Valencia - 3rd August - 24/25

August 4, 2024

Leeds United v Valencia

Saturday 3rd August 2024 - Elland Road, Leeds

2024/25 Pre-Season Friendly


It was lovely to see a sea of yellow around Elland Road with the new away shirt worn by plenty including many children. Today’s last pre-season friendly was an opportunity for many fans to bring young children to their first game.


Team: Meslier, Ampadu, Jayden Bogle (making his home debut), Firpo, Struijk, Rodon, Rutter, James, Gnonto, Joseph, Gruev

Subs: Byram for Bogle (60), Wöber for Struijk (64), Piroe for James (64), Aaronson for Gnonto (64), Rothwell for Gruev, (64), Bamford for Joseph (76), Gelhardt for Rutter (76), Crew for Ampadu (81), Debayo for Firpo (81), Chambers for Rodon (88)

Subs not used: Darlow


Leeds won the game 2-1 with goals from Joseph (14), Rutter (41)


Attendance: 32,973


Referee: James Bell

Booked: Ampadu

Sent off: Mir (Valencia)



To say this was a preseason friendly, it was anything but on the pitch. There were a lot of hard tackles and fouls put in, mainly from Valencia, but it wasn’t a surprise when they ended the game with 10 men.


With Bogle going off after being injured in a tackle, I’m hoping that was just as a precaution. All I could think of was that we may end up with injuries before we even start the season. As we have already lost young Harry Gray until 2025 according to a now deleted post on Instagram, I want us to start the season strongly.


The game saw some flashes of brilliance and a never say die attitude showing resilience which was good to see. Both Joseph and Rutter took their goals well and I’m looking forward to seeing them build on today’s performance. I didn’t want to see Aaronson or Wöber back at Elland Road, but I was still surprised by the number of boos as they came onto the pitch. They will have to do their talking on the pitch as far as I’m concerned and as always, being at games in person is how I will always judge how Leeds as a team will perform.


With Summerville completing his move to West Ham today, that’s another one out of the door so having depth in our squad going forward is essential. As the transfer window doesn’t shut until the end of the month and the season starts in earnest next week with our home game against Portsmouth, I won’t rule out any more incomings or outgoings until then.


See you next week, 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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