Leeds United V Preston North End Saturday 12th April 2025 - Elland Road 2024/25 Season With the sun blaring down, it was another glorious day as we headed to Elland Road for the lunchtime kick off. After a visit to the Holbeck Club, The Peacock and Billy’s statue, we queued at the turnstiles. After all the furore about the turnstiles not working correctly and fans being denied the chance to renew their season tickets, it looked like there were issues again with one. Fans were scanning their tickets and then having to come out of the queue, so I ensured I went to the adjacent one to get through. Luckily all was fine for myself and my granddaughter to get into the ground. I’d been asked a few times before the game about what the score would be today. I didn’t dare to say anything, one because I always get it wrong and two, I didn’t want to jinx the outcome so said I would see what transpired on the pitch. A big well done to everyone involved at the Chris and Kev remembrance dinner last week, as they raised £90,000 for Candlelighters, who support families facing children’s cancer in Yorkshire. An emotional night and well done to Charlie for getting his story about the night Chris and Kev were murdered out there. The article in the Telegraph was harrowing to read. Anyone who believed the lies told by the media about our fans that night, should read it and understand what really happened. My sister Erica was the lucky winner of two tickets for the game today courtesy of Cadburys. It was also lovely seeing the sea of yellow, white and blue shirts amongst the crowd in and out of the ground. I also bumped into the lads from Utrecht who had woken their friend up to bring him to Elland Road for his stag do. Team: Darlow, Ampadu, Rodon, Bogle, Firpo, Gnonto, Piroe, Solomon, Gruev, Tanaka, Aaronson. Subs: Bamford for Aaronson (80), Schmidt for Gnonto (80), Byram for Solomon (95). Subs not used: Meslier, Guilavogui, Joseph, Ramazani, Debayo, Wöber. Leeds won the game 2-1 with Solomon (4) and Bogle (13) scoring the goals which put Leeds back to the top of the table. Attendance: 35,747 with approximately 1,500 Preston fans. Referee: John Busby. Booked: Darlow, Gruev. Once again Leeds got off to a tremendous start with an early goal. Solomon got into a great position as I shouted, shoot. The words had hardly left my lips, as he unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that hit the top corner of the net in front of the South Stand as Elland Road erupted. Our celebrations were cut short as within two minutes Preston equalised with a similar long range shot from the edge of the box which beat Darlow. Although that was disappointing, Leeds continued to show that the best form of defence is attack as they continued to bombard the far goal. Before we knew it, we’d taken the lead again after a fantastic cross from Solomon on the left was met by Bogle in the middle of the goal, to put the ball into the net as Elland Road erupted once more. It took me a few minutes to realise that Piroe had a new hairstyle because it made him look taller and I’d wondered who it was. He was very involved in attacking the far goal and saw his attempt go narrowly pass the post, plus Gnonto saw a good shot saved by their keeper. Despite Piroe coming close again the score stayed the same as we went into the break. As we came out for the second half, Leeds had to be on their toes when Darlow made a great save from their shot from a corner. Piroe then saw his shot go wide after Aaronson sent him on his way past the defence. Solomon sent a great cross into the box and Piroe was unlucky once again as his shot came off the cross bar and away. Another attack and this time Aaronson crossed for Gnonto only to see the shot go over the top of the goal. We were very lucky not to be punished when Darlow punched the ball away from the goal. I hadn’t realised at the time that he was far out of his area and was booked for it. As someone said to me after the game, he thought it was lucky that Darlow wasn’t sent off. Their free kick was taken and luckily, we managed to clear it. As news filtered through that Plymouth had taken the lead against Sheffield United, the noise around Elland Road reached fever pitch. It carried on like this until the final whistle as Leeds emerged winners with another precious three points taking us back to the top. That’s the best atmosphere we’ve had at Elland Road for a long time, and I loved it. I was so happy at the end of the game then I became emotional and cried. I wasn’t the only one to do this and it shows how much it means to us all. I thought Piroe played well today so he needs to keep his new hairstyle. I also thought the referee kept the game flowing and although he played on when Bamford was rugby tackled and thrown to the floor, overall, he dealt with the game well. Well, I honestly don’t know how people are lucky buying tickets for home games because since the system changed, I haven’t managed to get extra tickets for my family once. I was 10,000 and 9,000 in the queue for Stoke tickets so I didn’t stand a chance and gave up. With the old site I was successful many times, so I am just thankful that I have a home and away season ticket otherwise I’d never get to a game! With four games to go, it still isn’t over, but we are in a good position but need to keep this automatic promotion place. We travel to Oxford on Friday before being back at Elland Road on Easter Monday.  Keep fighting Leeds and see you all there. LUFC – Marching on Together!

Leeds United V Luton Saturday 5th April 2025 - Kenilworth Road 2024/25 Season It’s been a very emotional week for me personally because yesterday saw the anniversary of my baby daughter’s sudden death from an undiagnosed heart defect. Tomorrow also sees my late husband’s birthday so alongside the Chris and Kev tributes it all hit home for me and plenty of tears have been shed. Thank you to everyone for the support you have given me with words and hugs because they are all greatly appreciated. With another 12.30pm kick off, it was an early start as we left Leeds at 5.30am stopping at Stevenage getting to the ground in bright sunshine. I needn’t have worried about being under the stand and not getting any sun, as my seat was at the side. As it was cold this morning when we left, I’d been well prepared despite knowing the weather would warm up by kick off. Well done to Luton for their support in the 25th minute with the round of applause for Chris and Kev with flags in the Leeds end and everyone turning their backs in tribute to the lads. With Farke making the decision to drop Meslier and put Darlow in goal, it had taken the sting out of the social media emotions. All I wanted from today was to keep things in our own hands, battle and fight for 90 minutes. As we all know now, we got a draw which means Burnley had leapfrogged us to go top. Although it is still not over yet as we have chances, we need to up our game if that’s the case. Team: Darlow, Ampadu, Struijk, Bogle, Firpo, James, Solomon, Piroe, Tanaka, Gnonto, Rodon. Subs: Bamford for Gnonto (63), Aaronson for Piroe (79), Struijk (injured) for Wöber (86), Byram for Bogle (87), Schmidt for Solomon (87). Subs not used: Meslier, Gruev, Ramazani, Guilavogui. Leeds drew the game 1-1 coming from behind with a James goal (28). Attendance: 11,867, 1,400 Leeds fans. Referee: Thomas Bramall. Booked: Bogle, Solomon. Leeds started off on the front foot which saw their keeper save from Firpo before another attack saw him save a Solomon shot. Luton then took an early lead after counter attacking and winning the ball on the far side before racing towards our goal in front of the Leeds fans. When they crossed over to our side their man was in loads of space having no one marking him, to hit the ball into the net. That was disappointing but Leeds fought back to equalise with a fantastic goal by James 15 minutes later. Level terms at half time gave us some hope. Darlow had to make an important save at the start of the second half. It took a while before Leeds suddenly looked to get the impetus to attack when Bamford had come onto the pitch for his first game after a long injury. After a powerful header out of defence by Rodon which was picked up by James to run onto, he passed to Bamford who saw his low shot parried by their keeper. James got behind the Luton defence again and sent a great pass across the box with Solomon coming in at the far post only to see the ball go wide. Bamford got on the end of a Tanaka forward pass, but their player caught up with him and closed him down. His pass to Schmidt saw the ball taken off the latter’s toes. With Leeds getting on top, Luton made subs that took the sting out of the game as they took such a long time. At times we were very slow in our build ups playing across the back, but it did feel that we wouldn’t get the winner despite 8 minutes of injury time. Looking back at the playbacks, their keeper spilled every shot from us but sadly no one was near enough to follow up and stick the ball into the net. It's still not over, there are going to be plenty more ups and downs and we go again on Tuesday against Middlesbrough. We’ve got to keep fighting despite the draw today and never give up. After hearing that our last home game against Bristol has now been moved to the Monday night with only three weeks’ notice, I feel sorry for so many of our fans who are now unable to attend. Hearing some of our Irish fans were not only attending the game but had flights and hotels booked, shows the high impact this will have had on many. It is time the 3pm kick off blackout is consigned to the bin so that games do not get moved at the last minute. Fans will still go to the games despite them being on TV, as well as ensuring fans around the world can watch their team too. Many of you will know about the CDs we recorded with over 200 songs and chants from the terraces from the 1960s until 2018. On 24th April we will have 99 of these songs and chants being available for downloading from sites such as Spotify. As before, any monies raised will go towards the Leeds United Foundation/Academy. Hopefully our fans who used modern sites to listen to music will help support this. Thank you to those who have given great feedback from my new website going live. If you haven’t seen it yet, please have a look at www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk and you may just find yourself included in the photos from each game on the Matchday link. I will still post my blogs as I have been doing but the website will have everything in one place even though it is still work in progress. Also thank you to Kevin Smith from Harrogate for the Leeds United LP Marching on Together Leeds United Greatest Hits, Golden Anniversary Collection. I’m looking forward to listening to this. I pulled into Hartshead Moor services on my way home, rejoining the motorway a short time later with blue lights bearing down behind me. When I got level with the two cars at the side of the road, one was facing towards me and the other in the right direction. It puts it all in perspective for me. After having a robin serenading me in the garden yesterday as I was having a quiet moment, I do feel I’m being looked after by loved ones. See you Tuesday, LUFC – Marching on Together!