Leeds Will They Or Won't They?

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Leeds 2-1 Gillingham

Gillingham were relegated to League Two after Leeds came from behind to defeat them and Cheltenham beat Doncaster.

The visitors made a good start and were ahead when Simeon Jackson pounced on a poor pass back from Paul Huntington, cut inside and fired into the corner.

However, superb work from Seb Carole on the right allowed Brad Johnson to volley in the equaliser in style.

And Tresor Kandol sealed the Gills' fate and secured fifth for Leeds when he finished coolly in the 88th minute.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/e...v_2/7377686.stm

[taxexile]

How Leeds have stayed united in trying times

By Henry Winter

Last Updated: 1:40am BST 06/05/2008

When Leeds United recently launched a competition to find supporters in every country in the world, they registered interest in almost 200 nations. "We're disappointed to learn we have no fans in the Vatican, particularly as the Pope wears the same kit as us," said Neil Jeffries, editor of the club magazine, Leeds Leeds Leeds.

Of the 7,500 overseas fans to sign up so far, 1,400 live in Norway and 1,300 in Australia. A Leeds-supporting friend, relocated to Colorado, set up "Denver Whites" and soon had 50 members. Only 28 countries are impervious, despite attempts to contact fans in off-line North Korea.

For those who love crunching footballing numbers, the Bank Holiday weekend's most astonishing figure was 38,256, Saturday's gate at Elland Road. Only those gleaming Premier League venues, Old Trafford, the Emirates, St James' Park, Villa Park and Anfield, boasted larger audiences.

Elland Road was sold out. Even Gary McAllister, Leeds' impressive manager, and his coaching team, Steve Staunton and Neil McDonald, could not get all the tickets they wanted for family and friends. Nor could the players. A fallen giant is stirring.

"It has been grim," Jeffries said of the years in Purdah since tumbling from the Premier League, and then the Championship. "On Saturday, Gillingham brought only a few hundred, and I thought it was cruel Leeds fans chanting 'going down'. But they were chanting it out of relief. It's usually other fans chanting it about Leeds. We have had the cares of the world on us over the past few years."

If Leeds manage to defeat a good Carlisle United side to reach the Wembley play-off finals, the hunger for tickets will come from far and wide. Leeds will receive 34,000 tickets, with plans to buy seats in the Club Wembley section from disinterested corporate clients.

"I live in the South and when I come up the M1 I'm passing Leeds fans all the way, and see them in service stations," added Jeffries. "We are proud that Leeds fans come from all over. It stems from the Sixties and Seventies. Men in their late 30s and 40s grew up with the Revie era and are now bringing their kids along."

So they celebrate the legends from that golden age. "Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, Peter Lorimer, Norman Hunter and Eddie Gray are regulars on match days," said Jefferies, adding with a laugh, "and you wouldn't need a keeper with that lot!"

With a respectful nod to Roberto Martinez's stylish Swansea City, and Colin Calderwood's Nottingham Forest, who attracted 28,520 to the City Ground on Saturday, this mass devotion to Leeds has been one of the stories of the League One season.

Even through the dark times, they kept coming. Wherever they glanced, Leeds fans saw reminders of their fall from Premier League grace, yet they kept marching on together. The club departed the elite division but they left a team behind.

Just look at Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and James Milner at Newcastle, Harry Kewell in the physio's room at Liverpool and Jermaine Pennant occasionally on the pitch. Jonathan Woodgate, Robbie Keane, Paul Robinson and Aaron Lennon lifted the League Cup. Also on view were Scott Carson (Villa), Ian Harte (Sunderland), Lee Bowyer (West Ham), David Healy (Fulham), Michael Duberry (Reading) and Salomon Olembe (Wigan).

Leeds fans observe Rio Ferdinand heading to a European Cup final. (One Leeds fan, musing over who he wanted to win from Manchester United's meeting with Chelsea in Russia, could not decide which side he disliked least and eventually plumped for "the Moscow Police").

They see Dominic Matteo, Danny Pugh and Richard Cresswell celebrating Stoke City's promotion to the Premier League. They see Nicky Barmby chasing promotion with Hull City, Stephen McPhail and Robbie Fowler heading to the FA Cup final with Cardiff (and, whisper it, Peter Ridsdale). They see Shaun Derry in the Championship play-offs with Crystal Palace.

And yet nearly 40,000 turned up at Elland Road to watch those who remain, chanting "champions of Europe" and twirling their shirts above their heads - a testament to McAllister's management and the enduring appeal of Leeds United.