Whites in Washington, 1997: It is who you think it is
The trip was all about entering a lucrative new market and opening up new revenue streams, using Gunnar Halle and Mark Ford to lay the foundations for making Leeds United one of the biggest names in American sports. Alright, fine, nobody is going to argue that plan was foolproof.
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I wrote this back in 2018, when Leeds took an end-of-season trip to Myanmar. Jetting off at the end of a long season is less common than the sort of pre-season Leeds have just spent in the USA, in summer 2026, although it's becoming harder to find and define gaps in the football seasons. Post-season? Pre-season? It's always just season.
The trip to Myanmar was not the first weird end of season trip Leeds United have taken, although the morality or otherwise of 1997's journey to the USA largely depends on what Lee Sharpe got up to at the team hotel. And it was a precursor to this summer's trip over the Atlantic, trying to soak up some post-World Cup, er, glory? And to make up for being binned off a pre-season trip in summer 2023, when Jesse Marsch and the buys getting us relegated meant Fulham took our place. As United's current owners, 49ers Enterprises, are predominantly American, it makes sense if they're keen to get the Peacocks over to their land of bald eagles and raccoons or whatever.
That explains what Leeds have been up to in 2026. Trying to crack the US market in the mid-nineties was supposed to be Oasis' problem, but it made more sense for Leeds than trying to crack the Burmese market did in 2018. Like Oasis in the USA, though, Leeds' 1997 tour wasn't exactly a roaring success; I'll stop short of comparing Mark Ford to Bonehead, but Leeds United at the time were more about the sturdy rhythm section than swagger and lead guitar.
Of all the teams, of all the times. The official video of the trip, Whites In Washington, is short of evidence of pre-tour publicity, but imagine trying to drum up interest for this. That basketball game you just watched that finished 121-120, won on the buzzer? Garbage. Come check out the Leeds. American sports fans love stats, so here come the numbers on the Leeds' regular season in 1996-97: 38 incredible games! 28 thundering goals! 11 stupendous wins! 9 goalless draws! Roll up, roll up, it's the best show in town!
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