Team;  Harvey,Reaney,F Gray,Bremner,Mcqueen,Madeley,Mckenzie,Clarke,Lorimer,Giles,E  Gray.<P>

   Ah.My first Leeds game! I was 9 years old and had had to put up with various friends birthday treats to various London clubs and sit impassively,waiting for Half-time to come and find out how my beloved team were doing.Threw my toys out of the pram when my dad,who didn't follow football  -cricket was his chosen torture-  ,refused to take me to Sutton( his home town) v Leeds in the F.a Cup in 1969, and as a sign of solidarity from my aunties ( his sisters ) was  given lots of Leeds scarfs etc. the following Christmas to make up for it.This was not taken note of by my mum however and somehow i ended up being given a Wolverhampton Wanderers duffel bag by Mum, for my first year at school ( they had just won the league ), which was subsequently kicked around the house until it bled! My aunties, always on the ball, subsequently bought me a Leeds satchel/bag which i've still got and decided not to use it in case i blemished it!

   So here i was,sat in the Upper tier of the new Chelsea stand at Stamford bridge in a party of six 9 year olds who all supported Chelsea, as a birthday treat for a school friend kindly all paid for by a dad who cared! Looking at the programme(10p) in front of me,i notice it set him back a whopping £2 for him and £1 for each of us and that the shed and away ends cost 50p or 25p for juveniles! A far cry from the last time i went to see Leeds play Chelsea, on the final game of the season we went down, when i think i ended up paying about £50!?! 

   My memory is slightly tainted now and i can't even remember if we played in white or yellow but i'm pretty sure it was yellow  as i seam to  recall being mesmerised by the brightness of the away kit that shone brighter than the gleaming floodlights on that cold,rainy day and at last i  could be animated at a live football match and proudly wore the scarf my aunties had given me though the satchel/bag still remained at home again, in case i blemished it! Mr.Jack Taylor was the referee and as per usual when the two sides meet, he had his work cut out  that dark day on what was a very wet and muddy pitch.

   Revie had moved on to manage England, and Jimmy  Armfield had inherited a champion side minus big Jack and Mick Jones and was languishing mid-table as the momentum towards the European Cup final in Paris gathered pace. Duncan Mckenzie was carried off with what i recall a broken leg and the yellow cards were produced thick and fast. I can't remember who scored our first goal.Substitute Yorath scored the second towards the end of the game and i had the only smiling face(and Leeds scarf on) as we left the stand at the final whistle. Back to the car( you could park in the ground in those days) to hear the final football scores CHELSEA O LEEDS UNITED 2.

   In the next few years i managed to get to at least a couple of the London games a season, more as i got older and eventually on Sep.5 1981 i made the pilgrimage from Effingham Junction up to Kings X and  as a wide-eyed 16 year old finally made it up to Elland Road to see us( funnily enough) play Wolves.

Team; 

Lukic,Greenhoff,E Gray,Flynn,Firm,Cherry,Harris,Graham,Parlane,Stevenson,Barnes and (Jasper) Hird as the sub.

   Walked to the ground, as it seemed so close as we went by on the train, and met up with someone else who was going to the ground for the first time and together we got slightly lost.( was about 10.30 am so there was no-one to follow!) Went to the old souvenir shop (as it was then) and bought some woollen away coloured gloves @ £1.50( all the rage in those days if you cut the fingers off! ), then next door and passed Eric Carlisle stood at the door and into the supporters club. Lay on the grass bank purveying the entrance as it was then and read my programme(30p). Stood in the right side of the kop "left side left side give us a song"(£1.50) and was guided by a man with a ginger beard wearing a black Beret,sat on someones shoulders directing the singing....... and that was that really. If i didn't have the Leeds United micro-chip in me before ..there was no going back  now. Arthur Graham scored a hatrick and i followed everyone else, back towards the city centre and the railway station, listening to their transistor radios and the final scores.

LEEDS UNITED 3 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS O.

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