'What the police hinted at' - Leeds United insight on fan situation vs Man Utd

Leeds United will kick off their preparations for the new Premier League season with a pre-season friendly against Manchester United on Saturday afternoon.

In years gone by, the thought of facing the Red Devils in a ‘friendly’ would have been unthinkable and, for some, that remains the case due to the long-running rivalry between the two giants of Yorkshire and Lancashire. Yet for the second time in three years, the two Uniteds will go head-to-head in a pre-season friendly that will be held in Scandinavia.

Back in July 2023, when Leeds were preparing for their last Premier League season, the Whites fell to a 2-0 defeat against the Red Devils thanks to second-half goals from Noam Emeran and Joe Hugill. That game was held in Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion - but this Saturday it will be the Friends Arena in Stockholm that will play host to the latest unexpected meeting of the old rivals.

Once their opening friendly of the summer is completed, the Whites squad will travel to Germany as Daniel Farke oversees a training camp and are expected to play two friendlies during their time at Harsewinkel, North Rhine-Westphalia. The return to England will see the Whites round off their preparations for the new season with home friendlies against Villarreal and AC Milan - but why are they facing Manchester United in a friendly and why are supporters not allowed to attend the friendlies in Germany?

What has Graham Smyth said about Leeds United v Manchester United?

YEP writer Graham Smyth said: “I wouldn’t expect a great deal from the friendly with Manchester United. I know it’s only Manchester United but Leeds aren’t exactly going to be in tip top shape themselves. They haven’t got in a lot of the quality they still want to buy. It makes me think of that game in Oslo, when they played Man United and of that starting eleven, there’s maybe only one player, maybe two players left on Leeds’ books. So it was no way to judge anything that’s going to come from this point on and it is just a game that is handy for Leeds to play for commercial reasons because they have a lot of fans in Scandinavia and they are playing are playing a team that is considered an old enemy and brings a certain commercial element and a certain number of eyeballs to it. I certainly wouldn’t judge a great deal on Saturday.

“Then they head to Germany straight from Stockholm and they will be training at their training base that Daniel Farke so loves and, once again, courtesy of the German authorities saying ‘nein’, there will be no Leeds supporters there at the games. They didn’t get permits to hold games in front of spectators for, what the German police have told us or hinted at, are safety issues, safety concerns, they didn’t go into specifics.”

What have Leeds United said about supporters not being able to attend friendlies in Germany?

A club statement released last month read: “Leeds United will travel to Germany in pre-season as part of preparations for the upcoming 2025/26 Premier League season, after the technical success of the camp last year helped us win the Sky Bet Championship title. Opponents and venues for fixtures were arranged earlier this year, and written assurances secured from both the German FA and our tour operator as well, given last summer we were asked at short notice by the police and local authorities not to bring supporters due to a resource strain following UEFA Euro 2024.

“Frustratingly, despite having matches agreed for a number of months, we have in the last week been informed that the police and local authorities will once again not grant a permit for us to play matches in front of spectators, will prohibit us from providing live updates and video streams, and have requested we discourage supporter travel.

“This comes despite multiple attempts to find a solution including offering various assurances, pursuing alternative scenarios that would allow for fan attendance, and even evaluating moving camp to a different location on short notice. Unfortunately, those efforts were fruitless due to the last second nature of our change in circumstances. This result is deeply frustrating to all of us, just as it is sure to frustrate and anger you, our loyal supporters, to whom we apologise unreservedly for this outcome.”

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