E-I-E-I-O. up the Football League we go
Today I went to watch Leeds United play at Millwall. The last time I saw Leeds play was 10 years ago, when we beat Manchester United 3-1 at home, so it was an odd experience to see a team so far removed from those days when we were serious Premiership contenders.
However things are on the up again. We’re now 4th in the Championship (or Division 2, to those of you who don’t buy into the American-style aggrandizement of the game’s lesser echelons. You can’t call it the League Championship when there are 20 clubs who are above it). After everyone jumped ship post-relegation a year and a half ago, we now have a resurgent base of players, including David Healy (who scored for Northern Ireland against England), Rob Hulse and Robbie Blake. The sight of the three of them bearing down on goal is a truly fearsome sight (perhaps not as much as Rooney, Ronaldo and van Nistelrooy, but hey, we’re a team on a budget).
Perhaps most importantly, luck is running our way. In injury time, having run the whole game without quite managing to string a scoring move together, Healy took a shot which, had it not deflected in off Millwall’s Ben May, would probably have taken my head off behind the goal. When you’re pushing for promotion, those are the kind of breaks that make the difference, and when you’re scrapping it out at the bottom, you don’t get them, as Millwall are finding out.
So all in all it was an enjoyable afternoon singing obscene songs at the opposing fans, and having 90 minutes of intense frustration relieved by what you could only describe as a jammy goal. It was a bit of a shame that the minute’s silence for George Best was spoiled by a few idiots, but not really that surprising. Man U are a touchy subject in the Leeds area.
