With a tight 1-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday this weekend, Leeds United took a big step toward sealing promotion to the Premier League next season. In the explosion of joy following Jack Harrison’s 65th minute goal, one Leeds fan exploded his ankle during his raucous celebration, which required a surgery that the madman put off by waiting until after the match was over before going to the hospital.
Here’s a photo of the fan, identified as 18-year-old Matt Richardson, after he screwed up his ankle but before he left the stadium, tweeted out by @ArchaeoWill. WARNING: This is pretty gross:
Richardson himself tweeted another photo of his foot once he was at the hospital:
The Yorkshire Evening Post caught up with Richardson and let him explain himself. Here, he lays out what happened:
“I jumped up, ran down the steps, I missed my step and fell over,” Richardson said.
“Next thing I know, I look at my ankle and it’s like falling off.”
“I looked down and I thought: ‘I probably need to go hospital’ but my main priority was to carry on watching the game.”
Richardson said he did flag the on-site paramedics over, who naturally advised him to leave immediately to get his foot checked out, but he refused. “I was more interested in the fact Leeds are going to the Premier League!” Richardson told the Post. After the final whistle, the stadium’s support staff lugged him away:
The overly fanatical teen also talked about how he was able to snap a bone in his leg and still sit there cheerily for about a half-hour before going to the hospital:
“I managed to crack a smile because for so many years I’ve gone to Elland Road and watched absolute rubbish.
“Finally we have team with passion and desire to win, and that makes me proud to be a Leeds fan, so the passion overcame the pain.”
With only four matches left in the Championship season, Leeds are currently in the second of the table’s two automatic promotion places, clear of third place by three points. Maybe it really is worth potentially losing your foot (though it seems like Richardson will be fine) to watch your beloved club put one foot of its own into the Premier League.