Leeds United honoured a long-standing tradition this week. Daniel Farke, his staff and players were assembled in a fairly-traditional manner on the indoor astroturf pitch at Thorp Arch training ground so that photographer Danny Richardson could take this season's team photo.
Team photos are not as straightforward as you may imagine. A member of the first team security detail recently likened some of his duties to 'herding cats.' Put a group of young men in the same place, doing something other than the serious business of playing football, and the chance of shenanigans is high.
Patrick Bamford's name went down in the photographers' books as a joker. Two years ago, a younger member of the team took the brave, or maybe foolish decision to plonk himself down in Farke's chair. The boss used just two words to shift him. A few years before that a miscommunication left an empty space, with a young player on the fringe of the first team not showing up. He had to be photoshopped into the space later.
This year a few players emerged onto the astro in their training gear and were frog-marched back to find the correct kit by PR manager Dominique Grant. A wrestling match between Tarik Muharemović and Michael Zetterer knocked over some chairs. Richardson had to tell the back row off for not looking forward. There were players holding in giggles. Others holding their breath to enhance their personal aesthetic. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was visibly thrilled to be on the front row. He high-fived a young competition winner who was wearing a Calvert-Lewin no. 9 shirt.
The hijinks are as traditional as the photo itself. Andrew Varley began photographing the Leeds United team as a group in 1979.
"I used to do it back in the day when it was over on Fullerton Park," he said. "It progressed from there into the club deciding to have their own exclusive first team picture inside the stadium, before the official photo call when all the newspapers arrived. The newspapers were supposed to do a big group with everybody on it. It'd have all the juniors and reserves and everybody on it - they wouldn't do a specific first team group because that was just for the club to do for the team poster, so nobody else had it."
Varley, whose father John also took team photos of Leeds for The Daily Mirror, can relate to the 'herding cats' statement.
"It wasn't that well organised, and sometimes you'd get one player who would take the Mickey when you were doing the headshots, and he would go on one end and then run down behind, and you'd get him twice, you know, daft stuff like that," he said. "The worst one I ever did though was when they finally did get their act together and start doing it inside the stadium properly. I think it was a Howard Wilkinson group. David Batty and Gary Speed were on it, on the front. They always liked to mess about, and you had to have eyes in the back of your head because they would try and trip you up constantly by doing daft things - either pulling a face or putting a hand on somebody's shoulder, so you really had to be careful and give them a rollicking, quite honestly.
"But the one I did miss - it was a really, really bright day, very bright. The big thing for the club then was the team poster. They used to sell thousands of them, so it had to be done on a large format camera and be perfect. I had them all set up perfectly in three rows, all nicely balanced with the heads level, keepers at the back, all the rest of it, and it looked absolutely perfect. It wasn't until I got the pictures developed, and on the front row Speed and Batty have got their hand on each other's leg. Because of the white kit, you couldn't tell unless you look closely. But of course it ruined the bloody picture. You've got to remember these are young lads, they like to muck about."
That particular photo had to be fixed, in post-production. What helped Varley was when the first team manager would take an interest in organising the players, at least behaviourally.
"Dennis Wise was pretty good," he said. "He would stand with me, and we'd have a look and I'd tell him how we were going to do it. We had the odd manager who had his ideas, but it was down to me really. At the end of the day, if I didn't like the look of it, I'd shift people round. It's getting the balance right to make sure that the group is pretty symmetrical with a wide middle row, back row. Generally, the managers weren't bothered. They just wanted to get it over with quite quickly."
During Marcelo Bielsa's time in charge of the club, one team photo was arranged for the afternoon. Varley had set everything up outside. Then it started to rain. The idea of having prize asset Raphinha clambering up onto a slippery collapsible bench did not find favour.
Varley said: "It was getting darker and it started to rain. And [Bielsa] just said, 'We're not doing it here. We're doing it upstairs.' And I had about five minutes to get all the lights from outside upstairs into the banqueting suite and get it set up. He seemed pretty annoyed at the time, but I managed to set the whole thing up and get the group done and at the end of it, he came over to me and burst out laughing and said, 'Thank you very much for your work,' and shook my hand. He could see I was panicking and sweating, and thinking, 'How the hell am I going to do this?' But we did get through it in the end, and it turned out okay."
Once upon a time the club would group new signings together with the manager for a photo, to show off their 'shiny new toys' in the newspapers. When trophies were won, there was another specific photo inside Elland Road with the silverware. That photo was exclusively for the club.
"When we won the First Division championship in '92, that was great, and everybody was very, very upbeat," said Varley. "I don't think anybody really thought that Leeds would come through at the end in the race with Man United. And then when we did, and we got the trophy and at the start of the season, all the staff were there with the trophy and the spirits of the club were really high. It was a really good period."
Photo day is no longer just the simple act of arranging the players for a single shot. Guests from club partners Adidas, Boyle Sports, AMT, Astonish, Hisense and Burflex were all at Thorp Arch to get in on the act this week. Competition winners from the Junior My Leeds Members too. While Richardson was in the midst of taking the shot, club photographer Malcolm Bryce, who was on individual head-shot duty, documented some behind-the-scenes action. Club staff had been monitoring and critiquing the team photos emerging elsewhere in the Premier League over the last couple of weeks in preparation for the big day. Ethan Ampadu helped the photography team settle on the required leg room and placement of the front row chairs. And when every eye was trained on the camera, every chest was suitably puffed and Richardson was satisfied, the 2026/27 edition of a storied Leeds United tradition was captured.
