The English League Cup draw, whilst not as entertaining or as romantic as the FA Cup, certainly grabbed our attention last night, with one tie standing out above the rest. Salford City v Leeds United, naturally.
Two teams who you could argue weren’t meant to be in this stage of the competition: Leeds were meant to have been promoted under the stewardship of Marcelo Bielsa, and Salford City completed their incredible rise through the lower leagues into the Football League for the first time last May.
Given how close we were to getting a reigniting of the Man Utd v Leeds rivalry in the top-flight once again, I suppose this is going to have to do. A lot has been made about Salford City and their ties to Manchester United’s ‘Class Of 92’, so see this as a sort of ‘mini-rivalry’ between Leeds United and their opposition from Lancashire.
So when the names were drawn out of the hat last night by John Barnes and Ray Parlour, Leeds fans immediately called shenanigans on the whole situation. They took to Twitter to call out what they perceived to be a fix in the cup draw, just so that Sky Sports could make a big fuss over the whole situation, as they are often drawn to do…
100% a fixed draw for tv.
— James Morgan (@J_Morgs8) June 20, 2019
Did @SkySports pick the balls out by any chance?
— John Slicer (@JohnSlice80) June 20, 2019
Let me guess this is going to be on sky
— 2019 Leeds United (@2019LeedsUnited) June 20, 2019
The so-called Class of ’92 vs the Real Class of ’92#LUFC #MOT
— Phil Annets (@PhilAnnets) June 20, 2019
That’s a fix if ever I’ve seen one
— Royce Dunston (@roycedun) June 20, 2019
Sky sports after the draw! pic.twitter.com/V5gssbcpk2
— Alex Loukopoulos (@cadburysmeaow) June 20, 2019
Bet Giggs, Beckham ,scholes and Neville all get re registered for this one .
— Andy cazaux (@andylufccazaux) June 20, 2019
— Jason Flintham (@JasonAFlintham) June 20, 2019