The Athletic’s Phil Hay has shared a tweet he originally posted back in April 2015 in which he relayed the news that five Leeds United players had declared themselves injured and unavailable to play in a game that was due to take place the next day.
Mirco Antenucci, Edgar Cani, Giuseppe Bellusci, Marco Silvestri, Dario Del Fabro and Souleymane Doukara all told then-Whites boss Neil Redfearn they were unfit and could not travel to London for their fixture versus Charlton Athletic (as per BBC Sport).
Leeds lost that fixture 2-1 and the club dismissed suggestions that something more sinister was going on when Redfearn labelled the absence of his players as a “freakish set of events”.
Here is how some of the Elland Road faithful have reacted to the journalist’s post in which he suggests there’s been a huge change at the club between then and now.
What a banterous time to support Leeds United
— Ashleigh (@ashlaurenn_) April 17, 2020
An absolute contrast to what we have now, dark times
— ant carr (@carr_ant) April 17, 2020
And look at us now. I can’t see any of that happening now not with such a unit of a team
— John (@John03005776) April 17, 2020
And to think these times were somehow better than previous times under GFH is quite scary
— Luxford (@TheLuxford) April 17, 2020
Crazy how much of a joke we were
— Gabriel (@bethgabriel_) April 17, 2020
Looking back five years ago, did you expect the Whites to be pushing for promotion back to the top-flight so soon?
Yes
No
Makes you appreciate what we’ve got now even more so became a laughing stock back then how times change MOT.
— R.Cartwright ?? (@rogercart57) April 17, 2020
Crikey. Was that 5 years ago
— John (@the_cursed_fool) April 17, 2020
Seeing tweets I think I missed the first time round, mental.
— Crazy Badger ?? (@thecrazybadger) April 17, 2020
Opposite end of the spectrum to now, thanks to @andrearadri
— Phil Hardaker (@philjh1975) April 17, 2020
What do we think?
How times have changed since then. The Whites currently sit top of the Championship and were well on their way to securing their place in next season’s Premier League when the season was suspended. Based on the above responses, you can assume it’s those darker times that have led to the supporters being so appreciative of the situation they currently find themselves in.