Leeds United - Elland Road
Leeds United Football Club
Elland Road
Leeds
Yorkshire
LS11 0ES
HISTORY/FACTS ABOUT LEEDS UNITED:
- Leeds United formed in 1919 and have been playing at Elland Road ever since.
- Leeds United aren't the 1st club to play at Elland Road, Leeds City Football Club played there from 1904-1919, then later got expelled.
- Huddersfield Town played 2 games there in the 1950's, also Bradford City played there in 1985 for 3 games.
- Other than Football, Elland Road has it's other uses, such as Rugby and Concerts. Elland Road even held a religious event back in 1985, Jehovah's Witness.
- Leeds United were runners-up in the European Cup Final in 1975, losing 2-0 to German Giants Bayern Munich.
- Leeds United have several rivalries with a number of clubs, Manchester United, Bradford City and Huddersfield Town to name a few.
- Leeds United's anthem music is more commonly known as 'Marching on Together' The song was released way back in 1972 and is known for being played at Elland Road before each home game.
- The club have won 1 FA Cup, 1 League Cup, and 2 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, being the last Champions of the Inter-Cities Cup, beating Juventus in 1971 on Away Goals.
- Leeds reached to the Semi-Finals of the Champions League in 2001, only to be knocked out by Spanish eventual runner-up Champions League Finalists Valencia.
Leeds United's catchy song, Marching On Together.
MY VISITS:
VISIT 1: Leeds United 3-3 Norwich City 29/4/17
VISIT 1: Leeds United 3-3 Norwich City 29/4/17
FIRST VISIT TO ELLAND ROAD, LEEDS 3-3 NORWICH:
Leeds United 3-3 Norwich City
Saturday 29th April 2017
SkyBet Championship
To start off with, all I'll say is what a nightmare of a journey up to Leeds it was for me. I left home just before 8, got into London Bridge around quarter to 9, then a straight Northern line from there to Kings Cross St Pancras. Got to Kings Cross by 9. By half 9ish, my train got announced on what platform it was on, which is all great at the time, everyone gets on the train and literally about 10 minutes before departure time, the train has been cancelled due to a broken rail in the Grantham/Doncaster area. Bloody marvellous. So apparently the 10am train to Aberdeen was stopping off at Doncaster on the way, but once I got to the platform, the train was too packed, so I gave up. Then I discovered there was a 10.30am train towards Edinburgh but of course stopping at Doncaster and York on the way. I planned to go to York and change there, but the conductor said on the tannoy to change at Doncaster so I thought ok fine no problem. Really by then I was hoping to get to Doncaster for the half 1 train but missed it by a few minutes in the end due to the train I was on staying at Grantham for about half an hour and then stop start stop start between Grantham and Newick Northgate. At this point I was literally getting so annoyed. But luckily in the end I got into Doncaster shortly after half 1. I had 2 options, 1, get a train which then eventually get me into Leeds shortly after 2.30pm or a taxi from Doncaster to the ground. So I decided to see how much a taxi was, luckily a gentleman and a woman called Janet (I can't remember who the man's name was now on the top of my head) who was his mum asked me if I was going to the game and asked me who I like to share a taxi with them, so of course it was a no brainer. I think in the end the taxi ended up costing about £55, but only had to pay £20 so what a bargain. I arrived to the ground at around 2.45pm so just made it. Another near disaster was as I was taking pictures of the ground, I put my ticket in my back pocket and then only realised it fell out of my pocket without me noticing, but as I went back, luckily it was on the floor and no-one had picked it up. Phew! So after that, I then made my way into the ground and found my seat in a packed Elland Road. Leeds were heading into the game against Norwich with 1 win in all of April, a 3-0 win against Preston, so not in great form, and the last 2 games being 2 defeats. Norwich were in okish form themselves, although they didn't have anything to play for but their last 2 games with both wins against Brighton who had recently been promoted to the Premier League and a 3-1 win on Easter Bank Holiday Monday at Preston.
It might come quite a surprise to Gills fans that I had been to Elland Road before as Gillingham have played there quite a few times, more recently in 2010 a 4-1 defeat to Leeds in the season we didn't win a single away game all season. In the previous visits Gills have played there I haven't been able to make it, so of course when an opportunity to tick Elland Road off now, I couldn't turn down the chance. Anyway, onto the game itself, Leeds did start quite slow and were poor especially in the 1st half for me. Steven Naismith took his goal well for Norwich and put them in front with a 25 yard goal into the corner, Norwich then went on to score another 2 before half time from Nelson Oliviera before Leeds pulled 1 back right before half time from Chris Wood who's been class for Leeds all season. It turned out to be vital as well. 2nd half Leeds looked a lot better, Norwich just sat back for most of it. Kyle Bartley who I didn't think much of in the 1st half scrambled the ball into the net to make it 3-2, then a terrific free-kick from Pablo Hernandez the former Swansea man made it 3-3 with 12 minutes left. Sadly for Leeds, they couldn't get a winner which meant they missed out on reaching the Play Offs (unless they can overturn a 14 goal difference to Fulham but unlikely) but overall a manic start to the day ended a crazy day watching 6 goals. Been a good day. Onto Northampton away next day now where nerves will start to kick in!
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