Our Leeds United

30 Jun 2025

Eleven stories celebrating Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa’s impact on life, community and art.

Millions of people around the world have stories to tell about their love of football, and millions more have felt the impact of dementia in their lives. Here in Leeds, for too short a time, we experienced the magic of Marcelo Bielsa’s commitment to the beautiful game and the people he felt mattered most – the fans.

Weaving together these themes, this exhibition presents eleven stories – a football team’s worth – to demonstrate how the inspiration of Marcelo Bielsa and the love of Leeds United has enriched our lives.

From getting us through COVID-19, to inspiring art and music, Bielsa’s genius and his humble approach to football and community helped to reignite our city’s identity. Our stories show how the constancy of Leeds United has provided healing in moments of grief and loss, and connection where there might otherwise be isolation. It reveals how achievement on the pitch leads to ambition, creativity and friendship through local and international connection.

A sense of rootedness in community is all the more important at challenging times and, like anyone else, people affected by dementia find escape, hope and in-the-moment joy in football. As Bielsa understands, community is what happens beyond the football club itself and these stories show why this matters.

All Leeds Aren’t We?

“Football is not just five minutes of action, it is much more than that, it is a cultural expression, a form of identification.”
Marcelo Bielsa

Meet the contributors

Chris O’Connor is the writer of Through It All Together, and Louis’ dad. Louis was born on the same day Through It All Together was officially announced. Chris was introduced to Mick Haith as part of the process of writing the play, through Leeds Playhouse’s theatre and dementia programme. Mick was diagnosed in 2015 with Posterior Cortical Atrophy, a rare form of Alzheimer’s which affects vision. Mick is part of the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project group, co-run by Leeds Playhouse and Dementia Friendly Leeds. The group helps people living with dementia to influence services and change attitudes.

Mick: “Chris talked to us about our experience of dementia and he came to see how Corner Flag Café runs, how it helps people with dementia socialise and enjoy learning about the club’s history and future. It’s so special with it being held at the ground, I feel more connected to the club, and it’s always welcoming. This play shows that having an interest in sport helps life continue to feel normal and fun, it shows the times of struggle with dementia and how thinking of the future is important for us all. I don’t worry about my dementia, I just get on with life the best I can and meet the challenges as they happen. Supporting Leeds United fills my days in many ways. They mean a lot to me, they have ups and downs just like me. We keep marching on together.”

Chris: “Leeds United is in my blood. Mostly this has meant years of pain, chaos, and disappointment. Then Bielsa arrived, and supporting Leeds became joyful again. It felt like the perfect backdrop to tell a deeply human story – the hope, the heartbreak, the twists – and I’d wanted to write about dementia for a while. I saw a way to explore how football can genuinely impact people’s lives, especially those going through challenging periods.

“Two of Louis’ great-grandparents live with dementia, and one of my most treasured memories is introducing him to my gran in Ireland. I knew neither of them would remember it – which, in a way, made it even more meaningful. In that moment, they were fully present. It’s been an honour to work with Mick – and with his wife Lyn. They were both a huge inspiration for the characters in
the play. Mick’s energy, his mischief, and his warmth helped shape Howard’s character, but ultimately it was their love that left the biggest impression. Every time I met them, it shone through – and I knew that had to be the heartbeat of the play.

“I hope audiences come away with a deeper understanding of dementia, and for those who loved Bielsa’s time at Leeds, a chance to revisit that incredible era – a time of joy and unity that many of us missed out on fully experiencing due to COVID. I think Bielsa would probably be very modest about it and not want the fuss – and I completely respect that. But this piece is about the impact he had on us, the fans. His humility is part of what made him so beloved, but I felt compelled to reflect the joy, pride and meaning he gave us.”

Rachel Newman, Simon Wood and Sophie Dales run the Corner Flag Café at Leeds United Foundation, the charity of Leeds United Football Club. The Cafe is run in partnership with Leeds City Council’s Peer Support Service. Simon leads the Foundation’s Health and Wellbeing team and he is also Leeds United Women’s team manager. Rachel is the Healthy Families lead, running sessions in Primary schools across Leeds, and she recently abseiled off Elland Road’s East Stand to raise money for the Corner Flag Café. Sophie visits 23 care homes across Leeds, running football-based exercise sessions for 120 older resident.

The Corner Flag Café is a special group that brings people living with dementia and their families together at Elland Road. We provide opportunities to engage in reminiscence, exercise and games, which can bring back such fantastic memories and gives people something to look forward to. We are also making dreams become a reality by bringing people back to Elland Road, often for the first time in years, to re-live memories from previous experiences at the club. This is magical to witness. Living with dementia is hard for individuals and families, and being a part of Corner Flag Café makes peoples’ days better. After attending the Thursday session families tell us that the end of the week is better than the start of the week. Communication is better, emotions are better and the impact from attending makes family life better.

Together we’re creating a community that supports and helps one another, and tackles social isolation which is such a big problem for people with dementia. We love our jobs, meeting people and helping people enjoy Leeds United. We bring a sense of joy, fun and laughter to residents in care homes and families at Corner Flag Café. We see people come alive with memories and travel back in time with the same passion as being stood on the terraces back in the 1970s. It’s hugely rewarding for us and an honour to be a part of.

The work we do in both care homes and Corner Flag Café is extremely important, it gives people a purpose. People are so grateful for the sessions and spending time at the football club where so many happy memories were made.”

Jinder Jade is a leading UK Bhangra singer and a huge Leeds United fan. Like many artists his performance work disappeared overnight in 2020 when COVID-19 hit. Jinder was inspired by the team’s success to write and release a Punjabi language song Marching On Together Fans Gonde Boliyan (The Fans Sing Songs), which became a viral hit. The same year he also created the El Loco Leeds Football Club You Tube channel dedicated to Marcelo Bielsa.

“COVID was such a tough moment for everyone, a time of our lives I hope we never have again. I’ve been singing for a long time and when the gigs stopped I needed to channel that creative energy. I wanted to do the song for Leeds United.

“Bhangra music is community music and Marching On Together Fans Gonde Boliyan brought it into the mainstream. I wanted the song to break down barriers, to say football is for everybody, to create community and togetherness. It was a passion project. Leeds were playing beautiful football under Bielsa, all these players were journeymen from the Championship and the way he trained them was unbelievable. I was so impressed with Bamford, Ayling, Dallas, Phillips and Cooper.

“I didn’t think the song would go viral but the fans just took to it, and I’m so thankful. I gave CDs to the club to put in hampers they were sending to a children’s hospice and I even received emails from Marcelo Bielsa, which of course I won’t share, but that was such an honour. Doing anything or the club is an honour.

“I started supporting Leeds United in 1989. I come from a Punjabi Sikh background, and a lot of Sikhs came to England from East Africa and India in the 1960s when Leeds were one of the best teams in the country. My uncle, who I looked up to, became a Leeds fan in the 1960s when he moved from Africa. People wanted to fit in and integrate, and one of the ways to do that was through football. People would work in the factories and foundries and then go to watch the football. My daughter’s a Leeds
fan, so we’ve carried on the tradition. I’ve done another song for the 2025 promotion, so people might  say I only sing when we’re winning!

“This is the shirt I wore in the Marching on Together Fans Gonde Boliyan video to symbolise that time, the long sleeves bring out my inner Gordon Strachan! I think about Bielsa every day. We’d not had a lot to cheer about in the last 20 years or so, all the firings and chaotic owners. We only got a bit of joy when Bielsa came in, and he’s probably very happy we’re back in the Premier League. He’ll be watching, and he’ll probably send a few people out to scout

“Through It All Together!”

Deb Harrison is the only Leeds United fan in her family, but at matches she’s with over 30,000 people who feel the same as her, like extended family. When stadiums were closed during COVID-19, Deb’s photo, and thousands of others, were printed up as ‘Crowdies’, creating rows of fans in Elland Road’s empty seats.

“My dad, Michael, was diagnosed with dementia in 2019 and it got progressively worse during COVID. He couldn’t access any clubs that are out there, he was totally isolated. He saw things that weren’t there in the garden and I would go along with it. I wanted him to think I could see it too, to
make it a bit more normal for him.

I’d just been to pick up my Crowdie from Elland Road when I got a phone call from his care home saying he’d been admitted to hospital. He passed away a week later. His name and picture came up on the scoreboard at Elland Road. He wasn’t a Leeds fan but when LUFC said ‘share people that you’ve lost’, he was part of me, and I wanted him acknowledging. Me and him had been on this journey and Leeds United had as well.

My 50th birthday was coming up and we were in lockdown. My mum knew I was feeling down and my birthday was going to come and go. I’d planned to have a big party and that couldn’t happen. My mum lives in Wetherby. She goes to a chiropodist who has a flat above, and that’s where Bielsa lived. Whenever she went I always said, ‘listen out or him walking above’ but she never saw him. 

Unbeknownst to me she bought this birthday card, put it in an envelope and wrote on the envelope ‘Dear Mr Bielsa…’ and told him about me and my birthday and losing my dad. Next time she went to the chiropodist the signed card was waiting.

Leeds United and Marcelo Bielsa got me through COVID and helped me with my dad. Watching the matches was the escape I needed, searching for my Crowdie when the match was on… it was all a distraction. It gave me comfort knowing that life was still going on, I was still part of it.

When it was announced that he’d gone, I wrote Bielsa a card and my mum posted it through his letterbox. I told him he’d made such a difference to my life with that team. Never did I think he’d reply but I got an email. He asked me not to share what he put in it, and I won’t, I respect that”

When players’ wages were £1 a week, Alan Peacock first made his name at Middlesborough FC. No-one could jump like ‘Peachy’ and he was renowned for heading the ball, creating many of Brian Clough’s goals at Boro, but getting little of the credit. He played in Chile with the England World Cup squad in 1962.

Manager, Don Revie thought a lot of Peachy and brought him to Leeds United in 1964 for £55,000, a record signing for the club at the time. Alan helped Leeds clinch the 1964 League Championship before reaching the 1965 FA Cup Final, missing out on lifting the trophy in a 2-1 defeat to Liverpool. Alan was picked for the 1966 England World Cup squad, but a knee cartilage injury kept him at home. Geoff Hurst took his place and the rest is history.

Always a champion of charitable work, Alan supported local children’s hospices and he also founded the Former Players’ Association at Middlesborough FC to help retired players who had fallen on hard times. A good friend of another Leeds United legend, Jack Charlton, the two would socialise together with their wives and maintained a close friendship over the years.

After a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia in 2018, Alan worked with the Middlesborough FC Foundation visiting and taking sporting memorabilia boxes to people living in care homes, using replica kits and trophies to ignite memories of sporting moments. Residents’ faces light up when they see Peachy.

“I wouldn’t change a thing about playing football. I’ve lived a very full life and met every challenge along the way. Being open about my dementia has been the right thing to do. You shouldn’t be embarrassed or
ashamed of having it.”

Dr Tomás León is a psychiatrist from Santiago, Chile, dedicated to old age psychiatry and dementia care. He is part of the team forming Chile’s National Dementia Plan. In 2020, through the Global Brain Health Institute, he connected with Leeds-based colleague Dr Nicky Taylor over a shared love for Marcelo Bielsa.

“Bielsa arrived to manage Chile at a time when qualifying for the World Cup – or simply winning a match – seemed impossible. We used to refer to the qualifiers as “eliminatories” because we assumed we were going to be eliminated. But when Bielsa arrived, he asked to change the term to “qualifiers” because we were going to qualify. He had a group of young players without much experience – not the best – but through effort and hard work, he managed to lead them forward and reach the World Cup. That mindset has spread to the rest of the country and to us as well, putting hard work and effort at the centre of progress.

Being a ‘Widow of Bielsa’ means missing his mentality, his way of facing life, because you know you could be better, that you could aim higher. We felt he was the leader we needed, but at the same time we realised, when he went to coach in Leeds, we were forming a bond with other people who also love and miss Bielsa, And in that sense, we are one big family.”

Debbie Marshall and Debbie Catley have been supporting people living with dementia since establishing Leeds City Council’s Peer Support Service in 2010. When people are diagnosed in Leeds, the Debbies are often a first port of call, at the other end of the phone, scooping people up and offering a range of activities and groups to make life a bit brighter. A diagnosis of dementia often means that friendships disappear, and the Debbies are there to put new connections in place.

“Our service offers the opportunity to meet in a safe environment with other people in a similar situation, who really understand. Dementia isn’t the focus, you might have conversations about it, but you don’t have to say anything. You come as a package – the person with dementia and

the carer – you both need support. A lot of services are for one or the other, but there’s something special about supporting families together. It’s important that people can continue to be husband and wife, father and daughter, whatever that relationship is, that they get the opportunity to be that relationship, and the impact of the diagnosis lessens. People relax. It’s relief, feeling that the next two hours are going to be ok. People go home lifted, with a different conversation, a different experience they may not have had access to otherwise.

Whenever we meet anybody who has been referred to us, we’ll say ‘what do you like?’ And they’ll say ‘I love football, I went for years but I can’t go now’. You can, you can go, in a different way, with a bit of support. It’s about their love and passion first and then addressing all those obstacles that are in their way. Whilst a diagnosis can have a huge impact, dementia is just a part of a person, it isn’t the whole person. We reconnect people with life interests, whatever that passion is, the hook might be football or rugby or theatre. We can reawaken all those lovely memories, that excitement, and the coming together, when everything else feels a bit lost.

We absolutely love what we do and it’s a privilege to meet the people we meet. Through years of experience and seeing things that aren’t right, we want to make it right. We want to educate people that life is not done, dementia  does not have to be the end.  We love supporting people  and being their advocate, we like saying ‘no, we can do this.’ We just want to make a difference.”

Andy McVeigh paints as Burley Banksy and his artwork can be seen on street furniture around the city, enlivening the urban landscape with his Leeds United themed artwork. His In Bielsa We Trust painting was featured in the national papers and Match of the Day. He credits Marcelo Bielsa with changing his career

“I don’t think its over exaggerating to say Bielsa changed my life. He brought a light to the end of the tunnel for  Leeds United after 16 years of awful football. He gave me this hope that things could change. I was in teaching, I was shattered, I wanted to leave. I’d started to paint just around that time. I’d done some to cover up some graffiti tagging in Burley. Then I thought I’ll do some Leeds United ones, and I don’t think I would have had the stimulus or enthusiasm if he hadn’t have come.

It was this wonderful thing of him getting very average
players and making them play ten levels above themselves by creating this no ego atmosphere. He provided these moments that grown men still talk about – the first game with Bielsa, we’ve turned into Real Madrid and Luke Ayling and Stuart Dallas are now two of the best players in the world! I remember my son, who is a moody teenager, hugged me and asked what’s going on, and I’ll remember that moment forever.

He was such a wonderful man, you know, football lost its morals years ago, the fans are treated terribly, but he actually cared about fans and said ‘these people need to be valued, to be treated properly’, and it just brought this warmth to the entire city. People who weren’t into football, like my mam, were asking how’s it going? What’s that Bielsa said this week? She started wanting Leeds to do well because this man had brought humanity and humility to the city.

And then you found out that he was going to Costa Coffee and some bloke has a puncture on his bike on his way to Wetherby and Bielsa comes up and says ‘I will help you with this tyre’. Can you imagine any other football manager doing that? It was so beautiful.

I feel so grateful to people in Leeds who like my stuff, and that’s why I wrote to him, I sent him one of my Vamos Leeds Carajo prints, and I told him he’d given me this new career and I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I didn’t expect a reply. I’ve since found out he wrote back to virtually everyone who wrote to him. But he doesn’t want it publicised. You want to say to the world ‘look how wonderful this man is’ but at the same time you think, I have to respect what he’s said. I’ve framed his reply, just for me.

My shop in the Merrion Centre has basically become like a counselling session for men who miss Bielsa. I just felt better with him sat on that bucket at Elland Road.”

Chris Bruce first kicked a ball aged 2 and as a schoolboy fell in love with Leeds United. He has followed Leeds home and away, hitching his way to Paris for the 1975 European Cup Final. He turned the story of that night into a play for a BBC Radio 5 competition, submitting A Night of Shattered Dreams, Near Misses and a Spiritual Awakening. As an official photographer for The Square Ball in the 1990s he regularly captured Gary Speed, Gordon Strachan and David Batty and his photographs have appeared on the fanzine’s front cover.

I went to my first game at Elland Road in 1968 when Leeds were playing Wolverhampton and Jack Charlton scored the winner. I loved the atmosphere, the singing, I came at just the right time ‘cause it was Revie, Bremner, the great team. All I really liked doing was playing football. I was very quick and I was meant to have a trial with Huddersfield Town but my dad wouldn’t allow it, he said ‘he needs an education’ and I thought ‘no Dad, I need to play because then I might play for Leeds,’ but it never happened.

Then my dad died very suddenly. It was a massive shock, he took his own life. I couldn’t stand being in our house at the time. I said I’ve got to get out of here, I’ve got to go somewhere I feel some kind of solidity, something that I can hold onto, because everything was just turmoil. And it was football, because Leeds were playing. When I read Nick Hornby’s book, he had the same experience with Arsenal, football was something that wasn’t going to suddenly disappear.

I later worked as a sports leader, getting people away from offending behaviour, it was the best job I’ve ever had. I wrote to Leeds United and got tickets for matches for our group. I’ve always been interested in the connection between mental health and football, that release. I feel that brotherhood with other fans and I sit specifically in a place were I can go down and celebrate with the players. Bielsa understood the emotion of Leeds and played the best attacking football I’ve ever seen. He inspired all those players to play ten times better than they had been playing.

When Mum was in a care home, I used to visit on match days because I live out of the area now. I’d engage with her, because I learned with Alzheimer’s, whatever’s coming out you engage with it. She was there for the last two years of her life. I used to come out of her room and my head was all over the place, and the match grounded me again and again, that community, it was very important to me in my life at that time.”

Tara Vickers lives in France with her husband David – a relentless fan of Leeds United – and their two children. They share their home with Tara’s father, Laurence, and also care for David’s mother.

“My husband is my absolute rock in caring for my father who has Alzheimer’s. I owe this man everything to be entirely honest. Laurence is my dad, not his, but David helps him get dressed, entertains him and smiles through the same story he’s heard so many times before. Living with dementia is the hardest situation on this planet. It’s fair to say my husband is not getting the retirement I always promised him. We nursed his father (also a die hard LUFC fan!) to the end of life  last year, and now we have the sole duty of care for his mother and my dad. He’d give anything to see Through It All Together but as you can imagine it’s really hard to jet off when respite care is so  hard to secure for a million reasons.”

Mick Ward is on the board of Marching Out Together, Leeds United’s official group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) fans and allies. Mick has always been involved in activism, direct action and allyship. He worked for Adult Social Care at Leeds City Council for his whole career, becoming Deputy Director for Adults and Health, in which role he helped develop services and strategies that led to the formation of Dementia Friendly Leeds.

“Marching Out Together was founded 8 years ago by two gay men who were friends and Leeds United supporters. It is open to all LGBTQ+ fans and straight allies and we aim to make Elland Road, and Leeds United, supportive and inclusive to this community. We use football to bring about positive change and to support LGBTQ+ fans and their allies, be that at Leeds games, socialising in the pub, or online. We have a banner which is often shown on TV when Leeds score, and we heard one story of a young woman who came out to her mum at Elland Road, by talking about that banner.

Leeds United won the 2025 national award at the Football v Homophobia Awards, in recognition of the club’s partnership with Marching Out Together and actions like LGTBQ+ awareness training for players and staff, Rainbow Laces campaign and sponsoring Pride.

We’ve always been supportive of the LUFC women’s game, and it’s great working with the team who have out lesbian players and a real sense of community at games. Many of the team play part time while doing great work in jobs in the NHS, education and neighbourhoods. I get emotional when I think about Bielsa – obviously he got us promoted, but he didn’t get us promoted like Burnley, winning 1 – 0, he played beautiful, incredible football. 

It was the decency of the man, the way he was against the extreme capitalism of football, the way he understood that community sits around the football club. Bielsa not only changed the club, he helped change the city, our identity – how we feel about ourselves and how others view us. And that brings us to the connection to this play and to attitudes around dementia. Working alongside and
learning from places like the Playhouse, together we’re thinking about making life better with dementia. Similarly if you’re involved with Leeds United, what is your contribution to making the club, the ground and everything around it more accessible, more inclusive? The Leeds motto is All Leeds Aren’t We? and to me this sums up why we need Marching Out Together and why we need plays like Through It All
Together. Leeds are going up!”

Acknowledgements

Conceived and created by Dr Nicky Taylor
Designed and photographed by Beata Pejka
Project support by Rachel Marriner and Lily Craig
Additional photography by Nicky Taylor, Rachel Marriner, Dr Tomás León and Tara Vickers

Thank you:
Diane and Mark Symington, Ben Hunt, Paul South, Lyn Haith, Tom Bailey, Roisin Burke, Jon Dean

At Leeds Playhouse we believe in the power of theatre to create space for stories and voices that reflect the diversity of the society in which we live.  We are committed to making theatre for everyone, our pioneering work to establish Dementia Friendly performances is just one example how we strive to do this. We are a registered charity and couldn’t achieve all this without the generosity of our supporters.

If you can, please donate today to help continue this vital and life changing work. Thank you.

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