Memory plays tricks and the older I get, the trickier old Loki gets.
My first Arsenal heartbreak was losing to Leeds United in 2003. That was the season between the title win at Old Trafford and the title win at the Old Toilet. The year we should have been back-to-back League winners and if Arsenal had just flipped two results that season, they would have been.
My memory makes Leeds the villains because it was the game which sealed our fate but the reality is that had Arsenal picked up points in two games against any of Southampton, Blackburn (we lost to them TWICE!), Everton, Aston Villa, or Bolton, then we could have slipped against Leeds and I wouldn’t have even remembered the match at all.
It’s also memorable because it was one of the small handful of matches I had been able to see in full that season. We weren’t able to watch every game like we are now, we got most of our highlights in “match of the day” style coverage. And though we complain about the price we pay for Arsenal coverage here in the States, I would have paid it gladly back then.
But for the folks who did get to see Arsenal play in person or who were able to see almost every match the game which really killed the title that season isn’t even Leeds, it was a draw against Bolton the week before: two-nil up, and we messed it up.
I never saw that match (not that I remember) but it was such a famous draw among Arsenal supporters that it made it into Nick Hornby’s (now defunct) blog:
“I’ll tell you where it all went wrong for Arsene Wenger,” said a friend after the first leg of the Champions’ League quarter-final against Liverpool, a game that Arsenal were unlucky not to win. “That two-all draw against Bolton, when we threw away a two-goal lead.” Like many Arsenal fans, I remember the game well – it was a decisive moment in the race for the Premier League, and those two dropped points meant that Arsenal would not win the title…in 2003. According to my friend, we have been on a sad, slow but steady decline ever since.
“What about 2004? When we won the League without losing a match? You don’t think he temporarily stopped the rot that year?”
https://www.nickhornbyofficial.com/the-mindset-of-a-certain-kind-of-football-fan/
“That was a disappointing season,” he said. (My italics.) “We should have won the Champions’ League, and he chucked the FA Cup away.”
The thing I remember most about that match is Mark Viduka’s goal. It wasn’t even remotely the best goal in the match, that was Harry Kewell’s strike: fifth minute, from the left channel, on the half-volley, taken down from a long ball, which still looks like handball to me, and shot across Seaman into the side net. Kewell’s goal should have made the top 10 of the season, it was at least as good as an almost exact same strike from Thierry Henry versus Man City that season. Have a look for yourself:
Henry’s against City is 8th on this list:
But I only remember Viduka’s goal. I don’t remember Henry scoring, Bergkamp scoring, Kewell scoring, just Viduka.
Funny thing is that Arsenal beat Leeds twice in the League the next season, 4-1 and 5-0 and I don’t remember those matches either. Then Leeds were relegated and we haven’t played them in the Premier League since (just FA Cup) and I don’t really remember most of those matches either.
Yet I still remember that 2-3.
We were on opposite ends of the spectrum in 2003: Arsenal were title challengers and about to become the most memorable team in Premier League history, Leeds were relegation bound and about to become famous for overspending and financial ruin. “Pulling a Leeds” would become synonymous with a club borrowing beyond its means in order to grow.
The day that Leeds beat us, I was full of confidence. I had my Thierry Henry away kit on (with gold lions because we were champs) and just knew that of all the matches this would NOT be the one that we stumbled over. And to be fair, Arsenal had the best chances. On most days they would have won.
In theory, Arsenal and Leeds are still on opposite ends of the spectrum: Leeds are newly promoted and Arsenal are one of the “big six”. And yet, unlike in 2003 I feel completely worried about this one.
Leeds are a pressing team and they have had almost two week’s rest while Arsenal’s players have been off to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas for Internationals. They should be fresh and will make life hell for Arsenal.
Leeds are vulnerable to counter attacks, however, and will stretch themselves. They have no handbrake and no fear. They go for goals for the full 90 minutes against every opponent. It’s crazy football. And yet, Arsenal are not the kind of team who want to be drawn into that kind of match – or at leas they haven’t been yet this season. In order to shore up the defense, Mikel Arteta has turned Arsenal into one of the least adventurous teams in the League.
It’s funny: in a way Leeds are like a hyper version of Wenger’s attacking sides. Wenger’s teams were so intent on attack as a form of defense that they often played all 10 outfield players in the opposition half! Leeds are a lot like that now. And now Arsenal are a lot like some of the sides that that team hated to play against: stodgy, keep their shape at nearly all costs, difficult to break down, bunkered into their own half.
I can’t call it, folks. 2020 is just such a weird year. One part of me thinks we lose this one big. Another part of me thinks that we play spoilers. Are we even spoilers? Is that the right way to even think about this?
Relax Tim! its going to be 1-0 to THE ARSENAL
Tim,
You reckon that was bad? I was a student up in Leeds for the early part of the 1970’s. One of the things I remember most about that period of my life was taking endless stick from the locals. Yorkshire folk are famous for their plain speaking. “I says what I likes and I likes what I says”
I particularly remember going to a Leeds Arsenal game right at the end of the 1973 season at Elland Road. Not the friendliest place back in those days. We basically fielded a similar team that won the double a couple of seasons before, but for some reason we had two or three kids playing. Brian Hornsby and David Price, I think. Also Brendan Batson at right back, who must have been the first black player to turn out for us.
Anyhow, they thrashed us 6-1. To say that my life was made to be a misery the following week is an understatement. I’ve hated Leeds United ever since.
Will they turn us over today? I wouldn’t put it past them.
Thanks for sharing that name, Brendon Batson.
What drew me to Arsenal as a kid was it’s multiculturalism which mirrored what was happening at home at the end of Apartheid- release of Nelson Mandela and the first democratic elections. The very second I became a Gooner at 9 years of age was when Thomas scored that winner against Liverpool and thereafter Wrighty was my favourite player until Titi and Bergkamp.
Had never heard of Batson so did a quick Google and landed up with this: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37924448. There was a whole generation of black players that I never knew about that paved the way for Thomas, Wrighty, et al.
Brendon Batson? Played mainly at right back. Came up through the youth set up, which was predominantly white at the time. There was a prejudice at the time in football, that black players weren’t sufficiently tough or disciplined enough to make it in the professional game. Ridiculous when you think about it. If you were to watch a youth team game now, you would see that the Arsenal side is mainly black.
Batson got released and drifted into non league football. He was then picked up by Ron Atkinson, who took him to West Brom.
He made his name mainly through administration, funnily enough. He ran the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) for a good many years. For a black man to have done that, was probably an even greater achievement, in a very white orientated system.
I suspect most people have watched it, but if you haven’t, “The Damned United” is an excellent film. I imagine it’s on Netflix or Amazon. It’s basically a drama about Brian Clough’s short, but disastrous reign as Leeds United’s manager. Gives you a good feel for the club, the city and that particular period of time. Michael Sheen is excellent as Clough. Put it on before the game. It will get you in the mood.
Viduka bent home a brilliant winner two minutes from time to finally end Arsenal’s challenge and shrug off the ugly shadow of relegation which has hung over Leeds this season.
I lived in Leeds from age 9-18, still go back often, and while I kind of hated it there – massive culture shock from quiet, small, Southern, medieval Canterbury – I took on a bit of a Leeds identity, and I was there when they won the title.
To give USians a flavour of the city, Rugby League is at least as big as football up there. It’s a very direct, hard running game and has a kind of gleeful, cavalier attitude to pain and punishment as well as the desire to physically dominate. There are a lot of distance runners, hill runners and cyclists as well. If it isn’t hard work and you don’t suffer, it isn’t sport. Cricket is also massive but that’s a summer game.
We all know what Bielsa has done to the team and it’s one of those moments of spectacular alignment where his philosophy matches perfectly with the psychology of the city and its fans – never stop running, relish being the underdogs, take no prisoners; but they celebrate flair as much as grit.
It was great to hear Wenger a few years ago say that the Premier League missed Leeds United, I think he was right.
Of all the fixtures this one, Leeds away, is probably the one I was looking forward to most, the atmosphere would have been terrific if fans were allowed to go and if we were not locked down I would probably be there.
Forgot to add there always used to be a lot of mutual respect as well as rivalry between Arsenal and Leeds, and we often came together in hatred of Man Utd
And I wish Arsenal were in better shape and better form going into this
I spend a lot of my summers down in Canterbury watching Kent Cricket. Heading up north must have been quite a culture shock! Not easy being a “southern softie”, was it?
I’m not sure about “mutual respect”. Yorkshire folk specifically don’t like Londoners. “Cockney b@st@rds. You’re all mouth and trousers” was one of the milder rebukes. Like you say, they hate United fans even more.
Of course, Yorkshire folk will remind you that in the 2012 Olympics, Yorkshire won more gold medals than Spain. God’s county, they like to call it. I’m not sure about that, but I grew to really like Tetley Bitter. Excellent fish and chips as well.
Enjoyed hearing people’s experiences of Leeds. I’ve lived around the area for 25 years interspersed with 6 months in Melbourne and 2 years in New York. You’ll often find me with camera in hand catching the city and it’s folk.
I first went to Elland Road in I think 1987 to see U2 supported by The Fall, The Pretenders and someone I forget. Was my first exposure to that wonderful concert tradition of peeing in a plastic bottle and hurling it (top not attached) towards the stage. Some things stay with you forever.
Have seen the Arse several times there and to use a local parlance, have been very close to getting my head kicked in. I was lucky in the mid 2000’s to have a local customer who is a massive Leeds fan and had a corporate box (much safer).
For today I’d be surprised if we don’t play ultra defensive and hope to nick a late winner. If we go behind we usually lose so first goal likely wins this game. They’ve conceded 4 in their last 2 games and we operate best as a low block so plenty of reasons for optimism.
A friend in my class at school, aged 15 or so, used to go to Leeds games with a length of chain for a belt. It wasn’t super friendly.
You have to admire a team like Leeds whose philosophy is attack at all costs. However, it means they will probably lose more games then they win. They are the second worst in the league in terms of conceding and many years that sort of defensive record puts the team in real danger of relegation. Fortunately for Leeds it looks like there are at least 3-4 teams who are going to struggle to collect 20 points this year and at least so far it looks like they will most likely be safe. They are hoping we get caught up in a back and forth disorganized type game and we don’t have the firepower in our squad to succeed in most games if we play like that. Its very likely we can score a goal or 2 and if we can play solid defense we will probably win.
ugh. like you, i remember the viduka goal well but i also remember the smith goal. i remember feeling, when smith scored that goal, that they leeds looked fantastic and having this feeling of impending doom for arsenal that day…in a game that arsenal supposed to win.
i remember having my first knee surgery and deploying to iraq about a week later (still supposed to be on sick leave but my boss wasn’t leaving me on the bench). watching that match made me so sick to my stomach; the biggest choke job ever by arsenal. i remember being in iraq and listening to bbc radio, hoping for a miracle in the title race after the leeds debacle…still makes me sick.
the only thing that gave me joy was that boeheim’s syracuse had finally won a ‘chip.
arsenal would do well to keep a clean sheet. i don’t expect a win today…hope i’m wrong.
Not sure what’ll happen today and that’s a testament to how we’ve been playing, International-lag, etc
My Leeds memory (was there as a student) was to hear the news on the TV that Cantona had moved from Leeds to Man U.
It was the top item.
The second item was something massive and horrific like a war starting, but no.
BBC Leeds started with Cantona has left to go to Man U.
That’s a rivalry there.
@Greg has given a great flavour of the city too (an attitude that if working life is hard and physically gruelling, then the sport is meant to be just as painful).
“The Four Yorkshiremen” sketch from Monty Python.
Just about sums up that attitude
Life is tough “up north” and we’re far better off for it.
Aye, lad!
Four Yorkshiremen discuss coloured boots.
Boots of colour ? Footballers are just plain soft lads nowadays.
When I was a boy we played barefoot on a pitch of rusty nails and hot coals.
Boots was a shop.
Barefoot? You lucky, lucky boy. When I was a lad, we had to cut off our own feet and use them for the ball.
You’re both soft. When I was a wee youth we played exclusively on the surface of the sun. Sure there was no oxygen, but a real player back then didn’t *need* to breathe. He let his tackling do his breathing for him.
A ball ? You lucky, lucky lad.
We only had a concrete wall to kick – the rough kind, not the smooth kind that the soft southerners used.
Ohhhh, we used to DREAM of havin’ a concrete wall to kick!
We had to do with a lump of wurtzite boron nitride studded with razorblades.
But you try and tell the young people today that… and they won’t believe ya’.
The Sun?
When I was a kid we didn’t have a Sun, we didn’t have life.
It was hundreds of millions of years before we got primordial soup for our half time refreshment – and even then it was cold.
Blow that you soft Nancy boys. Mr Pulis made us play in Stoke on a cold Tuesday night.
Mr Pulis! Eee, ya don’t know ya bloody born. We used to ‘ave to bath Mr Allardyce at 3 in t’ mornin’, clean ‘is balls, wipe ‘is bum, then run 84 miles round traffic cones naked. Only then were we allowed to put some clothes on. Lightweights you lot, moanin’ about all sorts of luxury.
When I was a lad we all played in black boots because the game was played down pit … in the dark (pit bosses would not allow lamps) .. with a lump of coal. The match usually started with 11 a side but always ended 8 or less because bad air would usually kill 3 or more plus the canary…. Matches were short because we only had 10 minutes between 28 hour shifts…. Good times…
And Jimmy F H scoring in the last minute at Highbury which also cost us the Prem. Urrgh. Back in the day they were a dirty but great team and if anyone can you should watch a clip from their game v saints early 70’s i think..they kept hold of the ball for over 80 secs dont seem along time but if you watch you seen a mesmeric passage of play b4 keep ball was even thought of
Condolences to all who suffered on those Leeds match days and after. I much prefer the memory of Titi in his pomp, toying with and torturing Leeds for 4 goals as we blanked them 5-0 at Highbury.
I have a feeling that match may have negatively impacted our overall xG v xGA differential lol
How did that end up 0-0?
Unbelievable.
If Leeds had a half decent finisher, that could have been double figures.
They were literally queueing up to score.
Pepe got sent off for giving their bloke a “Glasgow Kiss”. He fell over like he’d been shot.
It didn’t really make any difference, having 10 men.
Right at the end Tierney looked as if he wanted to show Pepe how it’s meant to be done.
Fortunately he was dragged away. There’d obviously been some niggling.
A truly dreadful performance.
Even worse than Villa.
Ugh.
Decent defending, but we were lucky not to lose that.
Still not enough connection to the forwards. We’ve now gone how many PL matches without scoring from open play?
And Pepe…sheesh. He had a hard enough task to win over the fans without doing something like that.
Wow! Dreary 0-0 draw, eh? Lol…I hope Arteta takes note that we got our best opportunities after William (thankfully, sheesh!) and Pepe (I’m starting to think our dear scribe Tim was correct when he wrote some time that maybe he’s just not a smart guy) were taken off of the field. Too bad Willock had to come off because of the pointless red. I understand that Leeds’ #10 was a jerk out there, but Pepe’s no child and should know what the cost of something so bone-headed is going to cost a lot more to the team.
Who’d be a football coach when one of your senior players dumba**edly gets sent off? That’s hours upon hours of coaching and tactical planning wasted. Mikel was palpably furious in his post match interviews, and there is no doubt that he let Pepe have it with both barrels. In English and French, both of which he can speak. It’s not a good result and we were open like a breached dyke, but Pepe. In this mid-table slog, I find it hard to draw conclusions that hadn’t already been drawn, except to say that that lineup (probably minus Willian) is better than the one we’d had before, with Laca at CF. But it just didn’t work for us today, tactically and discipline wise. We were lucky to come away with a point.
**p.s. lovely, vivid impressions of Leeds, Greg. My memories are mostly of blisteringly cold spring days at Headingley, watching my West Indies play cricket. Oh, and of going to check out the university there (a good one, just below Oxbridge tier), with a view to possible postgraduate study there.
I was at Leeds University. One of the main attractions for me was the fact that during the 70s all the best bands played there. The Who, Rod Stewart, Captain Beefheart, Paul McCartney. Even Leonard Cohen. The list goes on and on. There was a particularly large dining hall, where the bands played. That mean they could sell loads of tickets and afford the best acts.
Two seasons in Leeds. July and winter. As a West Indian you’d have frozen.
I made Reubens for lunch today, on shop-bought rye, with piles of hot, slippery pastrami made from brisket I’d brined for a week and then poached for three hours, freshly hoicked out of the steaming pot.
It was good.
@Greg, I bet your Rueben smelled way better than we did. We stank up the joint today. Even a slice of Limburger cheese on that s/w wouldn’t have done us justice!
It took a lot of mental strength to stay focused and keep a clean sheet after going down to 10 men.
We created some chances on the counter attack but unfortunately we can’t find anyone who can score. We have not scored a goal from open play in a league game for 5 full games and almost 8 hours.
Yes, we did well to hold on, but I think that was more by luck than judgement. Fortunately Leeds left their shooting boots at home. 25 shots without scoring? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that a record? Hit the woodwork 3 times. If they’d have had Kane and Son up front, I dread to think what the score would have been.
I think these are the stats, but will stand corrected if not. If anything, they sound pretty generous to Arsenal. Incredible when you think about it.
Running through the Leeds team, are there any household names? Virtually none of those players are even famous within their own households.
Luke Ayling? I vaguely remember him. Wasn’t particularly rated in the Arsenal youth set up, so he didn’t get a professional contract and was allowed to leave.
Pepe? 70 million pounds and he can’t even deliver a decent head butt.
What on earth do they practise in training?
Leeds 0-0 Arsenal:
Possession: 66%-34%
Touches: 773-485
Shots: 25-9
On-Target: 4-2
Saves: 2-4
Hit Woodwork: 3-1
Successful Passes: 517-219
Final Third Passes: 146-34
Chances Created: 15-6
Succ. Crosses: 7-3
Duels Won: 41-41
Tackles Won: 18-10
Recoveries: 67-55
Mark
How many times have we seen the stats like that with us on the positive side only to lose when the opposition scored a couple goals on the counter attack. Fergie’s and Mourinho’s teams did that to us dozens and dozens and dozens of times. We had some good chances to win the game on counter attacks but right now no one is taking those chances. They wanted a wide open back and forth game and we couldn’t afford to play like that or we almost certainly would have lost. We don’t have the players on this squad to dominate games even with 11 men so we are forced to accept a different style then we might like.
well…that was fugly! in fairness, it’s what i expected. leeds play every game to win. their idea of defense is to attack and i didn’t know how arsenal would react to it. now, we know.
it was nice to see arsenal in a back 4 and keep a clean sheet. perhaps this can be the way forward. the sad side is that there is no mesut ozil in the team.
pepe, great technical player but poor tactical player. hector was getting destroyed because pepe saw everything late. this goes back to my pepe/iwobi argument. no one can deny the ivorian’s skill but what’s talent without intelligence? i even tell my u-19s that are looking to play college soccer that no one cares how talented you are if you’re stupid.
i’m not saying pepe is stupid but he does a lot of stupid things on the pitch that highlight his talent but also highlight his struggles connecting with team mates in open play. iwobi had the same problem when he came up but we began to see him improve. we haven’t seen much improvement from the record signing and that’s worrying.
as for the red card, it can happen. pepe was foolish and i believe he’ll learn it’s about the team’s objectives, not about his feelings in a moment. apparently, it was the first red card of his career. the problem is it’s cost arsenal. he’s unavailable for 3 games and saka got injured playing a game that i don’t believe arteta wanted him to play; saka had to play because of the red.
lastly, how many times did aubameyang get the ball played to him with his back to goal and he actually won and kept the ball? this is what’s required of center forwards. alexis sucked at it too. so did theo. i’ll bet if liverpool but salah there, he’d suck too. lacazette is arsenal’s best option at center forward. likewise, auba is best running at goal, not playing with his back to goal. as a result, it was almost impossible for arsenal to keep the ball in the leeds final third.
Josh, football is evolving, and so is back-to-the-goal play. Many successful sides of recent times — Liverpool, Barcelona, City (not this year’s vintage) don’t play like that. Sure Bayern have Lewa, but he’s part of a dying breed.
Basketball is increasingly small ball without centers. If you must have the big man the middle, he must be able to handle the ball. Anthony Davis just won a championship with the Lakers by breaking the traditional mould.
I honestly dont get your fixation with classic 1970s football play, or Lacazatte, a not particularly good exponent of it. Sport isnt standing still. Football isn’t standing still. This arguing for the cause of Lacazette is not backed up by his actual play of late. We should have got what we could for him in the summer. Someone pointed out that the guy we bought from Lyon is a penalty box poacher, not a back to goal player. Playing him inn the face of all of this would be asserting a kind of dogma.
I watched some Emery ball this weekend, Villareal v Real, 1-1. Like him or not, his teams have an identity… fast wing back overlaps and balls squared into the centre. What Mikel has to develop is an identity that makes optimal use of his big pieces, like Auba, one the hottest strikers in the game for the past few years.
We don’t have a classic 9 like a Tammy Abraham, or even a Girioud, who he’s keeping out of the starting XI. We need to see how we can get optimise Auba’s goalscoring. Laca’s ponderoud, unadhesive hold up play is not the way to go. Heck, let’s go to Eddie, and Martinelli, who is soon to return.
my point is not about laca. in fact, i only mentioned him once and that was to mention that he’s currently the best center forward option at arsenal. i have never EVER declared lacazette a great center forward.
if you read my post carefully, it had nothing to do with lacazette. my point was about auba’s inability to play center forward. playing him there takes away what he’s good at: running at defenses and finishing. it also asks him to do something that he’s not good at: play with his back to goal. that’s my point and it’s always been my point.
i know you see it as dated but that’s simply untrue. if you consider the top ball-dominant teams in europe, they all have someone leading their line who can play with their back to goal. liverpool, tottenham, chelsea, bayern, dortmund, real madrid, barcelona, juventus, roma, inter milan, etc. when was the last time someone won the champions league or the world cup that didn’t have a top center forward? the only teams that don’t have a center forward are teams that are not ball-dominant and, instead, counter-attack like leicester city or atletico madrid. likewise, you have man city who have a very different and complex strategy but they also have no financial restrictions. ball-dominant teams are going to have a center forward.
Then Auba’s coach has to give him the tactical tools to maximise his play, as Rodgers does with Vardy. Arteta clearly isnt doing that. We haven’t had a goal from open play in ages, as Bill pointed out.
We have in our attacking mix, Auba, Laca, Pepe, Saka, Nelson, Nketiah, Willian and Martinelli (who’s not yet recovered). You decided that that mix shouldn’t include Ozil. You have a midfielder with goals from distance in him (Xhaka, albeit rare ones), and you have a midfielder who makes runs into the box and finishes. You’re the coach… deal with what you have. Dont have Auba play with his back to goal, and dont start with Laca because you are wedded to a philosophy, because he hasn’t played the role consistently well either. You work with the resources that you have, till you can upgrade.
My point is not REALLY about Laca either. It’s about being wedded to an (archaic? discuss) attacking philosophy with a 9 holding it up.
Tierney, for example, looked a better deployed player under Emery, and was a real threat on overlaps. I know that the red card caused an imbalance, but we can’t even say (at least not for this game) that Arteta’s defensive security made up for the attacking bluntness. Leno was our busiest player.
I agree with Claude. Our best chance to win games comes from playing to our strengths. Right now our biggest strengths is our ability to prevent the opposition from scoring goals. Our attacking strength is Auba but right now he is struggling and we can’t score. Like it or not Laca is our leading scorer on the season and realistically he our second most likely player to score a goal which makes it hard to leave him out of the line up. We have a lot of pace in wide positions and the left sided wide players are our most dangerous attackers not named Auba . Auba has a lot of pace so building our game plan on solid defense and counter attacking makes a lot of sense. IMO.
another grievance i have is with the lack of on-field leadership on display yesterday. in easy games, leadership is not so important. it’s when there are tough games that you realize the importance of having that “field general” taking charge of the troops on the pitch.
arteta is no longer a player, thus he can’t do that anymore. however, i feel that his personality is so dominant that senior players don’t really have much of a chance to take charge. when the games get tough, arsenal don’t have any player able to step up, take charge of the team, and lead them to victory. it’s the primary reason i don’t like attacking players wearing the armband. their focus needs to be on goalscoring, not leading. it’s simply too difficult to score to have you focus split on another endeavor such as leadership. arsenal’s lack of on-field leadership was apparent yesterday. there was absolutely no continuity.
I agree with you on this, and on the point that you made earlier about Arteta wanting to use his squad after the internationals. Saka had played a lot of minutes for England… this was Pepe’s chance. In a perfect world, he wouldn’t have played Auba either. Our captain had to spend one night sleeping on an airport floor with his teammates, after the Gambia FA and airport bungled their immigration/arrival arrangements. What sort of shape could he have been in?
big up to harrison, an old patrick vieira prodigy from nycfc, now playing for leeds; young man gave hector that business yesterday.