Leeds United's 15-game FA Cup representatives end 4,000-mile 'winner stays on' Odyssey at Wembley
Leeds United will have representation at Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley just as they have at all previous 13 rounds.
Richard Cusworth is an Elland Road season ticket holder who decided that Leeds' traditional one, two or three-game FA Cup adventure was not going to be sufficient this season and took the competition into his own hands from the very start back in August.
The 54-year-old and his fellow Whites fan Danny Auty set out to follow Garforth Town in the Extra Preliminary Round on August 3 2024 with the intention of plotting a linear route to the final. That meant attending four Garforth cup ties over three rounds as they overcame Northallerton and Heaton Stannington before their exit at the hands of Bury. Then it was Bury - at Blyth and at Radcliffe - until they were dispatched by Harborough in the fourth qualifying round. Following Harborough meant trips to Tonbridge and Reading in the first and second round proper respectively. The pair had to go to Reading again for a home tie against Burnley, then to the Clarets' next victims Southampton and a subsequent fifth-round tie at Preston North End where Scott Parker's men left the cup. From there Richard and Danny went to Preston's quarter-final defeat by Aston Villa, the Villans' semi-final loss at Wembley to Crystal Palace and on Saturday they'll be back at the national stadium cheering on the Eagles against Manchester City.
The obvious question is why?
"Everyone asks what the **** are you doing that for?" he laughs. "My mate did it partly last year from the second round where you go and watch a qualifying game and then whoever wins, you keep following them. And it's a bit like randomised football fandom, I guess. So we started at Garforth Town in the very first qualifying round when they played Northallerton and we just kept following the winner and it leads us to Wembley.
"It was more to make football interesting again. I've quite enjoyed watching Leeds obviously, this season. But you get the same experience, whereas when you go watch Garforth the chairman was coming up to talk to us and stuff. I told him what we were doing so he recognised us in the next couple of rounds, actually made a beeline to us to say hello and I thought that was really good."
Non-league experience
While the FA Cup only exists from January for fans of clubs at a certain level, it is an early season highlight for those at the bottom of the English football pyramid. A couple of wins and the prize money they generate can make a huge difference to the financial health of semi-professional outfits. And it's fun too.
"The first game, Garforth against Northallerton, it's great, you can drink when you're at the pitch, so they've got you drinking cans and whatnot, sat having a crack with their fans. Northallerton brought a coach load, and they were all blathered and having a good time. Then they played Heaton Stannington, a team from Newcastle and went to a replay. So we had to go to Heaton Stannington on a Tuesday night and at first we thought 'bloody hell' but actually it was really fortuitous. My son's at uni up there. So we went and dropped some stuff off for him at his uni flat. That was a fantastic game. There was a goal from the halfway line, a volley from about 30 yards. It was a right cup tie. There was loads of quirky stuff there, funny little stands, kids with drums and trying to get a Tifo going and all that kind of stuff."
Bury ended Garforth's involvement and went on a cup run of their own at the start of a season that began in the North West Counties League and ended in promotion to the Northern Premier League West. The Leeds fans first found themselves going to a clash of local rivals and a 3-2 thriller that saw three goals inside the last eight minutes and a stoppage-time sending off.
"Bury was a really interesting story, because they obviously tumbled down the leagues because of the financial situation," said Richard. "They brought loads to Garforth, honestly, loads. They were really well supported. And when they played Radcliffe Borough that was really interesting because Radcliffe used to host them at their stadium, very local derby and they all knew each other. It was a sell-out crowd and it was absolutely brilliant. It was a right laugh, it was packed, and everyone was boozing - there's a lot of drink going on in this story - but everyone was having a good time, and it was quite a good vibe around the place.
"Then it was Harborough away after that, which is the middle of nowhere between Corby and Leicester, that was good, slightly uneventful. Then Harborough played Tonbridge Angels, so we had to get a couple of trains down there and when we were in the bar the guys in the bar couldn't believe what we were doing, absolutely howling with laughter."
Harborough, of the Southern League Premier Central, beat Bury and drew a plum tie at League One Reading, giving them a scare. The non league minnows went ahead twice and then scored late on to make it 3-3 before succumbing to two goals in extra-time. An FA decision to scrap replays from the first round onward saved Richard and Danny from another trip to Harborough but the draw for the third round wasn't exactly kind. They were praying for Reading to be paired with Leeds United, at Elland Road, but instead had to go back to the Madejski Stadium.
"I was desperate for Leeds at home, that would have been fantastic, although we only normally get one game," he said. "That would have been perfect, no hassle, but it would have been that same experience. To be honest, when it got into the big stadiums, it started getting a bit dull. We went to Reading twice, Southampton, Preston and we'd done all those grounds before supporting Leeds so it wasn't anything interesting."
Man City v Crystal Palace
At times during their adventure it was difficult to get tickets, particularly Preston's game against Aston Villa and Richard had to start calling in favours and ringing up contacts who had contacts. Someone at work was able to sort them out when the competition reached Wembley for the semi-final, where they were amongst Villa fans but silently supporting Crystal Palace. And that's who they will be rooting for in London on Saturday.
"One hundred per cent Palace," he told the YEP. "Palace fans are really good, they make it lively and try to get some atmosphere going. We're actually in the Palace end. So that'll be good. One of the lads from work is coming with me, he's a Palace fan, so we're all super Eagles or whatever they're called. Stripey Nigels we call them."
Few at Wembley will have had as interesting an FA Cup journey to the final and few will take as indirect a route, either: "The transport situation has been a bit of a challenge. So we're having to fly to Dublin on Saturday and then get a flight from Dublin to Stansted, get a train to the ground, and then on the way back, because the trains are all messed up coming out of Kings Cross, we're getting a flight from Heathrow to Manchester, taxi from Manchester to Leeds. I don't think our sustainability officer at work will be very pleased about it. We've got the carbon output of a small industrial nation just going to watch football."
If the aim was to become reacquainted with a love of the game, then their 4,000-plus mile FA Cup Odyssey has done the job.
"It's been great fun and I'll be honest, it's really awakened my love of football at the lower level," he said. "The best game I think was Garforth versus Heaton Stannington [3-2]. That was the game where I thought 'wow, football is quality,' really, but that level they were trying to play football out the back, you can see that a lot of the players have been through academies are talented footballers but they just weren't big, strong enough, fast enough, or the situation had got away from them being a professional footballer. So there's a lot of quality players on show. I was quite impressed with the standard, actually. And same at Harborough as well. They're trying to play nice football. And they're actually playing for something.
"Tonbridge v Harborough had a very good atmosphere but I think the liveliest, sort of spiciest, was definitely Radcliffe versus Bury. It was a small ground, there was a big police presence and it was a bit lively afterwards. That was about the best atmosphere. It was like a big party atmosphere for the area and what it's about in the FA Cup. That's the bit that has been the most fun, going to random grounds in the middle of nowhere and having to plan how we're going to get there."
Leeds in Europe next
As fun as it all sounds, Richard has no appetite to repeat the quest next season. Instead, he's turning his attention to something a little more exotic. Like Larne in the UEFA Conference League.
"No chance I'm doing that again," he said. "Oh, my God, no. Having to go to places like Reading twice in one season is horrendous. I don't want to do that again next year. I was quite interested in the Irish teams in Europe, Larne were playing Shamrock Rovers this season and I thought that might be a bit of a lively affair. So maybe do some European ties for some random teams. But we'll see, not sure my wife would agree."