In 2009 Manchester United won the Premier League, the League Cup and the FIFA World Club Cup; they were runners up to Barcelona in the Champions League. They ended the year by beating Wigan Athletic at Old Trafford, and started 2010 two points behind Chelsea at the top of the Premier League.
After relegation from the Premier League in 2004, Leeds United were bought by former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates in 2005, and relegated again, to League One, in 2007. It was the lowest league position in Leeds United’s history; the club had never been below the top two divisions. Dennis Wise and Gary McAllister had been unable to rescue Leeds, but now in their third season in League One the team, managed by former player Simon Grayson, only lost one of their first 24 league games, opening a commanding lead at the top of the table.
In the FA Cup first round Leeds won 2-0 away to Oldham Athletic, and in the second round drew 1-1 away to Conference side Kettering Town.
Michael Doyle [Midfielder, on season loan from Coventry City]: After the game the draw was made it came out, Manchester United, then it was Leeds or Kettering. You heard the big roar from their changing room. It was a bit like, โBut weโre going back to Elland Road.โ It was quite funny. We kind of let them off that day.
Glynn Snodin [Assistant manager, former player and fan]: They were celebrating and shouting, โWow, weโre going to play at Old Trafford!โ
Casper Ankergren [Goalkeeper]: They were really celebrating in their dressing room, that it was Man United. I remember thinking, โOkay, well you need to beat us first at home.โ That annoyed me slightly.
Paul Dews [Leeds United press officer and fan]: I think as soon as it came out the players knew what it meant, which was a massive thing. We know what it means as fans, but the players knew what it meant for us to get a game at Old Trafford. And as much as it pains me to say it, they were the best team in the country at the time as well, so it was a great draw for us.
Joe Urquhart: [Former Yorkshire Evening Post reporter; then a teenage fan]: If it had just been a normal tie waiting in the third round of the FA Cup I donโt think anyone would have been that bothered about being knocked out by Kettering. I was in the Kop for that one. I wasnโt originally going to go but I just thought, โWhat if one of the criteria to go to Old Trafford was I had to go to the Kettering game?โ
Phil Hay [Former Leeds United reporter]: A midweek replay is a pain in the neck for everybody, a particular bane of managers and players, but that night it was funny because everything was resting on it. It would have been embarrassing normally to have lost to Kettering, but I think it would have had everybody smashing their heads off the wall if they had passed up that chance.
Adam Pope [Commentator for BBC Radio Leeds]: We didn’t have a commentary deal with Ken Bates and Leeds United. We have to pay for commentary rights, and he didn’t want our money, so we couldn’t do it. But the games we could do were the FA Cup games and any play-off games. So this was one I was really looking forward to doing.
Michael Doyle: For us what was important was the league but you use up so much energy thinking about Old Trafford, Man United and the week leading up to that game. The Stockport game โ you donโt want to get injured, you want to play well to try get in the team, all these types of things are going through your head. It affects you. We had a difficult day and Max Gradel and Leigh Bromby got us out of a tricky situation.
Richard Naylor [Defender, club captain and fan]: I remember looking at it and being slightly pleased on one hand but slightly apprehensive on the other. Obviously itโs Man United away, itโs not exactly a place where you go and get a result very often, especially as a League One side. I remember being slightly pleased because it was a day out for the fans and I thought Iโd buzz off that, but equally weโve got to make sure we go there and donโt get embarrassed.
Adam Pope: I knew the rivalry was intense, one of the biggest in football, and that’s not overstating it in any way at all. People say it’s not a derby because they’re not in the same county, but this is an absolutely vicious rivalry which goes back a long, long time. Growing up in the northwest, my family is full of Everton fans, but regardless of whether you were blue or red, we didn’t like Manchester United either. I’ve lived up in Newcastle and I’ve seen the rivalry with Sunderland, but there is just something about Leeds and Manchester United that is really fierce and venomous.
Richard Naylor: Anyone that plays for Leeds and anyone thatโs a football fan knows the rivalry. All the players are football fans if theyโre not Leeds fans so they do know the history that there is there. Itโs not a small derby, is it? Itโs a big one and it always has been.
Andrew Hughes [Signed for Leeds on the day they were docked 15 points in 2007]: Growing up as a Man City fan, you obviously want to beat United. It was the biggest rivalry when I was younger. And remembering how big Leeds were before their relegation, you could arguably say that the Leeds United game was bigger than the Liverpool – Man United game is now. That was the go-to game. You always see the past, and I realised the pressure of the game and how big it was. Ultimately you knew it was special.
Paul Dews: It gets forgotten a bit, but when you take away the leadership and the regime, there were a lot of people below that who cared massively about the club. That’s why we were there, because we cared about the club, and irrespective of ownership it was our football club. Richard Naylor, Glynn Snodin, Simon Grayson, Jonny Howson, me. Even people like Michael Doyle, his dad was a massive Leeds fan, and coming from Ireland he understood the rivalry. Everyone in that dressing room understood it.
Michael Doyle: I had already won there [with Coventry]. But I wasnโt too aware of the rivalry. Then I spoke to people in the week leading up to the game and it was the War of the Roses. I always remember on the way over, driving through Manchester, getting those tingles in your stomach driving up to the ground. Itโs a special olโ place to play. Thereโs nowt bigger than doing it for Leeds United with that type of following.
Simon Grayson [Manager, former player and fan]: I was waiting to pick up my son from the airport in Liverpool. I bumped into Brian Flynn. This was just before Christmas. My son had been skiing. I was talking to Brian and he was saying, โI was the last person to score a winning goal for Leeds at Old Trafford.โ
Adam Pope: This is quite personal. But the reason I hadn’t done some of the games I was entitled to do around then was because I suffered a really, really difficult bereavement in the family. My brother was killed in a car accident in the November. So all the build up to the game was obviously almost completely irrelevant in my own personal world, to what was going on, in what were really difficult circumstances. He had been killed in a car accident and there were complications about sorting out the normal routine of things, because it ended up going to trial and all this sort of stuff. So while we were dealing with all the aftermath of that, I was trying to get back to normal life. I think Brentford away was the first game I did, and then I was just living in a haze to be quite honest. So by the time the New Year came round there was an element of, come on, try and look forward to stuff, and see what this game will bring. That was my backdrop to this, there was no sense of this creeping excitement, it was more like, can I get back to normal?
Joe Urquhart: It was back in the days when they demanded you take your membership or season ticket card with you. For that game there was even more emphasis on that. Obviously being my forgetful self I got on the coach at Elland Road to go to Old Trafford and as we pulled onto the M62 I realised my season ticket was sat on the side on my dresser at home. I was like, โFuck, am I going to get to Old Trafford and not be able to get in?โ
Simon Grayson: We were going there with confidence with nothing to lose. It was going to be a great day for supporters. And really you go into those games wanting to just make sure you give a good account of yourself. The last thing you need to do is to come away getting beaten by four, five, six and let it affect confidence for the bigger picture which was to get promoted. There was confidence we could go there and do well, but you were playing Manchester United, the Premier League champions.
Richard Naylor: There was a little bit of trepidation โ you donโt want to embarrass yourself, you donโt want to get turned over – but equally there was a little bit of self-belief in what we were doing. Weโd won a lot of games, weโd been through a lot together. We were a strong squad and a good unit. We were confident in our own abilities.
Glynn Snodin: The same nerves were there for the Kettering game, there always is. They were no different nerves wise from Kettering to Manchester United. I was just thinking, โI hope we put a good show on here for the fans.โ We knew 9,000 were there and we werenโt going to embarrass ourselves.
Simon Grayson: It was the first time Iโd managed there. Iโd been there to watch games and had played there. Old Trafford has got that aura around it. The place is huge. And obviously when youโre managing against Sir Alex Ferguson for the first time, who has this aura about him as well, I think there was a little bit of intimidation. But also it drove you on and motivated you to basically pull something out of the round.
Phil Hay: I went over for Ferguson’s press conference, and in the way he always was, he was dead confident. He wasn’t being blasรฉ, he just expected to win the game. It was very much a business as usual attitude from him. And it’s easy now to forget the sheer gulf, the fact that one team was the Premier League champions and the other was in League One.
Joe Urquhart: It was a good giggle with the Man Utd fans, as you can imagine. Youโre going there as a League One team with no expectations. Everyone was going, โIf we lose 2-0 but donโt get battered thatโs fine.โ
Simon Grayson: Whenever Iโve been in management Iโve always said to players, whether weโre favourites for the game or not, make sure weโre not the team getting knocked out by the underdogs, or if weโre the underdogs make sure weโre the talk of the round. Theyโre the last few words that I said.
Andrew Hughes: What made it more special was the moment that we went out for the warm up, and my God, we saw all the fans and it was hairs on the back of the neck stuff, it really was.
Paul Dews: Unbelievable. I was there when Mel Sterland scored that free kick in 1990, and in ’91 when Lee Chapman scored after about five minutes and they equalised about three minutes from time, and the League Cup semi-final. I’ve been in the away end there and I’ve never seen us win. I gave Michael Doyle’s dad a lift to the game and he was buzzing with it. It was surreal from the minute you got there.
Richard Naylor: With big games you can start doing things different and going off on a bit of a tangent. But you stick to the basic principles of how you prepare for every game, your warm-ups and everything like that, you try to keep the same. The way you talk, you try and keep as level-headed as you can. It was trying to keep the boys in check rather than firing them up.
Glynn Snodin: We did nothing different in training, everything was still the same like we were preparing for a League One game, although inside we knew what it meant that the cameras were there, reporters were there.
Casper Ankergren: I remember on the bus getting a phone call from a Danish journalist and he asked if I was looking forward to the game. I was quite honest with him. I said, โIโll tell you tomorrow after the game whether I enjoyed it or not.โ I didnโt sleep very well during the night before. I woke up quite often just thinking about the game.
Michael Doyle: With the way Simon was, we didnโt change anything that weโd done at the start of the season. You get these types of ties and managers can try to shut up shop, 4-5-1, but to be fair to Simon it was 4-4-2 and just go and do what you do.
Andrew Hughes: I remember specifically, it was the standout training session. Simon Grayson’s session on the day before the game, it was probably the best pre-match prep he had ever done at the club. Some days managers miss things and forget things, all coaches do because you have to do so much, but that day he didn’t miss a thing. Not one thing. He talked about how we would play out, how we would play forward, what we do in this area of the pitch, how the opposition worked, how we were going to react if this person played. Then we went through it in the shape and it was like velvet, it was so smooth.
Paul Dews: It was very difficult for Simon because we had no idea who they were going to play. You knew whoever did play would be a good side, but I don’t think we expected necessarily the likes of Wayne Rooney to play. When you looked at their side, they were 9,000 fans there, and all you wanted was to give it your best shot.
Simon Grayson: They respected us. They didnโt play a weakened team of under-18s. They had some real top players. Ferguson gave us respect because he didnโt want to get beat by us without a shadow of a doubt.
Casper Ankergren: It didn’t really matter what eleven they put out because theyโre going to be good players. Sometimes you try and get all the info you can regarding each player, but that day you didnโt really have to because you knew them in advance.
Phil Hay: I think I was more confident on the day than I would have been in most seasons, just because at the time Leeds were top of League One and they had barely lost a game. They had such a clear pattern of play under Grayson, they knew what they were doing, the team didn’t change much and almost everybody was in form. But still โ not really. I think I went there thinking, if something happens here and this is an upset, this is going to be one of the biggest results you’ve ever covered and a huge story for a long time afterwards. But if you come away at full-time and you’ve lost 2-0 or 3-0 that’s really probably what you were feeling in your bones beforehand. I’d be interested to know how many people really fancied an upset on that day.
Adam Pope: I was thinking, pound-for-pound, how can this League One side, that was albeit on a great run, go and beat this side that is challenging for honours left, right and centre? I just didn’t see it at all. I thought this could easily be three or four nil, and it would not have been a disgrace.
Richard Naylor: You dream as a kid of playing against players like that – household names and massive Premier League stars and world-class footballers. I spent 99.9% of my career in the Championship. I played against some really good players, the Championship is a really strong league, but playing against Premier League players is what everyone wants to do.
Michael Doyle: I remember before the game sitting in the changing room and the captains go out to see the ref. Nayls was the captain and heโs gone out. You could see Gary Neville standing there waiting โ he had the face on him. Nayls shook his hand and he didnโt even look at Nayls. He was well up for it because heโs obviously Man United through and through. You could see through the door how well up for it he was. There were no pleasantries. I was thinking, โBloody hell, these are well up for it.โ He looked like a man possessed.
Joe Urquhart: The full songbook was out for Neville. He was absolutely awful.
Paul Dews: I remember Simon and Gary Neville having a bit of a push and shove on the touchline. I can’t remember what he said to Gary Neville, I think Gary Neville told him to fuck off.
Simon Grayson: We had as strong a team that we could put out that was available. What we knew with that group of players was they would put their heart and soul into it, they would put their bodies on the line. We had a group of players who could look after themselves and would mix it. Thatโs what we brought to the table.
Casper Ankergren: I picked up a couple of injuries during the season but I also knew that Simon Grayson didnโt really fancy me. I didnโt want to give him any excuses to take me out of the team so I had to play through a few games with injuries. Shane Higgs broke down sixteen minutes into the Norwich game and I was back playing again. I knew quite early Simon didnโt really rate me and I did have conversations with him about it after the Norwich game. It was no problem. Thatโs just football.
Michael Doyle: On that day we were all thinking, โWeโre playing for Leeds, weโre a big club, weโre going to have a go here.โ The staff knew the type of lads they had. They were all 100% but a lot of talented players there, as well as just people that grafted for the team. We all knew what we were good at. We all knew our roles in the team.

Paul Dews: Every one of them played above the level, and dug so deep and fought. And part of that was they understood what it meant.
Simon Grayson: Any time I had Richard Naylor and Paddy Kisnorbo playing together I knew those two would run through a brick wall for me, for the shirt, for the supporters, and the other lads around them were real genuine, honest lads who would give everything to try do well. People like Andy Hughes, a real unsung hero. Jason Crowe at that particular time was in and out of the team.
Phil Hay: I hate to say it, but when I think of Jason Crowe it’s very hard to think of anything else that he contributed at Leeds. Which isn’t a fair thing to say, but that sticks out.
Richard Naylor: It was a bit of a makeshift back four but it was probably Jasonโs best game for Leeds. It was a good time for him to put on the performance of his Leeds career, he was excellent that day. Casperโs a good goalkeeper. I know he wasnโt always first choice but he was a good, solid goalkeeper for us when he did play. We had that understanding between myself and Paddy, and good players in front of us. Andy Hughes was an experienced player and played some games at full-back so there were no real issues with Andy filling in there.
Simon Grayson: Them sort of players got what Leeds and the supporters are all about. They werenโt the most talented players, there have been far more talented players than them lads to have played for Leeds, but theyโre still held in quite high regard because of their never say die attitude and how they worked for the shirt and what the supporters related to.
Phil Hay: Naylor and Kisnorbo, the job they did on Rooney in particular, and Berbatov, would probably go down as the best performance as a partnership they had at any stage.
Glynn Snodin: Two proper men who held everybody together. What two great people to have as your centre-halves in Richard and Paddy – fantastic warriors. They werenโt blessed with pace, the pair of them, but they gave you everything else in every other way, which is as important as pace.

Adam Pope: Richard Naylor, what a season for him. You know when we talk about needing leaders and captains? A fearsome individual, and a proper leader. And Patrick Kisnorbo, I have to say my abiding memory is his injury against Millwall that left him in tears, ruined him for the remainder of the season. But you see him with the headband and the blood and all that sort of stuff โ as a centre-back pair, for what they had to do in League One to get Leeds out, I thought they were phenomenal, but that day I thought they were awesome because they properly dominated. Leeds as a team, and those two with Naylor leading the way, properly dominated Manchester United, really got on top of them. It was almost like, I cannot believe what I am seeing. This might just be okay.
Casper Ankergren: They were old school defenders in a way. They were tough, hard. Paddy was probably a better player on the ball than Richard. They were good players, they had experience, which we really needed in that game. For a League One team we had a very good team, probably not a League One team as such.
Michael Doyle: Hughesy was playing left-back that day and was playing against bloody Antonio Valencia. Every time Valencia got the ball it was speed and pace and I was thinking, โBloody hell, Hughesy is not lasting this game. Heโs going to do his hamstring or something.โ But he was outstanding.
Andrew Hughes: I ended up coming off. I did my hamstring chasing Valencia with three minutes to go. I missed the next game so Doyler was certainly right there.
Casper Ankergren: Thatโs Hughesy for you. I still speak to Andrew. Great guy, a very versatile player. He had experience as well. Letโs not forget he was at Norwich and has had a good career. You need that. In big games like that you need players who are calm.
Andrew Hughes: Casper Ankergren was superb. I did a couple of back headers to him. Me and Casper always joke about that but we worked on it in training, we worked hard at it.
Michael Doyle: Big Paddy and Nayls at the back were getting stuck into Rooney. They were well up for the game. It was one of them games where we all needed to play well, and everybody was outstanding. Last ditch blocks and bodies on the line as the game went on.
Richard Naylor: Paddy was great and a big part of the success that season was our leadership of the side and our partnership. If he made a mistake Iโd cover him and vice versa. We knew we had each otherโs backs. It was really reassuring and I think that spread through the team.
Michael Doyle: Some of the challenges going in that day. There were some big tackles, a few naughty challenges. I remember myself, I think it was Gary Neville or Wes Brown, I got smashed a bit. I had studs down my shin. There were some nasty challenges. They left a mark on us.
Andrew Hughes: I remember Doyler smashing people off the ball, which no one saw. You’ve got to remember what a special player Michael Doyle was that year. Everyone forgets the horrible things he did off the ball, and he was a big part of the success. He was absolute top, he did the disgusting things and the horrible putting off of players, that no one wanted to do. Doylerโs a top player and he is still having a good career at Notts County.
Joe Urquhart: People forget that Michael Doyle was in that team and he had such a good game. I donโt think you can have those victories without everyone having a great game. Everyone in some capacity contributed to that win. Doyle was quite under appreciated in that team. He wasnโt bringing a lot of skill to the party but everything you needed him to do he would do to the required standard. He loved a tackle.
Casper Ankergren: When you cross the line the nerves disappear. You might be nervous leading up to the game and I think you need that. As soon as the game starts youโre fine. You donโt walk around the pitch looking around at all the people in the stadium. There were a few more people there than what we were used to but still we played in general in front of big crowds.
Joe Urquhart: Going ahead was probably the best moment Iโve had supporting the club. Think of the maddest mosh pit and then double it. My mate was on the end of a row, and when Jermaine Beckford scored everyone lost their shit, so he ran out to the stairway and there was this rush of fifty people down the stairs. I had to grab him by his hood to save him from going down. Nobody knew what to do. It was like, โFucking hell, weโve scored at Old Trafford! Hold on, weโre fucking winning!โ

Michael Doyle: That pass was Jonny Howson all over. He was probably the best midfielder we had at the club. He was box to box, his finishing was unbelievable. You see that type of pass, he had that in his locker all day. Technically he was a very gifted player with both feet. With Beckford any sort of sight on goal you fancied him all day. It wasnโt very often he didnโt score.
Andrew Hughes: I was right behind it. The minute Jonny Howson hit the ball over the top I thought, โOh bloody hell Becks, thatโs a shit touch.โ And then he scuffed it in.
Glynn Snodin: What a great player Jonny was to have and watch train every day, never mind just in games. Heโs Leeds through and through. At first when Jermaine’s taken his touch I thought it was a bad touch, it took him away from goal. But what a clinical finisher Jermaine is. He can do that no matter who it is against. He didnโt fear playing against Manchester United. He knows he can score goals. Absolute diamond, love the fella. That would be mutual as well. Heโs a magnificent man. Heโs been great for us wherever weโve been. Heโs a smashing lad. He loves his football. Heโd do anything for you. Everybody thinks heโs arrogant and he isnโt. Heโs nowhere near that. He shows his arrogance on the football field because he knows he can score goals. Off the field heโs such a shy lad but a pleasant lad to have around.
Adam Pope: It was a tackle by Richard Naylor first, then the ball from Howson, and we were sat on the angle somewhere to the left of Beckford. I’m looking at it thinking, that’s a shocking touch. I remember the grass being quite long, or so it seemed to me, so when he pushed it past Tomasz Kuszczak I though, this isn’t going to make it over the line.
Andrew Hughes: When the ball was rolling In it felt like it took in an eternity to go in. It was probably the best three seconds of a ball rolling into the net I think I’ve experienced.
Phil Hay: Beckford’s first touch seemed to have taken it too far wide, and at that point you’re almost expecting him to put his boots through it, or cut back and look for support. I spoke to him not so long ago and he said he’d watched Kuszczak, and knew that he always made himself big like Peter Schmeichel used to. So you have to keep the ball on the ground, and because of the speed he hit it, I don’t think anyone was 100 percent certain it was going in until it actually did.
Joe Urquhart: You saw him knock it past Kuszczak and it was going towards the corner but it was, โIs it in? Is it not in?โ There were Leeds fans in the top tier above us and they started celebrating because they could see before we could. You could hear this roar. It was the longest celebration Iโve ever been part of. Everyone was still hugging and kissing each other when they kicked off again. That moment when Beckford scored will live with me until I go to my grave. Thatโs what footballโs about, innit? Everyone goes with that sliver of hope.
Adam Pope: Beckford has a sort of little glance before he turns away, and then the great celebration diving away. We could see his face and his expression coming right towards us, and wow, the the noise was just incredible, the scenes and all the limbs, it was just incredible, it’s one of the best. Sometimes you’re sat in the right place to see things by the accident of geography of football grounds, and that was one of them.
Richard Naylor: Basically what youโre saying is I get an assist for that tackle? I got a toe on it and Jonny ended up pinging a seventy-yard diagonal, which Jonny had in the locker. He had an excellent range of passing. We had pace up front so we knew any open spaces Becks would make the most of it. In a way when the ball trickled in youโre thinking, โOh fuck, have we scored a bit too early?โ I was looking at the clock thinking, โThereโs still a long way to go. Have we just pissed them off?โ
Adam Pope: I hate my commentary on that goal. I don’t really write lines too much, occasionally if something comes to me I might put it down. But to my cost I have written things down or tried to invent things or manufacture them, and that was one of them. I hate listening back to it. It went on too long, too many words is not a good thing. I started talking about the goal being made in Leeds because it’s Jonny Howson, then I’m thinking, how am I going to end this? ‘Finished off by Leeds’. But obviously it wasn’t, Beckford put it in. Why I didn’t say ‘Beckford at the Stretford End’ or that for a number 9 for Leeds United it’s just the greatest moment to do this, I don’t know. I hate the actual words that I used. I just didn’t have the words to go with it on the day, but hey. Who cares? 1-0.
Phil Hay: The great thing about the FA Cup is that home clubs are obliged to give visiting sides a certain percentage of tickets, which meant they had to give Leeds 9,000. The away end was absolutely packed and the thing that made a big difference on the day was that Leeds scored early, and were able to properly harness and engage the away end in a way that made it really difficult for Manchester United.
Glynn Snodin: Did I enjoy the game? No! Definitely not! I enjoyed the goal. I thought, โGreat, weโve scored a goal at Old Trafford, thatโs nice!โ The rest of the game was difficult. You want to win every game but this had a special effect because itโs Leeds vs Man United. Weโre in League One playing against the champions. It wasnโt enjoyable, I can assure you.
Simon Grayson: The only time I could really enjoy it was when the goal went in. When you see Jermaine going through and he clips it past Kuszczak, and youโre just thinking hopefully it has enough pace on the ball to go over, because it didnโt go in 100mph, it went in quite slowly. Obviously I enjoyed that moment and then itโs like, โGod, weโve got another 78 minutes left.โ
Michael Doyle: The way we started the game I thought, โThis is going to be tight, weโre in with a chance here.โ Then we scored and we had something to hold on to. I always felt confident with the way we started games.
Andrew Hughes: We ultimately dominated the first half, and should have been maybe two or three up, not just one up.
Simon Grayson: At half-time, I think I do probably say to them, โIf this result stays the same, you lads will go down in folklore.โ
Glynn Snodin: We just tried to keep everything calm in the dressing room. Theyโre all coming in elated, but it was about calming them down and relaxing them, making sure they were focussed for that second half. Simon was very good with that, he got his tactics right again. They threw everything at us, but then weโve got them two warriors plus another nine that day that threw everything in front of them.
Richard Naylor: If you play at Elland Road week in week out you have to have some balls for want of a better word. You have to have broad shoulders, you have to be able to stick your chest out, and when things arenโt going well you have to be able to deal with that. I think that stood us in good stead for big games.
[In the second half Naylor took down Wayne Rooney with a tackle that earned him a yellow card from the referee, and huge cheers from the away end]
It was just one of those ones when you know you need to bring him down. It was one of the few mistakes Iโd made in the game, getting in the wrong position. It couldnโt happen to a nicer person to be honest, if youโre going to kick anyone youโd want to kick him or Gary Neville. Iโd have been happy with either.

Adam Pope: We were all waiting for certain things to unfold, and whether Naylor was going to go through Neville. I know he had a bit of a bite at him jokingly โ but it was serious as well. What a way to come back and play for the club that you love, and leave an indelible print on its history. And probably on his body as well.
Casper Ankergren: I remember a one on one first half when Rooney didnโt really get the touch right and I more or less just nicked the ball of him. There were a couple of blocks, a couple of crosses. I remember a goalmouth scramble. I remember Michael Owen coming on, I played a game against him for Denmark Under-16, so that was quite interesting.
Joe Urquhart: The last half an hour was probably the worst half an hour Iโve experienced. You couldnโt watch because they were shooting towards the Stretford End, so all you could see from the away end was just Ankergren diving around, Kisnorbo headbutting peopleโs feet. I wouldnโt say it ever felt written in the stars but the more these last-ditch blocks go in, the more you go, โThis could actually actually be our day, yโknow.โ
Adam Pope: I remember thinking in the second half it was inevitable they are going to equalise at the very least, especially when they threw on Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen. But also, this might just be the day that everything goes past the post. Casper Ankergren just keeps on saving, Jason Crowe’s doing goal line heroics.
Phil Hay: You’re into the period of the game when all you’ve got to do is not make a mistake, just hold your shape, be sensible, do nothing daft. I think that was the biggest thing on the day. They just never panicked at any stage, there was never a point where you felt like it was all about to drop to bits.
Casper Ankergren: Iโll bet you the fans in the stand will have been more nervous than the players on the pitch in the last five minutes. 100%. Iโve been on the bench and itโs nerve-wracking because you canโt do anything about it, itโs out of your hands. When youโre on the pitch you can do something, thatโs the difference. It must have been horrible for the fans.
Andrew Hughes: Even when players went through and had chances, we just felt confidence throughout the whole game. Honestly it was eerie, it was just, ‘we’ve got these, we’re alright.’ That’s how it felt the whole game, it really did.
Simon Grayson: You just never know what Man United can do. But I was far more comfortable in the last 10 minutes, knowing how well the players were playing and how confident they were, than I was sometimes in league games against lesser players. You could see the focus on the players, their concentration levels were so high they knew that any little slip and they could be out of the game.
Paul Dews: With about eight minutes to go I left the press box and I went and sat inside in the press lounge. I got a bottle of water and I sat there and it was like I was on drugs or something. I was really wide eyed, and I remember sitting there thinking, ‘We’re going to fucking win this. We’re going to win at Old Trafford.’ I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. I’ve never ever felt like that about anything.
Phil Hay: It’s the same in any game like that, you start to realise that time is ticking, and you know that the team that’s behind are going to start getting a little bit more desperate. And I think what was making it worse for Ferguson and his players was the added element of them knowing the humiliation that was going to be involved. Not only losing to Leeds, but losing to Leeds at a time when they are in League One. Bear in mind that Alex Ferguson had never lost to a League One side. It had never happened, and I don’t think he saw it coming at all.
Casper Ankergren: These little thoughts creep into your head. โ1-0 up with five minutes to go. Is this going to be the final result?โ You try not to get carried away and thinking too much. You try to just stay in the game. Then there was Fergie time, all the extra time. But what a performance.
Adam Pope: It was not a lucky performance, it just wasn’t. It was totally what I wasn’t expecting. It was a really classy, hard performance from Leeds, a League One team outperforming their role and spoiling everybody’s day.
Andrew Hughes: It was a game where we performed and we followed the match plan, and it was a deserved win. After the game it didn’t feel like a shock. We came in and were like, yeah, we deserve that.
Simon Grayson: As soon as that whistle went it was relief but obviously huge enjoyment. I donโt think it was until we were back in the dressing room after the game when we realised what weโd actually done, not just individually but collectively as a team.

Casper Ankergren: I walked out on the pitch just to try and take it all in really. I think in moments like that itโs nice to take a moment for yourself and just reflect a little bit on it. I made a few phone calls, I spoke to my dad. It was nice. Then in the evening we all met for a beer, which was brilliant.
Glynn Snodin: For that half an hour or hour you can enjoy it knowing that youโre in front of 9,000 fans singing and chanting. I kept saying to the lads, โStay on. Stay on the pitch for as long as you can because these moments come few and far between. Stay on here and enjoy it.โ It was one big happy family, an absolutely fantastic day.
Richard Naylor: I remember being first off the pitch really, I think I was off before all the coaching staff and everyone because at the end of the day it was a cup game and it was nice and I enjoyed it, but the job that season was to get promoted out of League One. It was something to look back on in years to come rather than getting carried away with in the moment because we had a lot of football to play for the rest of the season.
Casper Ankergren: I knew it was something special. I heard there were Leeds fans crying in the stands. I had friends and family in the Leeds end. Thatโs when you think, โWow.โ It meant a lot to the fans. It was brilliant to be part of that. They loved it. It was my missus and two of my mates that flew over from Denmark. That was an incredible experience for them as well.
Andrew Hughes: Afterwards with the fans and Simon and his staff, it was definitely a moment in time. From where we were at that point in our history as a club, it wasn’t a great point and not a great position, but that day was definitely something to prove that Leeds still is and always will be one of the biggest clubs in the world.
Simon Grayson: One of my overriding memories of the game was going out to do my press. You have to go out of the tunnel and Paul Dews, whoโs a big Leeds fan and was the head of media, was walking dead fast. 9,000 Leeds fans were still in the ground. They had seen me come out and started singing. Dewsy was walking quite fast and I went to him, โSlow down, this doesnโt happen often. Weโve got to reflect, not just as Leeds employees but as Leeds fans, that we can relate to what they are thinking and feeling. Letโs just soak it in. Thereโs going to be days when X amount of fans are booing us, never mind singing our name.โ That was a nice moment.
Paul Dews: That is my overriding memory. Simon grabbed me on the arm and he said, ‘Hang on a minute, slow down, slow down. Savour this. We’ll enjoy this, this is going to be a moment that we are never going to forget.’ As we walked along we were looking at the 9,000 fans, and he was right. It was an unbelievable moment to share that.
Adam Pope: Because of what’s happened you wait longer to get your interview, because everybody wanted Simon Grayson and everybody was trying to get hold of Jermaine Beckford, who at the time was notoriously shy about giving interviews. So it was a long wait but it’s such a big moment, you want to get it out there on the radio as soon as you can for people. But it was nice to be above ground level for a while, not stuck in a tunnel trying to interview people, to enjoy a bit of the moment post-match and see the fans celebrating.
Phil Hay: Ferguson didn’t come into the post-match press conference. It is slightly different at Old Trafford, most managers do pre-match and post-match, but he was kind of a law unto himself. We watched him on a television interview and he was seething, he was absolutely furious. He did have a pop at the referee about injury time, but to be quite honest I think even he was struggling to make that sound like a credible argument.
Paul Dews: I think Fergie locked their players in. I know it’s easy to say this, but if it was anyone but Leeds, and maybe Liverpool, I don’t think he would have reacted how he reacted. But Fergie understood it, he didn’t want to lose to Leeds. He was raging.

Phil Hay: Ferguson was saying to his players, you are absolutely not to speak to the Leeds players and you are not to swap shirts with them, which sounds as petty as it probably was at the time. I think you can’t underestimate how furious he was, and I would love to know where that ranks in the list of results that have made him most angry, because I suspect it will be very, very close to the top.
MUTV came on the screens in the press area, and they were doing a phone-in. The first phone call was from a guy, and all he said was, โThe manager has got to go.โ There was just laughter everywhere.
Simon Grayson: Like we do after all the games, we go into the managerโs office. There seemed to be a lot more of my staff that were in the office afterwards than usual. You never saw them at Hereford or other places. He was very complimentary. He said our team deserved it, they really worked hard and have got some good quality players. Iโve told this story a few times but he said across the room in his strong Scottish accent, โSimon, yโken pressure?โ
So I said, โWhat does that mean?โ
โIn Scotland it means, do you understand what pressure is?โ
I said, โObviously. Especially now Iโm three or four years into my managing career.โ
He said, โNo. Pressure is to get promotion because Iโve got money on you to go up.โ
I chipped back, โWell then you’d better lend me some players.โ
When he asked if I wanted a glass of wine, he asked if I wanted red or white. I said, โI donโt have anything to do with red, Iโll have a glass of white.โ It was a tongue-in-cheek comment, but I meant it.
Glynn Snodin: Alex Ferguson did say he missed them games. He missed Man United vs Leeds games. He said, โYour fans, you brought the atmosphere back into Old Trafford. I do miss that.โ
Paul Dews [Is now head of communications at Middlesbrough]: There is very rarely a day goes by when me and Jonny Howson don’t discuss that game, and every player in the Middlesbrough dressing room knows the story about the day we won at Man United. Me and Jonny have made sure of that, so Ashley Fletcher [who started at Man United] and all that lot, they all know.
Michael Doyle: My wife and my dad were there, they drove down, so I just left the game with them. We left Old Trafford and walked out by all the fansโ buses. All the fans were going barmy. Then once we got outside Old Trafford Iโm walking around with my Leeds tracksuit on and my bag with my stuff in it from the hotel the night before. Man U fans were outside the pubs and I was just walking by them to get back to the car. They probably wouldnโt have known who I was so nothing was really said, they were just looking at me in all my Leeds gear. That was that.
Glynn Snodin: Iโve got the DVD of it and even now, honestly, I bet it was like five or six months ago, I even put it on now. If Iโm having a down day I put that on, I put the promotion video on, and it cheers me up and gets me going. Even then I get goosebumps when Iโm watching the build-up to promotion and the Man United game. With being a Leeds fan itโs even double pleasure for me.
Joe Urquhart: Iโve never been back. Iโd never been before and Iโve never been since. If Leeds get promoted or Man United get relegated I donโt think Iโll do that game for the YEP, Iโll leave it to Graham Smyth.
Paul Dews: Other than when winning promotion at Bournemouth and winning the title against Sheffield United, it was my best, most special day as a Leeds fan. And it’s my most special day working in football. I include going to some of the European games as a reporter back on the Evening Post. It was an unbelievable day, it really was.
Richard Naylor: Itโs one of the highlights of my career. I had a few highlights at Ipswich where I played for a long time. Being able to captain the side out at Old Trafford and beat Fergie – I think itโs the only time he lost to a lower league side in the FA Cup. Going to Old Trafford and winning, itโs something to be proud of. When youโre playing football you want to achieve something. Some people can win Premier Leagues and this that and the other and theyโve got that ability. Other people canโt but you take any small win you can as a player. To be part of that team and be part of something Leeds fans still sing about makes you proud.ย โฌข
Interviews by Rob Conlon and Moxcowhite, originally published in our Winter 2019 Special, celebrating a special team for a special club: the story of how Leeds United found glory in League One. Grab one of the last remaining copies for only ยฃ4 here.