Deighton and Phillips think the photograph speaks for the way Leeds have been historically and the way they are as the club hang with devotion on Marcelo Bielsa’s every move. Elland Road has known barren times when the football was rank and supporters voted with their feet. When Ken Bates was chairman, the attendance dropped to a low of just over 16,000, a ground less than half-full. Leeds can bank on capacity crowds now and Bielsa’s aura sells. United’s following no longer have to make themselves seen by purposely sticking up two fingers whenever a camera is around. Where football is concerned, there is pride in the product as opposed to the defiant, unrewarded loyalty which defined the past decade.
For some time now, a local teacher, Andy McVeigh, has been painting junction boxes on streets corners throughout the city in Leeds United designs. They are eye-catching but unpretentious, the one thing Leeds have never been. “His art, to me; it represents everything good about the club and the mood around the place,” Deighton says. “I try to do the same with my videos. This is Leeds and it’s how we are. Everybody’s so into what’s going on here at the moment.
“Think back 10 years to the way things were here then. The team’s better, the manager’s better, the fans are better, the atmosphere’s better. It’s like everyone’s doing something positive, whatever they’re choosing to do to try and make [promotion] happen.”
It occurs to you that Alfie, who started attending matches three years ago, has spent the best part of 18 months having fun. This at a club where they used to worry constantly about losing a generation of kids to more successful, progressive or entertaining teams. Teams who kids felt like following.
But along comes Saturday and a 1-0 defeat to Wigan Athletic, a cardboard cut-out of almost any defeat Bielsa has suffered. Shots and chances don’t go in. A deflected corner from Wigan’s Joe Williams does, looping in off Pablo Hernandez’s shoulder and beating Kiko Casilla at his far post. There are 30 minutes left and Alfie is left to watch pensively as Leeds, with too much predictability, try and try down either side, attacking Wigan with 41 crosses and most of them to no-one. Bielsa leaves Ian Poveda on the bench. Jean-Kevin Augustin, Leeds’ new signing from RB Leipzig, isn’t on it. Bielsa is giving him time to settle in, time Leeds don’t exactly have.
Phillips and Alfie wander out of the Kop, wrapped up against a fierce wind which blows no good. Alfie’s view? “It wasn’t impressive” and he, like the crowd, has been grounded all afternoon. They head on home, Phillips back to work as a delivery driver and Alfie back to school on Monday. It’s Deighton’s birthday but he gets his latest video topped and tailed, most of it hands-on-heads, before hitting the pub. Between them, and without meaning to, they created an image that defined Elland Road’s frantic desire for better and showcased one thing the stadium lives for — limbs.
Source: Phil Hay