William Shakespeare said “In time we hate that which we often fear” and who are we to argue with one of the greatest minds his time?

With that in mind, The Scratching Shed brings you a compilation of those who fear Leeds United the most. Enjoy!

The FA Cup minnows at Sold Trafford

A dreadfully slow news day today for Leeds United, with the only real story being on-loan centre-back O’Brien saying he doesn’t expect his deal at Bolton to be extended beyond the summer. Maybe we could swap him for Johnson in January?

Anyway, what I did happen to stumble across was an early Christmas message left for us on YouTube by everyone’s favourite glory hunters from Kent. This particular showing of affection took place during ManU’s League Cup Quarter Final hammering at West Ham, so maybe it was deja vu of their FA Cup failings the previous year?

“1-0, at the Beckford end…”

Evans playing in a God-awful kit

With very few rumours circulating today, we have to resort back to yet another Betfair rumour. For those of you that haven’t been keeping count, this is number 793 of the summer. (None of which have yet to come true!)

The Betfair blog reads;

At last! It’s a Leeds rumour that doesn’t involve them being interested in a striker!

Quite. Although I notice they haven’t mentioned who the people responsible for the overwhelming majority of said rumours are!

Having been linked with enough forwards to cater for the whole of the Championship, Leeds are today reported to be lining up a loan move for Manchester United’s 20-year-old Corry Evans…

Those of you that haven’t got a clue who Corry Evans is aren’t alone. One TSS commentator (djedjedje) said “Never heard of Corry Evans, sounds like an american tweenage star of some god-awful TV programme; possibly a girl, possibly a boy.”

Well, for those of you wondering, I can confirm the subject in question is a boy. He’s no American either! In fact, Corry is a 20-year old Irish midfielder come centre-back who has made four appearances for his country despite failing to get into the Manchester United first team. He’s also the brother of another Salford Yanks player, Jonny Evans.

Since the rumour comes from Betfair, the believability factor is low. That said, many of us were expecting a few Premier League youngsters in on loan this season so he does fit the criteria. He’s also a defensive midfielder, which is a position many of us have been worrying about lately.

As much as we need cover in midfield, would any of us really be happy playing the part of Manchester United’s feeder team?

After years of frustration, heartbreak and failure, we finally had something to celebrate. And yes – we probably did go a little over the top. But the fact of the matter is, that promotion was long overdue, and we all needed something to lift our endlessly tormented souls.

However ridiculous celebrating promotion to the second tier may be for a club of Leeds United’s size, I’d do it all again tomorrow. The Scum fans are welcome to laugh. After all, Leeds United are finally moving forwards again. Scum meanwhile are being knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by third-tier teams and crippling under the weight of the Glazer inherited debts. It helps you sleep much easier at night, doesn’t it?

The Scum fans are welcome to their five minutes of laughter. They know that deep down, their days of Premier League dominance are over. They know the debt which Glazer has burdened them with will eventually be too big to cope with and that multi-million pound transfers will quickly become a thing of the past. And as they slowly slip down the pecking order, Leeds United will quietly rise again.

You see, the Scum fans are easy enough to torment. They have enough worries of their own and are simply trying to deflect attention by focusing on us. It’s the same “light-hearted” banter that these two teams have communicated in for years, and it isn’t going to stop simply because there’s a division or two between us. The hatred is far too strong for that!

However, more and more over the last few years I’ve noticed that the Scum fans are wasting their breath. No matter how critical of Leeds United’s team, management or fans they may be, they simply can’t compete with the attitudes coming from within. We’ve developed such a defeated, cynical and pessimistic attitude, that escaping this rut is a hell of a lot harder than it should be.

I say ‘developed’, but it’s hardly something that’s happened over night. No other team on earth is as critical of their players as Leeds United’s fans are. Jermaine Beckford was a prime example, but even going back to our more successful time at the top, Mark Viduka endured the same kind of nonsense.

Then there’s the management. Simon Grayson moves from hero to mug at such a rapid pace, I can’t update TSS quick enough sometimes. He’s not been the only one either, David O’Leary, George Graham and even Howard Wilkinson often fell foul of the fans negativity.

I’m digressing a little here, but there’s an often cited tribe in Africa called the Ashanti’s that Psychologists have used to explain what can happen when an entire community expects something of you. Basically, the Ashanti’s believe that your personality is dictated by what day of the week you are born. For example, a boy born on Monday is said to be ‘mild-mannered and peace loving’ whilst one born on Wednesday is said to be ‘violent and aggressive’.

Of course, in a more developed society such as our own, we know the day of the week on which you’re born holds absolutely no relevance to your personality. However, the Ashanti’s that were born on a Wednesday did turn out to be ‘violent and aggressive’, whilst those born on a Monday were ‘mild-mannered and peace loving’. What the Ashanti’s and Psychology teaches us, is that when something is when everyone around us expects something of someone, that person will generally act accordingly.

So how does this relate to Leeds United? Maybe it doesn’t, but I can’t help thinking that the negativity amongst our fans sometimes fuels failure. In the play-off final against Donny for example, there were as many fans expecting us to ‘bottle it’ as there were fans who thought we would win. When a group of players pull on that famous white shirt that holds all the memories of finals where we ‘bottled it’ and they hear the pessimistic expectations of fans, maybe they start to conform to what is “expected” of them? Maybe failure was inevitable?

Conversely, you only need to look at the defiant arrogance of the Manchester United fans who believe they have a god-given right to win anything, or the kind of ‘we can beat anyone‘ spirit Jose Mourinho instils wherever he goes. You never get that kind of belief at Elland Road. There’s always an element of expected doom. We enjoy the highs, but seldom get too carried away. In truth, we always hold back a little, just in case there’s an epic fall awaiting us around the next corner.

Even now, after promotion the negativity remains. The possibility that Simon Grayson has nothing to spend makes us question our chances next term. We compare ourselves to other teams, not by looking at the strength and depth of our own squad, but by suggesting how easily the oppositions star player will tear through our fragile defence.

Maybe pessimism is an inherent trait of all Leeds United fans? All those failures are hard to forget, but are we partly to blame for those failures? Is our own negativity dragging the team down and stopping Leeds United’s success, or is the Gypsy curse/Ken Bates/deal Ridsdale made with the Devil to blame for it all?

Are the genes of Manchester United football fans in a different league to those of Manchester City fans? It’s a pertinent question because the NHS is out to recruit both groups as sperm donors.

Coming soon to boarded up offices in Manchester

I’ll answer this one. The genes of Man United and Man City fans are indeed very different. The latter for example tends to have an increased amount of common sense over the former, evident in the choosing of their football club. The former also has an insatiable desire for prawn and cucumber sandwiches and tends to reside further south than the latter.

Further study has also highlighted a distinct attraction to shiny silver things in the supporters of Manchester United. Indeed, many of them would quickly jump ship and change allegiance in a shot if another team was to start collecting more of these precious objects than their own.

It would be easy to imagine fans chanting of their rivals, “What a bunch of sperm donors”, or something similar.

Nothing new there then! At least they’ll have a good use for Wes Brown.

Thanks to the Times Online for bringing this priceless piece of information to my attention (via @MOTForever). It’s really made my morning!

After the dust had settled on our famous victory at Old Trafford, I returned to work head held high to torment the Manchester United fans that I have had to cope with through the last six years of hell.

The victory inside Old Trafford was one thing, but the satisfaction of silencing the glory-hunting scum fans I work with is another. Sure I’d sent them messages after the game as I made the best of a rare opportunity to brag. None of them replied of course, they were far too busy sulking and avoiding us Leeds fans that had waited for this moment for the past 29 years. Much like inside Old Trafford, Manchester United fans have a funny habit of going silent when they’ve lost.

After retiring to their dark corners to sulk and dream up a list of injustices that had cost them the game, they entered the workplace, clearly expecting abuse from us proud Leeds United fans; and we weren’t about to disappoint them.

The funny thing was though, none of the Manchester United fans could actually think of an excuse. There were no injustices, no dodgy refereeing decisions in our favour (some even admitted Wes Brown should have been sent off), no cheating Leeds United players, nothing! This was Manchester United fans as I’ve never seen them, they were worried.

For over a decade now we’ve had to put up with the Manchester United fans arrogance. Even in defeat, they always have an excuse, and usually bounce back stronger. As much as I hate to admit it, they’ve been largely untouchable.

The fans always know best

I’ve read the stories in the Times, Guardian and other papers that claim Manchester United’s reign of dominance may be finally at an end, but that’s exactly the kind of knee-jerk reaction I expect from newspapers after a team with Manchester United’s legacy are so resoundingly beaten by a side forty odd places below them in the footballing pyramid.

The papers stories are easy to ignore, but they say the fans are the ones that really know the truth in football. It’s usually pretty true as well. Whilst people outside Leeds United can look at our success this season and accredit it to Ken Bates bringing stability to the club, the rest of us know he’s a crook and it’s a lucky appointment in Simon Grayson that has changed our fortunes. Managers that can bring success without any money are a rare commodity and Bates landed on his feet when he appointed an unheard of manager from Blackpool. 

With that in mind, it was hard to ignore the doom and gloom coming from my Manchester United supporting work-mates. Aside from Wayne Rooney, they see very little light in their clubs future. How can they compete with Man City and Chelsea when they’re burdened by a crippling debt that leaves them no money to buy the big names that have brought them success in the past? The next generation of players didn’t show the fight that their predecessors did; had that been a young team featuring Giggs, Neville, Scholes and Beckham on Sunday, you can be sure they’d have given us a much better fight.

Personally, I don’t think this is the end of Manchester United’s success, but I do think we may look back on our victory as the moment when the Manchester United era began to fade out. I’m not saying they’ll never win anything again, but they’ll certainly have a much harder time in doing so over the next few years. Maybe they’ll win the League Cup this year and go on to win a fourth successive League title. They might even get lucky in Europe, but if the Glaziers don’t find some answer to Man United’s debts, then the next few years will gradually see them fade away. They’ll be like the 90’s Liverpool after the reign of dominance they experienced in the 80’s – competitive, but always chasing someone else’s coat tails.

Here’s hoping that in ten years time we look back on the 3rd of January 2010 as the moment the fortunes of Manchester United and Leeds United began to change. Hopefully, we’ll be looking back at a moment where Leeds United began to rise again, whilst Manchester United showed the first signs of collapse.

Clearly, my email was meant to wind him up a little but I asked if he had any comment to make to TSS and he replied with the following;

Yeh the best team did win. Gutted. Whilst we had inexperienced players on the park, we should have had more than enough with the experienced players we did have to get a result.
 
Our defence couldn’t live with Beckford and I’m sure that goal just earned you some more money for his transfer this month!
 
F**king livid yesterday but now I’m just trying to focus on Wednesday. It’s more embarrassing to lose to you but there is more at stake against City… they haven’t won anything for 33 years and we need to make sure than becomes 34.

Further reaction from Scott can be found here in his own match review. Clearly he was in the same mood that Alex Ferguson was yesterday when writing that.

Casper Ankergren – 8*
This is a tough one because he was beaten. Aside from the moment where Jason Crowe came to his rescue he made some good saves. Was a few nervy moments from corners where he came to clear and missed, but clean sheet so no complaints.
*Decided I agree with the consensus that I was a little hard on Casper and he deserves more than the original 7, so edited to 8. He did slow the shot down from Rooney enabling Crowe to clear and the shots he did save make his efforts worthy of a higher score.

Jason Crowe – 8
From now on, this is how he should play every week. Was beaten once or twice. but hardly surprising giving who he had to compete with and always chased them down. Saved us from an equaliser with a goal-line clearence and worked tirelessly throughout. Best display he’s had in a Leeds shirt for me.

Richard Naylor – 9
As a lifelong Leeds fan, Nayl’s will have needed no motivational talk for this game from Grayson. He put everything on the line, throwing whatever he had in front of whatever Manchester United could muster. Clean sheet at Old Trafford, not many teams get to say that and the partnership of him and Kis is key to that success. Absolutely hounded Rooney throughout.

Patrick Kisnorbo – 9
Fearless, absolutely fearless. Solid as a rock and never sees anything as a lost cause. His work rate is incredible, his desire admirable and the difference he’s made to Leeds United in defence, unbelievable. Haven’t been able to fault him on much all season.

Andrew Hughes – 7
Had the unenviable task of Welbeck followed by Valencia. Dealt pretty well with Welbeck, but when the youngster did break he was simply impossible to catch such is his terrifying pace. Valencia ran him ragged, but Hughes gave everything and played his part in the result.

Jonny Howson – 10
I said in my match report that I felt Jonny had grown from the experience and I simply can’t praise him enough. Like Naylor, he’s homegrown and would have needed no motivation whatsoever. His pass for Beckford’s goal was simply sublime, his closing down was tireless and he never showed any fear or respect to the Premier League champions throughout. Hero in the making.

Neil Kilkenny – 8.5
Got disposessed a few times, but then who didn’t? (and I mean on both teams) Always looked to move forward and create chances, never took his foot off the gas and was there with the tackles when needed. Another solid performance from Killa, making the competition for places in midfield a real battle.

Michael Doyle – 8
What I like about Doyle is that he holds back giving Kilkenny, Johnson and even Howson at times room to push forward. Not afraid of the tackle and certainly showed no fear against any of the Man United players. Battled throughout and had a solid game.

Bradley Johnson – 8
Made Gary Neville look like a pub team player – which, let’s face it, he should be. Probably quite frustrated with the end product at times, but he played a big part in why we were so strong going forward. Good game from Bradley and great to have him back.

Jermaine Beckford – 10
The enigma that is Jermaine Beckford. What can you say about him, he’s answered all his critics in the last few weeks. Weak in the air - scores with a header. Underperforming - scores five in three games. Disappears in big games – runs Manchester United ragged. Could quite easily have been MOTM as he just made a mockery of Wes Brown all day. If that was his last game for Leeds United, it’s not a bad way to end an impressive run at the club and he’ll leave a hero in my eyes.

Luciano Becchio – 8.5
Strong, hard-working, tough tackling and troublesome for Manchester United throughout. Seemed to play closer to midfield than he did striker, but his contribution was nonetheless vital and helped us win the battle in the centre of the park. Never going to be an out and out striker, but his contribution is invaluable to the team.

The subs
Simon Grayson left two of his subs ’til the very end (probably to time waste) so no point rating Michalik or White, but Snoddy came in and made an immediate impact hitting the bar with a beautifully struck free-kick. From there on in, he got stuck in and helped us to secure victory.

On the approach to Old Trafford I came across a man with a masterplan to make money by selling those cup game scarves you see baring the colours of both teams with a 50/50 divide. Clearly he’d underestimated how much we both hated one another as I can’t see many Leeds United fans buying a scarf with Manchester United’s name and colours on it (and vice versa). He didn’t look to be having much success as I passed that’s for sure.

By this point there was Police everywhere as you may well expect. Apparently there’d already been some trouble between the fans in the station and a couple of fights outside the ground, but on the whole and considering the occasion, it wasn’t as bad as may have been expected. I didn’t encounter any problems with the opposition fans anyway and all the Leeds fans I saw were being their usual charming selves. I guess if anything was to kick off, it’d have likely happened after the game but there’s a funny thing about winning that makes our naughtier few better behaved.

The security element of the tie was doing their best to treat us all like animals. As the Police warned some fans to calm their passions “or else” I moved by swiftly before another unjustified altercation with the law that I could do without. Travelling away often presents itself with instances where the Police decide you have less rights than a terrorist and very little right to complain thereafter – regardless of whether you’d done anything wrong or not!

The temptation of asking the steward who searched me on the way into the ground if he’d at least buy me dinner first was hard to resist, such was the mans thoroughness and clear love of his job. I did resist however as there were more law enforcement officers around and they didn’t look like they’d need much of an excuse to arrest any fan they felt was being problematic, so it was through the turnstyles and in to Sold Trafford for the first time in almost six years.

You have to give credit to Man United’s manager for his approach to this game. As big a distaste for the bloke as we all may have, he rarely makes a mistake in his preperation for media frenzy matches like these and he wasn’t about to start now. All week he’d been stressing publically how big a match this would be for Leeds and the supporters of both teams. He’d told of how we shouldn’t be underestimated and warned his team for a battle and that’s exactly what they got.

From the off Leeds looked to take the game to ManU and it was clear we were in for a two-way battle. Most minnow teams like ourselves go to Old Trafford and look to leave with a respectable scoreline, but Simon Grayson was having none of that. If we’re going to play, we’re playing to win.

Chances fell both ways with Darren Gibson firing wide for ManU and Jermaine Beckford heading over the bar for Leeds. Danny Welbeck quickly settled into the game for Manchester United and was making a real nuisance of himself down the right. Andy Hughes was left wondering what had happened as Welbeck burst down the flank with pace and sent a good cross straight across goal, with no Man United player able to make a connection. Meanwhile, the older Donkey Brother was getting his usual reception from the Leeds faithful and was booed everytime he touched the ball.

Becchio had a good chance for Leeds with a headed attempt from Kilkenny’s cross but headed well over the top of goal. It was the best chance so far and Becchio knew he should have done better. Meanwhile, the crowd was in full voice as the Man United fans repeated “We all hate Leeds scum” again which they mixed with a song about Cantona and some nonsense about Rooney. Hard to hear them whilst munching Prawn sandwiches in all honesty. Leeds on the other hand had no time to snack and were busy working there way through a much wider range of songs. This was probably around the ‘we’re not famous anymore’ stage of proceedings.

On the pitch the exchanges were just as lively. Leeds were fighting for every ball and attacking at every available opportunity. Simon Grayson’s tactics of pushing men forward when in possession made for a brilliant end to end battle, but there were several nervy moments when the Reds countered and their pacey players like Welbeck broke free.

Beckford celebrates the goal of his career

It was roughly twenty minutes in to an action packed first half when Leeds countered quickly and took the lead. Jonny Howson picked out Jermaine Beckford who had been busy giving the over-rated Wes Brown the run around with an excellent long-range pass that landed nicely for Beckford. His first touch took him wide of the goalkeeper and his second was a tame shot that beat the goalkeeper and slowly but surely crossed the line! Cue crazy celebrations in Old Trafford and silence in the home stands. “1-0 in your cup final!” Wes Brown meanwhile may as well have been sat in the stands.

Man United quickly tried to get back on level terms and had it not been for a Jason Crowe goal-line clearence, Wayne Rooney would have done so almost immediately. That was about the best Man United could offer in terms of a reply in the first half and as tempers began to flair, the horrible Wes Brown got himself booked for a foul on Lucciano Becchio. One of several poor challenges he made in a game where it was a miracle he didn’t get sent off.

After a cheerful half-time for Leeds United fans, we returned for the second half and rather unsurprisingly, Man United were throwing bodies forward. Their whinging players futile appeals for a penalty were dismissed by the ref after Howson dispossessed Welbeck and just minutes later, the tempers flaired again as Micky Doyle was brought down for a free-kick. Jonny Howson – who played an absolute blinder - decided he could take on Gibson and Brown and as tempers flaired, the ref had to intervene and calm matters down before normal service was resumed.

The ref - who despite his reluctance to send Wes Brown off for a series of challenges where he never got anywhere near the ball - had to issue some more yellow cards as the tackles started to fly in all over the place. Both Naylor and Gibson found their way into the book, but in truth, both teams could have received a lot more yellow cards but a very good ref allowed the game to flow throughout and tried to keep his cards in his pocket.

Nayl’s was solid and hungry throughout, as was Kisnorbo. Even the usually criticised Hughes and Crowe were sticking the tackles in and making life hard for Manchester United. The midfield were closing down and challenging players whenever Man U were in possession and Becchio seemed to play the majority of the match back there with them. When we had possession, we were never afraid to pass it about and run with the ball, particulary Johnson and Howson who deserve a special mention. The whole team as one were performing brilliantly and you have to give full credit to Grayson who was tactically spot on.

Man United, who had started strongly enough with a good defence and near-on £60m in strikers decided to make some more changes to try and win the battle of the midfield. Giggs and Valencia came on, but surprisingly Welbeck was removed which was a bit of a relief as the lad’s pace had caused us problems throughout. Strange move, but I’m sure there was motive to the madness.

Owen joined proceedings not long after but despite so many attacking options, Man U were still struggling in defence and Jermaine Beckford once again broke free to narrowly fire wide when one on one with the keeper. Hearts in mouths by now, as Rooney prowled and Owen looked to get in on the action.

Leeds would get another chance however, by which point Snoddy had joined proceedings in replace of the outstanding Jonny Howson. A free-kick in a good position had his name written all over and he struck beautifully, only to be denied by the bar. Despite leading, one more would have settled some nerves as we approached the end of the game and the inevitable five minutes of added time came. As the crowd mocked the officals with chants of ‘Fergy time,’ Man United looked for one final chance, but Casper, Nayl’s, Kis and whoever else could get their body in the way kept the Champions at bay.

The final whistle blew and Leeds celebrated a result we’ve not managed in 29 years. Victory at Old Trafford for the FA Cup minnows and third tier team. Every Man United fan you taunt over the coming days will inevitably claim it was a weak team or that the referee didn’t give them 29 minutes of ET and three penalties, but there’s no taking away from what Simon Grayson’s lads achieved today. They did us proud and thoroughly deserved their victory. A special day for Leeds United that I expect we’ll look back on in years to come as the first sign of our resurrection.

TSS man of the match
Jonny Howson for me. I could hazard a guess that ITV went for Becks and it wouldn’t be undeserved. He made Wes Brown look second rate throughout and was always a threat, but Jonny rose to the occasion like the Leeds lad he is. He knew what the rivalry meant and gave it absolutely everything. All the team played their part and all of them deserve the praise they’ll receive but Jonny grew today for me. He was like Leeds’ answer to Stevie G.

The draw for the fourth round gave us another trip down memory lane as we head for Tottenham Hotspur. Ken Bates will no doubt be delighted too at another obvious money spinner, which will once again undoubtedly be on TV.

A great start to 2010 I’m sure you’ll agree. Happy new decade for Leeds? Let’s hope we’re celebrating just as much in May! One things for sure now though. If Beckford does leave in the coming days, he’ll leave Leeds United a hero, in the meantime though, I’m sure you’ll enjoy his goal again!

Whether Beckford goes to Newcastle, moves elsewhere, signs a new contract or stays put until the end of the season is completely irrelevant. Scoring the winning goal for your third division side at Old Trafford makes you a hero in my eyes! Great performance from all the lads. MOT!