Robbie Keane and Rio Ferdinand have revealed Leeds United’s Champions League semi-final team still have an active WhatsApp group to this day.
It is now over 23 years since that Leeds team famously reached the last four of Europe’s most prestigious competition, before eventually being knocked out by Valencia.
Clearly it is a time in the careers of those players they look back at extremely fondly, with Ferdinand even suggesting on his podcast episode with Keane that Leeds was the most enjoyable period of his career, despite how much he went onto win at Manchester United.
Keane and Ferdinand also shed light on the brilliant ‘penny game‘ they used to play during matches at Leeds in the early 2000s, that would consist of a coin being passed around, with whoever it landing on at the end of a game having to buy the whole squad a meal.
Unfortunately financial issues saw that Leeds side dismantled pretty soon after, with Ferdinand and Aaron Lennon speaking last year about just how out of control it got at the club.
Keane says Batty only player missing from Leeds group chat
David Batty is a legendary figure on the terraces at Elland Road but certainly defies what many would regard as a typical footballer.
Since hanging up his boots in 2004, Batty has very much kept himself out of the limelight and unlike many, has not gone down the avenue of either punditry or coaching.
One of Batty’s rare public appearances in the last 20 years came during the lockdown period in 2020, when Leeds would post a video onto social media of past and present associates of the club clapping for the NHS.
And it appears as though Batty has not only kept himself away from the public eye, but also his former teammates, according to both Keane and Ferdinand.
Reminiscing on old times at Elland Road, the former Leeds duo shared how Batty is the only member of that Champions League team not to be in the WhatsApp group.
Keane said: “We have a Leeds WhatsApp group.”
Ferdinand then responded: “Our team, we played in Leeds. It’s got how many of us in there? About 20 odd in there? Olivier Dacourt’s in there. I think David O’Leary’s in there. He’s in there. The only one who’s not in there is Bats.
RK: “David Batty, He’s disappeared. He was the greatest guy ever. What a top, top player he was. I kind of knew he was just going to disappear.
“He’s one of those guys, no one’s ever heard of him. So Bats, if you’re around, get back involved to the WhatsApp group. Everyone’s like, where’s David Batty?”
RF: “We’d have a night out just for David Batty. He just said ‘you’ll never see me’ and he’s been true to his word.
Host Joel Beya then asked: “Who else is in the group?”
RK: “We have Jason Wilcox, Dubs, Woodgate”
RF: “Bowyer, Gary Kelly. He always just sends pictures of him just with beer. He’s around the Guinness or something, somewhere in the world. But it’s nostalgic. I like it. It takes you back to that time.”
- READ MORE: Liverpool midfielder tells Leeds United star he is a ‘top’ player after what he did for his country
What Ferdinand said about time at Leeds amid fan criticism
Moving from Leeds to Manchester United immediately made Ferdinand public enemy number one back in 2002, and the criticism is something he still receives to this day.
During Leeds’ most recent period in the Premier League, Ferdinand received an abundance of stick from Whites supporters while he was on punditry duty.
Ferdinand has repeatedly tried to smooth things over with Leeds and as mentioned previously, he still regards his time in West Yorkshire as the best of his career.
He said: “A lot of Leeds fans, because I obviously went to [Manchester] United, hate me and that’s fair enough. It’s because of the rivalry, which I didn’t actually understand at the time being a Londoner – but I do now.
“Leeds fans will always say to me ‘Leeds, Leeds, Leeds’, and I’m like that was the most enjoyable part of my career – and I wasn’t there long.”
Receive a digest of our best Leeds content each week direct to your mailbox
