No 2 FIONA KYLE
A young Leeds United fan who went with her dad and brother and now goes with her own family
After a great season in Division One which saw Leeds finish fourth we headed into 1991-92 confident of another top-five finish but never expecting what happened next.
I was 12 for most of the 1991-92 season and I sat in the West Stand Paddock with my Dad and my younger brother (who was sporting a David Batty haircut).
We used to dare each other to get autographs on the touchline while the players warmed up before a match. My autograph collection includes Gary McAllister, Batty and Lee Chapman.
The atmosphere was electric and there were little Pac-Men who appeared on the scoreboard whenever Leeds scored.
It was a giddy time to be a young Leeds supporter. I remember crying when we went out of the FA Cup to Manchester United – and cheering as Chapman (my absolute hero that season) put three past Wimbledon.
We won the title and it was wonderful but I wish I’d appreciated it more. I’d only been watching for three seasons and in that time we’d won our league twice. It seemed normal. Then came the heartbreak. No away victories in the ‘92-93 season, knocked out of the Champions League by Rangers and, as time moved on, the desperate disappointment of the Coca-Cola Cup final at Wembley in 1996, the fire sale as the cost of ‘living the dream’ emerged and everything that came after.
As a young fan in ’91-92, it felt as though the world was at our feet; as though we would be up there forever. My son’s first season was 2012-13 which saw players including Luke Varney and Michael Brown finish 13th in the second tier so I count myself very lucky to have seen Howard Wilkinson and the team first-hand."