Meeting Marcelo Bielsa, listening to Bryn Law in Bangkok: Leeds life 6,000 miles away | OneFootball

Nigel Woods has spent 26 years following Leeds United from seven countries across three continents. According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, finding fellow fans was never the issue, consistent access often was.

Originally from Yeadon, he left England in 2000 and has lived in Thailand, Taiwan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Ukraine and the UAE. In that time Leeds went from Champions League contenders to League One, then back to the Premier League. During the dark days around 2007 and the Championship wilderness between 2010 and 2018, he leaned on BBC Radio Leeds from almost 6,000 miles away, tuning in to Bryn Law and Norman Hunter from Bangkok.

Early on in Bangkok, an immigration officer spotted Leeds on his passport and began naming players, a sign of how big English football was in Southeast Asia. During the Champions League run he would hunt down the one Thai channel showing games, sometimes catching matches in roadside shops with locals delighted to meet a Leeds fan.

One standout memory came in League One when the FA Cup brought a televised tie at Manchester United. He watched from a tiny, grotty east Bangkok apartment he had just moved into, short of money but thrilled all the same.

Now in Kuala Lumpur, he is part of Leeds United Supporters Club Malaysia, meeting at Bar Roca. The WhatsApp group is growing, though gatherings are usually eight to 10, with members drawn by everything from left-footed heroes like Harry Kewell, Jason Wilcox and Ian Harte to formative games seen on TV years ago.

With Uruguay and the Dominican Republic in town last October, and with help from former player liaison officer Peter “Stix” Lockwood, the group met Marcelo Bielsa at Bukit Jalil. They unfurled a banner reading “Gracias Bielsa & Firpo. Marching On Together”. Bielsa asked that the details stay private. Junior Firpo chatted, posed for photos and signed items, and at the Brentford game the other week Woods gifted Stix a Malaysia supporters’ club jersey in thanks.

Source: yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk