Leeds United v Rovers: Boxing Day 2018, 3pm

[Proudtobeblue&white]

I've never really liked Leeds as a team. Growing up in the late 60's, early 70's, Chelsea were always more glamorous. Rovers were in the Wilderness. Their "style" of football under Revie was at times brutal. A bit like their stadium and (without generalising) their horrible fans. I've been to Elland Road a number of times, and have always felt intimidated and unwanted, as we always seemed to be in that bleak corner.

Ahead of our match against Norwich, and Leeds at Villa on Sunday, they currently sit top of the (Christmas) tree, with 45 points, whilst we are becalmed in mid-table, 14 points adrift, it won't be plain sailing.......okay, enough of the watery references.

Head to head: 

Leeds were late developers, only really coming to life in 1919, the mighty Rovers having already won the FA Cup five times. However we haven't done that well against them. The full results (all competitions) are Rovers won 32, drawn 23, lost 44.

The first competitive league game was the 25th October 1924, in which they triumphed at Ewood 3-2, the last at their place in the league was a 2-1 defeat on the 13th September 2016, where 19,009 saw Leeds win 2-1, Marvin Emnes scored - where is he now?

We have current bragging rights though?

Recent players in common:

Robbo - he was alreet.

Matteo

Kilgallon

Grayson

Wilcox - legend!

Batty - oh, you and Le Saux!

Fowler - well he did play a few games for us.

El Hadji Diouf - expectorate extraordinaire.

Graham - please score.

Achievements:

FA Cup: Rovers 6, Leeds 1

League Cup 1 x 1

League 1 2 x 3

PL 1 x 0

Fairs Cup (Does anyone even care?)

Populations:

Leeds is apparently (behind Londinium and Brum) the third largest Metropolitan borough in the country, with an estimated current population of 750,000, as opposed to BwDBC at just under 150,000. So soak that up you arrogant Yorkies.....or Loiners, as the folk of the city are known. We are undoubtedly THE BEST TOWN TEAM IN ENGLAND!

For such a large city, their ground holds 37,890, but is rarely full. They average just under 32,500 this season.

Oh, and they charge too much to away fans, robbing basta*ds!

Leeds, the facts:

M&S sort of started there, we have one too, so what?

Leeds purloined Real Madrid's strip in the 60's, our strip is far superior.

The mouse trap, the Little Nipper, was invented there. What about animal rights? There are quite a lot of rats living behind my office in Blackburn though........

Keith Lemon......twat.....need I say more?

Jelly tots......never liked them.

The last flat cap manufacturer closed their doors in 2000. I never trust a driver in head wear........why, because you have a roof silly, although I accept open top cars might be exempt.

Things in common:

Since Jack......sh*t owners?

The game:

I applaud the Rovers who will pay the extortionate prices and attend regardless, probably worse for wear after Christmas Day. I will return on Saturday, as I've promised my son an early present (and it's £28 for both of us in the JW stand, take note Maggot?).

I won't comment further as I leave that to others about the game itself. Just a general overview of the past. 23rd October 1993, my mother-in-law had just passed after a battle against cancer. The family were  all massive Evertonians. I had a ticket, and they said go, as there was nothing else I could do, I did. Alan nearly beat them single handedly in front of over 37,000. Footy eh? Whilst no longer married, I will always thank them for their blessing!

Whilst I sit and type this watching the League Cup, football is something that binds us all on this message board. We should all agree that the members of this forum, whilst not always in agreement, are first and foremost ROVERS through and through.

May I wish you all a fantastic Christmas, and let's hope we have an exciting New Year and transfer window!

WE ARE ROVERS! 

[philipl]

Great preview! 

Odds have to be in Leeds favour to get one back on us but if we properly turn up for 90 minutes pus injury time, there is no reason why we shouldn't get something from this game.

[JHRover]

We've a decent record there over the last few years and we've also a decent record away at the better sides in the division this season. They are winning games but aren't hammering teams, a lot of their wins have been by a single goal.

Noticed yesterday that Rovers fans can no longer buy tickets on the day, it is ticket only in advance. I presume that's got nothing to do with us selling most of our allocation.

Edited December 19, 2018 by JHRover

[Bigdoggsteel]

Nice preview

Who is down for the Norwich preview? Get on it! 

 

[Mattyblue]

I would assume it will be because Leeds expect to sell out home areas before match day...

[tomphil]

Would a part time Leeds fan be so desperate to get in he'd pay forty odd quid to sit with away fans ?

Then again.....

[Mattyblue]

The game is now on UK ifolllow at Leeds’ request, due to being a sell out in home areas...

Edited December 21, 2018 by Mattyblue

[arbitro]

10 minutes ago, Mattyblue said:

The game is now on UK ifolllow at Leeds’ request, due to being a sell out in home areas...

Confirmation of the above but surprisingly Rovers only have a few hundred tickets left.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/leeds-game-to-be-streamed-live-on-ifollow/

Edited December 21, 2018 by arbitro

[MarkBRFC]

Proves that Leeds were right to charge us £39. Who would have thought it?

Wonder if that means Sky can now get there hands on this game via the red button?

Edited December 21, 2018 by MarkBRFC

[Mattyblue]

I just can’t see any way in which we’ve sold over 2,000. The closest comparison was the 1400 or so we had at Barnsley on Boxing Day a couple of years back, and it wasn’t 40 quid!

It says ‘only a few hundred remain available’ not that we’ve sold 2,000, which I imagine if we had the club would be shouting from the rooftops to all those ‘how many have we sold?’ tweets they get.

Though happy to be proved wrong and to see a proper Boxing Day following.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

41 minutes ago, arbitro said:

Confirmation of the above but surprisingly Rovers only have a few hundred tickets left.

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2018/december/leeds-game-to-be-streamed-live-on-ifollow/

I'm astounded we've shifted that many boxing day or not, recent years we've struggled to take 500 over there due to prices. Fair play although a bit of the old West Brom spirit needs to be more common otherwise clubs will continue to take the piss.

[JHRover]

I'll eat my hat if Rovers have got anywhere near to 2500 tickets sold.

What I suspect is happening here is that Leeds have sold out or close to it so Leeds now want to stream it online. The only way that can be done is if Rovers agree to it.

I bet Leeds or IFollow are paying Rovers to agree to this and to 'justify' it Rovers are claiming only a few hundred of the allocation remain available. If they said 1000 were left to sell people would be asking questions as to why they have agreed to broadcast it online.

[MarkBRFC]

Have to laugh, could it not just be possible that a boxing day game attracts more than the usual away game regulars due to time of year, families being home for Christmas etc regardless of price?

No of course not, they are all liars damn it!

Of course another scenario could be that we have given say a thousand or so tickets back to Leeds to sell, the club tweeted on the 18th that around 1000 were sold, does seem a bit far fetched that another 1000 have sold in the 3 days since.

[AllRoverAsia]

9 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Have to laugh, could it not just be possible that a boxing day game attracts more than the usual away game regulars due to time of year, families being home for Christmas etc regardless of price?

No of course not, they are all liars damn it!

Of course another scenario could be that we have given say a thousand or so tickets back to Leeds to sell, the club tweeted on the 18th that around 1000 were sold, does seem a bit far fetched that another 1000 have sold in the 3 days since.

Rovers statement "Only a few hundred of Rovers' 2,500 away allocation remain available for the festive fixture."

"they are all liars damn" ??

[Mattyblue]

So you agree then mark?

We haven’t ever sold 2,000+ tickets a £40. We struggled at Bolton at £30! As I said, we took 1400 to Yorkshire on Boxing Day at twenty odd quid 2 years ago.

It’s not about calling people liars, just knowing the Rovers away support.

 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Mattyblue

[tomphil]

A few hundred left out of 1500 sounds a far more likely scenario.

[JHRover]

10 minutes ago, MarkBRFC said:

Have to laugh, could it not just be possible that a boxing day game attracts more than the usual away game regulars due to time of year, families being home for Christmas etc regardless of price?

No of course not, they are all liars damn it!

Of course another scenario could be that we have given say a thousand or so tickets back to Leeds to sell, the club tweeted on the 18th that around 1000 were sold, does seem a bit far fetched that another 1000 have sold in the 3 days since.

I wondered whether they might have done something like that. My suspicions were aroused earlier this week when Rovers announced the game had become all ticket with no sales on the day. That suggests to me that Leeds expected to sell out and were concerned about their fans trying to get into the away end, rather than Rovers' allocation being close to a sell out.

I'd of course love to be wrong and would love it if Rovers took an impressive 2000+ following there, particularly at those prices. In theory this should be a popular one, on Boxing Day, not far to travel, attractive fixture, but at those prices I'd be very, very surprised.

We've been to Leeds about 6-7 times since relegation in 2012 and I don't think we've ever got remotely close to selling 2000+ tickets, usually less than 1000 due to scandalous pricing.

I'm sticking to my theory that Leeds want it on live streaming and Rovers have agreed in exchange for some sort of payment. The 'few hundred tickets remaining' line will be to appease those going and probably satisfy the authorities.

[MarkBRFC]

Thing is Matty I've long given up trying to work out Rovers away support.

Just makes me laugh how we all jump on it saying it can't possibly be true that we have sold 2k at £40 a pop despite the club releasing that statement. Are you saying they are not telling the truth?

The comparison with two years ago I'm not sure about, they were dark days under Coyle, i think our fanbase look at us with a lot more positivity at the moment.

 

[Mattyblue]

I agree, very hard to read, unless it’s dear and then we just don’t pay it in large numbers as a fanbase, we never have

I think the way they worded it tells me that we haven’t SOLD 2,000+, though I’d love to see it. We’ll see when they announce it on Saturday 

Edited December 21, 2018 by Mattyblue

[MarkBRFC]

Yeah that's a fair point to be honest, they would have been all over "over 2000 tickets sold for our boxing day trip to Leeds get yours now! #totalcommitment".

I think it's likely we have sent 1000 or so back for them to sell as I said in my original post.

[Mattyblue]

Red button too by the looks of it. So much for Boxing Day being exempt. Looks as if the home club can allow it at their discretion (I.e ticket sales going well).

 

 

[Stonesrick]

Excellent preview Proudtobe. This fixture always sticks in my mind. My first ever away game, which was on Boxing Day 1964 at Elland Road. As a 9 year old, I don't think I have ever felt as intimidated or anxious as I did that day. It finished 1-1 and I think Dougie scored our goal. We had a super team around that time, as many of our more senior posters will agree, but had just lost Fred Pickering to Everton for a massive fee in those days. Leeds had just started the Don Revie era and were challenging Man Utd and Chelsea . We played them back at Ewood 2 days later and lost 2-0.

Great memories!

[Uddersfelt Blue]

If Sky Leeds have agreed to TV broadcast that is their prerogative regardless of how many tickets they have sold as it is their income that would be affected.

Probably a few more Rovers fans going than in previous years albeit that the full allocation will not be sold out. 

At least some Rovers fans will be able to watch the game on TV so all well and good.

Happy Xmas 

[Mattyblue]

It is their prerogative, my point being you are more likely to offer it as the home club if you are sold out. Looking at that list, Norwich is sold out and Birmingham is about to as well.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Mattyblue

[arbitro]

17 minutes ago, Uddersfelt Blue said:

If Sky Leeds have agreed to TV broadcast that is their prerogative regardless of how many tickets they have sold as it is their income that would be affected.

Probably a few more Rovers fans going than in previous years albeit that the full allocation will not be sold out. 

At least some Rovers fans will be able to watch the game on TV so all well and good.

Happy Xmas 

The downside is that some Rovers fans (I spoke to one yesterday) are tempted to take their £39 tickets back and watch it at home with friends. And I don't blame them one bit.