I selected Leeds United 2000/2001 Champions league season as one of the ideas to research further, this is mainly down to Simon Harrisons feedback regarding how maybe Leeds United's European form was affecting the city and because personally I'm a big football fan so the opportunity to look into the game for research was too good of an offer to turn down. For the research I looked into the European campaign in more depth, the advantages and disadvantages of the campaign and graphic design related to Leeds United.
Season in summary
David O'Leary took Leeds United to their first European Cup semi-final since 1975, where defeat at the hands of Valencia ended their chances of a repeat of the ill-tempered 1975 European Cup clash with Bayern Munich, who beat Real Madrid in the other semi-final. Still, this disappointment was less of a dampener on a season where Leeds had fielded a predominantly young squad. They finished fourth in the premier league table, which meant that their place in Europe for 2001-02 would be in the UEFA Cup rather than the Champions League. Failure to qualify for the Champions League was viewed as merely a disappointment by fans of the club, given the success in reaching the semi-final. In fact, the directors of the club had secured tens of millions of pounds of loans on successful Champions League qualification; the failure to qualify was a calamity that would see the club suffer financial disaster and be relegated twice in the coming seasons. The events of the Champions League season such as defeating AC Milan was a successful event among others, but the aftermath of the season wasn't so successful, as many believe it led to where Leeds United are today. This is comparable to other cases such as Birmingham City winning the league cup a few years ago, only to be relegated the same season because they couldn't replicate cup form in the league. Another example would be Leicester City winning the league but struggling to show the same form the following season and crippling under the pressure of the fans, media and owner.
I found a rather amusing comment from a Daily Mail article from 2001 saying 'As the mother of all street parties was already in full deafening swing outside the Mestalla, Leeds United's unhappy shaven-headed crew were in the bowels of the stadium trying to explain that, despite this inauspicious end to their Champions League adventure, they had learned and grown enough over this past nine months to ensure they will be a force in Europe in years to come' As most people would have thought that Leeds would go onto greater things and build on that season, but they actually crumbled. For my research I wanted to look at the European campaign in a celebratory way, and aiming to stay away from the negative affect it had on the club the following seasons.
To think positively about the season in which Leeds gave their fans a real European adventure. They were fresh and fearless, yet ultimately just did not have the quality to take the final step. Famous nights included beating AC Milan at Elland Road, drawing 1-1 with Barcelona to effectively knock Spanish side out at Champions League group stage, hammering Besiktas 6-0, and beating Anderlecht away from home and this result meant the Whites progressed through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League after Real Madrid held Lazio to a 2-2 draw. A full result report is below:
The campaign can be visually represented in a number of ways, to solely focus on one game or the entire European season is the question. The only restriction I believe has to be that event happened at Elland Road as its a public space. As Leeds is a one club city the results at Elland Road would have socially and culturally benefited not just the fans but also the people of Leeds, the morale of city must have been high due to the results. So possible events to celebrate could be:
- Leeds United 1 - 0 AC Milan / 19 September 2000
- Leeds United 6 - 0 Besiktas / 26 September 2000
- Leeds United 1 - 1 Barcelona / 24 October 2000
- Leeds United 3 - 0 Deportivo La Coruna / 4 April 2001
These examples aren't necessarily related to the famous season of 2000/2001 but show Leeds United through graphic design. The clubs iconic colours are heavily used in all the designs, with the print to the right hand side being traditionally printed which is relatable to the brief.
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