Jamie Carragher believes that Leeds United should have won a trophy during their glory days under David O’Leary.
During the Whites’ four years under O’Leary, they reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and finished in the top five places in the top-flight table four times.
Since O’Leary’s departure, United have not finished higher than 15 in the Premier League, with many of the years since being spent in the Championship.
Last night, Leeds’ famous 4-3 win over Liverpool at Elland Road was shown on a retro edition of Monday Night Football.
Ex-Liverpool defender Carragher felt as if the Whites should have won a title at that time and that they had a lot of similarities to the Reds, but lacked in trophies.
“I think Liverpool and Leeds at the time, we were the two teams up and coming trying to challenge Arsenal and Manchester United,” said Carragher. “They were really going for the league and we felt that we were trying to fight it out for that one remaining Champions league position.
“We had a lot of really good battles with Leeds, we were both young teams really, lots of young players. It was whether either of us could go on and really push those top two.
“We didn’t quite achieve that, either of us, winning the Premier League; we won a few more trophies than that Leeds team. They were one of those teams, like Newcastle of the Kevin Keegan era, you looked back at them and think they probably deserved a trophy for the football that they played and the players that they had over those years.
“We won three trophies but there was no difference between us and Leeds, we finished one position above them. Leeds will always be remembered for getting to the semi-finals of the Champions League.”
Carragher was a pundit on the show alongside former England and Manchester United defender Gary Neville.
Neville compared that Leeds team to a modern day Tottenham and loved the rivalry between the Red Devils and the Whites.
“They were doing pretty well and they were [our] rivals along with Liverpool,” Neville added.
“It was a special time in some ways, the rivalries of those games, off the back of two championships, the treble a couple of years earlier. We weren’t too worried but we knew that both teams were getting better.
“I think that Leeds team, if you look at the modern equivalent, they are the Tottenham of the last few years. The Tottenham team of the last few years was loved but it never did what it should have done. They should have won a Premier League when Leicester won it, they should have won the Champions League had they had a bit more luck. They catch your arm but there was something missing, they didn’t quite have that to go on and win it.
“When you have got that history, you can go on and win trophies, the mentality is on the club to go on to win trophies. Leeds, in that era, were trying to build that.”
