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Thoroughly
Sogndal, a municipality in western Norway, counts a handful of fervent Leeds United supporters among its modest population of around 12,000.
On the night of July 17, they gathered at their local pub, jubilant and incredulous after West Brom’s shocking 2-1 loss to Huddersfield. After 16 years away, 16 years of near misses, financial mismanagement and second and third division football, the result confirmed that Leeds was back in the Premier League.
Then, Leeds fans saw what they might at first have mistaken for an appearance sparked by the heady combination of beer and promo-induced euphoria. In came Eirik Bakke, the high-energy Leeds midfielder of the early 2000s, ready to join them in celebration.
“I knew they were there, so I showed up,” says Bakke. “They had been waiting a long time. I think they were surprised to see me there. We had a good night. “
Bakke started and ended his playing career with Sogndal IL and now runs the club. He was just 21 when he left his hometown team to join Leeds in 1999, having been seen the previous summer as the star of a talented team from Norway that finished third in the European Under-21 Championship.
Other clubs were interested in Bakke, who grew up as an Everton fan, but coach David O’Leary’s plans to build a youth team and make the Norwegian a key figure sold him on Elland Road. He was voted the club’s Young Player of the Year at the end of his first season in England, helping Leeds finish third in the league and reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
“That season was like an adventure,” recalls Bakke. “The team was flying around Europe, going to Russia, Rome, Turkey. That team should have won the league that year.
“We had a home game against [Manchester] United. We made a mistake and suddenly Andy Cole scored and we were six points behind. We were close for a long time. The talent of that group was so great. “
Champions League scare
The following season, 2000-01, saw Leeds embark on a race against all odds to the last four of the Champions League, even if Bakke’s first contribution to that campaign was one he would rather forget.
“I was expelled in the first [qualifying] match against 1860 Munich at home, ”he says. “We were close to leaving before it started.”
After passing qualifying, Leeds sped up. That year, the Champions League had a format in which progress from the first group stage led to another round of groups and then to the quarter-finals.
The Yorkshire club conjured a series of magical European performances to qualify from a first group that included AC Milan, Barcelona and Besiktas and a second round against Real Madrid, Lazio and Anderlecht. Deportivo de La Coruña were sacked in the last eight, before O’Leary’s young guns finally fell to Valencia in the semi-finals.
Arguably the most memorable game of the career was the trip to San Siro, where Leeds needed a point against Milan to qualify in the first group. Four days earlier, they had beaten Liverpool 4-3 at Anfield, with Mark Viduka scoring all four.
Several players celebrated the result with an unsanctioned night in the city. Before training by Lake Como the day before the Milan game, O’Leary faced his misbehaving stars.
“The president and the manager weren’t happy with us,” says Bakke. “Especially Dominic and I [Matteo]. The manager pulled us out and said that he had heard that the guys were out and that Dominic and I had been there.
“He pushed us. He said, ‘You better act tomorrow.’ I’ve never been so scared before a game in my entire life. “
A 1-1 draw, aided by a missed penalty by Andriy Shevchenko, meant Leeds were in the pass. Matteo atoned for his indiscretion with a rare goal.
“It was a good story when we finished, but it wouldn’t have been nice if we hadn’t gotten a point in Milan, but then I wouldn’t tell,” laughs Bakke.
With the likes of Harry Kewell, Rio Ferdinand, Viduka, Lee Bowyer and Alan Smith, Leeds suffered from no shortage of talent. But few of them had experienced such a high level of soccer. Yet their youthful arrogance is what made them so formidable, suggests Bakke.
“The good thing about that Leeds team was that we didn’t fear anyone,” he says. “We just play our game. We were a bit lucky against Deportivo on the road and we didn’t take our chances against Valencia. We were close but not good enough.
“We were playing against all the great teams in Europe – Barcelona, Real Madrid – and we were close to beating them all.”
The inflection point
Despite Leeds’ success on the continent and a strong finale to the Premier League season, which saw them defeated only once in their last 16 games, Liverpool took them to third place, the last League qualifying position. of Champions at that time.
Little did they know at the time, this failure to secure Champions League football would start a downward spiral from which the club only now, almost 20 years later, began to emerge.
Under President Peter Ridsdale’s leadership, Leeds had spent a lot to build a team capable of challenging Manchester United and Arsenal’s Premier League supremacy, a financial gamble based on reaching the Champions League every year. When they lost their seat at Europe’s head table, Leeds began to collapse.
“We bought a lot of players that we didn’t need,” says Bakke. “They were good players, Robbie Fowler and many other great players, but we had talented forwards from before.
“Some of the guys should have been playing more. They were the bread and butter of Leeds, growing up at the academy and playing together. They parted ways a bit and brought too many people.
“To play for Leeds, you had to form a group. We couldn’t have superstars on that team. We needed 11 fighters to fight all the time. They entered and did not understand the culture that was there. I could see right away that the team spirit was gone. “
• • • •
READ: Dominic Matteo – I still feel responsible for Leeds United relegation
• • • •
At the end of the 2002-03 season, Leeds was over £ 100 million in debt and struggling to survive in the Premier League. Ridsdale had resigned and Peter Reid had been parachuted as manager on a rescue mission.
Safety was ensured only on the penultimate weekend of the campaign, thanks to an impressive 3-2 win over Arsenal at Highbury, a result that handed the title to rivals Manchester United.
“Peter Reid stopped the bus on the way home after we beat Charlton 6-1 in their first game and brought in two cases of beer,” says Bakke. “At the time, Peter was great with the boys. Gathered the spirit. I think that’s why we beat Arsenal.
“Away against Arsenal, we always did well. We had won there before. We always had a great rivalry between us and them. When they were losing, they were so arrogant. Bad losers. Beating them a couple of times was one of my highlights. “
• • • •
READ: Arsenal and Leeds used to kick each other and even Wenger loved it
• • • •
However, Leeds’ survival that year simply delayed the inevitable. A 19th place in 2003-04 condemned them to the second division.
“There were so many things that were going wrong at the club,” sighs Bakke. “There were new owners. When Ken Bates came in, it all messed up.
“Different coaches came in, and the players that came in were good guys, but they were championship players. We knew where we were going ”.
Except for a short loan period to meet O’Leary at Aston Villa, Bakke remained a Leeds player until he returned to Norway with Brann in August 2006. However, injuries had started to accumulate for a long time, with just 25 of his 210 club appearances coming in his last three years at Elland Road.
Despite the obvious turmoil at the club, few imagined that Leeds would spend so much time outside the Premier League. And even fewer could have predicted that it would take the unlikely appointment of one of the world’s most influential and enigmatic managers to win them back.
“They needed a different crazy person to come in,” says Bakke of Marcelo Bielsa. “It started with the Italian owners when they took over. Something was happening at the club. And they play Leeds style, a little rough; they want to pressure and fight.
“It seemed like we were never going to go back. Now he has, and not buying his way; you haven’t spent a lot of money like other teams. Hopefully they can take advantage of this now and stay in the league for many more years. “
Sogndal fans are hopeful that Bielsa can end the bad times for good and keep Leeds in the Premier League. Staying awake this season would certainly warrant another celebration at the local pub, whether you join a star from the club’s past glories or not.
By Ryan Baldi
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