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Derby County V Leeds United Won't Be Played At St Mary's
Saturday, 6th Jun 2020 08:57

It has been confirmed that the game between two giants of the 1970's will not be played in Southampton as previously claimed in media reports.

With Derby only being a short trip down the M1 from Yorkshire it is not hard to see why this fixture where the Rams host Leeds United would be categorised a high risk game with both fans having volatile supporter bases, although Leeds far more so than the home side.

Mark Roberts, the head of UK's football police, was reported as having proposed that Leeds' clash with the Rams should be played at Southampton's St. Mary's Stadium.

Both clubs were left baffled by the proposal and objected, with Leeds hopeful of a victory against their rivals to help their push to the Premier League.

Roberts issued a statement on Thursday night insisting that story was "categorically untrue" and now the Derbyshire Constabulary have released a short statement confirming that they expect the match to be played at Derby's stadium, alongside the East Midlands derby against Nottingham Forest, which had also been deemed as high-risk.

The statement read: “Derbyshire Constabulary — like every force in the UK — was asked to give its initial opinion by the UK Football Policing Unit [UKFPU] on the risk posed by any of the rescheduled EFL games left in this season.

“The UKFPU is the conduit between UK police forces and football’s governing bodies and has a key role in the discussions around how to safely resume the season. While the UKFPU speaks on behalf of forces with the governing bodies the final decision on how fixtures are policed remains with local forces.

“Two of the highest category games – involving Leeds United and Nottingham Forest – were fixtures that the force initially deemed as potentially requiring them to be played at a neutral venue.

“Following a conversation with the club, in which a number of points were discussed, at this time the Constabulary is not proposing the use of neutral venues. All proposals for match arrangements will need to be reviewed at a meeting of the Safety Advisory Group to be held in coming days.

In the first half of the 1970's both clubs dominated Division 1 in seven seasons from 1969 -1975 each club won the Title twice, Leeds were runners up on a further 3 occasions plus a 3rd place and Derby County also a 3rd place.

But since the 1980's both clubs have spent the decades mostly out of the top flight, since being relegated in 1982, Leeds have spent only 14 seasons in the top flight out of 38, although they did win the title in 1992 the last club to do so before the Premier League started.

Derby were relegated in 1980 and in the last 40 seasons they too have only spend 14 years in the top flight.

Photo: Action Images



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