Ridsdale and I

  Not for the first time in my life I think I was losing the plot by late January '91. I'd asked Dimples, the girl I'd briefly dated in the Autumn if she would go out with me again, she said "maybe" but she was letting me down gently and one-night in the pub came up to me and said basically "No chance"-I knew exactly how John Lukic must have felt when George Graham told him Arsenal were signing David Seaman. "Your loss!" I grunted, she retorted something about it wasn't and she sat down before I could mumble another response. During our brief courtship she'd often mentioned about going down to London, I was about to tell her that I was going not once but twice in six days but I don't think Highbury and White Hart Lane would have impressed her. Due to the latest rejection, my sleep pattern was all over the place. I set off to Burton to pick Barry up and drive out to Cannock where we'd pick up the West Midlands coach for our trip ...

  I didn't make the cut for tickets for Anfield on New Years Day 1991, I didn't miss much as Leeds were beaten 3-0 with goals from John Barnes, Ronny Rosenthal, who at the time was frequently linked with Leeds and Ian Rush, who did come to Leeds and need not have bothered. But Leeds were still going strong on the cup front, having reached the quarter-finals of both the Rumblelows and Zenith Data Systems Cup, as well as the FA Cup 3rd round which saw us drawn away at Barnsley on Sunday 6th January 1991. Barnsley were of course the only side to have done the double over us during the 1989/90 promotion season. I'd never been to Barnsley before and dressed appropriately for the occasion by wearing my full new Leeds tracksuit, combined with the classic yellow away shirt of the era. It was windy and absolutely pissing it down when we arrived at Oakwell. Back then, the three sides that were developed when the Tykes had a short-lived stay in the top-flight were still in their origi...

  Nowadays the TV cameras are pretty much  permanent fixture around Elland Road, especially during the pandemic but when ITV'S "The Match" rolled into LS11 on Sunday December 16th 1990 it was the first time we had been broadcast on that particular channel from our home ground- whatever happened to Elton Welsby? not to mention the first live match in nearly six years to be screened live from Elland Road, the previous being the FA Cup 3rd round defeat to that days opponents Everton during the 84/85 season.  Howard Kendall was back with "his wife". Just five-weeks earlier we'd mercilessly taunted the Manchester City fans about Kendall leaving them to return to Everton, he described his time with City as like having an affair but going home to Goodison was like returning to his wife.  However we Leeds fans weren't in any mood for any romantic sentiment, "Who the fucking hell are you?" boomed around the ground as the Toffeemen took to the field lite...

  December 1st used to be a day I always looked forward to as a kid, for me the unofficial start of the Christmas festivities. This year thanks to Dimples, I was in bah humbug mood and probably have been every year since (believe it or not I am over her so it's not her fault I still feel this way!).  However the arrival of Advent brings many a fine tradition, including getting smashed out of your face on alcohol. So after the coach arrived in Leeds ahead of the game versus Southampton, I didn't join the herd that piled out into the Woodman or Drysalters but instead wandered into Holbeck, where there were some fine, traditional back-street pubs most now sadly lost forever. There was the Waggon and Horses, Imperial which I didn't bother with but I started at the Kings Arms not far from the library, then into the Bulls Head, Spotted Cow and then the Britannia. I think I then went into the Kwik Save supermarket and bought some cans, sitting by the wall and swigging away. I'...