The Premier League said it was treating “tragedy chanting” as a “matter of urgency” after extremely unsavoury behaviour inside Elland Road by Leeds and Manchester United fans prompted a joint statement of condemnation from the clubs.
Although Erik ten Hag praised the atmosphere during Manchester United’s 2-0 win, he had apparently not heard the chants just before half-time. Leeds supporters sang about the Munich air disaster in 1958 in which eight Manchester United players were among the 23 who died. Travelling fans responded with a similarly moronic song regarding the events of 2000 in Istanbul when two Leeds supporters died.
The clubs’ joint statement described the chanting as “completely unacceptable” and said they would work with their respective fan groups and the Premier League to eradicate it.
The Premier League has a working group on tragedy chanting which also involves clubs, the Football Association, English Football League and Football Supporters’ Association. “The league is treating the issue of tragedy chanting as a priority and as a matter of urgency,” it said.
In a very different context, Leeds’ increasingly urgent hunt for a manager to replace the sacked Jesse Marsch intensified as the caretaker, Michael Skubala, presided over the team’s ninth top-tier game without a win.
Leeds are fourth bottom before Saturday’s trip to relegation rivals Everton, who are one point and one place below them. Manchester United’s win enhanced their chances of a top-four finish. They are five points ahead of fourth-placed Newcastle and seven in front of fifth-placed Tottenham thanks to late goals from Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
A delighted Ten Hag described Rashford as among Europe’s best strikers. “He’s certainly one of them,” he said. “I was pretty excited to work with him when I joined the club last summer. From the first moment I thought I could get more out of him. He has so many skills; he can score with his right foot, his left foot and his head.”
Rashford, who headed the opener here, has scored 21 club goals this season, one short of his Manchester United record. Ten Hag, though, warned him against complacency. “If you are satisfied you will stop,” he said. “Satisfaction can become laziness. Marcus has to keep focusing on every game, one by one, and if he does that he will keep scoring.”
Not that it was an entirely straightforward victory for Ten Hag’s side. “It was about winning a battle,” said the manager, whose side had been held to a draw at Old Trafford four days earlier. “We struggled at first. We made unnecessary mistakes and learned you have to win your battles and second balls. But after the first goal there was more composure.”
Skubala expects to have been replaced before the Everton game but Leeds are facing a struggle to extract their principal target, Andoni Iraola, from Rayo Vallecano and nothing is yet decided.
“I’m really proud,” said Skubala. “I thought we had more of the game, were on top for long periods and created a lot of chances. I’m deflated but it was a good performance. Manchester United have top, top players who can change games in a moment and Marcus Rashford did that.
“Afterwards our players were deflated. They’d given everything and had nothing left in the tank but I said: ‘Don’t be disappointed because you’ve done so well for 80 minutes.’”
