What Really Happened Between Eddie Howe And The Leeds United Fan
Transcript
00:00 A Leeds United fan has been arrested and issued with a lifetime ban from Elland Road after
00:07 confronting and shoving Eddie Howe in the technical area during the Castle United 2-2
00:12 draw.
00:13 Hello there everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here coming to you from a top secret location
00:17 deep in the heartland of British football, you'll find out tomorrow.
00:20 But as for this, bloody hell.
00:22 Facts of the incident as we currently know them are as follows.
00:25 With the teams tied 2-2 in extra time, Leeds United have Junior Firpo sent off for pulling
00:30 down Anthony Gordon who appeared to be through on goal.
00:33 During the ensuing drama between the players, a Leeds United fan jumped the barrier from
00:37 the west stand, got into the technical area, approached Eddie Howe, said something to him,
00:43 shoved him and as he was in the process of leaving himself was then escorted by security
00:47 from both the ground and Newcastle United.
00:49 He was promptly taken out at the stadium where he was immediately arrested and Leeds United
00:53 have confirmed in a statement he has already been issued with a lifetime ban from Ellen
00:57 Road.
00:58 Now precisely what it was he said to Eddie Howe is still unconfirmed.
01:01 Eddie Howe himself refused to comment on it when asked about it in the post-match interview,
01:04 simply saying that it was personal and he would not be able to repeat it on camera.
01:08 Asked again during the press conference, he simply repeated this but said that it did
01:11 make him wonder 'what if'.
01:12 And by that he means, what if it hadn't just been words in a show, what if it had been
01:16 something considerably more serious, what if the guy had wanted to do genuine harm to
01:20 him.
01:21 If he had gone all the way up there, he could have very easily done it.
01:23 Now it wouldn't surprise you to hear that the internet's innumerable lip readers and
01:26 theory havers have already gone back through the footage and have got a few ideas.
01:30 And they range from the incredibly straightforward 'you're a f***ing d*** you' all the way to
01:34 stuff about Eddie Howe and Newcastle United allegedly having the Premier League in their
01:38 back pocket as a result of getting two penalties and then a player sent off.
01:42 Now what precisely it was is likely only ever going to be known between Eddie Howe and this
01:47 absolute meatball himself.
01:48 But what's already become apparent in the fallout to all this is that the 'what' doesn't
01:53 particularly matter.
01:54 It's the fact it was allowed to happen in the first place.
01:56 And while you do have to give security credit for being on the scene as quickly as they
01:59 were, this Leeds United steward, well done him, and apparently Triple H from WWE, who
02:04 was sitting in the Newcastle United dugout, how he was allowed to get there raises a lot
02:08 of questions.
02:09 And the answers to those questions are simply that football stewarding is an incredibly
02:12 difficult job that's done by companies for the minimum amount of money because there's
02:16 sort of an understanding that every single person in a football stadium wouldn't dare
02:20 do this.
02:21 Because as we've already seen here, and did previously that time some donut punch Jack
02:25 Grealish in the back of the head, you get set upon pretty quickly.
02:28 You get arrested and you get issued a lifetime ban.
02:31 And nobody who wants to be in a football stadium wants a lifetime ban.
02:35 That's just kind of how it's worked so far.
02:37 And that means that the real issue here is not that Eddie Howe was accosted by a Leeds
02:40 United fan, it's that a Leeds United fan was able to accost Eddie Howe.
02:44 Yes, it was just a few words and a push and a shove, but the game's governing body, the
02:48 people in charge of safety and grounds, have to ask themselves whether they're okay taking
02:53 that chance.
02:54 If stuff like this is going to happen, are they just going to assume that's all it'll
02:57 ever be?
02:58 And if they decide they can't take that chance, I don't think anybody's going to like the
03:01 only viable outcome.
03:03 So yeah, there you go.
03:04 Didn't think I'd be reporting on that today, but let us know what you make of it all in
03:07 the comments below.
03:08 Of course, don't forget to like, share and subscribe to 442 and follow them across the
03:11 entire social spectrum @442.
03:13 But until, I don't want to say the next time, because you don't want it to be a next time,
03:17 but until the next video, see you soon.