Written by Max
Ground #19
Elland Road – Leeds United FC
Tuesday 24thth August 2021 – League Cup 2nd Round
Leeds United (Premier League) 3-0 Crewe Alexandra (League 1)
Attendance: 34,154
Entry: £15
It had been 536 days since I last saw Crewe in the flesh back in March 2020! That is a ridiculous stat and something I hope I will never get close to repeating, but what a game this is to come back to! As Crewe fans we are so used to getting ‘Rochdale at Home’ and losing in the early stages of the cup so this was special and a night I wont forget in a hurry!
Leeds United have played at Elland Road since they were formed in 1919 and it is the 14th biggest ground in the country, currently holding just under 38,000. Leeds are renowned for their large fan base and great atmosphere and that was certainly shown here with a ‘Sell Out’ crowd in attendance for tonight’s match. Before the game begun here was a rousing rendition of the club anthem ‘Marching On Together’ and I’m not afraid to admit I caught myself miming along to the words as the atmosphere built!
I had been to Elland Road once before back in 2005 when Crewe came away 2-0 winners on New Years Day! This was the 1 and only game and therefore ground my Mum has ever visited!
Going into the game I wasn’t holding out much hope of an upset as we have, by all accounts, had an underwhelming start to the season after having to rebuild from the loss of 6 of our starting 11 from last season thorough various reason which I wont go into here! We were just there for a good day out and anything other than a hammering was a bonus!
Leeds named a strong starting 11 including England Centre Mid Kalvin Phillips and to be honest I feared the worst! The first half consisted of mostly Leeds attacks but Crewe were resolute at the back and the home side were mainly forced into shots from range which were either well wide of the target or well saved by Jaaskelainen in the Crewe goal. As the half time whistle blew we couldn’t believe it was still goalless!
The second half was played in very much the same vein. Pretty much constant Leeds attacks but some great defending from Crewe and the odd half chance on the counter gave us hope. But then on came Patrick Bamford who changed the game! Born and raised in our home town of Newark we are glad to see a local lad doing well on the biggest stage, but tonight I had hoped not to see him! As soon as he came on he looked lively and was pulling the strings.
Crewe managed to hold it at 0-0 until the 79th minute when England international Kalvin Phillips opened the scoring from a corner. From then on the floodgates opened as Crewe were forced to look for an equaliser. The second came just 5 minutes later from Jack Harrison assisted by the aforementioned Bamford, and the game was sealed in the 90th minute with a second for Harrison.
In the end the scoreline probably fairly reflected the way the game had gone, but a valiant effort from the Crewe lads and I just hope they can replicate that at the weekend when we travel down to Charlton.
Now to rate our experience at Elland Road:
Location: 6/10
Elland Road is located around 2 miles from Leeds Station meaning around a 40 minute walk to the ground if you are going by train. As we drove, we parked in a residential area around a 20 minute walk away.
The roads surrounding the ground were packed and at one point we worried we weren’t going to make kick off! We mention later how the ground could be expanded, but I worry how the roads around the ground would cope if even more fans were traveling to the ground every matchday!
The ground is surrounded by Takeaways and pubs although all of them were packed as you’d expect with a sell out crowd in attendance. As you’ll see later, we wish we had tried one of these takeaways rather than wait until getting into the ground!
Kit: 3/10
Over the years Leeds have had some memorable kits but sadly this years home kit just doesn’t do much for me. I couldn’t get the best photo of it from our position in the away end but from the one I did take it proves my point. It’s just a bit boring isn’t it? All white with not a lot to it. The yellow Adidas stripes add a little bit to it but I feel a bit more could have been done to incorporate the famous yellow and blue colours synonymous with the club.
Facilities: 6/10
The Concourse in the away end was quite small in comparison to a lot you see, especially in the higher divisions. Once you got through the turnstyle and to the top of the stairs you doubled back on yourself and had to squeeze through a tight walkway to get to the bar area. The fact the away end was packed out with over 1,500 Crewe fans meant that we struggled to move through the area. You then had to squeeze back through the same tight corridor to get to the entrance to the stand.
An interesting feature which is something we had never seen before was touchscreen which you used to ‘pre-order’ your food and drink before going over to the counter to pick up your order. You could also use this to pre order for half time which seems a great idea. Sadly though as you’ll see later we didn’t get chance to test if the system really works or not!
There were small TV screens in the concourse showing the match and highlights at half time.
Look: 9/10
Elland Road is one of the most iconic football grounds in England, if not the world, and to be there for a game which was sold out was a privilege not many fans of league 1 clubs will get. All 4 stands have their own character and charm about them and the 2 tiered main stand opposite us looked imposing from our position. It’s great to see a Traditional ‘Big Club’ like Leeds still playing in a proper Traditional football ground and I hope they never move away into a boring new ground like so many clubs seem to do.
The only real negative we could think of in comparison to other grounds in the Premier League was the fact it only holds 37,000 and the fact that it can sell out for a League cup 2nd round tie shows that they certainly have the demand if they were to increase the capacity.
Food and Drink: 0.5/10
As mentioned above we queued for about 10 minutes at the ‘Pre order’ screens only to be told as we got to the front that no hot food was left. This was 25 minutes before kick off! I know it was a sell out but come on! I hadn’t eaten all day and was looking forward to my first chicken balti pie of the season, but frustratingly we were left hungry!
On the drinks page we saw that Dark Fruits was available so they do get the bonus half point, but as kick off was approaching we decided against buying one and headed up to get a good place in the stand instead.
TOTAL SCORE 24.5/50
Overall we really enjoyed being back at a football league ground, and being able to watch Crewe for the first time in almost 2 years! I certainly hope that I never have to go that long without seeing The Alex ever again!
We have commented before that the way our scores work sometimes mean the best grounds don’t get the best scores, and this is certainly proof of that! Elland Road is a fantastic, iconic ground and one that any club would be proud of. We really enjoyed our visit and thought the Leeds fans, along with the travelling Crewe supporters, created a brilliant atmosphere which is something you very rarely see this early in a cup competition. Good luck to Leeds in the next round!
Elland Road will be the first Football League ground to be added to our new League table, although if you are reading this in a few weeks time there will be more teams added and you can check out the table here: Football League Leaderboard
If you’d like to see our Leaderboard of Non-League Grounds click here: Non-League Leaderboard
Emma’s Ground Guide 