Leeds United and the Norwich obsession

By Kim Bjerregaard

When I first became a Leeds fan back in the early 90’s the games I looked forward to and was told about were the games against the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. Games with a history, games that meant everything, to fans of both Leeds and our opponents. 
 
Leeds United and the fall from grace is a well known story and games between us and the teams we compared ourselves to became few and far between, which also meant that the rivalries died out a bit, however I do believe that the clubs mentioned miss us in the Premier League, I base this on the fact that whoever they play they waste no time in singing: “We all hate Leeds scum”, apparently that is the only thing the “big clubs” can agree on, they hate us – but don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.
 
Until I joined Twitter I actually still thought of those clubs as our big rivals and as the clubs we aspired to be, but it seems that quite a few people on Twitter think that out rivals these days are Norwich, Wigan, Huddersfield and Millwall? I can live with Huddersfield as they’re a local rival and also with Millwall because they’re a sick bunch, but really fellow Leeds fans, Wigan? Norwich?
 
I realise that Norwich in recent years have managed to get quite a few of our better players and that Wigan are in the Premier League for the 8th year running, but still, to see them as our biggest rivals and have more  focus on them and their games (or any other games than Leeds for that matter) is  just pathetic in my opinion. That I can see Norwich's starting 11 and a swipe at  Becchio, Howson, Snoddy or Bradley Johnson written or retwettet before I see anything about Leeds seems wrong to me, we're all quick enough to make fun of other fans who are more concerned by other teams than their own but it should go both ways I think.
 
For me Leeds are as big a club as Liverpool or Manchester United, we’ve just suffered a massive fall, but that’s no reason to change rivals and creating rivalries with the so called “tin pot clubs”, if anything that just makes us a “tin pot club” ourselves.   
 
If you look at Twitter Leeds/MOT/ any Leeds player and other Leeds related stuff is trending almost every week, so why do we lower ourselves and compare us to small teams? If anything we should keep the “original” rivalries going so the “big teams”are prepared for us when we return, our fans are among the best in the country which we’ve proven time and time again when playing either Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs, Manchester City or whoever in the cups – So let’s leave this weird “Norwich obsession” behind and focus on Leeds United and our march back towards the top of English football.
 
MOT