leeds away

[Richard4acre]

I know people have been ruing the late equalisers and thrown 2-0 leads etc etc.

But just how important a special goal like that could be beggars belief.

First away day since Walsall in L2 for me, can't quite get my head round this 'can't go becuase it's easter' lark. Isn't that why they increase the length of said weekend by 2 days!

[STFC Derby]

Really am buzzing for Saturday! Would take a point if it was offered now as their poor run has to come to an end at some point. But if we can keep it tight early doors then hopefully their lot will get on Leeds' backs and make them nervous... Then Charlie pops up and nicks it for us. Come on!

[Richard4acre]

Where is everyone heading pre-game? Haven't done Leeds before and any advice to someone driving up would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

[reeves4england]

Where is everyone heading pre-game? Haven't done Leeds before and any advice to someone driving up would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

Not sure if you're driving. We've found it easier to have a drink in the centre and head out to the ground just before kick off. Had an interesting experience when we found a pub closer to the ground!

Have a look here though: http://www.footballgroundguide.com/leeds_united/#How To Get There By Car & Where To Park

[Ralphy]

What was the pub we all drank in a couple of years back when those little Leeds lads starting chucking bottles at the window?!

[tans]

Brittania

[reeves4england]

Brittania

They ran off when they saw one copper.

[Samdy Gray]

Brittania

Yeah, DRS found out afterwards that it was actually a home pub.

[Talk Talk]

Yeah, DRS found out afterwards that it was actually a home pub.

The locals in the pub were pretty friendly though. No problem with them, they even went outside to give the kids a hiding.

[Talk Talk]

A good piece in the Torygraph today

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/stevewilson/100006787/leeds-united-the-fall-and-rise-and-fall-again/

Leeds United: the fall and rise and fall again

For Leeds United this season has been one of dramatic shifts in definition.

A nonchalant stroll to the top of League One presaged the high water mark of that incredible FA Cup victory at Old Trafford for what looked, for a time, to have been the most satisfying of decorations on the beginnings of a precession towards a meaningful revival.

However, painful reading as it may make for the club’s followers, it is now Swindon Town rather than Manchester United who will define their season.

After the all-conquering start to their third campaign in the third tier, things started to go wrong. Very wrong. But such was the lead they had established that, when form and confidence deserted them, the near certain concession of the league title to resurgent Norwich was to be merely a blemish on their route to automatic promotion.

A less than perfect conclusion to what promised to be a glorious season, then, but the start, nonetheless, of the long overdue rise from a self-inflicted spell in football’s backwater.

Worse, however, was to come. A disastrous defeat to in-form Millwall at Elland Road followed by defeat to Norwich in a game they merited at least a point from and even that more modest of ambitions is now in serious doubt.

The conventional wisdom has it that it was in the fallout from the slaying of Manchester United that the seeds for Leeds’ latest decline were sown.

It is a seductive explanation but incomplete. More specifically it was at the County Ground rather Old Trafford where it all started to unravel.

It was back in January when Leeds, three days after holding Tottenham to a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane, again in the FA Cup, were routed 3-0 by Swindon. That game followed defeat in the league to Exeter and a draw with Wycombe, two teams that have a better than even money chance of being relegated this season.

What was telling about that defeat compared with those that had gone before, though, was the comprehensive nature of it. The first time Grayson’s side had been truly thumped this term, it marked an end to their already fading veneer of superiority. They lost the fear factor and, seemingly, their own belief.

After the match Grayson publicly criticised his players for the first time, accusing some of believing their own hype. If it was intended to prompt a response it didn’t work.

Since then they have won just three times in the league, completing a run of four victories in their last 19 matches going in to this weekend’s fixture. Victory for Swindon would see them leapfrog over Leeds and if Millwall avoid defeat against Brentford the same day the Yorkshire side will find themselves in fourth and necessarily reappraising their season once again.

That it should come to this. A rollercoaster season within a rollercoaster decade where the ride now is more scruffy fairground waltzer than Oblivion (though it is not long since they stumbled dizzy-headed off that particular white knuckle affair). Could it really be any different?

The reasons for the freefall are many. Leading scorer Jermaine Beckford has been carrying an injury for most of this year as well as carrying the mental burden of his ill-judged transfer request before the United match that was subsequently withdrawn.

Key figures such as Bradley Johnson have seen their form dip and nerves are obviously at play in the business end of the season. Playing in front of 30,000 expectant home fans in a division were the average is a third of that is a bonus when things are going well, an impediment when they are not.

Others in the division also scent blood. The scalp of Leeds United, however far they have fallen, is still a prized one in these parts and with the swashbuckling, high energy game that served them so well in the autumn deserting them others, notably Millwall and Swindon themselves, have steadily closed what was once an aching gap.

Teams now look to hustle and close down Leeds and break their rhythm, to cut off the supply lines from midfield most skilfully exploited by the ever excellent Robert Snodgrass. They have been found out and the ‘Plan B’ of hoofing long balls forward does not come naturally to a progressive coach like Grayson.

Still, despite their troubles, salvation remains in Leeds’ own hands. Victory over Swindon followed by a strong run to the line and an automatic place is theirs for the taking.

The challenge for Grayson now is to convince his charges that a home match against Swindon deserves the same approach, both in endeavour and commitment, as that wonderful afternoon in Manchester did.

It’s a much harder sell but Leeds’ season now depends upon it.

[reeves4england]

Good article, although I think the 30,000 figure is a tad generous!

[pauld]

It's official - Leeds' season fell apart because of "Swindon Syndrome"

[One F In Fitton]

Where is everyone heading pre-game? Haven't done Leeds before and any advice to someone driving up would be much appreciated.Cheers.

After you've exited the M621 @ junction 1 take the 1st exit at the roundabout. You are now pretty much at the ground. You'll see car parks on your left after McDonalds, go in the first one as it's quicker getting back out. It's right next to the away fans' corner, across the road from the Billy Bremner statue.

Only go in The Peacock (next to the car park) if you can do a good Yorkshire accent!

[Panda Paws]

Pretty gutted I'm not travelling up for this as being at the end of the a four year degree there's just no money in the pot. Everyone at the club is bang up for it, but irrelevant of result we still have a chance...no pressure!

[Thames Valley Whites]

The away pub is called the Drysalters, it is mixed with home and away fans and is at most a 10min walk from the ground, you need to walk down Elland road, opposite direction from city centre, from the ground to the roundabout and bear left, pub is just 200 yards on the road. Yon can park for free around this area and you will get away faster as you can take up to 30 mins getting out of the car parks.