Members of LUSCOS will be in attendance as Leeds United look to go nine points clear of relegation trouble.
Almost 150 Norwegian Leeds United fans have chartered their own flight across the North Sea to watch Saturday’s Elland Road meeting with Wolves.
Members from the Leeds United Supporters Club of Scandinavia (LUSCOS) are due to make the 480-mile journey from Kristiansand Airport to Leeds Bradford on Friday. For some, it will be the latest in a number of trips to Elland Road but others will see it for the first time.
Terje in the green cap with friends Kjell Ivar Hanstad and Oddgeir Frette and wife Sissel.placeholder image
Terje in the green cap with friends Kjell Ivar Hanstad and Oddgeir Frette and wife Sissel. | Terje Ulven
“I live in the south of Norway, Arendal, a small town of 50,000 close to Kristiansand,” Terje Ulven, one of those heading to Leeds, tells the YEP. “It’s not a very big area but there are a lot of Leeds supporters here.
“We have chartered a private plane, going from the south. Huge Leeds supporters. Many of us have season tickets and have been there many times. For some it will be the first time.”
The travelling fans will be treated to a guided stadium tour on Friday before dinner at the hotel and a more casual reunion at the Scarborough Hotel pub in the city centre. On Saturday, they are due back at Elland Road for what is hoped to be another big win on the way to survival.
Terje was part of a slightly smaller group that made a similar trip in 2019, flying over to witness one of the more surreal Leeds moments - and there have been plenty. “It was the Aston Villa match when [Marcelo] Bielsa said to let them have a goal,” he remembers. “That was a crazy game.”
130 fans made the trip in 2019 for that infamous 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.placeholder image
130 fans made the trip in 2019 for that infamous 1-1 draw against Aston Villa. | Terje Ulven
Terje will be one of those returning to Elland Road, rather than making a debut, managing to attend around a dozen games from across the North Sea every season. He is among thousands of Norwegian Leeds fans who make that trip regularly, having decided to support the club as a young child despite his brother taking a different path.
“There was just one TV channel in Norway in the 70s, everybody looked up English football,” he explains. “Every Norwegian person has an English team, which we chose. It can be a scarf we get when we’re young.
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“When I was four years old, my mother bought a bag for me. I should have got the same as my older brother, but he was a Liverpool fan and when I saw red, I said ‘No, I want a blue bag’. I was four or five and after that, I was a Leeds supporter.”
It was the path of fewer trophies and stints in the third-tier, but trips to Elland Road remind Terje why he made that choice: “Sometimes I wonder why I didn't take another bag. But Leeds is the best, fantastic.
“And the people, you meet a lot of good English friends. With Leeds United, the club and all the English are very kind to us. We appreciate that. It’s very good. I am really looking forward to Saturday.”
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