I return to the subject of Leeds United, the football team that I have supported since childhood. The club features many times on this website. There were regular articles between 2018 and 2020 tracking their progress from the Championship (the second tier of English football) to the Premier League (The Promised Land, as I called it in this piece from July 2020).

As in many of those earlier pieces here is a screenshot taken from the BBC website. It shows Leeds sitting third in the Premier League.

This has not happened for a very long time, the 2001/02 season I believe. The club narrowly avoided relegation in 2002/03 and I can’t recall them spending time in the Top 3 that season. Either way, the last time Leeds were placed as high as third in the table Tony Blair was prime minister, the Iraq War had not begun and neither of my children had been born.

I am drafting these words a few hours ahead of the Friday Night game, Brentford at home to Chelsea (8pm kick-off). Elsewhere in West London I will be kicking a ball around at my usual 5-a-side fixture (7pm kick-off). A local pub (which favours Brentford) is offering a free drink to every customer if Igor Thiago or Kevin Schade score for the home team. If both of them score everyone in the bar will get two free drinks. The result of the game will dictate who is in third place overnight. If Brentford or Chelsea win they will claim the spot. If it’s a draw, Leeds will stay where they are. Whatever else happens over the weekend, a big win for Leeds at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday (20 September) will guarantee third spot going into the international break.

For the record, Leeds did briefly climb to second in the table earlier this month, while 1-0 up at Brighton on 5 September, but dropped out of the Top 6 when the game finished 1-1. Here’s another screenshot from the BBC website, an “As it stands” table from late in the first half of that game, just to show that it really happened.