Despite Elland Road and Stamford Bridge being 199 miles apart, Leeds United and Chelsea’s hatred runs close to the bone. So, what made these two juggernauts of English football such fierce rivals?
Over the past two decades or so, Chelsea have enjoyed huge success, winning the Champions League twice among other honours, while Leeds were languishing in the second tier before finally returning to the Premier League after a 16-year absence in 2020.
The on-pitch rivalry first emerged in the 1960s, when Leeds became one of English football’s dominant teams, winning the title in 1969, while Chelsea won the League Cup in 1965 before finishing as runners-up in the FA Cup two years later, losing 2–1 to Spurs at the old Wembley.
Fast forward to the 1970s, and the rivalry began to grow, with Chelsea and Leeds meeting six times during the 1969–70 campaign. Several of those encounters involved violent tackles, earning the Yorkshire club the now-infamous nickname “Dirty Leeds”.
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Long-time manager Don Revie, who took charge of Leeds between 1961 and 1974, guided the club to two First Division titles, a League Cup and an FA Cup after leading them to promotion from the Second Division in 1964.
Despite the many achievements under Revie, it was arguably the 1970 FA Cup final, which Leeds lost, that acted as the catalyst for today’s fierce rivalry between them and Chelsea.
After drawing 2–2 in the final at Wembley, Chelsea went on to win the replay at Old Trafford 2–1, in what was dubbed “the most brutal game” in the history of English football.
“If it were played today, there’d be eight a side,” Peter Osgood, who scored Chelsea’s first goal of the night, said in a 2006 documentary.
Brutal tackles were delivered by both sides, along with several punches, kicks and even stamps. Despite what would now be seen as violent conduct in the modern game, just one player was cautioned.
The game has since been re-referred to, with former referee Graham Scott telling The Athletic that he would have given 10 red cards and 25 yellow cards had he officiated the clash using modern laws.
Violence between the two sides on the pitch was one aspect of the rivalry, before football hooliganism in and around the stadium grew in the decades that followed.
During the 1982–83 campaign, up to 153 Chelsea and Leeds supporters were arrested after brawling at Piccadilly Circus tube station before a Division Two match, despite then-Chelsea chairman Ken Bates urging fans to behave ahead of the game, writing: “Don’t be a mug – don’t be a thug” in the matchday programme, which seemingly fell on deaf ears.
The match ended 0–0, but this did not stop fans spilling onto the Stamford Bridge pitch, leading to a further 60 arrests.
The following season, Chelsea beat Leeds 5–0 to secure promotion, with some unhappy away fans smashing up the North End’s electric scoreboard, which caused Bates, who would later own 50 per cent of Leeds, to say: “I shall not rest until Leeds United are kicked out of the Football League. Their fans are the scum of the Earth, absolute animals and a disgrace. I will do everything in my power to make this happen.”
Speaking to The Athletic about the rivalry earlier this year, Gareth Senior, who has been a season-ticket holder at Leeds since 1987, said: “There was always that, through the late 1960s into the early 1970s, King’s Road vs the grim north.
“There was the money, the lights, but all the newspapers were based on Fleet Street in the 1970s, so it was all London-centric. Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea and Tottenham got all the headlines.”
In the 1990s, the rivalry remained fierce, but football hooliganism began to filter out of the game.
But this didn’t stop an angry 0–0 draw between the sides in 1997, with eight players booked and two sent off. The following year, 12 yellow cards and a red were shown in yet another 0–0.
Chelsea started to enjoy success under Gianluca Vialli and Ruud Gullit, while Leeds, under the guidance of David O’Leary, finished between fifth and third in three successive seasons, allowing them to qualify for the Champions League in 2000–01.
In 2002, Leeds boss O’Leary was forced to appeal for calm ahead of a fixture between the sides.
He said: “I would implore both sets of fans to be on their best behaviour.
“It’s important to everybody that they do behave. But when you have a crowd of 40,000 people or more… what can you do when there is only one fan throwing something? You have to hope the fans show more control.”
After Leeds’ relegation from the Premier League in 2003–04, the two rivals did not face each other in a league match until 2020, with Chelsea running out 3–1 winners in a behind-closed-doors game due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last time the sides clashed, Daniel Farke’s side clawed back a two-goal deficit to draw 2–2 at Stamford Bridge, which will no doubt give the Yorkshire club confidence heading into Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Ahead of the clash, Farke revealed that he’s been discussing the rivalry with former Leeds winger and twice manager Eddie Gray — the great-uncle of Spurs defender Archie — with the 78-year-old insisting that it was Leeds who were kicking Chelsea all over the Old Trafford pitch back in 1970.
The German said: “Eddie told me the story a little bit differently — he said it was him kicking them! But I know it was a tough game. It’s always great to chat with Eddie.
“We are fully aware of the history, anyway. If you wear the Leeds United shirt, you have the responsibility of representing this club in the way our heroes have done.
“If you want to be the manager of Leeds United, you have to understand this club.
“If you’re not open to this massive club — with this tradition, this emotion and this passion — then you have no chance of being successful here.”
Topics:Â Leeds United, Chelsea, FA Cup, Premier League
Luke Davies