There was a heartfelt article in The Game yesterday from the journalist and Leeds United fan Rick Broadbent, who can't understand the unbridled joy that has spread around the world of football with the news that Leeds United are about to be relegated to the third tier (or should that be tear) of English football for the first time in their history.

He was honest enough to mention the riots at Paris, Birmingham and Bournemouth (one I was witness to part of) but wondered why these events featured more heavily in the minds of supporters than say Heysel. Leeds United were a good team, no make that a great team, in the sixties and early seventies. I remember as a young boy watching them on Match of The Day humble Southampton and Manchester United, I remember the famous offside 'goal' that WBA scored, the disallowed goal in Paris when they should have beaten Bayern Munich under Jimmy Armfield to lift the European Cup.

They had a first team squad drawn from each of the five countries of the British Isles, each one an international, they didn't have a big squad but when one player got injured or retired he was replaced by another international. They also had a reputation for cheating and gamesmanship years before Jose Mourinho could walk. Brian Clough, who managed them for just over a month, famously told them on his first day in charge that they should throw their medals away because they hadn't earned them honestly.

They haven't won anything for the best part of four decades. They tried to buy success under Peter Ridsdale's chairmanship and David 'they're only a young team' O'Leary. Unfortunately when the wheels came of, in Valencia most publicly, they had nowhere to go. Players fell out with each other (Duberry/Woodgate/Bowyer), with the manager (Woodgate/Bowyer) and they were sold :Robinson, Harte,Woodgate, Ferdinand, Bowyer, Dacourt, Viduka, Smith, Bridges, Hasselbaink to alleviate mounting debts that even a Russian oligarch would blanch at.

I don't think people are pleased to see them relegated because of their on field activities or even their off field calamities - it's the supporters. Most football attending supporters would name the same half a dozen sets of supporters who you could put money on over the past forty years to try and stop a match by a pitch invasion: Cardiff, Stoke City, Millwall, West Ham and Leeds United. Where other clubs have cleaned-up their acts Leeds United have let the cancer continue to gnaw away at the living flesh and goodwill of the majority of people who follow them. Many years ago I spent a train journey, up from Bournemouth to see West Ham play Spuds at Tottenham, with the brother of a Spuds player. He told me that when he travelled up to Elland Road to watch his brother he always took a yellow raincoat, the sort we used to call a Findus coat after the T.V advert. When I asked why he said it was because Leeds supporters would spend the whole two hours gobbing on any Spurs fan within reach - charming!

I notice today that Leeds have until Saturday to sort out their financial situation or they will begin next season -10 points at the bottom of League One. If they don't sort it out but go into administration before the final games kick off they will be deducted 10 points from this seasons total. It's good to see Ken Bates working his old magic again. And imagine the reception Dennis Wise will get back at Swindon as the relegated - 'too big a club to turn down' meets the small Wiltshire club promoted back to League One.