Our YEP Jury’s verdict on Premier League promotion - Leeds United fans just didn’t want the three-day weekend to end

After West Brom and Brentford - second and third respectively in the Championship - slipped up on Friday and Saturday, Leeds went into Sunday’s game with Derby County at Pride Park already promoted as champions.

Head coach Marcelo Bielsa opted to give some of his younger squad players a bit more game time. Any doubts supporters may have harboured over the team selection were dispelled (after going a wake-up-call goal down), however, as the Rams were put to the sword.

There’s no let-up with this team, and the fans love Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa all the more for it.

Here’s what The Yorkshire Evening Post fans’ jury has to say:

DAVID WATKINS

I was nervous when I saw the team selection for the trip to Derby County, and then more nervous as I recalled the scale of some of the celebrations we’d seen involving many of the players!

But, on closer inspection, our starting XI was actually an experienced group with only Struijk, Poveda and Shackleton not regulars on the pitch this season.

Once the game started, I had little doubt we had more than enough quality to beat a very turgid looking Derby and, with 72 per cent of the ball in the first 15 minutes, this was pretty much business as usual.

The Derby goal was against the run of play but maybe a bit of a jolt for Leeds who then went on to win comfortably with another laser-guided shot from Pablo Hernandez, a sharp finish from Shacks and another from our third-top scorer this season, Own Goal!

It would have been a bit of a downer had we lost to Derby; whatever anyone says, it was karma to go there as Champions and have them provide the guard of honour.

Man of the match: Pablo Hernandez.

MATTHEW EVANS

Could any of us have imagined last May that we’d be here, more than a year later, watching the champions, Leeds United, strolling to a 3-1 win with a second-string side against Derby?

In the same period of time, Derby have seen their team lose a play-off final, their manager defect, their best loan players depart and their club charged by the EFL. That’s without mentioning Richard Keogh’s departure from the club.

If we’d been given the chance to script it, then I doubt any of us would have been bold enough to write that Liam Cooper, Patrick Bamford, Mateusz Klich and Pablo Hernandez would be dancing on the pitch at Pride Park the following summer. We were superb in our last Championship away day and several of our squad combined to see off Derby in a straightforward way.

Any of our outfield players could be named man of the match but why not give it to the Prince of Elland Road? Pablo Hernandez was everywhere on his first start since lockdown and deserves all the plaudits. What a man. What a club. What a weekend.

Man of the match: Pablo Hernandez.

JACOB STARR

A weekend that we didn’t want to finish.

After 16 long years in the ‘EFL wilderness, promotion was confirmed on Friday night with our friends in Huddersfield giving a helping hand against West Brom. Stoke City overcame Brentford on Saturday to crown us champions. Just a small bonus, contributing to the 72 hours of celebrations in Leeds city centre. As well as a guard of honour at Derby on Sunday (how ironic), a surprisingly much changed side under Marcelo Bielsa earned a 3-1 win.

Surprising in the sense that he doesn’t rotate much, perhaps unsurprising for the fact that the Leeds squad seemed to have enjoyed themselves a bit too much since promotion was confirmed. It was, for once, a match which didn’t really matter for the right reasons, not for the fact of labouring in mid-table. The exile is over, and so are the gut-wrenching memories from last season.

Pascal Struijk and Ian Poveda made their first starts and both performed to a good standard, with the latter’s contribution in particular being noticeable.

Jamie Shackleton notched his first competitive goal for the club too, in between goals from the ever-reliable Pablo Hernandez and a calamitous own goal from Matt Clarke. This was despite Chris Martin giving the rams the lead.

Man of the match: Ian Poveda.

MIKE GILL

Any worries about the ‘after the Lord Mayor’s Show’ effect were soon dispelled.

Marcelo Bielsa made several changes to the team which beat Barnsley. This was unsurprising given the vigorous celebrations which had taken place on Friday. Casilla, Beradi, Struijk, Alioski, Poveda and Shackleton all started. Despite this, United soon got on the front foot and had the best of the early encounters. Robert’s tested Roos with a good shot and Poveda fired a shot home from a position which was just offside.

The second half brought an early lead for Derby. Chris Martin shot home via a deflection but it didn’t last long. The evergreen Pablo Hernadez had one crack at goal from the edge of the box and when this was blocked he made no mistake with his second attempt.

As Derby began to tire, Tyler Robert’s sent a Pabloesque through ball to Jamie Shackleton who shot home to claim his first league goal. Within 10 minutes Matt Clark turned Alioski’s dangerous cross into his own net and Leeds were able to resume celebrations.

Man of the match: Pablo Hernandez.

KEITH INGHAM

Well, if Carlsberg did weekends I doubt if they would be better than the Friday, Saturday and Sunday that Leeds United have just had.

Every thing that could happen did, first Huddersfield Town beat West Brom 2-1 with a goal timed at 19.19 which meant the Leeds were promoted to the Premier League after an absence of sixteen very, very long years.

The celebrations that followed left many in tears and the joy of seeing the fans and players celebrate reminded me of a day in the San Siro after the 1-1 draw with AC Milan.

Times may have changed and United have gone through many owners and managers but the love and respect between two sets of people has never gone. Seeing Marcelo Bielsa celebrate with the players broke me. It reminded me why I love this superb club as much as I do.

Saturday, unbelievably brought the title to Elland Road thanks to Stoke City ending Brentford’s eight-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 victory that also guaranteed Stoke would stay in the Championship.

The scenes I witnessed back in Leeds 11 were pure joy and a little disbelief; this time there was no ‘Leeds That’ moment and I’ll never forget them.

Billy Bremner smiled down on the crowd as they celebrated the title triumph.

Sunday’s game with Derby meant little but they had the good grace to form a guard of honour as Leeds entered the field of play.

With seven changes Leeds beat their hosts 3-1 to attain some sort of revenge for the play-off defeat back last May.

It will never completely go away but it was great to win there and did they celebrate the fact that they were worthy Champions of the Championship.

One last game remains in a season that is one of the best I’ve witnessed in my entire support of Leeds.

The head coach, his staff and the players deserve so much credit for the performances they have given consistently.

Well done boys, so proud of you and WE ARE GOING UP AS FLIPPING CHAMPIONS!!

Man of the match: Pablo Hernandez. Simply brilliant.

ANDY RHODES

If ever there was a way to celebrate becoming champions, this was it.

This weekend, United have certainly celebrated in style and to round things off with a win at Derby was truly the icing on the cake.

The videos, the photos and the stories we’ve seen this weekend will go down in Leeds United folklore and live long in the memory. But Marcelo Bielsa will be the first to say that there is still work to be done.

Despite the seven changes, Leeds were still miles ahead of the Rams. They were able to play at their own pace as if they had simply paused their celebrations while they took care of business.

Pablo Hernandez was again in fine form, while Jamie Shackleton won’t forget this weekend in a hurry after his first goal for the club.

With one more game to go everyone is looking ahead to what should be a very exciting off-season.

But Leeds aren’t done yet, there are more records to be broken.

Man of the match: Jamie Shackleton

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A letter from the editor

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