Happy 100th Birthday Leeds United - What are your favourite memories as a fan?

Leeds United were founded on 17th October 1919 and, while I can only really speak to the last 23 years, it has been quite a ride. This is purely going to be a few personal memories that stick out. For proper histories there are people who have put in the required effort.

Daniel Chapman (@MoscowhiteTSB) - 100 years of Leeds United

Andrew Dalton (@lufcstats) - His centenary book is being released this evening as part of the centenary celebrations.

If anyone else out there wants to do a similar thing, get in touch on twitter (@ThruitallLUFC) and we would be happy to publish your thoughts.

From European Cup finals to trips to Yeovil and Stockport, from the highs of seasoned international footballers to.... well Giuseppe Bellusci - it hasn’t always been pleasant following this club but it has rarely been dull. Shoutouts to Paul Heckingbottom and Neil Warnock for managing to make it dull.

George Graham made it dull as well, but what he did was a positive for the club and set up David O’Leary well despite the way he left. Also, my first match was Leeds 2 - 0 Chelsea in 1996 - so I have a rose-tinted view of those early years due to being so young.

That match against is the first one of my favourite memories. My first strong memories of football are EURO 96 and England’s run to the semi-final, England’s defeat on penalties against Germany in that semi I feel set me up well for a life of following Leeds United.

Leeds won the match 2-0 with goals from Brian Deane and Ian Rush. Rush’s goal was his first for the club and he would only score two more, in a 3-0 win against Leicester City. The reason this is so big for me is because of how quickly the Leeds bug hooked me on this day. Before the game even kicked off I was asking my Dad if we could keep coming to matches. I was lucky to see a win, and more importantly two goals, from a side that only scored 28 goals in 38 games, including nine 0-0 draws that season. Also, Brian Deane’s goal was a really good finish.

My favourite match I have ever attended is one that many around my age share, Viduka 4 - 3 Liverpool. I don’t need to recap the match, you’ve all seen it. This match made me think that Leeds really could become the best side in the country, because of the fact that we weren’t good for a lot of the match and we had a so many players missing that we had to rely on Danny Hay and Jacob Burns. If we could win this match - a young naive me thought we could do anything. Plus, the finishing from Mark Viduka was truly world-class.

A lot of people will consider the promotion game against Bristol Rovers one of their favourite matches attended, not for me, I didn’t go. Leeds had failed to win the previous five matches I had been to so I decided not to go and to play cricket for my local side instead. Thank me for promotion. My enduring memory is of the opposition changing room going mental when Jermaine Beckford put us 2-1 up in the match while we were in the field as the bowling side - and the match coming to a temporary halt as most of both teams celebrated on the cricket field.

Photo by Anna Gowthorpe/PA Images via Getty Images

There are a couple of less obvious games for me personally that I will run through now.

Leeds 2 - 0 Yeovil Town. 2nd Nov 2013. This match sticks out because it was the day I took my nephew to his first match. Two goals from Ross McCormack getting us the win.

Leeds 1 - 0 Southampton - 19th Dec 2009. Top of the table clash in the snow. Leeds unable to get the crucial goal until Robert Snodgrass curls in a stunner in front of the Kop.

The entire Champions League run was amazing. Best moment for me was Lee Bowyer’s winner against AC Milan but I loved the whole thing. Plus I am sure there will be many people who have something from it as their favourite moment.

Alan Smith’s goal with his first touch against Liverpool at Anfield in 1998. This sticks with me incredibly strongly despite it being a game I listened to on the radio. The memory of me, my Dad, and one of my friends jumping around in the living room still makes me happy. That none of the three of us knew the name Alan Smith until that moment made it even better.

I could go on forever with examples - in fact - that will be part of the next episode of the Mighty Whites Podcast.

I may do another one of these about individual players if time at work allows. Please get in touch with your examples. Whether it is a full article you want publishing, in the comments below, or on Twitter. Now is the time to reminisce.