Ridsdale and I

For a nanosecond at least, Oldham was officially the coolest place on the planet circa April 1990. Yep despite those dark satanic mills looming on the skyline,  their women folk referred to uncomplimentary as "Yonners" and their main train station sharing the same suffix as an unpleasant virus e.g. Oldham Mumps, it was probably as much to do with the Indie group Inspiral Carpets, who hailed from the town and employed a certain Noel Gallagher as a roadie than Joe Royle's perpetual play-off team. Royle's men were potentially victims of their own success, as well as hovering in the play-off places they'd had two amazing cup runs, reaching the final of the League Cup losing to Forest and the semi's of the FA Cup, in fact they'd lost the replay at Maine Road to Manchester United on the Wednesday evening prior to us playing them on the Friday lunchtime, less than 30 hours rest! - it was Good Friday, Friday April 13th so what could possibly go wrong? It was an ea...

 To this day, it remains a mystery who the flying fan is/was. The date was March 10th 1990, the venue The Manor Ground, Oxford. I would argue this was the moment that defined the season and got the promotion push back on track after four games without a win. Leeds had trailed Oxford 2-0 at half-time, but Lee Chapman and Imre Varadi equalised and then, on 75 minutes Chris Fairclough rose to nod us in front and behind the goal, a lad in typically "baggy" attire of the era cartwheeled in the air down the terrace. I wish I could claim to be him but I'm not that agile and wasn't even back then, sadly I was not even there, but think Swansea 2019/20 when Pablo turned in that beautiful winner. Chapman added a fourth and when Leeds won a penalty, naturally he wanted his hat-trick and stepped up and missed earning the wrath of Howard Wilkinson for his profligacy. Our next home game on 17th March was against one of Chapman's future clubs, West Ham and  32,316 packed in to El...

  Saturday March 2nd and my first ever Leeds away match, at Vicarage Road, Watford. The Hornets lay in 11th place and no doubt to capitalise on Leeds riding high, albeit a point clear of Sheffield United with a game more played, as well as the Rookery End which in those days housed the away fans, we got a section of seats in the Sir Stanley Rous stand, now known as the Graham Taylor Stand. According to Barry, the ticket at £10 was a bargain as it included the programme too. I'm pretty certain it was unsegregated as well, as I'm sure I stood their in the gents next to a home fan. It was a nice stand, great view - the rest of the stadium was shit! The Rookery End was a seething mass of Leeds fans, opposite where we sat it was easy to mistake the ramshackle array of stands in with the allotment sheds that stood behind and to the left was an open Spion Kop where a certain Vinnie Jones had stood as a kid.  We'd stopped for "refreshments" on the way down, it might have ...

The lost season ticket continued to be the dominant thought in my mind, I even started tearing up the flat to make sure I'd not accidentally carried it back home somehow or by a miracle of biblical proportions it had teleported itself from the dusty terraces of the Kop and appeared by magic on the mantlepiece. The word from the club was not encouraging either, basically there was very little Eric Carlile could do other than to offer a sympathetic ear and refer the matter to David Dowse, Club Secretary. I wrote a pleading letter to Mr Dowse but got a blunt reply back saying that I'd have to pay again for it and maybe try and claim off my house insurance, something I did not have as I was 18 and lived with my parents in a flat above the pub. Barry as ever was brilliant, he told me not to worry he'd fix me up somehow for the Hull City game. Despite losing 3-2 at Swindon the previous Sunday afternoon, we were still top and three points clear of Sheffield United. Hull meanwhile ...

  Zico! The first day of the 1990's dawned, a Monday and in-keeping with my social mobility and desires to be accepted into middle-England, I was up earlier and went for a browse around the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Antiques Fair, which still run's every Bank Holiday at the local Leisure Centre. Bar my mullet hairstyle and leather-jacket, I most certainly was no Lovejoy and left the Antiques Fair empty handed. I got on the WM branch coach at Burton, it was a subdued journey no doubt 99% of the occupants nursing a hangover. But hair of the dog was the preferred remedy as the usual suspects piled out at the Woodman and Drysalters pubs. Oldham had their own precious relic of yesteryear in Roger Palmer, as well as a sprinkling of ex  Leeds players like Linighan, Wright, Ritchie and Irwin. I remember collecting Palmer' s panini sticker when he was a Manchester City player. He was a wonderful servant for Oldham and was entering his 10th year we the club. Maybe relic is a bit unkind, his ...

I was spoilt rotten for the Leeds United v Newcastle United game on December 2nd 1989, picked up just 8 miles from home in a luxury-coach, by 1980's standards anyway, I think it had a telly too and someone had bought the "180 Goals video". We always seemed to get Mike, the driver, a West Brom fan. The coach was occupied by a hunch of friendly Brummies/West Midlanders in Leeds shirts, including Leeds RL (I wanted one and got one!) so they looked every bit Yorkshiremen and women, until they opened their mouths of course!  Just a side note on the Leeds RL thing, I know they aren't universally loved amongst Leeds United fans, a good few preferring Castleford and no doubt some of the other clubs. Gary Schofield Leeds RL. I'd even got a ticket pre-match, a first for me in the South Stand. I held it tight in my pocket as I marched up Elland Road, along with near 32,000 others. The gobby Geordies were housed in the pre,-Cheese wedge corner and the 1st pen on Lowfields, ju...

Thanks to the shambles that was the Leeds United ticketing service and my Dad's forgetfulness, I missed the next 15 games of the 1989/90 season which, including the draw against Blackburn where I'd watched from their end, stretched to 14 unbeaten. In fact the run ended on November 11th just down the road at Leicester where a certain Gary Mcallister tapped home a late winner in a seven-goal thriller at Filbert Street with kick-off delayed to allow a huge Leeds following to pack into Leicester's now demolished old stadium. My Dad must shoulder some of the blame because just before the defeat at Leicester, he handed me a scrap of paper with the name Barry and a 01283 Burton-On-Trent phone number. He said someone had given it to him weeks ago, Barry was the Secretary of the Leeds United Supporters Club West Midlands branch. I dialled the number and it was answered by the man himself, sounding somewhat groggy as he was a shift worker at one of Burton's breweries and had been...

  I'd actually passed my driving test in the summer of 1989 and was the "proud" owner of a Mark 2 Ford Escort estate that I proudly covered in Leeds stickers and the obligatory Leeds Teddy Bear which a work mate said made it look like a play pen. I didn't feel confident as a driver or in the car itself to head 80 odd miles up to Elland Road so I stuck to the tried and tested routine of lift to Burton Station in a work-mates Cavalier, train to Leeds then walk to the ground. It was Saturday August 26th 1989 and Leeds faced Blackburn Rovers, a tricky encounter given that Rovers had made the play-offs in the previous two seasons and this was before Jack Walker and his millions rolled up at Ewood Park. I waited for my lift, which normally would arrive at 8am on the dot but it was well past 20 past when my work mate showed up all apologetic. His niece, who he took shopping with his mum and aunt had overslept or something. He tried to get me there on time for the 08:38 but a...

  According to my research, the second summer of love spanned both summers of 1988 and 1989. Obviously in '88, Acid House parties, Raves etc were getting middle-England all hot and bothered. Personally I couldn't give a shit, I thought it was a load of old wank and if I was going to travel miles then it wouldn't be to pop pills in some field near the M25 but at least the comfort of my own seat on an Inter City Train to watch Leeds United Maybe I did sound like I was 17 going on 70? But if I was the latter then surely this was the most eagerly anticipated campaign for many a summer, if ever? Leeds were spending money like it was going out of fashion. My devotion to the city of Leeds extended to something called "The James Whale Radio Show" which went out late on ITV on a Friday night. Whale was what you'd call a "shock Jock" on Radio Aire e.g. an outspoken DJ who'd come out with controversial often explicit content rather than someone like Gary Da...

On researching this post, I was surprised that post-Hillsborough, the football world pretty much carried on. Obviously in Liverpool's case there was no way they could just turn out the following week, a city in mourning and engulfed in grief as they started to bury the Hillsborough dead. Leeds on the other hand played-on. They were on the road against Chelsea, who made a step closer back on an instant return to the First Division with a 1-0 win (April 22nd) then the following Saturday we won 3-2 down at Stoke, a rare win at the Victoria Ground as Leeds fans older than me will know it never was a particularly happy-hunting ground. May day fell on a Monday and due to how the trains ran on Bank Holidays I could not get up to Leeds or get back to be more precise. I missed one of the most bizarre incidents to happen at Leeds in the 1980's against doomed Walsall who were heading for Division Three. By all accounts it had not been vintage Leeds, it was another "dead rubber" ...

I think the term "dead rubber" would be used today when, on Saturday April 15th 1989 Leeds United took on Brighton in a game which had no implications either way other than it be a dress rehearsal for the corresponding fixture in the forthcoming 89/90 season. As usual, I was up with the lark that morning and I remember it being it a chilly but sunny Spring day, the sort of day you get at that time of year that convinces you following the gloom of winter things are about to get better.  How ironic! My mum and dad's pub was having some extensive, much needed renovation work done and one of the builders, Graham, was putting a bit of overtime in rendering the outside. He pulled my leg asking why I was bothering with today's game, a meaningless clash, his team was Derby. I chatted to him as I waited for my lift to Burton. I caught my normal train and it was, my normal Saturday match day routine; Webster's Bitter breakfast, meander around the clothes and record shops- I...

  Having signed Gordon Strachan, Chris Fairclough and Carl Shutt, Easter 1989 proved to be an exciting time to be a Leeds fan. Even an Easter Monday defeat at high-flying Blackburn left us in 10th but just three-points off sixth place and the play offs. It seemed that the programme for the visit of AFC Bournemouth, on Saturday was gearing us up for the long-awaited return to the big time. Above the club proudly showed off it's new digital advertising board, which stood on Elland Road and was believed to be the first of its kind in the country. Leeds also captured a FOURTH signing, Chris Jones from Everton. Okay Jones was not as big a deal as Ian Snodin moving in the opposite direction a year or so earlier, after all he was only the ex Ticket Office manager at Goodison and in the programme that day he boldly claimed that his mission was to get Leeds United ticket services geared up for the First Division and if his old employers and their cross Stanley Park rivals were, like Leeds w...