Leeds United
The last time we played Exeter City
By Ian Baird 1-0
May 22 2009
I never knew I knew so many Exeter City fans! Both my mobile and email bear testiment to this fact as message after message came flooding in after the Millwall game asking me if I would be going to the real St James Park next season.
Whilst City fans welcome a season in L1 and the visits of Charlton, Saints and Norwich, guess who they are really looking forward to playing already? There was even a headline in one of the local papers after the 1-1 draw with Milly.
Forget the moronic ramblings of Peterborough journo's looking to make a name for themselves by spitting on the name of Leeds United, real fans like to see their team pitched against big clubs and the prospect of a full house at SJP appeals to the City faithful.
So all this has got me thinking back to the last time Leeds played in Exeter. This was the first pre-season friendly of the 1985/6 season and the first game after the Birmingham disaster. Leeds fans carried a terrible reputation then and the front page of the local paper in those days declared "500 Leeds fans in Exeter" like it was an outbreak of skurvy! It certainly wasn't a warm welcome.
Eddie Gray was boss and Leeds were red hot favourites to win the old Second Division after an up-and-down but largely enjoyable 1984/5. In true Eddie fashion we had a young team with much promise and the future looked bright. Leeds gave expensive new signing Ian Snodin his debut and youngster Terry Phelan also started his first game at left-back.
The game finished 2-2 with City taking the lead before two sublime finishes from Sellars and Snodin put Leeds ahead. It was a decent game for a pre-season run out and the result didn't really matter.
I got a ticket that night from Andy Ritchie's cousin - a local doorman - and got into the players lounge after the game. I spoke at length with Sellars (a nice guy) and Ritchie and tried in vain to get a conversation started with Tommy Wright and Andy Linighan but to no avail. Peter Lorimer was different and he happily told me how Leeds would walk the league that season and that several of his team-mates would be internationals soon. I believed him!
The new season started with a game at Fulham and Leeds 1-0 up at half-time. But we lost 3-1 and this proved a confidence sapping blow. We never really recovered and a poor run - with a 6-2 hammering at Stoke the outstanding defeat - saw Eddie lose his job in October replaced by Billy Bremner. There was even newspaper talk of a return for the Don but this was just journalism.
Billy preferred experience and the next 12 months or so saw the likes of Irwin, Linighan, Sellars, Phelan, Wright, Scales and Gavin all moved on to be replaced initially by Caswell, Robinson, Harle and Rennie. Eventually Billy built his team around Aspin - Sheridan & Snodin - Ritchie.
It was a bad season and it was the goals of Ritchie in the latter games that saved Leeds from the disaster of relegation to the third tier - now that could never happen. But Billy did pick things up and 1986/7 saw us make the play-off's and the FA Cup semi's. And what a season that was!
Depending on the timing of this season's game at Exeter, the game will be similar is stature in as much as Leeds will be league favourites but playing City as equals. I am hoping for an early season Saturday and a game played in sunshine and several snifters before and after. We will have to wait and see what sort of side we have then.
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22/05/2009 08:42
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Leeds United season ticket holder living in Exeter
Lets get the result Leeds so i have an entertaining trip home;P
