My official Leeds United scarf has been keeping my neck warm over the last couple of weeks in this incredibly cold weather. It was a great present and it is the same scarf I'm wearing in the little profile picture in the About Me section. As I have been wearing the scarf a lot lately it got me thinking about a few other examples of Leeds branded products I own especially after previously talking about my Leeds United PS2 game.
Unfortunately the main thing that comes to mind is something unbelievably naff. I hope that I got it free from something because it is simply not worth anything and definitely doesn't keep me warm. It is a very basic looking calculator made out of polystyrene to look like a Leeds away kit. It is pretty useless and looks quite bulky. It hasn't got any special features so I may as well use the calculator on my mobile phone. I have no idea why I haven't thrown it away, maybe it is just because it has the Leeds logo on.
Obviously you can't talk about Football club merchandise without mentioning replica shirts. Some fans feel the need to buy the latest home shirt every year as it has a slightly different design. As a Leeds fan I know that the home shirt will be white so the one on the right I own from a few years ago is just fine. I used to have the bright yellow away kit and the sponsor on it was Strongbow. When I was about ten I had no idea what Strongbow was yet now a decade later I find myself listing Strongbow cider as one of my favourite drinks. I remember feeling really happy being bought my first Leeds kit which included the shorts and socks and were my favourite clothes. Now wearing a Leeds shirt occasionally will easily suffice.
So my prediction was nearly right with Leeds winning 2-1. What makes it better is that Luciano Becchio scored twice in the last ten minutes to secure the win and put Leeds back in the play-offs. According to early votes on the poll on this blog that is where Leeds will finish.
Anyway I thought it was about time I did a more general post like who my favourite Leeds player is which I'm sure everybody is very interested in. It's left-back Ian Harte. It's not just because I played in the same position as I was only there because I was left-footed, not because of any kind of skill. He was a free-kick specialist, took penalties and could score goals from long range. Harte and Harry Kewell in their prime could have easily fitted into the England team and solved problem positions if they weren't Irish and Australian respectively. After going to see Leeds gallantly lose to rivals Manchester United 4-3 I was lucky enough to get some autographs after waiting for the players. As you can imagine, there were a lot of people trying to get the signatures and although I wasn't in a favourable position in the crowd, Ian Harte heard me shout 'your my favourite player' and suddenly his pen was scribbling in my autograph book. Leeds will actually come up against him this season as he now plays for fellow Championship side Reading.
Although Alan Smith deserves a special mention as he was the life blood of Leeds and I even named a pet gerbil after him 'Smithy'. Obviously he isn't held in such high regard since he moved across the Pennines to Old Trafford in 2006. However it's since come to light that he moved there as Manchester United were the only team to offer money up front rather than in payments and had to accept it to try and fight off administration. He's still in the Premiership playing for Newcastle. Other autographs I managed to get included Eirik Bakke and Mark Viduka but they aren't going to get as much of a mention. Especially seem as I'm whenever I think of Viduka, I think of how he got sent off in the game Leeds were relegated from the Premiership.
Rather unsurprisingly, the Leeds v Arsenal match has been picked as one of the 3rd round F.A. Cup matches that will be shown live on ITV1 on Saturday 8th January. I am hyping this match quite a lot so it better be exciting now! Like I said on a previous post, this match will be more exciting than the bore fest that will be Liverpool vs Manchester United, which will of course be made out to be some kind of super match only for it to be 1-0 thanks to a poor refereeing decision.
That prediction will no doubt be horribly wrong so I may as well predict the score for the Leeds match today. I will say we will beat Crystal Palace 2-0 and in an couple of hours I can look back at this prediction in utter disgust.
What I do know is that those F.A. Cup matches will be watched by millions all over the world. Believe it or not this very blog also has an International audience. According to my blog's stats I have had visitors from the following countries: USA, France, Singapore, Croatia, Australia, Germany, Denmark and Ireland as well as the UK obviously. This just goes to show the International appeal of English football teams, even those that are now in the Championship rather than the Premier League.
I entered a competition to win tickets to the Crystal Palace match but I didn't win. This is a good thing as it would have been unbelievably cold and I have far too much work to be getting on with. As a result of all the snow falling, Leeds staff have been busy trying to make sure the game will actually go ahead. They have given this snow clearing operation the name "Project Buckingham (Get the Palace On)". For that name alone, I hope the match does go ahead and Leeds win obviously. Unfortunately the project to get the World Cup in England in 2018 failed as the tournament was awarded to Russia, with 2022 being awarded to Qatar as Fifa decided to take the world cup to different parts of the world as they did with South Africa. If England had won the World Cup bid, Elland Road would have been one of the stadiums used. A redevelopment was going to take place to increase the attendance to 50,000. Apparently this is still going ahead but it will take much longer.
Not exactly Fifa or Pro Evo
Talking about Leeds competitions has reminded me of how I won my PS2. To enter the competition in the Junior Strikers magazine, I had to answer which Leeds players were going to be playing at the World Cup. Bear in mind this was 2002 so it was a bit more difficult as at that time Leeds had quite a few international footballers. There are less in the team this season, as shown by the fact that I mentioned how two players had been called up by their respective countries in a previous post on this very blog. Anyway, I won the PS2 which 8 years ago, was quite a big deal. Obviously I was very happy and so were my parents probably, saving them a lot of money as if I hadn't won, I would have asked for it for my birthday or Christmas. One notable game I feel the need to mention was Leeds United Club Football. It sounds like a great game but unfortunately it came out at a time where Leeds were losing the plot. One of the main feature of the game was that you could put yourself in the game aslong as you shared the name of a professional footballer so the commentator could say it. This way I was in a virtual Leeds team (as the commentator said 'Martins' in a french accent which was the nearest I could get. I was on the same team as such forgettable rejects as Salomon Olembe, Lamine Sakho and Jody Morris. During that same season with my beloved football club at the brink of financial oblivion, my family were even joking that I would have to give my PS2 back to help their financial situation! Below is a video of how bad Leeds played that season but obviously this won't happen when we play Arsenal in the F.A. Cup next month!
My official Leeds United scarf has been keeping my neck warm over the last couple of weeks in this incredibly cold weather. It was a great present and it is the same scarf I'm wearing in the little profile picture in the About Me section. As I have been wearing the scarf a lot lately it got me thinking about a few other examples of Leeds branded products I own especially after previously talking about my Leeds United PS2 game.
