After coming through Leeds United's academy, Jonathan Woodgate made himself a vital part of the Leeds United team which qualified for the Champions League in '99/00, played in the UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000 and featured in the run to the Champions League semi-final in the next season, although he didn't play against Valencia. That was due to a drop-off in form attributed to his going through a court case in which he was found guilty of affray.
However, Woodgate has revealed that his main regret over his time at Leeds is that the 'amazing' team didn't deliver the kind of success they could have, as they missed out on a trophy. Speaking on The Under The Surface Podcast, the former centre-back said:
"Ferdinand, Kewell, Viduka, Bowyer, Alan Smith. We had a real top team, and all young – it was like playing with your mates. Coming in to training you were having a laugh as well as training and it was amazing. We loved the fans and the fans loved us and we found a rapport who could relate to us as most of us came through the youth system in the side and then got to play for the first team.
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"The one regret was that we didn’t win any trophies there, but when you look at it, we were a good team, but great teams win trophies. We had to sell players and we sold Rio to Man United, I went, Kewell went and it wasn’t going to be the same. I was devastated when I left, I didn’t even want to leave at the time as it was the only thing I knew and I loved the club. I came through the youth system from 14 years old, so to get all the way to the top and then be told you have to leave as the club is going to go bust, you didn’t want to do it.
"It was tough as you want to be successful in your career and want to play with the best players. But they all started leaving. Robbie Fowler went, Robbie Keane went and I knew they were going to get relegated, and they’re only back up two years ago."
The Leeds academy product spoke of his happiness that the Whites maintained their Premier League status after a difficult season, where they were in severe danger of relegation on the final day of the season. However, they beat Brentford 2-1 on the final day, whilst Burnley lost, meaning that Leeds survived at the Lancashire side's expense.
"We saw the downfall from being in a Champions League semi-final – I’m over the moon they didn’t get relegated this season."
Woodgate was speaking on the Original Penguin X Campaign Against Living Miserably Under The Surface podcast
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