Take Us Home: Leeds United

Marching on together

Leeds United.

One of the most famous clubs in British football history.

Champions and winners of titles and trophies in England and in Europe.

Leeds have one of the largest, most passionate fanbases

in world club football.

Despite now plying their trade in England's second division,

The Championship.

Yeah, yes!

At the turn of this century, Leeds went from Champions League heroes

to the brink of extinction within a few seasons.

Disastrous financial mismanagement and a series of off-field scandals

left the club in ruins.

Since then, new owners and managers

have tried to revive the sleeping giant.

Until now, all have failed.

But there is new hope

in the shape of ambitious, Italian entrepreneur

Andrea Radrizzani.

His goal is to rebuild the club

and fulfil the demands of a worldwide fanbase

and get Leeds United back into the Premier League,

the most prestigious football competition in the world.

This is a story that plays out in one of the most extraordinary seasons

in this remarkable club's history.

This is Take Us Home: Leeds United.

Pizza margherita.

Ciao, auf wiedersehen!

Impossible bets is what he specialises in.

Turning the table to his favour.

It takes guts; energy, which he has plenty of; stamina.

With that he made a lot of money. I keep telling him

- not to waste it on bloody football. - Mmm, I'm unstoppable.

Because football doesn't make any money.

So he said, "You don't trust me?"

I said, "Yeah, I trust you. You are a smart, young entrepreneur."

I will show him the opposite.

And I said, "Please, for your kid who loves football,

make sure he doesn't hate it when he's big enough to understand

that you wasted all your fortune behind."

Andrea Radrizzani was born in Milan and created his fortune,

an estimated £450 million,

after founding his own global investment company,

specialising in trading television sports rights.

So, I left Milan in 2003.

I went to... to Shanghai, then Tokyo, then Singapore.

Then I started to share my time between Singapore and London,

so I've been away more than 15 years, 16 this year.

And then this year I decided to come back to Milan for one year

to stay here with my family so that my son can learn Italian

and go to school here for the first year of school

and kindergarten. He's only three years old.

And then... So, my family is here

and me, I'm up and down between London, Leeds and Milan.

We have a deal with the wife, with Nedine, that if we get promoted,

we're going to move to Leeds for one year.

Andrea bought a 50% stake in Leeds United in January 2017

before completing a full buy-out five months later.

Hey.

You still awake?

So I told them, this is our football pitch. Right?

- Yes. - Where is your goal?

Okay. Show him which football shirt you use when you play.

Look, even this one.

- This one is your favourite, ah? - This one.

This is your favourite.

I like to make money, of course. When I work, as a consequence,

I think my reward is to make money and be profitable.

I take risks, I like to. I like to, because at the end it is like a game.

One day, I'm going back to the dust like everybody,

so money doesn't count.

I like to invest in things that give me adrenaline

and business is one of them.

Football is one of them. So, I enjoy that.

You're really against my investment in football.

No, I'm... I'm not against, I think that doing it...

The risk is very high.

...alone, it took a lot of courage and maybe a little bit too much.

That's all. I'm saying that you could've done it

with a team, a group of investors.

Yeah, but nobody is full of crazy ideas.

- That's true. - They follow after you're successful.

I thought there were a lot of crazy guys in Leeds!

- When you deliver, they follow. - I thought in the town of Leeds

there were enough crazy people for football.

It's a club that is perfectly suited for a one-club city.

It's a club that embodies the city

and attracts the interest and captures the interest of everybody.

It's an incredibly loyal city and that loyalty has persisted

despite there being so many occasions

when the crowds could've dipped to a worrying level,

as has happened to other clubs across the country.

But the support always seems to be there and it's always ready to come back.

And I think it is an institution that the city needs,

the city will always need and will always flock to.

For the amount of fans that go to Elland Road on a weekly basis,

and the numbers they get,

and the people from around the world who are watching it live

from every country around the world, it's unbelievable.

We're a big city who wants one team in it.

Every other big city has a couple of teams in,

so there's a divided support, whereas Leeds, everyone's Leeds.

It's truthfully my religion.

That's what I say to my kids.

They say, "Mum, are you going to football again?"

I'm like, "Yep, it's my religion. I'm off praising, I'm off to church."

We are Leeds!

It reinvigorated my life. My focus, it's all Leeds now.

I work, yeah, I have children.

I have family and then I have Leeds. Leeds United.

To me, what it means to be a Leeds fan is camaraderie,

family, emotion, passion, one-team city.

All Leeds, aren't we? All Leeds, aren't we?

All Leeds, aren't we?

Andrea bought a club that had suffered a humiliating fall from grace.

Under legendary manager Don Revie, Leeds established themselves

as a dominant force during the 1960s and '70s.

Leeds United, all in white, against the Gunners, Arsenal.

Jones as he kicks to Allan Clarke, who heads it in!

On the pitch, captain Billy Bremner was their leader.

They became England's top team

and were feared and respected across the whole of Europe.

Jack Charlton, Bremner... Oh, beautiful goal!

What a superb goal by Bremner!

After Revie left to become England manager in the mid-seventies,

Leeds had over a decade in the doldrums

before returning to be crowned English champions again in 1992.

At the turn of the century, they became a force in Europe again

and reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2001.

But, after over-spending and financial mismanagement,

Leeds went into freefall.

A fire sale of their greatest talent was inevitable.

Rio Ferdinand became Britain's most expensive player

when he moved to bitter rivals Manchester United for £30 million.

And Leeds were forced to sell stars

like Robbie Fowler, Jonathan Woodgate and Harry Kewell.

You were never quite sure where the next crisis was coming from,

whether the people who were in charge of the club could manage the crisis.

What many considered the most exciting young side in England

was ripped apart.

Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004

and dropped to the third tier three years later.

New owners and managers have come and gone.

Their long-suffering fans, convinced they are a cursed club.

But after 15 years in the wilderness,

hope is returning to Elland Road.

In terms of a city and a club being combined,

or the potential for it to be combined, there's not another city like it.

Andrea is someone who throws himself in literally the deep end

and he goes, and he grabs everyone.

He's someone very approachable

and he likes to have contact with people.

So, either if it's someone really high

or someone who has the job as the janitor,

or in the kitchen, that's cooking,

he goes and he greets them. He says, "Thank you."

For him it's important, because everyone brings value to the club.

Everyone works together for the same cause

and I think it's very important

that they can feel that they can speak to him as well

and he's not someone "up there," because he's not that type of person.

When Andrea came in, I didn't know much about him,

to be quite honest, but there were no skeletons.

You know, you search, you have a look,

and you thought, "Wow, this guy seems clean."

I have to say, we've been through a very dark era with the former owners,

but Andrea, the new owner and his team that've come in

have been very outward-focused.

Andrea's first move

is to recruit a Premier League-quality management team

to put Leeds back on track both on and off the pitch.

Spaniard Victor Orta was recruited

from Championship rivals Middlesbrough and appointed director of football.

Victor is now responsible for assembling a squad

capable of challenging for promotion to the Premier League.

In all the headlines, in all the history that they are making,

obviously, like a crazy football fan,

I know the history about this kind of club.

And it was a big challenge for me to arrive to a club like Leeds United

to try to get back to its real position, that was the Premier League.

When you meet Victor, you understand his knowledge on scouting.

I think he's a database. He's very knowledgeable about everything.

Andrea has recruited a CEO with a Premier League pedigree

in former West Ham managing director, Angus Kinnear.

It's the best job in football.

I genuinely believe it's the best job in football if we can take Leeds United

back to where they belong. I don't think there's a bigger challenge or prize.

It's a club with such fantastic history, such fantastic potential,

so I didn't think twice about it.

With Victor and Andrea, we over-index on Latin American and Hispanic passion.

I'm definitely the boring Anglo-Saxon

who tries to steer through the middle path.

It's a fantastic work environment, it's a...

they're friends as well as colleagues.

I think we all want to achieve success together

and I think, with the skills, we're actually well-balanced.

The way that you work with Victor and with me is...

Victor tries to spend money, I try to save it and make it.

And we don't speak about football after the games.

That was a critical mistake from last year.