Chapman owes Wilkinson ‘big debt’ for fulfilling title dreams

Nor was it when the final whistle had blown at Anfield the previous Sunday to signal Manchester United could no longer catch Howard Wilkinson’s side. Neither, Chapman says, was it during the open-top bus parade that followed a couple of days later.

Instead, the more unexpected surroundings of a restaurant in the suburbs of Leeds is where the former striker says the magnitude of what United had achieved really hit home.

“We were all out together as a team a few hours after the title had been won,” explains the 52-year-old former striker when talking to the Yorkshire Post ahead of this week’s 20th anniversary.

“Because we had played at lunchtime and Manchester United weren’t due to play until the afternoon, most of us had gone our separate ways.

“I’d gone home to watch the match with a few team-mates but once the title had been won then we all agreed to meet up and have a meal together in the Flying Pizza.

“The thing I will always remember about that night is the entire restaurant rising as we walked in and then giving us a standing ovation. It must have gone on for five minutes. It was only then that I fully realised just what our success meant and the moment is one I’ll never forget.”

The standing ovation afforded to the Leeds squad on the evening of Sunday, April 26 was as heartfelt as it had been spontaneous. A city that had waited 18 years to win a third League Championship was truly grateful.

That gratitude was also mixed in with a sense of relief that an extraordinary title scrap had ended with bitter rivals Manchester United, for so long considered favourites, beaten into second place by a relentless Leeds.

For Chapman, United’s top scorer that season with 16 league goals, the title success of 1992 represents the pinnacle of an 18-year career that took in 14 clubs.

“My time at Leeds fulfilled every dream I’d had as a footballer,” he says of an eventful four years that saw United rise from the Second Division to win the title and then compete in the first season of the Champions League.

“I was top scorer in the country during my first full season (when Chapman netted 31 goals as Leeds finished fourth in the top-flight). Then, the following season I finished as top scorer for a team who won the League title.

“As a kid, that was all I had ever dreamed of. To fulfil that was beyond anything I could have hoped for when I joined a Second Division team in 1990. In fact, had anyone suggested it might happen I’d have probably laughed.

“I was at Nottingham Forest at the time and Howard definitely didn’t mention the possibility of us winning the title. Back then, it was all about getting out of the Second Division and nothing else.

“So, to go from there to winning the league in two-and-a-half years is nothing short of miraculous and something we should all be very proud of. I know that our Leeds team hasn’t had the recognition it deserves – the Premier League and Sky coming along a few months later played a part in that. As a result, we aren’t remembered as much as other title winners have been. Outside Leeds, at least.

“But I do believe Howard still being the last English manager to win the title will mean we are never forgotten as I can’t see that changing any time soon, not with the way that football has gone.”

Chapman now lives in London but was back in Leeds earlier this season for a dinner to mark the anniversary of the title win.

He admits to finding it hard to believe that two decades have passed since Wilkinson’s side were crowned champions.

Looking back, he says several factors combined to provide the platform for success.

And chief among those was the manager.

The former United striker said: “Where Howard was so good at Leeds was in keeping the pressure off us. We were never told our target was winning the League, not until the very end.

“We were just aiming for runners-up spot. That would have represented progress as we had finished fourth the previous year.

“By adopting that stance, Howard took all the pressure off of us. It was a very clever ploy and typical of him as a manager.

“I owe him a big debt for what he helped me achieve and I would imagine all the lads would say the same.

“He rammed the point home that runners-up was what we were chasing and if you are told that often enough then you believe it.

“Manchester United were definitely considered favourites by the media but we just kept plugging away, even when we had awful results like losing 4-0 at Manchester City in early April.

“We were all really down after that one as there were only five or six games left and by then we’d started to believe the title could be ours.

“Howard, though, lifted us up and we went on a great run to win four and draw one of our last five games.”

Chapman missed just four games in the title-winning season – and only then because of a broken wrist sustained in a third round FA Cup defeat to Manchester United – so, understandably, has a host of fond memories.

“We had some great performances but if I had to pick one then it was our 6-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday in January,” he said. “Winning against your old club is always satisfying but to win like that was something else entirely.

“If anything, we could have scored more – which probably sounds daft about a 6-1 win. But we really were that good. The big thing about Wednesday was we had gone there on a bit of a bad run due to having drawn a few games. We were also knocked out of the two Cups around that time. So, it was a big test of character and the win gave everyone a huge lift. It wasn’t a one-off, either.

“Our away form was sensational at times, scoring four goals a few times and then that six at Sheffield Wednesday.”

The ability to score freely on the road would again be evident on the penultimate weekend when Leeds clinched the title with a 3-2 win at Sheffield United that was followed a couple of hours later by Manchester United losing 2-0 at Liverpool.

For Chapman, it turned out to be not only the fulfilment of a dream but also his home witnessing perhaps the most underwhelming title celebrations in history.

“All week, everyone had known what was at stake,” he explains. “ITV had asked to come and film me and a couple of team-mates watching the Anfield game.

“I agreed, though on the understanding it would happen only if we won at Sheffield United. I got home to find the cameras waiting. Trevor East, who was in charge of ‘The Match’ for ITV, thought it would make for great television.

“Sadly, it was nothing of the sort as, at that stage, none of it had sunk in. Gary (McAllister), Eric (Cantona) and David Batty were there and, sitting on our sofa, most of the time we looked like we were at a funeral and not a party. I had an earpiece in and the guy in the studio was saying things like, ‘Will you lot at least smile and try to look happy. You’ve just won the league, not been relegated’.

“He also asked me if I could go and get some champagne but I didn’t have any in. I don’t think it was quite what the TV company had been hoping for. Happily, we did make up for it as a team later when we got together and had that wonderful reception when the entire restaurant stood up to applaud. After that, it couldn’t have been anything but a great night.”