Elland Road 1920 - 1974. Elland Road, Leeds Yorkshire England
Elland Road 1920 - 1974.
Published: 21st June 2010
1920–1974
The advent of newly-formed Leeds United brought with it big changes for Elland Road. During the 1920s, the South Stand terrace was covered with a wooden barrel-shaped roof that stretched the length of the stand and it came to be known as the Scratching Shed. Another stand was built on the terracing that ran the entire length of the pitch down the east side of the ground, called The Lowfields. Behind the goal at the north end of the pitch stood a huge terrace known as the Spion Kop, or simply Kop for short. This name originated from a hill in South Africa on which 322 British soldiers lost their lives in the Battle of Spion Kop, in January 1900, during the Boer War.
No significant changes were made regarding the structure of Elland Road during the 1930s and 1940s, although it did see some uncharacteristically large attendances. On 27 December 1932, 56,796 people came for the visit of eventual champions Arsenal – a record that would last for almost 35 years. Ironically, the last game of that season saw Leeds play Middlesbrough at home in front of a mere 9,006 spectators. The stadium was also chosen to host the Rugby Football League Championship Final between Leeds and Hunslet in 1938, where a crowd of 54,112 saw Hunslet win the title. These figures serve to prove how far the stadium had improved since its initial opening. During the Second World War the ground was requisitioned by the War Office for administrative purposes.
Floodlit football first came to Elland Road on 9 November 1953, when Hibernian provided the opposition for the big switch-on of the £7,000 lights which were said to be the most expensive in the country at the time. The game pulled in 31,500 spectators who saw two goals apiece from John Charles and manager Raich Carter as Leeds beat the Scottish side 4–1. It was the first of several Monday night games against teams from north of the border and in successive weeks, Dundee and Falkirk were the visitors to Elland Road.
During the early hours of Tuesday 18 September 1956, a huge fire swept through and gutted the West Stand at Elland Road with such a ferocity that it scorched large sections of the pitch. The blaze consumed the entire structure, including offices, kit, club records, physiotherapy equipment, dressing rooms, directors' rooms, the press box and the generators for the floodlighting system. The roof of the stand collapsed into the seating area before the fire brigade arrived and the total damage was estimated to be £100,000, but the club's insurance cover was woefully inadequate to fund such a high sum. The players helped to clear up the rubble and wreckage during the week, but the 2,500-seater stand could not be salvaged. After a five-hour board meeting, the directors decided to launch a public appeal to build a new stand with assistance from Leeds City Council. The appeal eventually raised £60,000 and a new £180,000 West Stand was unveiled at the start of the following season.
The new West Stand consisted of 4,000 seats mounted behind a paddock, which could house a further 6,000 standing. Lightning almost struck twice though two years later, when another fire started at Elland Road after a Central League match against Preston North End. Incidentally, it was the West Stand once again that was affected. Fortunately, this time Cyril Williamson, the club secretary, and several directors were on hand and they improvised by assuming the role of firemen. The fire was soon extinguished, without the use of hoses, and no significant damage was caused.
The 1960s saw the arrival of Don Revie as manager and the club were soon promoted into the First Division. Following this initial success, the club consistently finished in the top four places for the next ten seasons and Elland Road hosted its first ever televised game – a league fixture against Everton on 20 March 1965 – and Leeds ran out 4–1 winners. Great advances were made on the stadium during Revie's reign and a new attendance record of 57,892 was set on 15 March 1967, in a fifth round replay of the FA Cup against Sunderland. Towards the end of April in 1968, the old Spion Kop terracing was stripped away to make way for a new stand at a cost of £250,000. In no less than six weeks the roofed structure had been built and it became known as the Gelderd End. When completed it left around 60 feet (18 m) of spare land behind the goal. The committee simply ordered the land to be turfed, which meant that the pitch was moved 30 feet (9.1 m) north.
Further improvements in 1970 included the coupling of the West Stand and the Kop with a £200,000 corner stand simply known as the North-West corner. To complement the new upgrade, an almost identical stand was built, linking the Lowfields and the Kop, which came in at another £200,000. Leeds stepped further into the commercial world in 1972, when the well-stocked Leeds United Sports and Souvenir Shop was opened, which would soon feature a comprehensive programme collection. In 1974, the year that Leeds won the league for the second time, the ageing yet popular Scratching Shed was dismantled and was replaced by the South Stand for £500,000. This new state of the art development comprised a standing paddock at the front capable of holding 4,000 fans, a row of 16 executive boxes, and above that an all-seater 3,500 capacity stand. There were plans to link the South Stand with the Lowfields as well, but this commission was cut short when Leeds ran out of money. In the same year, the old floodlights were replaced by the tallest floodlights in Europe, which measured a huge 260 feet (79 m). Initially only three floodlights were erected – two at either side of the Kop and another in the South-West corner – and the other was put up four years later.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/eEland_road)
