My Leeds United - 'you don't like us, and we don't care'

Tom Townend is a 21-year-old Leeds fan who currently works in customer service. He also runs the Put It On A Leeds Shirt blog.

It was September 2017.

I was halfway through one of my first weeks at Cardiff Metropolitan University and it was finally the day my beloved Leeds United were coming to town to take on Cardiff City.

I chucked on my shirt and scarf, met up with my brother and we made our way to the Great Western; the Wetherspoons where the Leeds fans would be drinking before the game.

As we approached the pub, the sound of the travelling Leeds fans singing some of their favourite chants grew louder; we were ‘home’.

We lost that game 3-1 but, as I tried to navigate this fairly new city with a free large Domino’s pizza I won at the fresher’s fayre, I realised it doesn’t matter where we go or how we do.

Leeds fans will turn up in numbers and, despite being 200+ miles from Leeds, I felt truly at home.

Being a Leeds fan in Cardiff was interesting to say the least.

Whether it’s being greeted by a man opening the passenger door on a car he’s in and shouting “we all hate Leeds scum” then closing the door as he goes past at 30 miles per hour or someone you meet in a nightclub thinking they’re the first person to tell you how Cardiff started our downfall, the people there are not shy to voice their opinion on our club.

It really hammers home the fact that it is us against the world.

When you do meet a Leeds fan, which you occasionally will, you build an instant connection as it’s likely that you are the only two people in that vicinity with this in common.

When you’re down in somewhere like Cardiff, home games often feel like away games.

A solid four-hour trip to see Leeds play at Elland Road is something I was already used to owing to my dad being in the army and spending a few years in Winchester as a kid.

However, it’s not something I’m going to miss from my time down there.

Luckily, my parents now live in Leeds so I wouldn’t have to go home the same day which was great news after we lost 1-0 to Sheffield United last season, as the local Wetherspoons was calling and I needed a pint after what became a disastrous result.

If you asked me to sum up Leeds United in a short sentence, I’d struggle.

I think Phil Hay hit the nail on the head, however when he said: “An astonishing number of people despise Leeds United, or what Leeds United stand for. But this club was never made for them.”

For me, this perfectly sums up Leeds. The “us against the world” attitude makes us what we are.

You don’t like us and we don’t care, and that is what I love about this special club.

It’s this siege mentality that separates Leeds from the rest and I am so proud to be a part of this club.

No matter where you are, Leeds fans have a special connection that I think many will struggle to understand.

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