Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article
In this weeks Teenage Kicks In our excited young writer Darragh Mullen tries to make 5 weeks disappear.
As i think every Leeds fan knows, a potentially mouth watering tie was drawn last Sunday after the Leeds-Kettering dissapointment on ITV. Never before in my young life as a Leeds fan have I remembered an FA Cup 3rd round that had me so extcited. Interestingly it was just me dodging study for exams that I ended up watching the draw in the first place but my procrastination was rewarded as the draw went on. The draw started out like any other as every team that came up I tutted and said something along the lines of “typical, we’re going to get them now…” etc. But as the draw went on and more teams were drawn I soon found myself drawn to the Manchester United ball at the side of the screen. Of course I still imagined we get get a Championship side away or perhaps an easy home draw against a “cup minnow” but slowly but surely the names kept popping off. By the last 10 names I was at the edge of my seat and when it was down to the last 4 I was convinced we would get Accrington Stanley. When Stanley drew Gillingham, somewhat sadly, I jumped off my seat in excitement. Obviously now I see my immaturity but I should probably explain somewhat.
Being only 18 years old and living over seas, my memories of this club are limited. I don’t have the fond memories that the majority of Leeds fans can reminisce on and any I those that I have had it seems I was too young to remember! It seems I jumped on board a ship just as it was beginning to sink and this season is the probably the first that I can remember clearly that I actually have a good feeling about. Living in Ireland, nowadays I don’t even have rivalries with other clubs to go by. Its easy when you live in or around Yorkshire to banter with other fans be they local or from other Counties and you can banter with local fans who you know but the majority of fans over here are fans of the big four. Thinking now out of my friends who I discuss football the teams they support are Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and half a Newcastle fan. It has been years since I have actually had bantered with a fan before a match and back then I was too young to do so properly. Naturally then I was very excited when I saw the draw and the talk began after years of waiting!
Then though came the realisation that the the tie was over a month away and we weren’t even playing them yet! Meanwhile we are still trying to concentrate on the most important thing of all which of course is getting out of this league. It is getting to the stage where it is now like the famous Fawlty Tower Sketch of don’t mention The War. We are all thinking about this big game but we are not supposed to talk about it! I am a firm believer that the league is the most important thing and I made that argument last week. I stated that I wouldn’t mind if we were knocked out of the FA Cup so that we could only concentrate on the league, but this draw made things different. Now for me the priority is still winning the league but for me getting this game against our arch rivals and then putting up a good performance is actually also very important. Now at the back of my mind is alway going to be this game and I think this really shows my immaturity.
To add to all of this I was offered a ticket by my scum supporting Uncle if the game did go ahead, to sit in the home end. Now I have never been to an away game let alone sat in the opposite end at the match but I suppose thats a topic for another time. Huddersfield tomorrow now is my priority as this of course is a big Yorkshire derby. But for the next few weeks I will always be thinking about this game, but first of all I will be watching anxiously on Tuesday night as we dispatch “Cup minnows” Kettering live on tv.
