LEEDS UNITED’S PROMOTION to the Premier League was confirmed this evening as second-place West Brom were beaten 2-1 away to Huddersfield in the Championship this evening.
Dubliner Dara O’Shea grabbed a controversial equaliser for the Baggies on the stroke of half-time, but they were unable to convert second-half pressure and were hit with a heart-breaker from Emile Smith Rowe in the closing minutes.
Adding to Chris Willock’s early strike for Huddersfield, Smith Rowe’s first goal at home since joining on loan from Arsenal was slotted beyond Sam Johnstone and will almost certainly stave off the threat of relegation. A devastating blow that leaves West Brom five points behind Leeds at the summit and the midlands outfit have just one game remaining.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side are champions in waiting, six points clear of third-place Brentford, who have two games remaining and will be intent on over-taking West Brom in the second automatic promotion berth.
A tense 1-0 win over Barnsley at Elland Road, secured by Michael Sollbauer’s own goal, had moved Leeds to the brink of promotion yesterday. Now they can look forward to renewing old rivalries with Manchester United and Chelsea next season.
Leeds’ long-awaited return to the top tier completes a turbulent journey that saw them become a laughing stock when they languished in third tier obscurity. They went through 14 different managers following their 2004 relegation from the Premier League, until the sleeping giant was awoken by former Lazio and Marseille boss Bielsa.
He led Leeds within touching distance of promotion in his first season, but they crumbled in the final weeks and were beaten in the play-of semi-finals by Derby.
Notorious for working his players so hard in training that they often burn out by the end of the season, Bielsa seems to have benefitted from the coronavirus hiatus allowing his players to come back refreshed for the final furlong of the promotion race this term.
In typically contrary style, the 64-year-old Argentine said he wouldn’t watch Leeds’ rivals on television to see if promotion would be wrapped up. But no matter where Bielsa heard the news of Leeds’ return to the big time, it was moment to savour after such a long period in the shadows.
Champions of England in 1969 and 1974 under Don Revie, then in 1992 when Howard Wilkinson called the shots, Leeds have a rich history. But since being relegated from the top tier, Leeds have stumbled from financial disaster off the pitch to despair on it.
Bielsa has turned the tide at a tortured club infamously labelled the ‘Damned United’ by novelist David Peace and forever remembered as ‘Dirty Leeds’ in the minds of fans who saw their no-holds-barred style in the Revie era.
Describing the club’s ascent to the heady heights of the Champions League in the early 2000s, former chairman Peter Ridsdale claimed he had “lived the dream.”
Their subsequent fall was a never-ending nightmare that hit its lowest ebb in 2007 when Leeds went into administration and were relegated to the third tier for the first time.
In 2020, they will return to the top flight after a 16-year journey.
