Why I'm glad Leeds United are back!

Leeds United are back in the Premier League and, given the length of time it's taken, I'm delighted it's finally happened.

They are Yorkshire's biggest, best-supported and most grand club; having an aura which others just don't possess and, even though it's sometimes been humorous watching them lurch from one crisis to the next, they've been away from the top flight for way too long.

A strong Leeds United (and hopefully they'll grow even stronger now they're back) is fantastic for English football. Although there are some who'll describe them 'Dirty Leeds', 'Bin Kickers', 'Scum' or 'Cheats' in an obnoxious tone, or become bitter and resentful at just the mention of their name, those sad types of people aren't even worth wasting energy on.

Elland Road: Fit for Premier League action

Lets not forget, at the start of this century, Leeds reached the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and the Champions League in successive years. They were a shining light for Yorkshire - flying the White Rose flag to a wider audience, and they also played a major role in developing several England internationals such as James Milner, Paul Robinson, Alan Smith, Jonathan Woodgate, Aaron Lennon and, to a lesser extent, Rio Ferdinand.

No other Yorkshire outfit has given as much to English football and no other Yorkshire outfit is more capable of mixing it with those 'Red Rose' clubs on the other side of the Pennines!

The crisis which followed in the years after Leeds' continental trips should never have happened. They should never have plunged into meltdown under Peter Risdale, followed by administration and thus becoming a bog-standard, bang average side with a soft underbelly and many years spent f**king around achieving mid-table nothingness! The unprecedented lows of dropping into League One (and then struggling to get back up) or being beaten 1-0 on live TV by a daft village team in the FA Cup should DEFINITELY never have happened as well.

However, it did, and though Leeds have been at their lowest ebb for much of the past 16 years, it's been great to see other, smaller underdogs 'mix it' and do well against them. As someone who was at Wembley to watch Doncaster beat them in the Play-Off Final in 2008, it was a brilliant day, never to be repeated and it created memories which I'll cherish on a personal level. Histon fans (not that there is many) will say the same about the aforementioned 1-0 win in the FA Cup; Blackpool fans similar about when they twatted Leeds, 5-0, in November 2011 and Preston fans the same about their 6-4 victory at Elland Road.

Big club, big ambitions, back in the big time!

All are significantly smaller than Leeds but they've enjoyed some golden moments against them - partly due to the meltdown in the early 2000s. Without that happening in the very first instance, these memories wouldn't exist for anyone.

Simultaneously, it's also these type of moments - annoying and deeply embarrassing for Leeds supporters which makes this promotion all the more special and means it's something to be savoured, especially with the longevity of being outside the Premier League involved. By going through the bad times, most people will appreciate the good times a lot, lot more!

To put into context just how long it has been, there are many youngsters around (Under 25s) who've grown up knowing nothing else other than mediocrity. They've witnessed Dave Hockaday and Darko Milanic fail to deliver, had 'Number 17' phobia drilled into them during Massimo Cellino's ill-fated tenure and, even worse, they've seen Steve Evans wobble about on the touchline in a tight-fitting jacket. Some might remember the 'car crash' environment in Ken Bates' era when his programme notes were often crossed out with a marker pen to avoid a future libel case, or the humiliating drop to League One when 'Bet 24' (jokingly renamed 'I bet Leeds finish 24th) were shirt sponsors. There's also the dozens upon dozens of average players, a million miles away from being top flight quality, who've come and gone without making any great impression.

A mural at Elland Road. Now the 'Class of 2020' have a chance to become LUFC legends too!

It's all a million miles away from the dizzy heights of European nights under the Elland Road lights at the start of the century when this club had a pair of b*llocks and possessed something which they could be proud about. So it's great that they're now in possession of a glorious chance to 'kick on' again and write a new golden chapter in LUFC history.

Their younger fans deserve to witness their heroes playing against the best teams in the big games and experiencing the big moments on the best stage - even though they'll be plenty of them sh*ting themselves next season if they get caught up in a relegation battle because nobody will want to even contemplate the prospect of another long sojourn outside the top flight!

Any proud Yorkshireman will be rooting for Leeds to succeed in the Premier League in the same way which Sheffield United have done this season. To have two local clubs performing strongly in the big league will be great for Yorkshire and it'd be even better if Sheffield Wednesday can pull their finger out and end their own exile at some point soon as well.

So welcome back, Leeds United and go and absolutely bloody smash it next season...

The Billy Bremner statue outside Elland Road.

Big scorelines and bad mistakes

Life is all about good and bad decisions and, just like Grant McCann whose Hull City team got walloped 8-0 at Wigan earlier this evening, when it comes to football then I've also made plenty of bad decisions.

As someone who is more accustomed to seeing a dull 0-0 stalemate than an enthralling thrill-a-minute spectacle which everyone remembers for years afterwards, there's been plenty of occasions where I've been in the right area geographically to see a classic but, instead, have missed it.

Fir Park: Where the most goals were scored in a Scottish Premiership game (but I wasn't there). 

Most memorably, in May 2010, the night before David Cameron joined forces with Nick Clegg to form a Con-Lib Government, there I was in Scotland on my way to see a game though, having a free rail travel pass at that time, I hadn't quite decided where to go. Ultimately, I plumped for Aberdeen vs Kilmarnock in a 'must win' game for the visitors. They succeeded, winning 2-1, but that same night in another top flight game, Motherwell drew 6-6 with Hibernian - something which, to this day, is a Scottish Premiership record for the most goals scored in a game.

Eighteen months later I was in Scotland again (and still hadn't learned my lesson) as I trotted off to watch St Mirren this time. They beat Dunfermline, 2-1, though it finished 4-4 in their next meeting in Paisley later that season. Another option that rainy day was Aidrieonians and I really should have gone there instead because they smashed Gala Fairydean, 11-0, in the Scottish Cup.

Another 'elusive' 4-4 draw (as it's a scoreline which I've seen only the once despite attending 988 games in the UK) was in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy in the 2006/07 season. I was in two minds about whether to go to Chesterfield's old Saltergate Ground to see them play Chester. I decided not to - due to the crap and cold winter weather and, well, the rest is history...

Field Mill: The only place I've seen a 4-4 draw.

A few years later when Wigan were in the Premier League, a good way of being able to get to a lot of Premier League games/grounds was to 'follow' them away from home because, like Bolton nowadays, they never sell-out. Having had fleeting thoughts about going to see the Latics at Tottenham in the winter (they lost 9-1), I almost inexplicably decided not to go to their final day clash away at Chelsea when they slumped to a marginally-better 8-0 defeat this time.

Although I saw many high-scoring games in my three-and-a-bit years working at Mansfield Town, there were two games which clashed with other commitments in the 2011/12 season - a 7-0 win over Barrow and then a 6-3 success at Alfreton just three days later.

Thankfully, I've been to several games where there has been plenty of goals and many of these encounters have been clustered together in quick succession.

My personal record for 'most goals seen in a game' is nine - a feat which occurred three times in 2013 and involved Mansfield on each occasion. Two were successful; the first being an 8-1 hammering of Barrow (who'd lost 7-0 at Field Mill the previous season) whilst the other was by the same score away at St Albans City in the FA Cup First Round. Nevertheless, the third occasion, which was just a fortnight after that cup clash, was a 5-4 reverse at Fleetwood where the Cod Army scored inside both the first and last 20 seconds of the game. The 'Captain Pugwash' goal music with that stupid dancing fish on the big screen at Highbury still gives me nightmares to this day!

Rovers line-up to face Chorley... before smashing them to bits!

Fleetwood actually kick-started a run of high-scoring games in 2018/19 when they romped to a 5-0 win at Scunthorpe - a performance from the hosts which was on a par with Hull's inexcusably pathetic showing at Wigan and got their manager the sack. Only a matter of weeks later I witnessed West Ham smash Macclesfield, 8-0, in the Carling Cup or whatever its called nowadays, before there was a 7-0 as Doncaster trounced Chorley in their FA Cup First Round replay at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Unfortunately, there was no 6-0, though I did have fleeting thoughts about going to a game which ended 9-0; this being Manchester City versus Burton Albion at the Etihad Stadium. I didn't attend and, well, the floodgates were well and truly opened (again).

And finally, only last year in the same competition, my brothers, nieces and nephews all got tickets to see Liverpool vs Arsenal at Anfield. The score? Liverpool 5, Arsenal 5. Why wasn't I invited?

West Ham: Where I've seen my biggest ever winning margin!

Maybe there will be one day that I'll be at a game where there is actually 10 goals in a game (to break my personal record) but for now these are my highest-ever scoring games...

1. Mansfield Town 8-1 Barrow (9th February, 2013)

2. St Albans City 1-8 Mansfield Town (9th November, 2013)

3. Fleetwood Town 5-4 Mansfield Town (23rd November, 2013)

4. Annan Athletic 3-5 Stirling Albion (10th May, 2014)

5. Whitehawk 5-3 Lincoln City (8th November, 2015)

6. Atletico Madrid 7-1 Granada (15th October, 2016)

7. Mansfield Town 4-4 Accrington Stanley (14th February, 2017)

8. West Ham United 8-0 Macclesfield Town (26th September, 2018)

9. Brentford 4-3 Doncaster Rovers (10th August, 2004)

10. Barnsley 2-5 Doncaster Rovers (18th October, 2005)

11. Doncaster Rovers 4-3 Scunthorpe United (24th April, 2010)

12. Chesterfield 5-2 Accrington Stanley (2nd November, 2010)

13. Mansfield Town 5-2 Darlington (21st February, 2012)

14. Doncaster Rovers 3-4 Portsmouth (14th April, 2012)

15. Mansfield Town 3-4 Newport County (11th August, 2012)

16. Barcelona 6-1 Celta Vigo (14th February, 2016)

17. PSV Eindhoven 4-3 Heerenveen (22nd January, 2017)

18. Steaua Bucharest 7-0 Poli Timisoara (22nd October, 2017)

19. Porto 5-2 Monaco (6th December, 2017)

20. AFC Flyde 5-2 Tranmere Rovers (1st January, 2018)

21. Doncaster Rovers 7-0 Chorley (20th November, 2018)

Bradford City 2-0 Oxford United (2018)

Bradford City 2-0 Oxford United
Sky Bet League One
Saturday 24th November 2018

Bradford City have always been a value for money club thanks largely to their 'Cheap Season Tickets' philosophy, which always results in sales 'en masse' compared to other clubs in whichever division they happen to be plying their trade in.

Nevertheless, matchday tickets are usually priced at a premium in comparison but with prices slashed to just £1 for the visit of struggling Oxford United, it was an offer which was simply too good to turn down - even though it meant running the gauntlet of travelling with Northern Rail who were doing their best to f*ck up as many plans as possible with their Saturday strikes at the time.

Going into the game it's fair to say it was a 'must win' contest for both teams. Bradford were rooted to the foot of the League One table having taken just a solitary point from their previous seven games, whilst Oxford weren't faring much better as they were hovering precariously above the relegation zone in 20th spot.

It's fair to say the two clubs have travelled in different directions since with Oxford (involved in the League One play-off final this evening) being just one win away from a return to the Championship for the first time in 21 years, whilst Bradford are languishing in League Two - despite being probably the second-biggest club for that level.

Valley Parade, for those who haven't been, is a classic ground steeped in history on the outskirts of the city centre and it's a good day out as there's plenty to enjoy nearby. Nevertheless, it's common for the Bantams' hierarchy to doctor their attendances to make them look good (they aren't the only club) and although this game was, officially, close to a sell-out based on tickets sold, the actual 'bums on seats' figure was far less with large swathes of the upper section of the Main Stand.

The 10,000 or so who did turn up; the 'official' attendance figure of 19,084 was bull sh*t, were treated to an entertaining game as the Bantams ripped apart their counterparts after an initially slow-start during which Oxford pressed, probed but couldn't make their pressure pay.

Two goals only a few minutes apart, just before the half-hour mark, altered things with David Ball and Jack Payne on target. Thereafter, Oxford looked a beaten side and it was never likely they'd be able to overhaul the deficit and give themselves a chance of getting back into the game. Instead, Bradford went on to put the ball in the net twice more, though both were disallowed for offside.

What was surprising in the aftermath was Oxford, who'd spent well the previous summer and had high expectations of making a mark in League One, opted to stick with boss Karl Robinson instead of doing what probably many fans wanted to do at the time and sack him.

In the next few hours it'll emerge whether it was a great decision by their board or, instead, whether they're still waiting for a return to the Championship...

The Imps on the up!

Lincoln City 1-1 Cheltenham Town
Sky Bet League Two
Saturday 13th April 2019

A day of more success for the resurgent Imps at a sell-out Sincil Bank... but one of the weirdest post-match atmospheres that I've ever experienced.

When it comes to genuine 'success stories' amongst lower league clubs, nobody in the past few decades can match the achievements/resurgence of Lincoln City.

Just three years prior to this meeting with Cheltenham in front of what was yet another capacity-crowd at Sincil Bank, the Imps were languishing mid-table in the National League - seemingly an age away from a return to the Football League. They'd shown glimpses of promise under then-boss Chris Moyses and had one or two decent players though the 2015/16 campaign had petered out into mediocrity.

That summer, whilst the football spotlight focused on events across at Euro 2016, Danny and Nicky Cowley took charge at Sincil Bank and began plotting success, though the eventual script probably exceeded even their wildest dreams. The pair instantly delivered promotion back to the Football League as well as grabbing headlines with their conquests in the FA Cup - reaching the Quarter-Finals. Then, the following year saw EFL Trophy success at Wembley, before 2018/19 resulted in another promotion push - this time in League Two! Attendances tripled during the process and Lincoln were quite clearly a club which had been transformed from one in tepid obscurity to a highly-respected, progressing outfit under their stewardship.

As someone who witnessed the era when Doncaster Rovers went from non-league to the Championship in just a five-year period, nobody had come close to matching those exploits in the years afterwards until Lincoln's undisputed transformation. If nothing else, the Imps were (and still are) a genuine beacon of hope for every smaller club in the pyramid and proof that if you sort your sh*t out and get everyone pulling in the same direction then the possibilities are endless.

Heading into this game, it promised to be yet another red-letter day and Sincil Bank was packed to the rafters with everyone knowing three points would seal promotion to the third tier for the first time in almost 20 years. There was even an outside possibility that a win, coupled with some favourable results elsewhere, would also seal the League Two title. Even if the game ended in a worst case scenario of defeat, given there was still plenty of remaining matches then in reality it was just a case of 'when' and not 'if' the Imps would mathematically confirm their promotion to League One - a feat which had eluded the late, great, Keith Alexander during his spell in charge in the mid-2000s despite regularly reaching the play-offs.

I did well to get a ticket - purchasing it straight after the final whistle the previous Saturday where I'd been up at St James' Park watching Newcastle slump to a defeat to Crystal Palace, once it was known what the potential of this game was.

The excitement was tangible around the ground and the weather couldn't have been more perfect with pleasant sunshine and no rain. Temperatures inside Sincil Bank were sizzling as the two teams emerged for kick-off to rapturous noise and passion - everyone clear in the knowledge this could be a day when those in red and white shirts write another little piece of folklore.

Things were going to plan from a Lincoln perspective and it took just over a quarter-of-an-hour to establish an advantage with Shay McCartan finding the target with a speculative long-range attempt which bounced just infront of visiting 'keeper Scott Flinders.

Cheltenham, whose fans were tucked away in a small corner of the ground and numbered probably not even a couple of hundred, to their credit made a real fist of it from this point onward. Whether nerves crept in and affected the Imps' performance, who knows? Nevertheless, the visitors, donning an all-yellow strip, plugged away and kept things tight when needed before eventually levelling from George Lloyd's glancing header from Chris Hussey's inch-perfect left-wing cross.

Though languishing in 16th position at the time, there was actually enough in Cheltenham's display; also taking into consideration some of the experienced personnel they had at their disposal, to suggest they would have a good season in 2019/20 and it wasn't any surprise in the slightest to see them 'kick on' and reach the play-offs under Michael Duff - even if it did ultimately end in heartbreak!

However, this day wasn't about the Robins. It was Lincoln's occasion and following some tense closing exchanges, the final whistle after what seemed a prolonged period of stoppage-time, was met by silence - simply because nobody was quite sure if a point would be good enough!

Whilst many in the stands checked their iPhones to see the latest scores, it seemed to take an age for news to filter through to the PA announcer, who eventually confirmed that the Imps were going up to League One - at which point the celebrations could begin. The delay, at least, prevented the customary pitch invasion which happens at so many places when a team celebrates promotion.

Having worked with Matt Rhead at Mansfield, even though he was recognised at Field Mill as a hard-working target man, it was good to see him finally receiving the 'cult hero' status he deserved, and his name was chanted frequently by the Lincoln fans. It was a good day for him and, coincidentally, it was our old employers' failure to beat Northampton (coupled with MK Dons' loss at Tranmere) which confirmed the Imps success. If they'd won, then it wouldn't have quite been good enough for the title as Bury beat Colchester to enhance their grip on a top three position.

In the months afterwards, it's a shame that certain things have panned out in the way they did.

Danny and Nicky Cowley, rightly or wrongly, opted to quit Sincil Bank for Huddersfield Town just a matter of weeks into the League One season. They might have felt they'd taken the Imps as far as they could or the offer to manage in the Championship was too good to resist, but it's unlikely they'll ever replicate anything close to what they achieved at Lincoln - such was the magnitude in how they helped to transform the club. Matt Rhead, an undoubted much-loved 'cult hero', departed for the circus that was Billericay Town - though that turned sour due to Glenn Tamplin's persistent interference. Finally, Bury, who went on to win promotion, never actually got to play at a higher due to their financial problems.

What wasn't a shame was to see Mansfield f**k things up in the dying stages of the season, fail to win promotion on the final day, then lose in the play-offs to Newport.

Nevertheless, this will always be a period when Lincoln City ruled supreme and it'll be a very long time before any other club gets close to matching their feats during this period.