O'Leary's babies had not, yet, dug into and ground out one of their Champions League matches. Travelling, working and getting the result were signs of maturity as long as you remember that growing up is boring.
The acts of persuasion that Howard Wilkinson and Bill Fotherby used to tempt Chris Fairclough to Second Division Leeds United must rank among the greatest lobbying feats in football history.
Illan Meslier's 9,600 minutes in the Premier League alone are 600 more minutes than Perri has played in his entire career. The simple truism comes to goalkeepers before others, about doing much too much, much too young, and Meslier has grown up in much too bright a spotlight.
The Premier League fad might be the ideal tactic for a sweaty, exhausting, stop-start tournament of drinks breaks, storm delays and keeping the ball out of play so everyone can rest.
Massimo Cellino wanted the credit, and Leeds fans wanted a good local left-back. But Charlie Taylor wanted the Premier League.
It's important that Leeds United outplayed Spurs in every department of this match and marched off the pitch, chests out and heads high, flicking Vs at the referee and feeling hard done by.
Football finally has long throws to offer its modern, phone-watching fans, but only Leeds United are brave enough for bringing flick-ons back.
Casper Sloth looked fun to work with, the sort of treat everyone playing Champ Man hopes the scouts will come back with from Scandinavia.
United have quickly become competitive among the Premier League's middle tier and that is making the games more interesting because they could go either way. Normally you'd offer that to the neutrals, but the novelty of arriviste status is making this fun for Leeds fans, too.
Leeds were the winners by so much that the second half was a drift. Elland Road needed what it got: six goals and a random meltdown.