Leeds United held an open-top bus parade through Leeds city centre to mark the club winning the Championship trophy and gaming promotion. Daniel Wales reports.
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00:00Leeds United were watching the people of their city get leery as a trophy parade through the centre of Leeds
00:09heralded the Whites' triumph as champions of the Championship this season, as well as their promotion back to the Premier League.
00:20Supporters of Leeds United, as well as the players and staff, were prevented from having an occasion like this
00:26when they last were promoted to the Premier League a few years ago because of the Covid lockdown restrictions.
00:32This perhaps then was an outpouring of emotion for their club, with the celebrations highlighting that Leeds United were back amongst the big boys in English football.
00:47Leeds United had announced the parade to celebrate their promotion ahead of their final day Championship match away at Plymouth Argyle,
00:56a game in which the Whites needed to simply match the result of Burnley to claim the Championship trophy because of their superior goal difference.
01:04Burnley won by two goals to one at home to Millwall on the last day, with Leeds coming from behind to beat Plymouth 2-1.
01:14Fans had begun to congregate in the city centre streets of Leeds early in the day to get the best vantage point
01:20to watch as the players went by on the open-top busses.
01:25A sea of white, yellow and blue was beginning to form, with flags being waved and flares going off.
01:32It was shaping up to be a true promotion party for all Leeds United supporters
01:36to celebrate what has been a memorable season for Daniel Farkas-White,
01:41as they won the Championship with 100 points and secured the title on the final day away at Plymouth with a 2-1 victory on the south coast.
01:51Fans of all ages were out in force to show their support and appreciation to the players and staff of the club,
01:59with many saying that this was one of the best days that they had experienced as a Leeds United supporter.
02:04One of the best days of my life, mate, honestly.
02:19We were there during, obviously, when we got promoted during lockdown,
02:22and obviously we weren't able to do something like this, but still, just one of them days you're never going to forget.
02:29You know, I've got my brother here who's, I've taken him to his first Premier League game the first time we went up,
02:33and now he gets to experience this with me as well.
02:36Today is absolutely brilliant.
02:38Obviously, 2020, when we were crowned champions and we couldn't celebrate, it's just what the same.
02:43I was doing it in my front room when Huddersfield scored that winner.
02:46Being here today is just a completely different atmosphere.
02:49It's brilliant. I can bring my boy as well.
02:51I couldn't do that last time, so, yeah, it's amazing.
02:54The crowds continued to build, with supporters getting anywhere they could to get a view of the Butters on their parade route.
03:02Leeds United is a club that has been starved of success in recent times,
03:07and whilst this may only be a championship trophy, it was still treated as if it were a major trophy for the Whites.
03:15An estimated 100,000 people were on Leeds City streets as the parade went by,
03:22showing just how much any form of success means to this fan base.
03:29It was quite simply one of those days where you just had to be there.
03:43With those lucky enough to say that, continuing to make clear just how special an occasion it was.
03:53Absolutely amazing.
03:55Yeah, never seen anything like this before.
03:57Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
03:59Yeah.
04:00Never in doubt, mate. Never in doubt.
04:02Never in doubt. The whole season.
04:05Brilliant.
04:06Even once the parade had gone past most of the supporters in the city centre,
04:09plenty of them were still sticking around to continue the celebrations.
04:14They went on long into the night, with several of the players being captured,
04:18enjoying themselves for several hours to come after the parade itself.
04:23Even as the day came to a close, fans were still in high spirits.
04:31It was an occasion that many Leeds United fans will never forget for the rest of their lives,
04:35with their hope now being that Leeds continue to play as well as they can do in the Premier League.
04:41Anyway, this was the last 30th birthday beach recently.