In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe assesses the Premier League so far.

Howe is the author of two books on the club, 2015 hit ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012.



The year 2020 has been a bit of a whirlwind, despite us spending huge portions of it staring at the walls, elated at seeing another human being on a Zoom chat and barely getting dressed for weeks on end. In the middle of all that, Leeds United got promoted and we will end 2020 in a very different place to where we started it. And it’s been fun, mostly.

People told us to expect the unexpected in the Premier League, that it was the greatest show on earth and that it defined the true meaning of unscripted drama. But we were coming from the Championship, still weathered and drained from years of impromptu last-minute tragedy and league table-defying upsets.

The opening weeks of the Premier League season have comprehensively proved that. Maybe there is an element that we are still aboard the magic carpet ride that took us out of the Championship after 16 years, and the sheer momentum of surfing on the gilded breeze of success has coated every experience with a potent dash of ‘joie-de-vivre’? But even losing games has been fun, sort of, and dropping points at home has been ‘a learning experience’, ‘no need to panic’ and showing ‘plenty to be excited about’.

Expectations have changed of course, and we are now on a very different path, but it does feel like the circumstances of our promotion and the sheer madness of the first few weeks of the Premier League season have projected Leeds United further into the maelstrom of chaos than we could rightfully have expected. Newly-promoted sides are supposed to feel timid, cautious and respectful, and yet Leeds have burst through the doors fully loaded with stag do bravado and a suitcase full of party tricks. And furthermore we have been welcomed and accepted as part of the furniture. It feels like we have assertively bypassed a couple of chapters in the book of Premier League acclimatisation protocol, but in a year when every slate has been wiped clean by the pandemic, most people are saying “what the hell” and waving us warmly in.

It might feel like Leeds have seen it all in the opening few games; dodgy penalties, seven-goal thrillers, a boatload of international call-ups, tonnes of unwelcome injuries and a goal disallowed in our favour by VAR. It’s been breathless and enormously entertaining, but in truth it’s been nothing compared to the antics of most of our new Premier League counterparts.

As an outsider, I always thought the Premier League invented talking points to fill the endless hours of coverage that exists. And yes, a 24-hour news channel can justify having a reporter stationed outside Borussia Dortmund’s training ground for the entire summer on the back of a prospective transfer that was categorically never going to happen. And radio stations can base their entire modus operandi  to shout foundation-less theories very loudly purely to rile fans of hand-picked teams.

We have yet to experience the full wrath that will be unleashed when Leeds are on the wrong end of a controversial VAR decision, but nevertheless, there have been no end of gold-plated talking points elsewhere.

I guess neutrals and fans of other clubs would cite the media’s fascination with Marcelo Bielsa and the tactics Leeds have deployed as definite points of interest in the opening few weeks of the season. Of course we are two years down the line in refining our comprehension of how Bielsa does what he does, and the rest of the football world are now playing catch-up. Given the attention our early performances have received, it doesn’t take a giant leap to imagine the glee with which our promotion was received in media circles, and not because people particularly like us.

Leeds need to quietly pick up points, stay focused on their immediate goal of consolidating their Premier League status.  It feels like after an opening fixture list that has included Liverpool, Manchester City and Wolves, that there should be some let-up on the horizon, but have a look; there isn’t. The Premier League is a machine that never stops, and given where we’ve come from in 2020, it seems like this ride isn’t slowing down any time soon. And yes it’s fun, but Autumn is here, the mornings and nights are growing darker and Leeds United need to get down to business. If and when the fun of the Premier League stops, Leeds United can’t afford to stop with it.