Rooting for Leeds

We should just get Bielsa to united. Should be fun.

On 2nd thought, he doesn't seem the type to fall for Woodwards "disney park for adults" sales pitch.
 
Leeds are hated in most of West Yorkshire

Their support seems to be centred around Wakefield, Pontefract and Castleford, aside from Leeds itself.

Dewsbury and Batley too. I lived in Dewsbury for a few years as a kid, and then moved to Pontefract (via a short stop in Morley). Non-Leeds fans were in vastly in the minority at all the schools I went to.

I've got friends in Huddersfield and Bradford who hate Leeds, though that's because they support their respective town's teams, I presume.

Admittedly I've got no idea what goes on to the west of Bradford and Huddersfield. That's the posho end of WY.
 
The club has long since embraced the world outside of Manchester bud. If you want to shun that and pretend football's climate is the same as it was 60 years ago then that's up to you. We've played them, what 3 times in the last 15 years? But sure, it's just as fiery as it ever was...

Listen bud, you support a club from an area you’re not familiar with, it’s your job and anyone else’s job to embrace that, or not. As a Mancunian season ticket holder who’s been away to the likes of Leeds, City, Liverpool, West Ham etc I get the culture of the club I support.....I live in the same city.

if you think me and the likes of your Salford reds, Blackley reds, Moston reds, Middleton reds, Newton Heath reds, chorlton reds are going to base our culture and the match day culture on what’s happening in Norfolk, then you live in cloud cuckoo land. Last time I checked the Munich air disaster was a disaster for the city of Manchester not Norwich. The club brought the treble home to 1/4 of a million people in Manchester in 99. You might not like admitting you’re wrong on an Internet forum but you chose to support Manchester United....it’s your job to understand the culture of that club. It will always be rooted in Manchester whether you like it or not.
 
In a sense they're still too irrelevant to hate all that much - they're entertaining to watch but little chance of them realistically threatening for a top four spot, for example, and you'd imagine where they are at the moment will largely be their peak going forward. That's not necessarily a bad thing for them, because they're a solid mid-table side playing really good football, but for bigger clubs it arguably means they're just a fun team to play against.
 
Listen bud, you support a club from an area you’re not familiar with, it’s your job and anyone else’s job to embrace that, or not. As a Mancunian season ticket holder who’s been away to the likes of Leeds, City, Liverpool, West Ham etc I get the culture of the club I support.....I live in the same city.

if you think me and the likes of you’re Salford reds, Blackley reds, Moston reds, Middleton reds, Newton Heath reds, Charlton reds are going to base our culture and the match day culture on what’s happening in Norfolk, then you live in cloud cuckoo land. Last time I checked the Munich air disaster was a disaster for the city of Manchester not Norwich. The club brought the treble home to 1/4 of a million people in Manchester in 99. You might not like admitting you’re wrong on an Internet forum but you chose to support Manchester United....it’s your job to understand the culture of that club. It will always be rooted in Manchester whether you like it or not.
Firstly, that second paragraph has got to be a copypasta. No self aware person can genuinely write that.

Secondly, I literally said I moved to the area six years ago and my family used to live in Manchester you mentalist.
 
Firstly, that second paragraph has got to be a copypasta. No self aware person can genuinely write that.

Secondly, I literally said I moved to the area six years ago and my family used to live in Manchester you mentalist.

He's right though.

It's interesting , we used to get a fair few fans online who didn't regard City as rivals before they had money because they weren't from Manchester and so didn't know any city fans and they didn't understand the rivalry.

Had similar debates with them .
 
Firstly, that second paragraph has got to be a copypasta. No self aware person can genuinely write that.

Secondly, I literally said I moved to the area six years ago and my family used to live in Manchester you mentalist.

You’re clueless.
 
I can understand that this particular Leeds team come across as fairly sympathetic in some ways - sure.

But it's Leeds.

For me, growing up in the 80s, Liverpool were obviously the No1 team to detest. But Leeds supporters were always considerably more detestable than the Scousers.

Not to say downright dangerous. I still remember a particularly nerve-racking afternoon spent at Elland Road: my older cousin and I foolishly decided to take the trip and buy tickets from a scalper. We ended up having to pretend to be innocent tourists, barely convincing the extremely hostile feckers surrounding us - several of whom followed us after the match had ended, as we made our way away from the stadium. I was about 15 at the time - and I've no doubt whatsoever that some of the 40+ thugs who pestered us wouldn't have thought twice about kicking the shit out of me if I had openly supported United.

Never experienced that kind of hostility from random Liverpool or City supporters.
 
I have never enjoyed the tribal aspect of football. I am a Manchester United fan because I was raised as one, I like the history of the club, the general philosophy of "the United Way" and I find the way football is played and has evolved fascinating. But this whole hate and vitriol approach to people born the next town over because they've got a different football club always felt like a colossal waste of time and emotional energy. I can still enjoy it immensely when we beat a rival.

Go ahead and support who you like. Leeds play entertaining football. You don't have to like the fanbase to enjoy watching players play.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Sultan
Anyone who has ever been to Leeds away will never have any sympathies with Leeds plight. The only time I would ever want them to get a result if this benefits United and they can go on to lose every other game thereafter.

During Leeds successful spell in terms of dislikes, it was Liverpool, Leeds, and then City in that order.
 
Listen bud, you support a club from an area you’re not familiar with, it’s your job and anyone else’s job to embrace that, or not. As a Mancunian season ticket holder who’s been away to the likes of Leeds, City, Liverpool, West Ham etc I get the culture of the club I support.....I live in the same city.

if you think me and the likes of your Salford reds, Blackley reds, Moston reds, Middleton reds, Newton Heath reds, chorlton reds are going to base our culture and the match day culture on what’s happening in Norfolk, then you live in cloud cuckoo land. Last time I checked the Munich air disaster was a disaster for the city of Manchester not Norwich. The club brought the treble home to 1/4 of a million people in Manchester in 99. You might not like admitting you’re wrong on an Internet forum but you chose to support Manchester United....it’s your job to understand the culture of that club. It will always be rooted in Manchester whether you like it or not.

:lol:
Got where you were coming from until this bit , although it was funny it is slightly knobheadish but at least you’ve secured the top red award for 2021 so you should be proud.
But yes in general I think you should embrace a clubs culture. But then like @Raveneye said, not everybody is tribal, regardless of their location and that’s fine.

Whats never gonna end well, and I’m sure Pogue knew this, The fecking shit stirrer! is creating a thread on a Man United forum entitled ‘rooting for Leeds’.

I don’t think you need to be from Manchester to understand the Leeds thing either. It’s not as if Manchester is full of Leeds fans. Similar things get said about non Manc’s who hate Liverpool. Which is weird because I can’t imagine there are more than three people in Manchester who support Liverpool, whereas for us Londoners we have to deal with Liverpool fans on a daily basis.

What I would say though and a few others have mentioned it. If you’ve attended a Leeds vs Man United game there is absolutely no way in hell you ‘root for Leeds’. I’ve attended two and can comfortably say they have the most vile, detestable and hateful fans I’ve ever come across.
If that’s not enough just watch the coverage they get, the self entitled ness all those years in the Chanpionship, pretending the Prem needed them back. The constant referral to them as a big and successful club even though they’ve won less trophies than Sunderland and wolves.

The thing about Leeds is, pretty much everyone hates them. Even clubs from the most random places and it’s probably because Leeds fans turned up at their ground and behaved like animals and then subsequently went on sky sports news and told everyone they were the 4th biggest club in England. This kind of stuff rubs people the wrong way.
Fans are now getting annoyed because their teams are beating Leeds 4-0 and 6-2 and all they hear about in the post match analysis is how Leeds were amazing and kept going.
 
Anyone who has ever been to Leeds away will never have any sympathies with Leeds plight. The only time I would ever want them to get a result if this benefits United and they can go on to lose every other game thereafter.

During Leeds successful spell in terms of dislikes, it was Liverpool, Leeds, and then City in that order.

I've been to Elland Road twice and I can safely say it was the worst away experience of my life. Way worse than Anfield, Goodison or anywhere else in the NW of England. Worst fanbase on earth by miles.
 
I think this pressure to hate old rivals is quite childish. I bear no animosity towards Leeds. They were never a rival while I've been a fan and I quite liked many of their players when they had that Champions League run at the beginning of the century. Now they're a young, positive team with a manager I respect and a way of playing that should be an inspiration for many teams. If you're a Manchester lad or if you carry around an old grudge, fair enough. Otherwise, hating Leeds simply because "you should" would be quite juvenile. So yeah, I'm rooting for them in most games, objectively one of the most likeable teams in the league right now. Don't feel the least bit guilty about that.
 
I think this pressure to hate old rivals is quite childish. I bear no animosity towards Leeds, they were never a rival while I've been a fan and I quite liked many of their players when they had that Champions League run at the beginning of the century. Now they're a young, positive team with a manager I respect and a way of playing that should be an inspiration for many teams. If you're a Manchester lad or if you carry around an old grudge, fair enough, otherwise hating Leeds simply because "you should" would be quite juvenile.

Being a football fan is "juvenile" by definition! You can't pick and choose when to be juvenile and when to be above it! I mean, you can for yourself, but not for others.
 
Being a football fan is "juvenile" by definition! You can't pick and choose when to be juvenile and when to be above it! I mean, you can for yourself, but not for others.
There are different ways of being a football fan. For me, all the juvenile stuff has waned with age. Now I just like to watch the games. Well, I did before VAR at least.
 
There are different ways of being a football fan. For me, all the juvenile stuff has waned with age. Now I just like to watch the games. Well, I did before VAR at least.

You may have a different opinion if you went to Elland Road as an away fan and had the entire South Stand chant shit at you for 90 minutes. Tends to put a dampener on the experience to say the least.
 
2 years ago I tried with all my might to genuinely root for Ajax during their CL run, but my first reaction to Moura's last second winner was that of Nelson.
 
You may have a different opinion if you went to Elland Road as an away fan and had the entire South Stand chant shit at you for 90 minutes. Tends to put a dampener on the experience to say the least.
Yeah, like I said: If you're a local or has experienced the old rivalry, it's completely understandable. For a non-Mancunian millennial like me, I think it'd be bizarre to hate Leeds "just because".
 
Yeah, like I said: If you're a local or has experienced the old rivalry, it's completely understandable. For a non-Mancunian millennial like me, I think it'd be bizarre to hate Leeds "just because".

I'm not from Manchester, but I take your point.

I've been told Millwall fans are worse, but I've never been to heir stadium so I couldn't say one way or the other.
 
We have bigger rivals these days but for their fans nobody else comes close to us. They hate us.

I think the feelings will soon come back after a couple of games with fans back in the ground.
 
I’m from Leeds originally, so I know a lot about their team through my mates and I definitely keep an eye out for their games a lot more - but I am definitely not rooting for them! Love to see them lose but you’re right probably would like to see them beat Liverpool, Chelsea, City, Arsenal at the moment. Spurs or Leicester I’d be indifferent to, everyone else can gladly batter them.
 
We have bigger rivals these days but for their fans nobody else comes close to us. They hate us.

I think the feelings will soon come back after a couple of games with fans back in the ground.

The thing is, I know Stoke fans who swear we are serious rivals with them too. Just because they care about us doesn't mean we necessarily have to care about them.
 
In my age watching they have never even been in the same league as us. I have one bad cup memory against them and that hurt, but that is it.

Also without fans it is very different too.

Do I want them relegated? Not really bothered it is fun to have another rival in the league. Do I want them to do well. Not really, but if they end 6-10th I am not really bothered.
 
I'm torn because I do love how Leeds play under Bielsa, and they're not currently rivals so what's the harm...

Except - I remember going to Elland Road in the 90s, and I remember being a uni student in Bradford (with a lot of Leeds fans around), and Leeds fans can feck right off. It's weird, I don't think I actually dislike Leeds as a team - but I loathe their fans
 
:lol:
Got where you were coming from until this bit , although it was funny it is slightly knobheadish but at least you’ve secured the top red award for 2021 so you should be proud.
But yes in general I think you should embrace a clubs culture. But then like @Raveneye said, not everybody is tribal, regardless of their location and that’s fine.

Whats never gonna end well, and I’m sure Pogue knew this, The fecking shit stirrer! is creating a thread on a Man United forum entitled ‘rooting for Leeds’.

I don’t think you need to be from Manchester to understand the Leeds thing either. It’s not as if Manchester is full of Leeds fans. Similar things get said about non Manc’s who hate Liverpool. Which is weird because I can’t imagine there are more than three people in Manchester who support Liverpool, whereas for us Londoners we have to deal with Liverpool fans on a daily basis.

What I would say though and a few others have mentioned it. If you’ve attended a Leeds vs Man United game there is absolutely no way in hell you ‘root for Leeds’. I’ve attended two and can comfortably say they have the most vile, detestable and hateful fans I’ve ever come across.
If that’s not enough just watch the coverage they get, the self entitled ness all those years in the Chanpionship, pretending the Prem needed them back. The constant referral to them as a big and successful club even though they’ve won less trophies than Sunderland and wolves.

The thing about Leeds is, pretty much everyone hates them. Even clubs from the most random places and it’s probably because Leeds fans turned up at their ground and behaved like animals and then subsequently went on sky sports news and told everyone they were the 4th biggest club in England. This kind of stuff rubs people the wrong way.
Fans are now getting annoyed because their teams are beating Leeds 4-0 and 6-2 and all they hear about in the post match analysis is how Leeds were amazing and kept going.

Well that bit was in reference to the poster claiming that the club had embraced its worldwide support and left behind its geographical culture. Of course the club has embraced its worldwide support, fans are viewed as customers to the corporate arm of the club. They’ll take money from whoever wants to pay the highest price.

That doesn’t remove the club’s culture and identity, when you go to a game at Old Trafford you enter into a Mancunian atmosphere, you walk the streets of the city. Even though thousands of fans inside the stadium that day will be from far and wide, what’s left of the atmosphere in an all seater stadium, is rooted in the club’s history and traditions. I defy any fan from anywhere in the world to say they didn’t feel a closer connection to the club once they had experienced a match day in Manchester.

I referenced perhaps the two biggest events in the club’s history firstly because they had a huge impact on the city of Manchester, in a way that I’m sure they didn’t have on Norfolk. Manchester was like a carnival city for about five days after the treble win, the day they paraded the trophies on deansgate was an experience I’ll never forget. The atmosphere inside the MEN arena was euphoric. I’m not sure the streets of Norfolk were the same at that time, perhaps the club should’ve paraded there instead, since it’s so embracing of its worldwide support. I wasn’t alive during the Munich air disaster but family members were and I’ve heard of the despair on the streets, the numbness that went on for months, the general sadness that shrouded the entire city.
These things are now steeped in our local culture and bringing it back to Leeds, I’ve never seen a group of supporters so passionately and constantly chant venom about the Munich air disaster. Man City I actually consider worse because they actually call us Munich’s and songs referencing us call us Munich’s rather than United, but there isn’t the same venom in it.

I stand by what I said, those supporters who make up the hardcore support are steeped in Mancunian culture. They aren’t going to try to embrace Norfolk culture and nor should they, the same as the club aren’t going to parade any further trophies through the city of Norfolk.

I’m going to suggest that Manchester and Norfolk are very different places with very
different cultures. If you want to support Manchester United then it’s your job, or not, to understand the culture not try to bend the culture to suit you.

As for the other posters self awareness comments, I deliver training on self awareness, it’s about understanding how your thoughts and feelings impact your behaviour and making choices about your behaviour that suit social settings. Well football is one social setting where it is socially acceptable to embrace tribalism. Absolutely ridiculous to judge someone’s self awareness based on a tribalistic football debate.
 
:lol:
Got where you were coming from until this bit , although it was funny it is slightly knobheadish but at least you’ve secured the top red award for 2021 so you should be proud.
But yes in general I think you should embrace a clubs culture. But then like Raveneye said, not everybody is tribal, regardless of their location and that’s fine.
Incredible isn't it? I had to double check for white text.

And no Jeppers, I didn't say it had left behind it's 'geographical culture' at all. I said you can't ignore those fans who don't live in Manchester which is exactly what you're trying to do. An element of critical thinking I s required in order to have a basic conversation. I've told you twice now that I only moved to Norwich around 6 years ago but you seem incapable of absorbing this simple fact in your crusade to become a top red.

The discussion was on who were our rivals, not who Leeds fans consider as rivals. Again, a distinct difference I would've hoped you had picked up on by now. I also didn't imply at any point that they weren't still a rival, just that it's eroded somewhat over the years. You only have to look at the surveys and some of the comments on this thread. Do you think if Pogue posted the same thread about City or Liverpool the response would be the same? Nonsense.

If you deliver training on self awareness then God help your students.
 
Last edited:
Incredible isn't it? I had to double check for white text.

And no Jeppers, I didn't say it had left behind it's 'geographical culture' at all. I said you can't ignore those fans who don't live in Manchester which is exactly what you're trying to do. An element of critical thinking I s required in order to have a basic conversation. I've told you twice now that I only moved to Norwich around 6 years ago but you seem incapable of absorbing this simple fact in your crusade to become a top red.

The discussion was on who were our rivals, not who Leeds fans consider as rivals. Again, a distinct difference I would've hoped you had picked up on by now. I also didn't imply at any point that they weren't still a rival, just that it's eroded somewhat over the years. You only have to look at the surveys and some of the comments on this thread. Do you think if Pogue posted the same thread about City or Liverpool the response would be the same? Nonsense.

If you deliver training on self awareness then God help your students.

Id suggest you re-read the conversation in context.

You said family used to live in Manchester....not that you grew up in Manchester and lived there all your life until recently. I can only go off the information you provide me when forming a discussion.

You seem to want to make this discussion into a personal attack, for some reason, then talk about self awareness.....So I’m going to leave it here because I’ve no interest in going down that path.
 
Id suggest you re-read the conversation in context.

You said family used to live in Manchester....not that you grew up in Manchester and lived there all your life until recently. I can only go off the information you provide me when forming a discussion.

You seem to want to make this discussion into a personal attack, for some reason, then talk about self awareness.....So I’m going to leave it here because I’ve no interest in going down that path.
Nor did I say I hadn't lived in Manchester, or that I was from Norfolk. I have already corrected you on it once. That is, as you say, 'information to go off.' But you carried on with your strawman anyway. Not that it mattered, you had already assumed I couldn't understand your culture.

'We can’t help it if you don’t get the culture.'

That was your initial response to my post. And you want to whine about it being personal? It is perfectly easy to have a discussion without making such remarks. There was nothing in my post that warranted that, yet you decided to jump in with your holier-than-thou crap anyway, and now you're upset because you've received it in kind. So yes, I'd bow out if I was you. Enjoy the rest of your morning.
 
I live in bandit country and I can tell you that certainly from their POV the rivalry is as intense as ever. They hate United with a passion. I work amongst many of them and we do have a good laugh to be fair but as soon Man United lose I can guarantee I’m getting some stick when I go in. That’s why the 6-2 was so sweet. I dined off that for quite a while.
But it’s a strange one for me, whilst I absolutely detest them, I’d rather look forward to those fixtures than, say, Fulham or West Brom. So whilst prt of me wants them relegated into the conference, another part of me wants to look forward to that kind of fixture.
 
"Best poster 2020"

Bloody hell, they'll give that to any fecker on here won't they?

Edit: 2 and a bit hours later I've realised that was harsh. "Attack the post and not the poster" and all that so sorry! Still kind of a surprising thing for me to read on a United forum I suppose but then I'm older than some, got to appreciate that many won't have experienced much of the rivalry between the two.

Wouldn't go as far to say I'm straight up old though! Rio Ferdinand is older than me just about and he's not an old man is he? Having said that, I thought OP was about that age too, maybe not. I certainly remember how vicious the rivalry was in the early 90s between us and Leeds.
 
Last edited:
Here we go again.

C’mon Leeds.
feck Leeds. They’re hated by everyone, not just United fans. The fact that their team is entertaining and their manager is a comedy villain doesn’t diminish this.
Also, feck the city of Leeds. Impossible nightmare to drive round. I got lost there once on the way to an exam....even the satnav was fecked. It’s a hellhole
 
Isn’t everyone a bit long in the tooth to hate a team for stuff in the 70s and 80s that basically centred around a few knuckleheads?

I root for Leeds provided it doesn’t impact United negatively because I really like Bielsa and think his teams play unique football.

Plus my Dad supports them.