‘I still recall the feeling of hitting the ball. I was shattered, 32,000 people were watching me, but it was like when you hit the perfect golf shot – you just know, by the sound and the feel’ Gordon Strachan on firing Leeds United to promotion

For a one-city team with such a rich history, Leeds United have spent an inordinate amount of time outside the top tier.

In fact, the Whites have spent just 54 of seasons in the top flight since they were formed in 1919 and have often found escaping the second tier something of a task.

In 2020, it took one of football’s modern-day maverick geniuses Marcelo Bielsa to snap a 16-year Premier League exile, while a 1980s dry spell also saw an extended spell out of the old Division One.

When Howard Wilkinson was appointed as Leeds boss in October 1988, the Whites had been marooned in Division Two for six seasons, after a host of Revie-era players such as Allan Clarke, Eddie Gray and Billy Bremner had failed to replicate their on-the-pitch heroics in the dugout.

Wilkinson was soon allowed to strengthen his squad, with his acquisition of Gordon Strachan for a fee of £300,000 from Manchester United something of a coup, after the boss convinced the midfielder to drop down a division.

Strachan was handed the captain’s armband and his influence soon became clear, as he helped the likes of Gary Speed and David Batty break into the first-team midfield, with Vinnie Jones providing the bite.

Leeds had been well-placed for promotion going into the 1989/90 run-in, but the nerves kicked in and after a run of one win in seven, Leeds hosted Leicester City in their penultimate game of the season, needing a win, with Strachan duly stepping up and netting his 18th goal of the season with six minutes left to win the game and leave Leeds on the brink of promotion.

“Scoring against Leicester virtually sealed promotion – we had to win,” Strachan told FourFourTwo. “I was paid a lot of money to drop down a division and people wanted me to be an influence on the dressing room, to lead the team.

“The directors said, ‘We must get out of this division in two years’ – I think they would have been in trouble financially. I still recall the feeling of hitting the ball with my left foot.

“I was shattered, 32,000 people were watching me, but it was like when you hit the perfect golf shot – you just know, by the sound and the feel.

“When it went in, I’d never felt so elated and tired at the same time.”

Strachan was speaking in association with Best Online Casino Nederland