2-1 in yer latest Cup Final…
Almost exactly a year ago, Huddersfield Town rolled up to Elland Road confident of easy pickings against a Leeds United side traumatised by the events of “Black Friday” – the eve of the local derby when a new owner-in-waiting sacked the manager and all of a sudden moves were afoot among the media to get our captain to declare he wanted out.
Bad times, as anyone would agree. Could the Whites bounce back and do a job on their mad-keen neighbours Huddersfield? For lowly Town, this was always one of the big fixtures – their fans demanded a victory over the Goliath from the big city. At first all seemed well for the minnows – they were ahead and, in one corner of the stadium their small pack of fans yapped and barked gleefully, prominent among the songs being a taunt about Captain McCormack not wanting to play for Leeds.
Prescient as that appears now, at the time it was a joke too far and McCormack, with the help of his team-mates in white, rammed the quip back down those doggy throats as the Terriers were eclipsed 5-1 in a stunning comeback. McCormack scored three, and it was a silent and bedraggled pack of hounds that sloped off back to their kennels that night.
Poor Huddersfield fared no better on their next visit to Elland Road, earlier this season, when Leeds put three past them without reply and could easily have had more. Again, the away support was silenced early as Rudy Austin slammed home an opener in front of the South Stand. Then Bellusci struck a sublime chip against the Town bar, the rebound dispatched firmly by Antenucci – and it was Antenucci again to complete the scoring after the interval. For me, the day was embellished by corporate hospitality and selfies with Terry Yorath and Massimo Cellino himself. It was a particularly good day for Leeds – but for Town it was their second Cup Final trouncing in just a few months. Surely, things could only get better for our canine friends?
Sadly for dog-lovers everywhere, today illustrated the fact that there has been no improvement in the fortunes of West Yorkshire’s poor relations – dogged though their efforts may be, they are seemingly doomed to failure. At their Meccano stadium, Town must have been hoping it would be third time lucky after two fruitless trips to Elland Road. But Leeds set about them early, hounding the poor pups for every ball, and were soon rewarded with a neat finish from Sam Byram to give the visitors the lead.
Town rallied, scoring from a corner before the interval and it was a fairly scruffy battle in the second half, decided late on when sub Billy Sharp hurled himself at a cross ball to bury his header in the Huddersfield net. With time about up, it seemed a certain winner, but a nasty-looking injury to Town’s Tommy Smith delayed the end of the game as Leeds held out through an interminable period of added time. The final whistle eventually signalled United’s third successive victory over their humble neighbours and, with better news of the stricken Smith coming later on, the day had ended well for Leeds at least.
So, despite all that desperate doggy desire, despite those troublesome chips on Town shoulders where Leeds are concerned, it’s been business as usual today, with Leeds taking the spoils – and so, the poor dogs had none. These are bleak times for Town fans, for whom each season is all about whether they can possibly snatch a rare victory over Leeds. That’s gone for another year – so what now for the Huddersfield breed? Can they bounce back? Will their manager survive yet another Cup Final defeat? Will any of them watch the highlights on the BBC?
Never mind any of that. Leeds won. Again. So who really gives a toss?
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
Never mind any of that. Leeds won. Again. So who really gives a toss? that one sentence sums it up nicely….epic
LikeLike
I have a good friend who eats , drinks and breaths udders rob, and I can tell you for a fact they are hurting bad tonight , im I sympathetic? Am I hell , get in super leeds
LikeLike
Quite right too. I’m relaxing by perusing their matchday thread and laughing at all the deluded optimism 🙂
LikeLike
You are on fire this weekend sir getting peoples blood pressure up all over the shop got to say i agree with you regarding the old firm a clubs is more than the total sum of parts its about feelings which the money men can never own. a good win today just hope we can keep the momentum up and go on a run god we need it MOT
LikeLike
Its a funny thing, but as a middle aged Leeds resident and fan, I had no idea how much they hated us until I started working in Huddersfield in the early 2000s. Sure I had been to the old Leeds Road ground a few times and witnessed the usual hostile local derby atmosphere, but I hadn’t realised just how deep the hatred ran until I came face to face with these ‘people’ on a daily basis. They refer to us as Y*d Scum. Presumably the success of my dear departed Jewish friends Mr Cussins and Mr Silver has truly caused pain to these most jealous of small minded Dingle type people that support Huddersfield.
We are truly honoured to have the third largest Jewish Community in the UK here in Leeds and I am delighted that many of their people have supported Leeds United through thick and thin.
Always makes the victory so much sweeter when the opposition hate you. Take that Huddersfield, you pathetic losers. Perhaps Messrs Silver and Cussins are smiling tonight.
LikeLike
you should hear what they call bradford fans.
LikeLike
Well done to Leeds and Billy Sharp.
Those extremely bitter chavs in “the land that time forgot”, will be once again in hiding tonight, after losing their excitable, bed wetting Cup Final against Leeds.
I’m sure if they had beaten Leeds today, that they would be have milked it, celebrated and childishly boasted for all of next week and we would have never heard the last of it, with their derogatory remarks about Leeds, which would have continued on Radio Leeds, with that biased Leeds hater Paul Ogden.
It’s three wins in a row now for Leeds, against our very unfriendly West Yorkshire neighbours in their Cup Final, but everybody supporting Leeds will just be happy with three more valuable points and will not wet themselves and get excited about who todays valuable win was against.
Who cares what “The Yorkshire Club” do and who cares who they are, WE ARE LEEDS !
LikeLike
I think that when they call us “yids” they’re actually trying to say “Leeds” but they haven’t completed pronunciation lessons yet, so it’s probably a compliment: their desire to go to the big city is ahead of their ability to speak properly; Ah well, who can blame them, poor little souls.
But some of them are slightly deluded in that, they think that residing in their favourite mecca, Leeds, is a club that our “Yorkshire” neighbours really fancy: Manure.
That’s right, they can’t pronounce their favourite big city yet but they’ve learnt the noble art of glory-grabbing, band-wagon-jumping scumduggery. I reckon that most of the home crowd today were fanatical followers of “it’s yer Younited innit, geezah”; in fact, some of them had to have it explained to them that they are playing against Leeds, not Leicester. I can understand the confusion given that they both start with the same soundy sound, probably pronounced “yester”.
On a more serious note, given the moronic history of some Leeds fans, I’m quite proud to be called a yid. I’m reminded of the part in “The Commitments”: “I’m black and I’m proud”. Maybe when they call us muzzies I’ll be even prouder!
But Rob, I have to say, the cream of your blog is the “dogged though their efforts may be” bit. That really cracked me up. That’s a slightly more subtle part of the blog and one which a few people might miss. Excellent as usual.
On another note, maybe you could question the conspiracy of the evil FL to start 2015 with a fixture list of opponents whose names all start with the letter”B”. Bolton, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bother-dogs and Brentford. They’re obviously up to something but it’s flown back in their faces. Hey hey, you can’t suppress the human spirit you penguin-suited scumbags.
I currently have several glasses of Casas Del Bosque swirling through my addled brain so I won’t incriminate myself anymore. Just remains for me to say MOT. We will rise again. There will come a day when we no longer have to go to the Meccano stadium; and the “Yorkshire” red shirts will only know about Leeds because they pass through it on their way to play Scarborough FC.
LikeLike
The only reason why Leeds are having to play them, who have the audacity to call themselves “The Yorkshire Club”, is that we have sunk to their extremely low level in leagues outside the Premiership.
They have certainly been nowhere near the top league for the past 40 odd years and have done absolutely nothing in that time, except fluctuate between the bottom three divisions, despite having three gold stars above their shirt badge.
Due to Leeds mismanagement over the past 11 years, we now have to play “boil on the bum” teams like them, who have a huge chip on their shoulders and Huddersfield fans using disgusting chants containing the word Y*d, has to be racist surely ?
LikeLike
yes-losing three cup finals on the trot must be very depressing for anyone. Been reading all week how they hurted after their ER humiliation in the early part of the season and now they’ve got to hurt all over again. Poor little Huddersfield…
LikeLike