LEEDS United have long been one of the most disliked teams in the country by other fans - and after Saturday's disgraceful scenes at Elland Road there will be few tears shed outside West Yorkshire about their looming relegation.

LEEDS United have long been one of the most disliked teams in the country by other fans - and after Saturday's disgraceful scenes at Elland Road there will be few tears shed outside West Yorkshire about their looming relegation.

Whether the pitch invasion was orchestrated in an attempt to get the match abandoned or just the act of hundreds of mindless thugs is irrelevant.

The fact is that on Saturday Town fans were given a disturbing flashback to football riots of the 1970s and 1980s.

What will be a concern to police across the country is that next season these Leeds fans will be travelling to smaller clubs in towns and cities unused to dealing with large crowds - especially large crowds which are likely to turn ugly if things don't go their way.

But ironically one of the small clubs that would like a pay-day from the visit of Leeds, Scunthorpe United, will be travelling in the opposite direction after winning promotion on Saturday.

On Saturday the Ipswich fans were the unwilling onlookers in this appalling demonstration of football anarchy.

It must have been frightening to be in the crowd and few Town fans will be sorry today that they are unlikely to return to Elland Road next season.

Any last vestiges of sympathy for a great club fallen on hard times will have disappeared as their fans invaded the pitch.

From the point of view of football lovers across the country, Alan Lee did the Championship a real favour by scoring the goal which consigned Leeds to the oblivion of the third division.

FEW things can be more frightening while driving along a motorway or dual carriageway than being confronted by a vehicle coming the wrong way straight for you.

It seems incredible that any vehicle could have travelled 10 miles in the wrong direction along the A14 before it finally left the road safely.

When such incidents occur it is usually because a driver became confused on entering the road.

Most of the blame for this can be placed on the driver - after all thousands of drivers successfully find their way on to the A14 every day - but it would be wise for the Highways Agency to ensure that all the signs and the road junctions are as clear as possible to reduce the risk of these incidents.

IN these days of a “flexible workforce” it is becoming less and less common to find someone spending his or her entire career with the same employer.

However that is exactly what Michael Finbow has done. He has dedicated his entire working life to the Co-op in Ipswich, and has clearly loved his work.

As he retires after 50 years with the Co-op he can look back with pride on his work for the movement . . . and look forward with his wife Sylvia to their new life teaching sequence dancing on cruise ships.