Ex-Leeds United chairman's daughter keeping club history in family with Whites shield

Leeds will face French outfit AS Monaco in the club’s second friendly of the summer in York on Saturday, seven months after the two sides locked horns in another warm-up match last December ahead of the return to Premier League action after the World Cup break.

But the season was already underway when the two sides met in European competition back in September 1995 in the old UEFA Cup first round and a shield presented to the Whites by their French hosts is a reminder of a brilliant night 28 years on.

Leeds were still under the care of boss Howard Wilkinson whose side had been crowned champions of England just three years earlier under the stewardship of chairman Leslie Silver. For Silver, the 1995-96 campaign represented a last season at the helm and Silver’s daughter Hilary Curwen still has the shield presented to Leeds by Monaco ahead of the UEFA Cup first leg clash of September 12, 1995.

The Whites left Monaco with a 3-0 victory thanks to a Tony Yeboah hat-trick and eventually progressed to the second round with a 3-1 win on aggregate despite a 1-0 defeat in the second leg at Elland Road.

Silver’s daughter Hilary told the YEP: “The small shield was presented to my late father as ex-chair and it was remembered as an exciting night with Tony Yeboah scoring a hat trick. I’ve kept it with other memorabilia of his time at Leeds and the shield is a lovely souvenir of a great day.”