The only hint of a cloud to pass across Bruno Ribeiro’s face comes with the mention of a place that used to bring him so much joy. Ribeiro spent a two-month sabbatical watching matches up and down England during the spring and Elland Road, where he played for two seasons during that period in the late 1990s when Leeds began to beguile everyone, was always going to feature somewhere. He deliberately picked a match against Queens Park Rangers in April; the occasion could double up as a reunion with his close friend and former Leeds team-mate Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink but the overriding sense was of wistfulness.
“Just 17,000 people in there,” Ribeiro says with a long sigh. “For that club, a massive club … pffff … I just feel sad. Jimmy and I were talking afterwards, remembering how the supporters loved us at that time, how nearly 40,000 would come every week and make such an amazing atmosphere. To go there now and see how things are – it’s very difficult.”
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