As Manchester United prepare to face Leeds United in Perth historic rivalries still run deep

“Avoid Elizabeth Quay, full of Leeds,” came the message on Monday afternoon in Perth, Western Australia. The sender, a Mancunian expat Manchester United fan, was midway through a week enjoying his team’s first visit to Perth since 1975, the year Leeds reached the European Cup final and Manchester United were in the second division.

It’s highly unlikely that there will be trouble around Wednesday’s 55,000 sell-out friendly between these old foes, but the rivalry and enmity is deep. Leeds reached the Championship play-offs in May but haven’t played top-flight football since 2004 and have spent most of the time since then in the second division. A huge club, they’re badly missed in the top flight.

Only 40 miles from Manchester, the rivalry could be vicious in the ’60s, ’70s and ’90s and a bit of the noughties.

Ill feeling prevailed when United’s skilful young Irish winger Johnny Giles fell out with manager Matt Busby and moved to Elland Road in 1963. In 1965 the Red Devils reached their fourth consecutive FA Cup semi-final where they met Leeds. Both clubs were battling for success in the league and cup – literally. In front of 65,000 at Hillsborough, Jack Charlton and Denis Law wrestled like two schoolboys as other players swapped punches. The game finished 0–0, with the referee, both managers and players all criticised for their conduct.

The replay was in Nottingham four days later when it all kicked off again as the players went for each other. Rival fans followed, with one running on the pitch and knocking the referee to the ground, and there were disturbances on the terraces with stories of fans being thrown into the River Trent confirmed by police. Leeds won the tie 1–0 with a last-minute Billy Bremner goal set up by, yes, Giles.

Still, the Reds finished the season as champions for the first time in eight years – on goal difference from Leeds.

Matt Busby’s third side peaked with their 1968 European Cup success.

Leeds, meanwhile, consistently won major honours. In 1970, an ageing Manchester United team drew Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final.

“The game was spoiled by the weather,” recalled Giles of the 0–0 draw at Hillsborough. “The second game at Villa Park was in the top three that I ever played in. There were no goals, but there was passion, great players and skill. It had everything except goals.” An astonishing 173,500 people had watched the tie by the time Leeds won the third game at Burnden Park, 1–0, when the players were exhausted after three games in less than a week.

On February 19th 1972, Leeds hammered the other United 5–1 at Elland Road. Relegated in 1974, Leeds fans greeted the United team upon their return a year later with the song: “Where were you in ’74?”.

The pair were drawn together in a 1977 FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough and both teams were allocated 21,000 tickets with Sheffield Wednesday receiving the “neutral” 13,000. After United’s allocation sold out, Mancunian touts bought many of these tickets and with Leeds not selling their allocation, one newspaper described the scene: “Within 15 minutes Manchester United were two-up, delighting a crowd in which the red of Lancashire so dominated the yellow and white of Yorkshire that Hillsborough looked like an egg with a whole bottle of tomato ketchup poured over it.” Manchester United won 2–1 and went on to lift the cup.

Leeds fans were stunned in 1978 when, over a three-week period, they lost their best two players, Gordon McQueen and Joe Jordan, for record fees ... to Manchester United.

Leeds were relegated in 1982 and tales of the ’60s and ’70s rivalry became mythic tales to be told to youngsters enthralled by on-pitch battling and off the pitch aggro from a safe distance. They returned to the top flight with Howard Wilkinson in 1990 and in a 17-day period over December 1991 and January 1992, played United three times at Elland Road – first in the league then in the League Cup and finally in the FA Cup. Manchester United won both the cup ties and drew the league game, but red smugness evaporated months later. After I produced one of the most lampooned fanzine front covers of all time predicting the end of United’s 24 years without a league title, Leeds, free to concentrate on the league, held their nerve and pipped the Mancunians at the death.

In 1999 Manchester United faced a talented young Leeds side who had lost just one of their first 14 league games. It was two after Alex Ferguson’s men won 3–2. With a strong young squad managed by David O’Leary, Leeds topped the table when their foes visited in February 2000. Andrew Cole’s superb solo goal brought victory and provided the impetus for a sixth championship in eight years. Within weeks, Manchester United fans noted the significance of the victory by singing: “We won the league at Elland Road.”

Manchester United last played Leeds in the league in the 2003-04 season. The Yorkshire side’s relegation to the third tier of English football at the end of 2006-07 meant the latest encounters between the two have been in cup competitions.

Wednesday’s game is only a friendly, but the edge will still be there in one of English football’s great rivalries.