Cry-laughing through history with Leeds United AFC

I wonder who at Leeds United kept Valencia's contact details after the Champions League semi-final in 2001, and why. Maybe it was to discuss Vicente's medical bills after Alan Smith tried taking his leg off in the last minute. Knowing chairman Peter Ridsdale, he might have been considering some cheeky bids for Gaizka Mendieta, who played in the second leg like a solo embodiment of everything Leeds wanted to be. Maybe it's just the done thing among big clubs, Champions League contenders.

However it happened, it was funny but grim, or maybe grim but funny, when Valencia reemerged from the contact book for United's first post-Premier League home fixture, a pre-Championship friendly at Elland Road. Mendieta had, to put it bluntly, fucked Leeds up, and although he was now inexplicably at Middlesbrough, that he was there with Mark Viduka only added to the dizzy, dazed feeling Leeds fans felt whenever someone said, 'Only three years ago, Leeds were playing Valencia in a Champions League semi-final, and now...' And now? Back in 2001, the benches had already looked mismatched: they had Didier Deschamps, we had Jacob Burns. Now we'd have given anything for Alan Maybury back, instead of trying to convince ourselves that Mendieta was finished, and Middlesbrough had messed up by letting Craig Hignett end up with us.

We could feel a bit better about this summer's rematch, not least because after the 2-2 draw last time was marked by Simon Walton's red card, this time we beat them 2-1 - our first win since 1967 - and it was Valencia's Rafa Mir being ordered off. But even with the better result, the better performance, the bigger attendance (13,500 more than last time) and all the sunshine, I still sense a mild uneasiness about Valencia's visits. Since 2001, Pablo Hernandez has blessed both teams, but his absence is bittersweet. And the Champions League semi-final itself, the high point of the most exhilarating Leeds United seasons since 1992, still tastes bitter.

I was thinking about this when Manchester City unveiled their new away kit for 2024/25. I enjoy each summer of kit launches as clubs and brands come up with increasingly unhinged justifications for their latest designs - a couple of recent faves include Levante's third shirt, 'designed to bring to mind the Minecraft video game', and the new Juventus away in white and yellow, 'marketed as representing unexplored galaxies of the universe'. But the blurb for Manchester City's new neon and navy shirt is characteristically straightforward: 'It is a certified classic, marking the 25th anniversary of one of the most iconic moments in our history. It pays homage to the kit worn in the dramatic 1999 League One Play-Off final victory over Gillingham.'