Meeting Marcelo Bielsa and tuning in to Bryn Law from Bangkok: a Leeds United life abroad | OneFootball

Nigel Woods has spent 26 years following Leeds United from seven countries across three continents.

According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, the Yeadon-born supporter left England in 2000 and has lived in Thailand, Taiwan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Ukraine and the UAE, a period in which Leeds fell from Champions League heights to League One then returned to the Premier League.

He found English football huge in Southeast Asia, with Leeds shirts on the streets and occasional Champions League games. When coverage dried up after relegation, he tuned into BBC Radio Leeds from nearly 6,000 miles away, hearing Bryn Law with Norman Hunter.

League One rarely reached Thai schedules, but the FA Cup did. A televised tie at Manchester United, watched while skint in a tiny East Bangkok flat, remains a favourite memory.

Now in Kuala Lumpur, he links up with Leeds United Supporters Club Malaysia, where eight to 10 fans meet at Bar Roca and a WhatsApp group is growing. He is one of few from Leeds, while locals often found the club via left-footers such as Harry Kewell or a TV game years ago.

With Uruguay and the Dominican Republic in town last October, he and fellow members met Marcelo Bielsa with help from Peter ‘Stix’ Lockwood. They have kept the details private. Junior Firpo came out after the game to talk, take photos and sign items, and Woods later thanked Lockwood with a Malaysia jersey at a Brentford match.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk