the Bill and Ken Show

As a club, there can be few sides that garner less casual support than Leeds United. They are not a team for which anyone ever really generates a soft spot. There are folk who love that club, with a particularly partizan insular pride, and there are those who cannot stand them. In all my life, and bare in mind I grew up in Yorkshire when they were the county's most successful club, I am yet to meet anyone who could take or leave Leeds United.

Throughout the past forty years the club has been particularly easy to hate with a combative style on the pitch under Don Revie in the 1970s, to a strong hooligan element off it in the 1980s and one which at times held particularly strong links to the BNP. And then, just in case these things were starting to slip from your mind, they brought in Ken Bates and Dennis Wise to ensure that no fence-sitters began edging the way of Elland Road. During Leeds slide into the third tier of English football, and their subsequent attempts to get back out of it Bates has been particularly irksome; as have those who have fallen into the trap of his propaganda. Leeds were destined to win last season's play-off final, because they had a bigger support and a richer history than their opponents Doncaster. Whilst both those aspects are true; neither supporters nor history win as many matches as playing better football does.

And so Leeds soldier on in the third tier, but lest you forget who they are, they are still particularly apt at finding new ways and reasons for a new generation of fans to hate them. In the wake of their victory over Leeds United last weekend Huddersfield Town received a letter from their opponents asking them to pay their hotel bill. Leeds claimed that the midday kick-off at the Galpharm Stadium necessitated an overnight stay to give their players apt preparation time for the match. Of course the Football League does have rules to that end, allowing teams to claim hotel expenses from opposition sides when forced to travel for an early kick-off. However, what Leeds have overlooked in this case is the distance between the two clubs... a mere sixteen miles, most of which would be travelled by motorway.

Huddersfield Town brought the letter to light through their official website yesterday, with the club CEO Nigel Cibbens stating; "Leeds' claim is as sad as it is laughable... [it] does nothing for Leeds' reputation at all".A little petulant you may feel, well yes, but not half as much as Leeds United's reply via a story on their own official website later that day headed Huddersfield Town - The Facts. In this response United quite wisely state; "The process will be dealt with by the Football League and we will pass no further comment on the matter, so as not to prejudice the outcome until a decision is made", before going on to spend the four subsequent paragraphs passing a list of comments about the match.

Whatever happens next is in the hands of the Football League, but until a decision is made Leeds United are to get no pudding for a week, and Huddersfield Town are to be allowed only to choose one play item per day from the toy box.