan who was attacked after the game today, a speedy recovery. According to his son “We came out of Carrow Road after the game to Chants of Turks with knives and Galatasary.. whilst asking the lads why it was said my dad was slashed in the neck with a blade and hit by a full can…” An horrendous and cowardly attack that has no place at football games. Two have been arrested in connection with this and they are looking for a third. After the carnival atmosphere at the start of the game, this was the last place I’d have expected anything like this to happen. The best way for “revenge” is for Leeds to beat them on the pitch on Thursday to get through to the final.


When I arrived at Elland Road at 4.30am this morning, it was so deserted, I was beginning to think I’d got the time of the coach at 5.15am wrong. I hadn’t and we had a good run down and luckily, I slept most of the way there and back. Spare a thought for some of our Cornwall whites who left home at 1am showing fantastic commitment to support our team. It already felt like the season was over and when speaking to someone outside the ground, he said it felt like a pre-season friendly. With it being a gloriously hot day that sounded good to me as it meant no pressure. Historically, we’ve never done well in the play offs, but it has to change one day. Whether that is this year only time will tell.


Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Rodon, Byram, Firpo, Gray, Rutter, Summerville, Gnonto, Gruev, Kamara

Subs: Piroe for Rutter (79), Anthony for Gnonto (70), James for Summerville (87)

Subs not used: Darlow, Cooper, Shackleton, Roberts, Joseph, Cresswell


Leeds drew the game 0-0

Attendance: 26,982 -1,959 Leeds fans


Referee: Josh Smith.

Booked: Gnonto



Leeds were attacking the goal in front of us in the first half. We had our hearts in our mouths a few times as we invited Norwich to attack us by playing deep and giving the ball away too easily. Farke had changed the formation of the team but it took a while before we settled into the game after misplaced passes before suddenly, we showed what we could do. With one touch passing, the ball ended up in the net courtesy of Firpo only to be disallowed for offside. It was a very tight decision by the linesman as when the ball was kicked Rutter was level with their defender on the far side, but he made a mockery of that in the second half when he wasn’t up with play twice and let Norwich play on.


The second offside was way off but not given. With Norwich getting so many free kicks given for fouls, the referee came under fire from the Leeds fans especially as he’d played on when Gnonto was brought down on the edge of the box. Leeds did win a free kick and Summerville’s shot was put out for a corner. Gnonto had a good strike which was blocked and although Norwich had looked dangerous a few times, we went in on level terms at half time. The second half saw chances limited for both teams, but it was good to see the Leeds players find some fighting spirit again as it has been missing as of late.


Keeping the scores level at full time means the second leg next Thursday gives us another chance to get to the final with another sell out crowd behind us.


See what happens then. LUFC – Marching on Together!

Leeds United, We'll Support you ever more, We've only got one song!

June 6, 2025
A selection of Leeds United Songs from 1960 to the present day, sung by Leeds United fans Friday 6th June 2025 On 2nd September 2023, I was lucky to be invited into the director’s box at Elland Road to watch the game against Sheffield Wednesday alongside Mick Hewitt, Gary Edwards and Tony Winstanley. We had finally achieved our ambition of recording Leeds United Chants and Songs from the terraces, that had to overcome the hurdles of being curtailed during the covid pandemic and many other challenges. Both the Leeds United Foundation and the Leeds United Academy received equal shares of the £6,605.16 proceeds of our CD sales after costs had been taken, and we were extremely proud to hand this amount over to officials at Leeds United. As always, none of us were gaining anything personally from sales, it was always going to be for the good of our club. The good news is that 99 of these songs and chants are now available on Spotify HERE for anyone who prefers to download their music. Again, any money raised will be shared between the Leeds United Foundation and the Leeds United Academy so please continue to support the club. Below is the introduction for the songs to give some context to the recordings plus the thank you to all those Leeds United fans who took part. Sadly, we have lost some of those who were there for the recordings since then.

Paris 1975 - 50th Anniversary

May 28, 2025
Paris 1975 – 50th Anniversary 28th May 2025 I cannot believe it is 50 years to the day that I set off for Paris for the European Cup Final. Initially I didn’t get one of the 8,000 tickets for the game despite it being my 70th game of the season but ended up with two. I was going with or without a ticket and got mine through my friend Carole’s season ticket as she got one with her programme tokens as well. By travelling with the club to the final it meant I got a further ticket as we’d travelled to Barcelona in the previous round with them. One lucky Leeds fan who I knew was the recipient of the second ticket for face value outside the ground. Sadly, when we finally got to our hotel, we had to wait to be allocated our rooms before heading to the ground which took ages. I always regretted not going with the Harrogate trip as we did to Anderlecht earlier in the competition as I felt we missed out on the build up to the game by getting there late. We did manage to walk around the ground to soak up the atmosphere once we arrived and it was good to get photos and have our photos taken by loads of Leeds and German fans before going into the ground. I had a fantastic view behind the goal on the front row of the upper tier next to the clock. The whole night was magical from the start, and it had been perfect, with Leeds fans singing na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, Leeds United for the first time. It was an incredible feeling being in the stadium and when Peter Lorimer smashed the ball into the net in front of us, I immediately looked at the linesman and referee only to see them both award a goal before celebrating. It was only when Beckenbauer went over to the referee that things started to change and we couldn’t believe it when the goal was disallowed. I’ll never forget being cheated out of our rightful trophy and we will always be Champions of Europe. WACCOE. My first book Follow Me and Leeds United includes all my recollections from this game and the previous rounds for those interested. Watch out for the Paris 75 documentary which I’ve been interviewed for with the official trailer released at 8.30pm, Wednesday night - PARIS 75 - Official Trailer  . The finished film is now coming out end of August/early Sept by independent filmmaker Harvey Marcus. PARIS 75 Official Trailer out May 28. My new independent documentary, PARIS 75 - the final football tried to forget. A film about a season, that match, and those fans that shaped the identity of what it means to be a Leeds supporter. Please join/share the PARIS 75 - The documentary FB group for more info and cinema dates and a chance to win a PARIS 75 print signed by Allan Clarke. WACCOE.

Elland Road - Redevelopment Plans Pt.1

May 22, 2025
Elland Road Redevelopment - 2025 Wednesday 21st May 2025 Now that things have settled down with our promotion to the Premier League, I’ve had a chance to look at the plans for the development of Elland Road into a 53,000/56,000 stadium. This has been a long time coming and it’s not before time. With Elland Road being sold out every week and I know personally that I haven’t been lucky in getting any extra tickets for family all last season despite trying online unsuccessfully, the capacity increase must be done. As well as the West Stand deteriorating every year and the facilities in the Kop leaving a lot to be desired, I‘m looking forward to what will be done to replace these stands. I was given the chance to look at the stadium video that was released and I can honestly say that it looks impressive. Although I would have liked a one stand Kop, I can understand why it was done the way they designed it as there will be disabled places available in front of more boxes. The lower part of the Kop remains the same size as it is now which I feel is a good thing. The one thing that is needed is space on the concourses which looks to have been taken into account plus improved toilet facilities. I would love to see the south stand seats put back in once the boxes can be relocated with the development. A stand like the Kop design would be a good way forward in future but obviously we need to concentrate on the West first then the Kop. It’s exciting times going forward and I’m looking forward to capturing the developments with my regular photos when attending games at Elland Road.  The one thing going forward is to ensure that the loyal every day fan is not priced out of attending games there. We have a fantastic loyal worldwide fanbase which needs to be nurtured. When things are good as they are now, you have no need to encourage fans to come back as they will always try to get there when they are able. I’ve been there through the good and bad times and only a few years ago, you couldn’t give a ticket away for love nor money so the club can never take anything for granted on that basis. I’m looking forward to seeing the development get off the ground and although there has been a fans’ representation group, I am look forward to the wider fan base given a chance to air their views. LUFC – Marching on Together!" LUFC – Marching on Together!
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