Two Leeds fans ditch family holiday to attend crucial play-off final against Southampton | Examiner Live

Two die-hard Leeds United supporters have taken the bold step of ditching their £5,500 family holiday to attend Sunday’s Championship play-off final against Southampton.

Dean Fairbrother, 59, and Liam Cooper, 43, are set to swap the comfort of Ibiza’s Tropic Garden Hotel for a flight back to London in the early hours of Sunday. The dedicated pair, who jetted off to the Balearic island today (Friday), will board a 12.50pm flight and attend the 3pm kick-off in the capital before flying back early on Monday morning, the Daily reports star

Loyal fans broke the news of their bold plan to their wives only after they started booking their flights, eager to witness the crucial game against Southampton that could catapult their team into the Premier League. Liam, only securing his ticket on Wednesday, joked he was “not in his wife’s good books” when he revealed his altered travel plans.

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His wife had slammed him, saying: “I paid for all-inclusive and then you’re going to go and spend £8 on a pint in Wembley?” However, Liam, a lifelong Leeds fan who grew up with Elland. Road, insisted: “The last time I went to Wembley was 16 years ago, so I said, ‘I’ve got to go.’

He continued: “She was not impressed when she found out I had booked the flights without a ticket. So I’m not in her good books, but she’s happy that I now have a ticket.”

Bridget Fairbrother, 57, Dean’s wife, lightly remarked that he had “weeks to iron” in return for interrupting their expensive holiday. However, she admitted it would have been “painful” to watch her husband watch the match on a screen in Ibiza when he had the chance to be at Wembley.

She commented: “All I can say is that he is lucky to have a very understanding wife. I think they are crazy. But honest to them. That’s Leeds fans for you… I couldn’t have watched him in a bar in Spain knowing he could have gone to Wembley.”

“It would have been much more painful for me than him leaving. I’ll be sitting by the pool, having a cocktail and thinking, “It’s not really going to affect me.”

“I’m sure they’ll have a great time. But he’ll be ironing for a long time, he says, when he gets back from vacation.” A somewhat embarrassed dean confessed, “My wife realized, no matter what she said, I was probably going to make it. But it didn’t go very well.”

The friends, who spent their younger years following Leeds United across Europe, said they had planned a week-long getaway to Ibiza in September, aware of the potential clash with the play-off final but constrained by the half-time break of mandate to host. families.

The pair, who have seen more than 45 games this season, have found themselves absorbed in sorting out the logistics of the game in recent weeks. Their planning went into full swing after Leeds United’s triumphant 4-0 win over Norwich City at Elland Road, prompting them to secure their plane ticket for the Wembley clash on their return trip.

Dean, who lives in Newton Abbot, Devon, after retiring as a financial adviser, said: “I booked (the holiday) nine months ago around the start of the football season. At that moment, I had that naive hope that it would all be over by now.”

“But it was a potential risk… We anticipated this for weeks beforehand. We both went to the second leg of the play-offs and booked the outbound flight from Ibiza to Gatwick on the minibus that was coming. back got this for £15 each.”

“As it’s half term, a lot of people go the other way, from here Gatwick and Birmingham back. But it took a very long time on the Internet to find something viable.”

However, anxiety struck Liam when he discovered he was ineligible for a priority ticket under the club’s loyalty scheme. Fortunately, on Wednesday, at the general sale, he managed to put a ticket in his luggage.

A lifelong Leeds supporter, he said: “I’ve supported Leeds all my life, I probably went to my first game when I was nine. At Elland Road you go to the top of the street and there’s an estate and I grew up there so literally if you had a good throw you could get to the stadium.

The pair anticipated spending around £300 each on flights, train journeys and taxi journeys to catch Sunday’s game, not to mention £55 on match tickets. They were keen for that investment to pay off, seeing Leeds United promoted to the Premier League.

Dean remarked, “It’s quite a commitment… Normal people don’t understand why you do things like that.”