A Trip Down Memory Lane

By Steve Barras

I am becoming a little frustrated with the lack of Takeover/ Investment talk coming out of Elland Road. Despite all the rumours that are circulating among Leeds fans on Social Networking Sites about the supposed takeover, nothing concrete has appeared but Leeds are still buying players which brings forth more suppositions and basic guesswork.

I was taking a trip down memory lane the other day and I wondered what the team of 1991/1992 championship season were doing now? Here is what I found out.

 
John Lukic.
After Lukic left Leeds in 1996 for Arsenal he made fifteen appearances over five years for their first team. He hung his boots up in 2001 and is now working as a freelance goalkeeping coach and also tours the country as an after-dinner speaker.

Mervyn Day
Day left Leeds the season following the championship triumph and signed for Carlisle United. He made sixteen appearances and retired the following season taking over the managerial reigns at Carlisle. After leading the team to a second division title and a football league trophy he subsequently fell out with his chairman and was replaced as manager. He then went on to join Alan Curbishley at Charlton Athletic and followed him to West Ham. In July 2010 he re-joined Leeds as a Chief Scout alongside Gwyn Williams but resigned in March 2012 he currently works as a co-commentator on ESPN’s coverage of the Bundesliga.

Tony Dorigo
Dorigo left Leeds in 1997 and played for Torino, Derby County and Stoke City before retiring in 2001. Since retiring he has worked for various T.V and Radio stations covering Leeds’ league exploits but now works for Al-Jazeera and ESPN covering La Liga, Serie A and Internationals.

Chris Fairclough
Fairclough left Leeds in 1995 and played for Bolton, Notts County and York City before retiring in 2001. He then moved to Nottingham and worked for Notts Forest as a first team coach until the departure of Billy Davies in 2011. He now works as an u16/u18 Professional Development Phase Coach at Charlton Athletic.

Gary Kelly
Kelly played for Leeds his entire career amassing four hundred and thirty appearances before he retired from the professional game in 2007. He went on to play Amateur football in his homeland signing for Drogheda Town in 2010.

John McClelland
After leaving Leeds in 1992 he went on to play for a whole host of clubs the most notable being Notts County and Watford. After hanging his boots up in 1997. Also notable was the fact that he was Player Manager at St Johnstone the season after leaving Leeds but didn’t become a manager after retirement; he can now be found giving stadium tours at Elland Road.

Jon Newsome
Newsome left Leeds in 1994 and went on to play for Norwich, Sheff Weds and Bolton before retiring because of injury in 2000. Newsome then briefly worked as a scout for Grimsby Town but now owns AutoMarques; a Sheffield based car sales company.

David Wetherall
Wetherall left Leeds for fellow Yorkshire side Bradford in 1999. He retired in 2008 and spent the next few years with various roles at Bradford including Interim Manager, when he left in 2011 he left the position of Youth Team Manager to become the Head of Youth Development with The Football League.

Chris Whyte
Whyte left Leeds in 1993 and played for an incredible ten more teams before retiring with Finnish third tier club HyPS. He now attends various functions for his various ex-clubs.

David Batty
Batty left Leeds in 1993 and had stints at Blackburn and Newcastle before returning to Leeds in 1998. He retired at Leeds in 2004. Since his retirement he has featured in ‘The Match’ alongside other ex-professionals at St James Park. He has also featured in several advertising campaigns for Cancer Research.

Steve Hodge
Hodge left Leeds in 1994 for Q.P.R, he also had spells with Watford and Leyton Orient before retiring in 1998. Hodge along with other ex-professionals travelled to Iran to give a week long coaching course and is now coaching Notts Forest under 14’s.

Gary McAllister
McAllister left Leeds in 1996 and had spells with Coventry and Liverpool before hanging up his boots in 2004. McAllister is currently unemployed after spells as manager at Coventry (2002-2004), Leeds (2008) and as assistant manager at Aston Villa (2010-2011).

Gary Speed
Speed left Leeds in 1996 and had spells at four clubs including boyhood heroes Everton before retiring in 2010 at the age of forty-one. He became a coach at his last club Sheff Utd. Speed was announced as manager of Sheff Utd in August 2010 but left the club in December to become the manager of his native Wales. Speed was found at his home in Wales in November 2011, he had tragically taken his own life.

Gordon Strachan
Strachan left Leeds in 1995 for Coventry and he retired two years later. He became manager of Coventry (1996-2001), Southampton (2001-2004), Celtic (2005-2009) and Middlesbrough (2009-2010) but is currently working on the BBC’s coverage of The F.A Cup.

Mark Tinkler
Tinkler left Leeds in 1997 and had spells at five other clubs before retiring in 2009. He is currently employed as an Academy coach at Middlesbrough.

Eric Cantona
Cantona left Leeds for fierce rivals Man Utd in 1992 and retired in 1997. Since his retirement he has featured in many television advertisements for Nike. He focused his later career in French films making many films. He currently is Director of Soccer at New York Cosmos.

Lee Chapman
Chapman left Leeds in 1993 and amassed appearances at six other clubs including a brief loan back to Elland Road. He retired in 1996 and is currently enjoying family life.

Carl Shutt
Shutt left Leeds in 1996 and played for six other clubs before retiring in 2005. He has since had managerial stints in non-league football with Kettering Town and Bradford Park Avenue.

Rod Wallace
Wallace left Leeds in 1998 and went on to play for Rangers, Bolton and Gillingham before retiring in 2004. He has spent time coaching at Kingstonian and Molesley but is currently coaching at Epsom and Ewell.