Preseason Leeds United v AC Milan in Dublin 9th August 2025 please log in to view this image please log in to view this image The last of our preseason games was taking place in Dublin and I booked to travel with South Kirkby Supporters Club again. Getting up at 5am to travel to Leeds in plenty of time to catch the coach that was taking us over the Pennines to catch the plane to Dublin all fell into place with no issues. We arrived at our hotel the Skylon and most of us were allowed to book in at 2.30pm so after a quick cup of tea, I was on a bus heading down to the Camden Sports Bar. This was going to be the focal point as I was meeting friends there but also Gerry who I have known for many years had arranged a great welcome for Leeds fans there. It was great catching up with lots of fans there and as usual included a lot of photos. I decided to head back to the hotel around 9pm as the long day was starting to catch up with me and went to look for the number 16 bus. There was a sign outside the hotel with that bus number on, but the security guard said the bus wouldn’t stop there so I set off walking the way I’d come earlier but the opposite way to where I’d been dropped off. After bumping into the Shropshire Whites in the middle of the road, I carried on to the next stop but there was no sign of the bus number on show, so I panicked a bit and headed back the way I came. Luckily, I bumped into Alan one of our Irish fans so turned around and went to the next bus stop along which was the right one to catch the bus. That was a relief and thank you for the help. After an early breakfast I headed off to the Camden bright and early at 9am on the day of the game even though it didn’t open until 10am. As the bus had taken ages the day before I expected the same but was down there very quickly so at 9.30am was queuing up and started taking photos of my flag and fans. There were big queues forming before the doors opened so got to the front to join Gerry and others and stayed there once it had opened. What can I say about the Camden but what an experience we were given. When Noel Whelan and Dominic Mateo arrived at 11am the massive screen at the front and all the tv screens around the edges had Leeds badges on them. The music with the DJ in control playing Leeds songs too made the atmosphere electric. It was packed out in there and the music had my feet tapping away giving off a holiday vibe where I wanted to jump onto the dance floor not that there was any room. I’ve never been a good dancer, so I’d have only been as stiff as a board but being in the company of Leeds supporters, we have that unique bond of following our team, and it was what being Leeds is all about. In fact, I nearly forgot we’d a football game to go to but eventually my friend Arnie and I went to get a taxi to the ground. We managed to catch one outside the Camden very quickly and as we headed to the ground, we were warned to beware of pickpockets as they were rife in Dublin. A woman on the bus on Friday who sat next to me said it wasn’t what it used to be there, so it wasn’t a surprise to hear some of our fans had found that out the hard way. tbc The rest of the blog and photos can be found on the website links below: https://www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk/vs-ac-milan-saturday-9th-august-2025 https://www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk/camden-dublin-sightseeing-9-10th-august-2025 Follow me and Leeds United https://www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk/ Sponsored by Clearwell Pest Control https://www.clearwellpestcontrol.com/
Delighted you had a great time Heidi. Meeting Eddy was high point of our day. That’s another one off my bucket list.One point about the Camden, it is a sports bar and if Liverpool or any other club were in town, they would have been on the big screen while we were relegated to smaller ones. Much of the Irish supporters don’t go there and they recently had about 30 at a meet and greet night with Becks and Dorigo. Having said all that really hope this will be an annual event. Asa matter of interest what did you think of the booing of Harrison by a section of our fans. Personally thought it was disgusting
Hi thank you for responding and sorry it's taken so long to get back to you. I've been celebrating my birthday and organising a party so it's taken up a lot of my time. It didn't surprise me hearing boos but there were a lot more than I thought there would be. I'd already come round to the fact that we may be keeping him and I watched him put a lot of effort into the warm up as well as being one of a very few who interacted with the fans. To me that was the Bielsa effect. I would never boo our players and as long as he puts his all into playing for the shirt he will win the fans over. His mother has caused so much more trouble for him sadly which won't be forgotten by many of our fans but as long as she keeps schtum I think he'll be fine. I also thought he played well in defence so think he would still be an asset for us.
