This actually does mean more. There is no other way to cut a playoff final than its division between success and failure. Tears flow either from happiness or sorrow.
There can be no in-between. Any pride in defeat will be swallowed by desolation. Such is the cruelty and beauty of the format.
Wonderful to win, awful to lose, something akin to a blood sport voyeur event to the neutral. If rising to such occasions writes club legends, freezing can banish participants to infamy. Defeat added to Leeds's horrible history at both Wembley and the playoffs.
As full-time finally arrived, Adam Armstrong, the goalscorer, led the Southampton players' charge to their fans while Leeds players sank to the turf, the substitute Mateo Joseph thrashing his fists into the grass. The Leeds defender Joe Rodon was inconsolable despite a gang of teammates and coaches attempting to lift him from being bent double in mental anguish. Championship football, another 46‐game season, and the dreaded prospect of more playoffs await Leeds.
Where Sports Republic, Southampton's owners, can celebrate the influx of Premier League loot coming their way after a single year's absence, their Leeds equivalent, 49ers Enterprises, must foot the bill to go again. Maybe the portents were too heavy for Leeds to overcome. In May 1987, St Andrews, Birmingham, after John Sheridan had put Leeds ahead in extra time of a replay, Leeds fans sang "If you're going to Old Trafford clap your hands".
The name of Peter Shirtliff, who.