A Dark Day For Leeds United

January 7th, 1978 and Leeds United hosted rivals Manchester City in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup. Inside a packed Elland Road, 38,517 are looking forward to watching a rip-roaring cup tie. What eventually transpired however will go down as a dark day for Leeds United Football Club.

The year hadn’t started too well for the team from Yorkshire. A defeat at home 2-0 to unheralded Newcastle United had left the fans disappointed and unhappy with the team’s effort and performance.

Less than a week later they had the chance to make amends against a decent City side in the FA Cup. The previous season Leeds had knocked City out in the Fifth Round. Defender Trevor Cherry was on hand late to net the winner. As a result, City only had one thought on their minds – revenge.

City with the likes of Peter Barnes, Colin Bell and Denis Tueart in their ranks fancied their chances. Leeds with Clarke, Currie and Arthur Graham in their ranks fancied theirs.

A Dark Day For Leeds United

What followed however left many journalists writing about issues other than the exciting footballers on show.

From the outset City dictated proceedings against a Leeds United side who had lost 3 of their 4 previous games. Leeds had no answers in breaking through City’s central defensive pairing of Watson and Caton.

Early in the game, Barnes evaded several tackles to come face-to-face with Leeds Gordon McQueen in the box. Barnes jinxed past a hapless McQueen who went to the ground and upended the free-flowing Barnes. An obvious penalty. Obvious to everyone apart from referee Colin Seel who inexplicably waved play on.

Minutes later the game erupted and the atmosphere was set for an afternoon of violence and anger. With City about to take a corner, an argument began between Leeds keeper Harvey and McQueen. As Harvey pushed McQueen the crowd at the Geldard End of Elland Road were subsequently shocked to see McQueen punch Harvey square on the chin. To Harvey’s credit, he absorbed the punch well and stayed on his feet. A dark day for Leeds United had just begun.

“I don’t think I have ever seen that in a match before. Quite extraordinary.”

Commentator Barry Davies

Despite being on the back foot for most of the 1st half Jimmy Armfield’s Leeds luckily went in 0-0 at the break. Their luck however ran out in the 2nd half.

City Dominate

Colin Bell was the architect flicking on a free-kick to enable Tueart to head home. Just 10 minutes later Peter Barnes bundled home a second following a save from Harvey.

In the aftermath, a handful of City fans invaded the pitch to celebrate with Barnes.

However, at the other end of the ground, a Leeds fan had run onto the pitch to confront City keeper Joe Corrigan. Bottles and other projectiles were thrown at the City keeper.

Pitch Invasion

The invader was quickly hustled away. It led to more home fans heading towards the pitch, with the trickle soon becoming a flood. They were met with a thin line of policemen. Determined to not let the unruly mob delay proceedings any longer than necessary.

Following talks with manager Jimmy Armfield, both sets of players left the pitch under the instructions of referee Seel.

Minutes later Seel told the crowd, who he addressed on the pitch with a microphone, that he would not abandon the game. As police horses entered the playing area to restore order Seel indicated to the crowd that he was willing to stay out till midnight to finish the tie.

Leeds Knocked Out

Eventually, after a 13-minute interval, the pitch was cleared and play eventually resumed with City going on to win 2-1. Frank Gray scored a last-minute penalty for Leeds to reduce the arrears.

Leeds fined McQueen for his assault on Harvey. Just weeks later he had crossed the Pennines to join Manchester United along with teammate Joe Jordan.