{"id":137343,"date":"2025-05-28T01:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T01:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137343\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T01:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T01:12:15","slug":"leeds-united-potential-is-huge-says-tony-dorigo-as-championship-winners-announce-dublin-clash-with-ac-milan-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/137343\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds United potential is huge says Tony Dorigo as Championship winners announce Dublin clash with AC Milan \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEEDS was bedlam. The streets were thronged, the atmosphere was electric as the open-topped double-decker bus packed with jubilant footballers wound its way slowly through the city streets.<\/p>\n

Tony Dorigo looked on loving it all as the Leeds players celebrated promotion after winning the Championship with 100 points and partied and waved to the fans below. Dorigo, now an expert summariser for Leeds United\u2019s LUTV, had been on the bus the last time a Leeds team came home with a trophy.<\/p>\n

That was 33 years previously when Howard Wilkinson\u2019s team won the then First Division (the Premier League came into being the following year) in 1992.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season was special because it doesn\u2019t come around very often, does it?\u201d said Dorigo, who was in Dublin on Tuesday for the launch of the Leeds United versus AC Milan pre-season friendly at the Aviva Stadium on August 9.<\/p>\n

\"Leeds<\/a>\"Damien<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe last time they had a parade in Leeds I was playing – that\u2019s how long it\u2019s taken to get back on a bus! So, enjoy those moments when you can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. Dorigo had to make his own way in football. When he was 15 he wrote to the top 10 clubs in England asking for a trial. Aston Villa were the only one to respond, so the eager Aussie made his way to Birmingham where he impressed the scouts and was awarded a contract. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all off my own bat,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long letter – four pages \u2013 and clearly I wrote a lot of rubbish but it worked! They must have seen something and thought: \u2018Let\u2019s give this kid a chance\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if that could happen today with the scouting networks and all the systems they\u2019ve got in place all around the world. Players get spotted a bit earlier but they didn\u2019t spot me, they just took a chance and I was fortunate at 15 to be given that chance. <\/p>\n

\"TonyTony Dorigo spent six seasons playing for Leeds and now works as an ambassador for the club. Photo by Shauna Clinton\/Sportsfile (Shauna Clinton \/ SPORTSFILE\/SPORTSFILE) <\/p>\n

\u201cVilla signed me, I was in the first team at 18, I was Player of the Year at 19\u2026 When you\u2019re growing up, you\u2019re dreaming of playing professional football and as an Australian kid, it\u2019s a million miles away, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s so far removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, scoring a winner at Wembley, playing in the World Cup (1990 for England)\u2026 It was just… It was a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

An attacking full-back with a touch smooth as silk, searing pace and a wand of a left foot, Dorigo joined Leeds from Chelsea for the 1991-92 season. Leeds had been promoted in 1989-90 and finished fourth in their first season back in the top flight. They finished top of the pile in their second, the first of Dorigo\u2019s six seasons at Elland Road.<\/p>\n

In the modern era, Dorigo feels that kind of success is nigh on impossible without massive investment. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last team that kind of surprised everyone was Leicester, which was just a heck of a story,\u201d says Dorigo, a Leeds United ambassador these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey weren\u2019t too long in the Premier League, they came up and the following season they won the title. But it won\u2019t happen again because you look now, look at how much Ipswich spent last summer – over 100 million quid to finish, what was it, 15 points behind safety\u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, that\u2019s just crazy. For the Premier League I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good look because you don\u2019t want that, you don\u2019t want that gap getting bigger and bigger (between the wealthiest clubs and the rest).<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if any club can breach that gap, I think it\u2019s us (Leeds), I really do, I think we\u2019ve got a really good team off the pitch with the owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re very determined to maximise the potential and I think the potential is huge. We\u2019ve got huge support in Ireland, we\u2019ve got huge support around the world, in Australia, in Scandinavia, in America\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we have that ability, but you\u2019ve got to do it on the pitch and I think we\u2019ve got a lot of things going for us but it\u2019s going to be a huge summer, making sure we get the signings right. We\u2019re going to spend a lot of money but we\u2019ve got to get it right.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be looking at six or seven signings and it\u2019s difficult because a lot of players are wanting to prove themselves in the Premier League but as a club, you need to be looking always for better players. You always need to improve because the gap is not getting any less, it\u2019s getting bigger. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of players who have proven fantastic in the Championship but how many will get the chance to prove in the Premier League? I\u2019m not so sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the nature of the beast. Every club\u2019s going to be buying players to improve.\u201d <\/p>\n

Leeds United versus AC Milan kicks off at 3pm on Saturday, 9 August 2025. Tickets for the match go on pre-sale to Club fans on Tuesday, May 27 before going on public sale on Thursday, May 29 at 10am. Ticket prices start at \u20ac35 for adults and \u20ac20 for U16s (booking fees apply). Tickets can be purchased via Ticketmaster. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEEDS was bedlam. The streets were thronged, the atmosphere was electric as the open-topped double-decker bus packed with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[884,748,393,4884,1860,2922,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-137343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-ac-milan","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-leeds-united","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114582804507785957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}