Why is leeds united hated

The fanzines are full of jokes portraying Yorkshiremen as in-bred. With Bremner and Reaney and Lorimer, too. Dazed, I get up but get pushed or punched three different times. The away fans with seat tickets have to walk further past the Peacock pub without an escort.

More trouble. The terrace is cold, shallow, uncovered and fenced in. The contorted faces of Leeds fans to our right hurl abuse. Coins are thrown back and forth. Elland Road is scruffy, northern, visceral and loud. We are so proud, We shout it out loud we love you, Leeds! But they do not win. Unfashionable defender Mal Donaghy, too. John Sheridan, a United fan from Stretford, will score the winner for the Owls. But first, we have to get out of Elland Road safely.

Are you fucking Man U? Elland Road was always rough, but it never got as bad as that again for me. It did for others and there were pitched battles between rival hooligans in There were momentous visits, too.

Leeds, of course, had pipped their greatest rivals to win the league in The Munich stuff was sad, pathetic and disrespectful to the families of those who lost their lives, but I used the other venom to motivate me. The hatred was unbelievable and much worse than bigger rival clubs like Liverpool.

In April , Cole scored a goal in front of the Elland Road Kop after chasing a ball from the halfway line and beating the brilliant Lucas Radebe for speed before flipping the ball over Nigel Martyn. Leeds had a cracking young side which would reach the semi finals of the Champions League a year later. I just laughed at them. At that moment I found it nice to be hated. The feeling was mutual and the rivalry went well beyond the pale.

But why were they such great rivals? The War Of The Roses is often mentioned, but that was a year struggle for control of England between the House of Lancaster and the House of York rather than between two counties years ago. The 19 th- century industrial revolution brought a civic rivalry. Brash newcomer Manchester built its wealth on cotton, so much so that it was dubbed Cottonopolis — at the expense of the Yorkshire woollen industry.

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