By Ian Baird 1-0
March 12 2007

Pleased with the Luton result? The pressure is straight back on with a trip to Leicester on Tuesday night. kick off 7.45pm. Message Board regular gives us a preview and small jaunt down memory lane. Currently:
Leeds will go into the away game at Leicester buoyed by the slender win at home to Luton, after five games without a win. There will be concerns about the lack of quality finishing as Leeds should have killed off Town by half-time and had to rely on Casper's penalty save to get the three points. With Hull and Southend winning this was indeed a game that had to be won. Wisey's team seem to be playing more as a unit and lots are said about loan players and their commitment but Kishishev, Heath, Michalik and Ankergren look as up for it as anyone, even if Heath looks short of quality. With Blake driving things from midfield, Carole offering some skill from the wings and Cresswell putting himself about a bit up front Leeds must continue creating the chances and the goals will come eventually! Let's hope so!
City enter the game having recently been purchased by ex-Portsmouth supremo Milan Mandaric, which will offer off-field comfort (why didn't you come a bit further up north sir and buy Leeds?). On the field, the loss at Palace on Saturday was their first in seven games, although they now haven't won in three with draws against WBA and Southend in recent weeks. Before that they won three on the bounce against Ipswich (2-0), Coventry (3-0) and Burnley (1-0).
With Leeds rooted to the bottom of the CCC with only 34 points, Leicester are comfortably placed in 16th on 45 points, some 9 points above the drop zone. Both will want to win and a crowd of 28,000 or so will turn up in the hope that they are witnessing another nail in the coffin of Leeds United. "You're not famous any more!" - you never were!

Last game:
It was in October that the Foxes rolled into Elland Road and walked away with all three points. Goals from Tiatto and Hume gave City a 2-0 lead before a late consolation from then skipper Paul Butler reduced the arrears. The decisive moment of the game, however, was Matt Kilgallon's sending off in the 55th minute.
Last season Leeds went to the Walkers Stadium in February and came away with a 1-1 draw. Hume had put Leicester in front but a Robbie Blake penalty equalled things after Rob Hulse had been fouled by McCarthy, which lead to the latter's dismissal.

Remember, remember:
28th April 1990: Leeds United 2 (Sterland, Strachan), Leicester City 1 (McAllister)
Howard Wilkinson's first season in charge promised much after Sgt. Wilko had spent heavily in the summer of 1989 on players like Sterland, Hendrie, McClelland, Beglin, Thomas & the high profile Vinnie Jones after having already acquired Fairclough, Shutt & Strachan late the previous season. Chapman, Varadi & Kamara would also be added during the season as Leeds went all out for the Second Division championship. This had started badly with a 5-2 reverse first game at Newcastle but by mid-season it was all plain sailing and Leeds were ten points clear and certain of promotion!
Well, this is Leeds United we are talking about and the only certainty is uncertainty!
Late in the season it started to go awry. After a defeat at Wolves, Leeds drew the next two against Plymouth and Bradford before another defeat at Oldham. Although the Blades were slain 4-0 at Elland Road it was followed by a draw at Brighton before Leeds lost at home to Barnsley. The Whites were stumbling and Sheffield United had closed the gap and looking more likely to end up champions. Likewise Newcastle were still in touching distance and Leeds were faced with slipping out of the promotion places.
Leicester City rolled into Elland Road on 28th April for Leeds last home game and it was possible for United to confirm promotion depending on the Blades result at West Ham. First Leeds had to beat City before worrying about anything else. It started fine with Sterland putting Leeds ahead but United could not make their domination count as Leicester hung on to keep the score at only 1-0 and were still in it. Then future Leeds captain Gary McAllister unleashed an unstoppable shot to equal the score for City and all of those of us in the stadium sensed the game was up. Leeds had blown it! Nerves were frayed as the game seemed destined for a tame draw. Then, enter Captain Fantastic, as Gordon Stracham showed McAllister that whatever he could do, Strach could do it better hammering a similar volley that scorched the City net. The relief was immense! Leeds had won and with the Blades losing at West Ham Vinnie took the microphone to announce our promotion back to the top flight. Unfortunately a late goal for Sheffield United meant the champagne had to be put on ice and it was all to do last game at Bournemouth with Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle all able to claim the two promotion places.
Leeds won that last game 1-0 and the Blades mullered Leicester 5-2 so both went up automatically. Newcastle lost 4-1 at Middlesborough with two goals for Ian Baird, who had left Leeds mid-season but still played a big part in the return to the top flight.

Us & them - they played for both clubs:
There are loads of players who played for both clubs! Of the current set up Matt Heath is registered with Leicester and on loan at United and may feature in the game, and another ex-City player likely to feature for United is Richard Cresswell. Likewise Geoff Horsefield may play for City having started the season with Leeds as will Alan Maybury who was the captain of that Leeds youth team that gave us Woody, Smithy, Robbo, Harry et al. Maybury's most famous moment in a Leeds shirt was that horrendous challenge on him by Pavel Nedved in the 3-3 draw with Lazio in the Champions League! Luckily he walked away uninjured.
In recent years Nathan Blake, Julian Joachim, Steve Guppy, Jason Wilcox and Brian Deane wore the blue of City and white of Leeds, as did Danny Cadamarteri, although blink and you may have missed him.
United youth product Tommy Wright promised much in Eddie Gray's young team of 1984-85 and was a big crowd favourite. Unfortunately Billy Bremner replaced Eddie as Manager and did not have the same faith and offloaded him to Oldham in 1986 and he ended up at Filbert Street where he enjoyed several good seasons before playing for Middlesborough in the Premier League. He is now John Sheridan's deputy at Oldham who are flying high in League One.
Players that went to City from Leeds include Simon Grayson in 1992, he was a player that featured briefly for the Whites but went on to have a successful time at Filbert Street and was club captain for a while. Not so lucky was Welsh International Matthew Jones who was offloaded for £3.2million in 2001 but injury cut short his promising career and he is now a presenter on Sky Sports and is rubbish! Bobby Davison joined Leicester after six years with Leeds and will be best remembered for being top scorer in our Second Division championship year of 1989-90. Way back George Meek (1960) and Ken Chisholm (1948) both left the sunshine of Leeds for Leicester.
David Rennie came to Leeds from Leicester in 1985 as Billy Bremner sought experience over youth and stayed for 4 years playing in defence and midfield. Rennie opened the scoring in the FA Cup semi-final against Coventry in 1987 although Leeds went down fighting 3-2. Rennie went on to play for Coventry in the Premier League.
One of the best bits of transfer business for Leeds was when Howard Wilkinson paid Leicester £1million in 1990 for Gary McAllister. This was seen as a gamble at the time as many clubs had watched Macca but never followed up their interest, most notably Brian Clough's Notts Forest. Macca had a great time at Elland Road and was ever present in our league winning team of 1992. He was club captain for three years before leaving for £3.5million for Coventry City in 1996. This transfer made him very unpopular, but who can forget those defence splitting passes and exquisite free-kicks?
Way back Ray Iggleden joined Leeds from Leicester in 1948.
To continue the connections United Manager Dennis Wise played briefly for Leicester after he left Chelsea but was thrown out after a controversial moment when it is alleged he hit a team-mate in training! Wouldn't happen at Leeds United!

Legend for both:
Allan Clarke was without doubt one of the most feared strikers in Europe when he joined Leeds United from Leicester City in 1969. Born in Willenhall in July 1946 from a family that bore five Footballing brothers, Clarke started his career at Walsall at sixteen before joining the Fulham jet set of Cohen and Haynes. City paid a British-record fee of £150,000 to lure him to Filbert Street in May 1968 and he was man-of-the-match in the 1968 FA Cup Final before he was the subject of another record transfer joining Don Revie's Leeds United for £165,000.
Clarke's lethal partnership with Mick Jones was an instant success as the two lead Leeds to a Charity Shield win over Man City and, in his time at Elland Road, he would pick up League, FA Cup and Fairs Cup medals as well as playing in the 1975 European Cup Final in Paris. In all, Clarke scored 110 goals in 270 appearances for Leeds in nine seasons paying back the transfer fee with interest. Who can forget the winning goal in the 1972 FA Cup Final against Arsenal and David Coleman's 'Clarke 1-0!' quote?
He scored on his full England debut versus Czechoslovakia in the 1970 World Cup Finals in Mexico and scored 10 goals in 19 appearances in an era when international caps were earned and not free in Christmas crackers!
Clarke left Leeds for Barnsley in June 1978 and went on to become Manager at Oakwell before returning to Elland Road in September 1980 to manage a team that had misfired in recent seasons under Jimmy Adamson. Despite spending money on Peter Barnes, Frankie Gray and Kenny Burns, Clarke could not find a winning formula and United were involved in a relegation scrap in 1982 before finally sealing their fate in May at WBA. United then endured eight seasons out of the top flight.
Nicknamed 'Sniffer', Clarke still regularly attends games at Elland Road and is always warmly welcomed.

Did you know?:
Ally Mauchlen was also involved in a transfer between United and City in 1992 when he joined Leeds on loan. Although he sat on the bench twice he never actually got to play for Leeds so is hardly an ex-Leeds player! Or is he? I'll leave that to you!
Leeds players have scored more hat-tricks against Leicester than any other club with seven. Bill Poyntz (1922), Charlie Keetley (1929), Gordon Hodgson (1938), Frank Dudley (1950), Ray Iggleden (1954), Eddie Gray (1978) & Robbie Keane (2001) are the players to pop the ball in the sack. Keane's was in that memorable 6-0 drubbing at Filbert Street in the League Cup.
Leeds United's league record team and individual scoring hauls are both against Leicester City. In 1934 United hammered City 8-0 at Elland Road, a result bettered only by a 10-0 thrashing of Lyn Oslo in Europe.
Remarkably four years later in 1938 United hammered City again, this time 8-2 with Gordon Hodgson hitting five which is the most by a Leeds player in a single game.

Bairdy's Prediction:
This will be a tough game for Leeds. Unlike United, Leicester are enjoying a stable time and their players will go into the game relaxed with off-field events but determined as they could still technically be dragged into a relegation fight. A win will ease their fears. You never know which side Wisey will pick these days, even with his limited resources, so a lot depends on how Leeds approach the game. If we go for Leicester then we have the ability to win easily but the big question is will we attack or sit back? Against Luton we looked good going forward but sat back at the end and looked vulnerable.
Hopefully Wise will take the game to them and Leeds can win. Our forwards must come good at some stage. I was way off against Wednesday but not far off with Luton so this time am going for Leeds to win 2-1 with key man Cresswell. Heart before head again!