They Played for them Both - England

Hey all. The PL season is on pause right now because of some more pesky international fixtures. Possibly a good thing for Leeds, as hopefully we can get some players out of the medical room in that time. One thing that isn't good is it gives me less football to think about, so here is a monumental waste of all our time. I have decided to compile a team out of players to have played for Leeds who hail from the three countries England play in this round of fixtures, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, and Iceland. Now, as it turns out, we have not employed many people from the latter two, so this is a mostly Irish team. Whoops. Hope you enjoy it.

GK - Paddy Kenny - Representing Ireland seven times in his career, Kenny was actually born in Halifax, and was brought to Leeds by Neil Warnock. He enjoyed two years at the club, making him one of our longer serving goalkeepers post-2004, making 70ish appearances. One of the somewhat forgettable revolving door of keepers in that period, he never showed the longevity or success he held at local rivals Sheffield United.

LB - Laurens De Bock - Better get this one out of the way early. De Bock is, according to Transfermarkt, the only Belgian to have pulled on the white shirt of Leeds. Making his debut in a 4-3 defeat to Millwall, it somehow went downhill from there, and he is now on his fourth loan spell away from the club, at Zulte Waregem in his native country. The only thing I know of Zulte is that is where we signed Habib Habibou from. At the very least, De Bock may be providing us some revenge for that debacle.

LCB - Alan Sheehan - Played primarily at LB for us, but Alan Sheehan has carved out a career for himself in the centre of defence since leaving, so he starts here for us today. Prone to a red card during his spell at Leeds, his spell was tumultuous, to say the least. At least we can all fondly remember his wondergoal against Crewe.

RCB - Darren O'Dea - Want to know a fun fact about Darren O'Dea? he was my brother's favourite player when he first started watching football. Signed on loan from Celtic in the 2011-12 season, O'Dear, as he became known, struggled to really impress. His career has spanned Celtic, Reading, Ipswich, Leeds, Toronto FC, Metalurg Donetsk, Blackpool, Mumbai City FC, Dundee and East Kilbride, all whilst picking up 20 senior Ireland caps. I'd remember all of that. It is definitely coming up in a pub quiz at some point. Wow.

RB - Gary Kelly - Who else was it going to be? Alan Maybury again? Gary Kelly is the only Leeds player to hit a half century for Leeds not to have played for Don Revie, which is distinction enough alone. I also couldn't include him in any other of these lists, as he was a one club man. Legend.

CM - Johnny Giles - From one legend to another, Giles is another who had to be included on this list. A stalwart of the famous Revie team, Giles is one of those players who will roll of the tongue for most football fans with a knowledge of the game. Legend.

CM - Jonathan Douglas - As much a legend as the previous two? Douglas was, in my eyes, always a criminally underrated player. He was, similar to Andy Hughes, often shunted out to play RB, but always did a job. An Ireland international whilst at Leeds, he managed more than 100 games for us. He has since carved out a career in the championship, namely at Brentford and Ipswich, before exiting the professional game in 2017. I follow him on Twitter, where he mostly talks about Gaelic Football nowadays.

LW - Aidan White - Could have stuck Aidy White out on the right hand side, as Neil Warnock unsuccessfully tried for some reason, but White was always best on the left. His career has been a struggle through injury problems, unfortunately, and has never lived up to the promise he showed at an early age. Currently playing for Hearts north of the border.

AM - Gylfi Einarsson - And so we come to the long expected Icelandic presence in this list. Despite our strong connection with the Scandinavian countries, Einarsson is the only Icelandic player to have played for us that I could find. Had a torrid time at Leeds, suffering badly from injuries. His sole goal for the club was a winner against Burnley, and he then left to return to Scandinavia.

RW - Noel Hunt - Getting a bit desparate for wingers, Noel Hunt is shunted outside to accomodate him in the team. A striker, but only in some senses of the word, Hunt never managed to score for Leeds, and has since dropped down the divisions, cementing his status as largely forgotten by most Leeds fans. Despite this, he has somehow collected three senior caps for his country. Madness.

ST - Robbie Keane - A veritable god in Irish football, Keane will be better remembered by most for his spell at Tottenham, and his unsuccessful few months at Liverpool, but played and scored for Leeds for a short time during the early noughties, initially arriving on loan from Inter Milan.

Honourable and dishonourable mentions go to (*takes deep breath*) Connor Shaugnessy, Eunan O'kane, Paudie O'Connor, Paul Green, Sean Mcdermott (who?), Andy O'Brien, Michael Doyle, Stephen O'Halloran, Graham Stack, Liam Miller, Paul Butler, Andy Keogh, Caleb Folan, Stephen McPhail, Alan Maybury, David O'leary, Jim Beglin, John Sheridan, and Barry Corr. As you can see, all Irish.

And the last thing, of course, is to decide a manager. Who else could it be but Big Jack Charlton. A legend to both Leeds and Ireland, he walks into that dugout completely unchallenged. RIP Jack.