Marching on together: How Chelsea and Leeds have remained the best of frenemies

TV’s Saturday night football special will feature a Premier League reunion with more than a hint of retro drama. But for two sets of supporters who declare undying enmity Chelsea and Leeds have much more in common than first appearances, suggests Allan Prosser

Chelsea players Peter Osgood (right) and Ron Harris lift the FA Cup trophy in celebration after beating Leeds United 2-1 after extra time in the FA Cup Final replay at Old Trafford in 1970. Picture: Getty Images

Fifty years ago in the midst of taking my A-Levels I hooked off on a 450-mile round journey for a midweek football match. I wasn’t the only one watching. 28.49 million people tuned in for the iconic cup final replay between Leeds United and Chelsea, by some distance the largest UK TV audience ever for a domestic match.

History records that Chelsea won an unlikely victory based on the quality they were supposed to lack ― resilience ― while a famously efficient Leeds United team saw the last of three trophies they had chased slip through their grasp. In that 69/70 season they finished second to Everton in Division One and lost to Celtic in the semi-final of the European Cup.