There’s a schizophrenia inherent in supporting Leeds United.
In one part of the mind lives the brashness and – dare I say it – arrogance of a club that has been home to the class of John Charles, the brains of Don Revie and the man-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude of William Bremner. We all hate Leeds scum, and we like it that way.
But in the other part of the mind lurks a nagging paranoia and insecurity. Leeds United has gone hand in hand with chaos, calamity and downright bad luck throughout its entire existence. Can it really be a coincidence? What if everybody – fans, media, authorities – really do hate Leeds scum?
“What’s interesting about ‘Dirty Leeds’ is that it was kind of started by the Football League,” Daniel Chapman writes in a book titled ‘100 years of Leeds United’,“ They put the stamp of approval on it.
Leeds basically discovered there was a gap between what people were doing on English pitches and what referees would actually let you get away with, so they decided to exploit that gap.
The ‘Dirty Leeds’ tag grew up in the newspapers over that promotion season in 1963-64. In the summer the Football League’s official journal featured an article on the rise of dirty tactics and cynical football. They published the disciplinary table from the previous season with Leeds United at the top and said, ‘This is the dirtiest team in the country.’
Don Revie was furious because that was the table for all the teams that played for the club, so it included like the 12-year-old schoolboy teams, who it sounds like must have been pretty rough in the West Yorkshire leagues.
The first team had had two players sent off in 44 years. They were one of the few teams in Division Two that season who hadn’t had a player sent off and only Billy Bremner had been suspended. The first team didn’t deserve the record they were being given by adding all the junior and schoolboy teams.
Revie’s point was that Leeds were going into the First Division the next season, and he said it would have an effect on ‘the subconscious approach of the referee and linesmen to say nothing of the minds of spectators, and it could lead to some very unsavoury incidents.’
That’s basically what happened. All these teams had read about Leeds being the dirtiest team in the country and were setting up ready to fight. Leeds were going out thinking, ‘Well we can play, but if it turns into a fight we’re going to make sure we win the fight.’
It became a self-perpetuating thing. Norman Hunter, Jack Charlton, Bobby Collins and Billy Bremner were not going to back down. But a lot of the ‘Dirty Leeds’ tag was to do with the Football League, on the eve of their promotion, saying, ‘Look out, these guys are coming.’
But the story of Leeds United is not just one of us against the world. When Leeds have lacked an opponent to fight, they have often fought with themselves. A club shot down time and again by internal turmoil.
“There’s no church next to Leeds United and there never has been…so I guess we’re horrible people”, Chapman writes.
But they’ll have a familiar foe in Manchester United when they make the trip down to Lancashire, coming Sunday.
Watch out, y’all. The Roses Derby is almost upon us. (1/2)
Into Added Time 
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