Jon Howe: Five great Anfield results
Weekly column.
In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe looks at five great results the club have got against Liverpool at Anfield, ahead of Saturday's game between the two sides.
Howe is the author of two books on the club, ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ - which has been updated as a new version for 2021 - and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012.
If Anfield appears on the horizon this weekend like a daunting, unbreakable fortress in a fixture where Leeds United really need a result, they can take an element of solace in the fact that it’s never been an easy place to go, and yet we have earned results there. Plenty in fact. Liverpool v Leeds United fixtures have a history, and looking back through it, every tackle, every goal and every point has been hard earned. And it’s certainly no different today.
This is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that two of our greatest results at Anfield have been goalless draws, and in the five results detailed here, Leeds have only scored four goals in total. But the size of the task is such that each goal should really be worth two, and is maybe best explained by the way in which, for months, our opening day 4-3 defeat on our long-awaited return to the top flight in September 2020, felt like a win.
As Jesse Marsch takes his team to Anfield this weekend it may feel like an impossible mission, but here is evidence that Leeds have often triumphed on Merseyside, albeit a modern day success is now long overdue. Not even included in this list is a 1-0 win in December 1965 with a solitary Peter Lorimer strike, or New Year’s Day 1972 when goals from Allan Clarke and Mick Jones silenced Anfield. This came just weeks before the clubs would meet again in the FA Cup Fourth Round, with Leeds drawing 0-0 at Anfield and winning the Elland Road replay on the way to lifting the cup in May. Also missing is the day of Alan Smith’s debut goal at the Kop end when Leeds turned around a 1-0 deficit to triumph 3-1. So if those games aren’t included, what is must be pretty special right?
28th April 1969 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 – First Division
In the quintessential title decider Don Revie’s Leeds travelled to the only team who could overtake them with two games of the season remaining. Buoyed by landing their first ever piece of silverware in the shape of the previous season’s League Cup win versus Arsenal, Leeds had become hardened to what was required for tangible success and it felt like nothing would come between them and the domestic game’s greatest honour. A first league title was secured by a typically resolute performance from Revie’s unlovable and iron-willed pugilists as they strode into the lion’s den and audaciously robbed it bare. A game of few chances saw Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter repel wave after wave of attacks as the few Leeds fans in the crowd howled for the final whistle. When it came the champions were crowned on enemy soil, and with nine club records beaten in the course of landing the title, no one could argue it wasn’t deserved.
14th April 1971 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 1 – Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Semi-Final First Leg
In a rare European semi-final between two English clubs, Revie unexpectedly brought Billy Bremner back from three months of injury problems. Straight away the inspiring skipper showed his leadership class, winning the toss and ‘turning Liverpool round’; striking first with a deep blow to the mental fortitude of Bill Shankly’s side. Leeds would attack the famous Kop in the second half and psychologically it worked a treat. With Eddie Gray and Peter Lorimer both out injured, Bremner was effectively playing upfront and in the 66th minute of a more free-flowing game, his incomparable ability to score crucial goals in crucial games bore fruit yet again. Bremner found a precious pocket of space and dived to meet a Johnny Giles free-kick with a flicked header which arced past a motionless Ray Clemence and silenced a swarming, surging and fire-breathing Kop at its most forbidding best. It was Leeds’s 100th goal of another epic season as they held out for the win, which gave them the cushion for a goalless second leg at Elland Road and an eventual triumph in the final over Juventus to lift more silverware.
18th April 1992 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 0 – First Division
April once again saw Leeds leave Merseyside with the goods, and while a goalless draw had directly awarded Leeds the title in 1969, this time around many people cite this point and performance as the most crucial as Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds showed their mettle to land the big prize for a third time. Wilkinson had planned his side’s five-match run-in meticulously and felt this trip to Anfield was the only one they could afford to drop points in. He planned his tactics accordingly, detailing Chris Fairclough to man-mark the world class John Barnes and take his artful potency out of the game. Goalkeeper John Lukic excelled as Liverpool were thwarted, and a treasured goalless draw was earned. Leeds won all their other four games, exactly as Wilkinson had planned, and they also won the league title.
9th April 1995 – Liverpool 0 Leeds United 1 – Premier League
Ghanaian striker Tony Yeboah had arrived to transform Leeds United’s ambitions and trajectory, with a blistering ten goals in ten matches prior to this pivotal Sunday afternoon trip to Anfield. However, it was striking partner Brian Deane who scored the game’s only goal to register a first Leeds win at Liverpool in 23 years. Yeboah had an impact all the same; playing Gary Speed in on goal at the Kop end, whose shot smacked off the post and rebounded to the in-rushing Deane. With a furious swipe, Deano hammered the ball home and Leeds claimed a 1-0 victory. It was a win that sparked a relentless late season surge, as Leeds won six out of eight matches to qualify for the next season’s UEFA Cup.
13th April 2001 – Liverpool 1 Leeds United 2 – Premier League
The era is remembered mainly for the European exploits, but this was a game in which David O’Leary’s team showed their true potential against Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool at their Hyppia, Gerrard, Fowler and Owen-inspired best. Leeds dominated from the outset and the resulting 2-1 scoreline didn’t do justice to a performance which felt epoch-defining at the time, but as it stands is the last time we actually won at Anfield. First half goals from Rio Ferdinand and Lee Bowyer were enough, as a more seasoned, robust and bullish Leeds United emphatically delivered on their ebullient promise of previous seasons.
Anfield has often been a place for Leeds to flex their muscles, to show that they can stand toe-to-toe with the country’s best and to prevail in the full force of the assault that will surely come. All these above results came in April, at the business end of the season. But with the World Cup break looming large, this feels like a moment with a similar sense of urgency and necessity. It has been done before and adopting an ‘April’ mindset might not be a bad place to start, because this weekend Anfield is once again a place where Leeds United need their aspirations to catch fire.
