Almost 40 years without a semi-final appearance in the most prestigious of domestic cups is a footballing barren land. More so when the club that have trudged across it for nigh on four decades were responsible for an iconic moment in the cup’s 1972 centenary edition.<\/p>\n
Since Billy Bremner lifted the FA Cup, headlines around Leeds<\/a>‘ association with the competition have been largely corrosive for the club’s reputation.<\/p>\n The tone was set in the 1973 final,<\/a> when second division Sunderland<\/a> shocked Don Revie’s side beneath Wembley’s Twin Towers.<\/p>\n There have, of course, been positive times – the run to the 1987 semi-finals and, memorably, Simon Grayson’s third-tier outfit beating Manchester United in their own backyard<\/a> in 2010.<\/p>\n Otherwise it has been capitulation<\/a> at Crawley, humiliation<\/a> at Histon, submission<\/a> at Sutton, harrowing<\/a> against Hereford, no-show<\/a> at Newport and wretched<\/a> at Rochdale.<\/p>\n There are others too, and that is why being back at Wembley for Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea<\/a> matters.<\/p>\n “It’s massive,” says long-standing supporter Gareth, from Morley. “I’m old-school. Never seen us in the final and only one semi-final.<\/p>\n “The FA Cup, for me, is the best club competition in the world. I can remember the ’70s and ’80s finals – the build-up on both channels. In the team hotel. The interviews. It was brilliant.”<\/p>\n The cup is not Leeds<\/a>‘ only concern as the season reaches its conclusion, as they continue their fight to retain their Premier League status.<\/p>\n “Forget survival v cup final,”<\/a> says Gareth. “Just do both. We need to get to remembering that football is about winning. Not taking part or surviving. Winning!”<\/p>\n Fellow fan Tony, who like Gareth is in his 50s, has a slightly different take.<\/p>\n “It’s a weird one,” he says. “I always want to win, but Premier League survival is all I think about.”<\/p>\n With 40 points on the board, Leeds<\/a> may already be safe. After facing Chelsea<\/a> they welcome relegated Burnley<\/a> to Elland Road on Friday.<\/p>\n “Sunday is a free hit,” says Tony. “I’d take beating Burnley<\/a> over beating Chelsea<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Pragmatism for some, then, but pomp for others.<\/p>\n Steve, from Kirkheaton, is travelling first class on the train to the semi-final – and plans to take his 90-year-old mum to the final if they make it.<\/p>\n “It’ll be a great day out and we have a chance,” he says. “Chelsea<\/a> were shocking against Brighton<\/a>.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost 40 years without a semi-final appearance in the most prestigious of domestic cups is a footballing barren…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607261,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-607260","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607260"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607260\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}