h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Leeds United AFC - The Premiership Years 1992-2004 - A13259720
Author: Psycorp (Sub Editor) - U219983

Well I've been up half the night, and there's bound to be spelling and grammar mistakes but if Manchester United can have an EG entry then why can't Leeds???

Psyc.

Well, i'm up later than you (hope i'm gettin' paid for this!) so nerh! And it's my first post on H2G2 in about two years (don'tcha feel privalidged)

You know where to get me on MSN if disagree with/don't understand anything i've put here. But do try to remember that i'm always right and also, R BRILLENT!


who branded Bowyer and Woodgate 'thugs'. (you've done it again! "thugs")


The pair were excluded from consideration for international duty until the outcome of the trial by the FA (comma) although they were still eligible to play for Leeds


Within hours, the gates of Elland Road and the adjacent statue of Billy Bremner were covered in scarves and floral tributes from clubs the length and breadth of the country as the club mourned the loss of two fans who met their death following their team. (this sentence could be a bit longer if you tried!)


5 men were charged with the murder(s),(semicolon?) with one man being sentenced to seven years, and (the) four others recieving sentences of less that four months each.


Despite this tragedy (comma) or perhaps because of it,


acquisition of Inter Milan's Robbie Keane, and (superfluos "and") West Ham defender Rio Ferdinand, who signed for a club record £18 million and French midfielder Olivier Dacourt.


victory against the Italian side Lazio courtesy of Alan Smith (comma) secured not only progression


unable to match it's (no need for the apostrophe) European achievements


the following season (comma) despite O'Leary's


as he failed to live up to his promise of delivering Champions League football as ("when", maybe, instead of "as" again) Leeds finished 5th.


in favour of in (? This meant to be "an") ineffectual Paul Okon,


Harry Kewell, a player once valued at over £20 million (comma) was sold to Liverpool


the whistle was blown on the game, and (on) Leeds (apostrophe) time in the Premier League.


One of the first things he did was get rid of the club's ludicrously expensive goldfish. (that line is brilliant!)


(But) If this progress under Blackwell and Bates continues


And, of course -

forward Tomas Brolin, who signed in 1995 for £4.5 million (COMMA!) and managed only 19 appearances for the club.


Thank you, and good night (or, more acutrately, good morning)

Oooh, thank for writing this. My Mum is a Leeds girl, and it's where my brother was born and I was - thought about. My family all supported Leeds Utd AFC and we went to Elland Road many times. (Talking 70s here)
My Auntie Frances (the wife of my Mum's brother) was the secretary of the fan club and worked at the club; and she often put young apprentices who had moved to Leeds stay with them, so they wouldn't be led astray by Leeds nightlife

Ah, the stories she could tell, bless her.

I'll keep subscribed in case you need some more personal info.

I really enjoyed reading this - a cautionary tale for our times.

Brilliantly-written - I particularly like the opening paragraph - it's one of the best introductions I've seen.

I also enjoyed the phrase "...following a 6-1 defeat at the hand of newly promoted Portsmouth FC", but then I'm biased. Whoops, mustn't ,

A few comments:

spelling: tempremental, forsee

<> ...persuaded...?

<> You have to be very careful to put this into the right objective context. It was presumably not an unprovoked attack - there were running battles between fans, etc. The way you have written it (disturbance in quotes, etc) makes it look different. You link to a BBC News article which is more objective.

<> ...its...

<> Bit of a cliche - how about "depleted"?


Great article - it will grace the EG.

Icy

(there I go again)

Good stuff!

Is it worth saying a bit more about 'Publicity' Peter Ridsdale and the regime at the time? There were a lot of stories around about crazy spending on goldfish or something like that. Also, the famous "lived the dream" comment might be worth including.

Is it also worth mentioning the role of Michael Duberry and O'Leary's infamous book in the Bowyer and Woodgate section. From a non-Leeds fan's point of view, I don't think it was that the club was branded racist so much as a lot of stories started to emerge about Bowyer in particular that (rightly or wrongly) portrayed him as a deeply unpleasant character.

Ok.. Ashteth, I've made those changes, with the exception of the last two, neither of which really sit well with me

Galaxy Babe, cheers for the support

Icy North, glad you enjoyed it. I've removed the word forsee as part of my rewrite and removed the quote marks around disturbance. The cliche is also gone!

Otto, I've added a bit about Ridsdale, but as for Dubes and the book... I like to pretend Duberry never played for us, and as he was never charged I didn't want to make a long paragraph longer, and with the exception of the title "Leeds United on Trial" didn't mention the court case and wasn't really a major factor in O'Leary's departure. If I can think of a way of working them in, I will.

I've also added a huge pile of links.

Excellent.

Quality stuff my friend

One forgets how much Leeds phyrric qualities tend to the fore.

Wasn't Cantona given away for some pathetically low price ? (Allegedly for sleeping with another player's wife.)

I seem to recall that Bowyer had the 'thug' label even when at Charlton.

Ferdinand £30M.

We never got thirty for him... Man United managed to get out of the monthly payments by giving us a smaller lump sum to keep us in business...

I've tidied up some sentences and grammar...

Nice one la'

Liking the bit about Brolin everyone's favourite 'big lad'.

Dan.

Cantona - "When the seagulls follow the trawler" - if you didn't come from my neck-of-the-woods you wouldn't have got that reference, tee hee hee

Excellent entry- very thorough.I hate to add to the chorus of people saying 'shouldn't you mention...' but I'm slightly suprised that Viduka didn't rate a mention. Is it a shameless local bias that gives you over to bigging up Alan Smith at the expense of the fat Aussie?

Oh yeah, I suppose I should mention Pies... I'll have to think of a way to wedge him in.

It's certainly a very large wedge.

I mentioned he scored the goal at Highbury to keep us up. Then added a 'Pie Boy' footnote. Because I had to. I just had to.

I found the full Pie Boy transcript too...

"HEY UP, HE'S ONSIDE AS WELL..HE'S ONSIDE, OH MY
WORD, OH MY WORD, MARK VIDUKA.. AGHHH, IT'S GONE. HE'S DONE
IT! OH MY WORD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! IT'S
MARK VIDUKA, AND HE'S DONE IT, HE'S DONE IT FOR LEEDS UNITED,
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, MARKO VIDUKA - OH YES!
OH, I FEEL SO PROUD, SO PROUD TO BE LEEDS - IT'S AMAZING -
IT'S 3-2 TO LEEDS UNITED, AND WE'VE SILENCED THE COCKNEY BOYS,
AND THE LEEDS BOYS, AND THE LEEDS BOYS ARE LOOKING ON, 'COS
LEEDS UNITED ARE BACK BIG STYLE, AND I CAN'T HEAR COCKNEY
BOYS, I CAN'T HEAR A WORD -
OH, I CAN'T BREATHE, I'M HAVING A HEART ATTACK! I CAN'T
BELIEVE MARKO'S DONE IT FOR ME, I CANNOT BELIEVE IT.
EVERYTHING LEEDS, ORGANISE, EVERYWHERE, GET OUT - OH MY GOD, I
CAN'T BELIEVE IT, THIS IS REMARKABLE, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
STAND UP LEEDS, GET OUT, EVERYTHING, EVERY MAN BEHIND THE
BALL - YOU KNOW IT SO SHOW IT - OH MY GOD, OH YES LEEDS,JIMMY
SAVILLE'S FIXING IT FOR US BIG STYLE, AND THE COCKNEY'S ARE
WEEPING, AND JIMMY SAVILLE'S ROCKING AND ROLLING, IT'S VICTORY
FOR LEEDS UNITED, STAYING IN THE PREMIERSHIP, OH YES, THIS IS
QUITE. UNBELIEVEABLE! QUITE REMARKABLE ( goal shown again on
screen); HE'S OFFSIDE AS WELL, AND THAT'S EVEN BETTER.. GET IN
THERE MARK VIDUKA, I TOLD YOU HE WAS DANGEROUS. WHERE'S PIE
LAD NOW EH? WHERE'S PIE LAD? WHERE'S PIE LAD? OH YES, WHERE'S
PIE MAN NOW? YES MAN,YES, GET DOWN KIDD
(Kidd hugs Peter Reid), GET DOWN KIDD, GOOD LAD, LAD, I CAN'T
BELIEVE IT, I CAN'T STOP SPEAKING, I'M ROCKING AND ROLLING FOR
LEEDS, AND WHEN I COME BACK WE'RE GONNA ROCK IT IN LEEDS
TONIGHT, BIG STYLE, COS WE - ARE - STAYING UP, I SAID WE ARE
STAYING UP. I SAID WE - ARE - STAYING UP, I SAID WE ARE
STAYING UP. ROCK AND ROLL LEEDS UNITED, OH YES, CAN YOU HEAR
COCKNEY'S SING? NO - NO - I NEVER HEARD 'EM BEFORE ANYWAY,
'COS WE'RE BACK.OH, WE'RE TRULY, TRULY BACK AND THIS IS
SPECIAL. THIS IS SO, SO SPECIAL AND NEVER RULE OUT LEEDS
UNITED. NEVER RULE OUT THE YORKSHIRE LIONS. NEVER, NEVER,
NEVER, NEVER. GO ON DANNY MILLS, ROCK AND ROLL LOCOMOTIVE
MILLS, I CAN'T HEAR COCKNEY'S .. I CAN'T HEAR A THING; ALL I
CAN HEAR IS LEEDS. OH YES, YES LEEDS, YES, OH."

Turns out he's "Pie Lad" so I'll have to change that again...

I'm not sure I understand 'who's pie boy now' is it some kind of clever play on words, or am I giving Leeds fans too much credit for imagination?