And another thing............

[2020VisionofLeeds]

Bored today so another pointless article from me.

Don't live in Leeds, nor even Yorkshire, anymore. But my daughter does, so go up there a lot (about to set off now in fact, so watch my spirits rise as I leave sarn sarf behind and approach God's chosen city).

Anyway - Lotherton Hall. Went there earlier in the summer, quite nice place, only a few quid to get in, unlike Harewood House where you need a mortgage. Worth a visit if its a sunny day and you have nothing to do. Cafe was alright, too.

But.... when I was parking the car there were 7-8 young lads kicking a ball about on the grass - bear in mind this is a Leeds Corporation owned place, maybe 10 miles from ER - and I counted 2 Arsenal shirts, 3 Scum, 2 ManC, and 1 that looked like it was our old striped away kit. Except on closer examination it wasn't, it was one of the mancs (I think).

I know who I blame for this.

I would have asked them where they all came from (bet it was Leeds area) but at this point my wife prodded me in the ribs to point out men of my age watching young boys in parks.... erm, could be misinterpreted. So I didn't.

Sad picture, though.

 

[Whitejock]

Bored today so another pointless article from me.

Don't live in Leeds, nor even Yorkshire, anymore. But my daughter does, so go up there a lot (about to set off now in fact, so watch my spirits rise as I leave sarn sarf behind and approach God's chosen city).

Anyway - Lotherton Hall. Went there earlier in the summer, quite nice place, only a few quid to get in, unlike Harewood House where you need a mortgage. Worth a visit if its a sunny day and you have nothing to do. Cafe was alright, too.

But.... when I was parking the car there were 7-8 young lads kicking a ball about on the grass - bear in mind this is a Leeds Corporation owned place, maybe 10 miles from ER - and I counted 2 Arsenal shirts, 3 Scum, 2 ManC, and 1 that looked like it was our old striped away kit. Except on closer examination it wasn't, it was one of the mancs (I think).

I know who I blame for this.

I would have asked them where they all came from (bet it was Leeds area) but at this point my wife prodded me in the ribs to point out men of my age watching young boys in parks.... erm, could be misinterpreted. So I didn't.

Sad picture, though.

Sounds like good reason to 'Go Postal'. Just as well the wife dragged you away. Leeds City Council should ban all non LUFC shirts from their premises. For starters .....

 

[Micky Dirtbag]

It is the same everywhere mate. I live in Swansea whose fans have a lot to shout about these days yet any given day while walking around the town centre all you will see are smatterings of Swans shirts with the majority of kids wearing Scum, Arsenal, Chelsea etc....god know why but some kids aged 10 or under still wearing Liverpool Shirts!!!??? I can understand anyone over 30 who might remember the good days supporting them but 10 year olds today???

Sad thing is 15 years ago you would have seen a few Leeds shirts knocking around Cardiff and Swansea and you could buy the latest strip in any sports shop. Not anymore!!!!!!

 

[Jerel Ifil]

People from Hull, Bradford, Donny and York say the same about Leeds fans, so it's a bit hypocritical for us to moan about there being non-Leeds fans in our city.

That said, the proportion of them has indeed gone way above what it should be, especially among the younger generation. A decade and a bit ago, my school was 80% Leeds. Now I talk to my little brother and he says they're all Liverpool, scum, Man City and Chelsea, with only a couple of Leeds fans. There's even parents who are Leeds-based Leeds fans who let their kids support other teams, which I personally think is a ****ing disgrace and shameful parenting.

If Bates had acted sooner to introduce the ticket improvements we've seen this season, and if the club had any idea how to market our games to the Leeds public, we'd get far higher crowds and more engagement from football-loving kids in the city. As it is, all they see is the clubs on Sky Sports every SUPER SUNDAY and Rhinos adverts all over the city. No wonder we can't capture imaginations.

 

[Doc]

Bates has lost a whole generation of kids which is all down to his sheer greed. ticket pricing policy has been a joke for far too long and fans spending on the 4th highest prices in England just isn't on. How can families afford to watch their own team at these prices. Why no kids subsidies especially for season ticket holders.

 

[Wolves White]

When I was a school the majority of kids were Leeds fans and the odd Wednesday fan here and there. You wouldn't dream of supporting the Scum let alone Arsenal or Chelsea.

I don't think I've seen a kid in a Leeds Shirt in the Wakey area for a while. There's way to many Scum fans around where I live. Funny thing though is we have a massive fan base in the Northampton area and I thing we've got one in Northern Ireland as well.

It's shocking that we can't get local kids to support Leeds when you think about the fact the West Midlands they all support Villa, Brum, WBA and Wolves and every kid in Liverpool are wearing Liverpool shirts with the latest signing on the back.

 

[Exodus Geohaghon]

You do have to bear in mind that no-one (except you, apparently) moves to the Black Country. Leeds has a transient population of roughly 100,000 students at its three universities. At least double that number of people have moved to the city in the last 40 years as part of its finance sector boom (among other things). In most suburbs, while people are proud of where they live, you'll only hear a strong Leeds accent on about half of the people. And there's three sports clubs vying for the people's attentions. So there's something of an identity crisis. In Liverpool or Wolverhampton, it's far more straightforward. You support the local football club.

Also, Leeds fans tend to shy away from wearing the club shirt on a daily basis (and to bed) like Geordies, Mackems and Scousers do. We tend to have those stickers in on the back window of our cars, and I see those in literally any city I visit.

We still have a strong fanbase, but the young 'uns are indeed increasingly looking towards the Murdoch-financed London and Manchester clubs, which is such a shame.

It's not a tough problem to solve either. Get lots of ticket incentives like Derby to re-connect with the city. Get the club's name up on billboards over Yorkshire again. Get some pride back at Elland Road to make people want to come back. Sell club merchandise in nationwide sports stores. Shame Bates is too intransigent to care. Hopefully whoever takes the reins from him can rescue the slightly crumbling empire before it falls for good and we become a club the size of Stoke or Forest.

 

[kiwi]

On a totally unrelated note, Exodus Geohaghon...didn't he play for Peterborough one season? As I recall he had a monster throw, longer than Delap...

 

[leeds down south]

On a totally unrelated note, Exodus Geohaghon...didn't he play for Peterborough one season? As I recall he had a monster throw, longer than Delap...

Correct, Mark Cooper took him to Posh after leaving his job at Kettering Town. Big step up really from BSP to the Championship to join a struggling team, although it's a shame big "Ex" wasn't given a chance under Johnson back in league 1.

 

[Wolves White]

There's nothing wrong with the Black Country I really enjoyed my time down there and every time I went 'home' I counted down the days I could go back down there. In-fact I hope to live back down there.

Where ever you go it seems to be more 'straight forward' except for those pockets of Scum fans you find dotted around London. Not met a London based Scum fan they all seem to be Arsenal fans.

If you want incentives we could follow Barnsley's lead and offer free or discounted tickets to kids in school

 

[Exodus Geohaghon]

Derby actually choose a local business every week (e.g. a factory, hospital, office) and offer everyone there a free ticket in one of the less popular areas of the ground. Get them proud of their city's team and hopefully hooked on the Pride Park experience. Very clever move. Also they have a huge deal with buymobile.net (I think) where you get a free season ticket if you buy their contract (or maybe it's the other way round, I forget).

Still, 21st century marketing right there. We're stuck somewhere in the 1580s.

 

[Wolves White]

I Don't think we've surpassed 1580 more 1065

 

[Exodus Geohaghon]

Jesus, I thought we'd already been ravaged by Kenneth William the Conqueror, and had to read enough Doomsday Book club accounts for a lifetime.

 

[FORZA LEEDS]

At the end of the day these things go in circles, and kids will latch on to the most successful clubs. In the 70's Essex schools were at a minimum filled with 25% Leeds United 'glory supporters' (or plastics these days). In the early 90's and 00's also there were as many kids wearing Leeds tops as there were the top London sides and scum etc. Nothing to do with incentives, just success and the related television exposure.
In the unlikely event we return to the top six of the PL the same thing will no doubt happen again.

 

[carterleeds]

I think it’s likely a fad, kids go through about 10 different clubs they claim to ‘support’ during childhood. I was brought up a Leeds fan but I think most naturally grow to support their local club, even if they didn’t when they were younger

 

[Whitejock]

You're going to love this ..... not!

When we moved down to Wetherby from Jockoland in 1990, my kids were under peer pressure at school to wear a scum strip (in Wetherby!!!!). So, being a protective father, I bought them the strips. Yes, I know, but it gets worse !!!!!! I also had to buy them england strips!!!!! Fortunately, 3 years later (although it didn't seem like it at he time), I was made redundant from Yorkie Bank & has to go back to Jockoland (with family) on a contract. The rough, tough commandos at the school up there sson sorted out the english thing (phew!), and a season ticket for ER on our return, with lots of pies, burgers, & sweets bribery, got them back on to the path of righteousness (although it might actually have been the case that anything was better than watching Partick Thistle!). Leeds strips were swiftly bought, (the Scotland strips having already been bought), and we were all sorted. No further deviations to report.

3-y-o grandson is already in possession of a Leeds strip, & Scotland strip will be delivered courtesy of Santa.

And you wonder why my hair went white?

 

[kiwi]

Correct, Mark Cooper took him to Posh after leaving his job at Kettering Town. Big step up really from BSP to the Championship to join a struggling team, although it's a shame big "Ex" wasn't given a chance under Johnson back in league 1.

Fair enough, thanks for that
For some reason I seem to recall this image of him taking a throw in, and noting the irony of the fact that he was the only player in the peterborough team that was likely to score a goal from a throw in

 

[Doc]

I played for my school team and every home match the team were offered complimentary tickets. I was a young kid and down at ER for every home game. soon got hooked and went under my own steam after that. But school kids were always there. the Lowfields Road was full of school footballers in those days. Bates scrapped all that so misses out on future support from kids. He's lost us a whole genearation, but he aint bothered because he's a C U N T