Video emerges of Leeds fans again singing grim chants about Jimmy Savile and Elton John in retaliation

A new video emerges of Leeds fans again taking to singing grim chants about Jimmy Savile and Elton John in the game against Watford.

Various songs could be heard at Elland Road, brought back for last weekend’s match with footage of it emerging online, sung allegedly in retaliation to hearing he’s ‘one of your own’ from the away end, something Leeds fans hearing on a regular basis.

It is not the first time Leeds fans could be heard singing it, these chants were also sung aimed in the direction of Watford fans in the away end for the fixture back in 2021, again, that clip doing the rounds on social media…

Leeds fans singing about Elton John v Watford… 😳 pic.twitter.com/BQBwu2LQAu

— Football Fooligans (@Footy_Fooligans) September 25, 2023

Jimmy Savile, he shagged Elton John 🤣

Full matchday vlog video: https://t.co/08k3ogHy8r #lufc #leewat #watford pic.twitter.com/kKHpN4bqeY

— All Leeds TV (@AllLeedsTV) October 2, 2021

Phil Hay previously wrote about how chants on Jimmy Savile should have no place in football and must stop.

In 2018, he wrote via Yorkshire Evening Post: “…he is the subject of chants at every ground Leeds United have visited this season. The record shows that the club’s travelling crowd are prone to reciprocating, generally without fail, but despite the fool in costume at Blackburn it can be said with some confidence that the inclination to sing about Savile would not be there were his name not being thrown at them. It is a base-level game of tit-for-tat, which no-one seems prepared to disrupt.

“So where to start? Originality for one, and the realisation that these chants have had oxygen and impunity for the best part of a decade now. Identity for two, and the weird presumption that connecting Savile with Leeds is anymore cutting than travelling to Madrid and taunting the locals about the UK’s control of Gibraltar. But perspective is the point; the disregard for the extent of Savile’s offences and the very recent consequences of them.

“I defer to Ian Holloway on this one, a coach who spent 20 minutes laying into Millwall’s crowd after Leeds played there in 2014 and Savile got some airtime. “Stop and think about what he’s actually done,” Holloway said. “It’s not funny.”

“There are, inevitably, victims of Savile’s who travel away with Leeds. I met one a few years ago at Reading. He did not talk in detail about his experience and it was not my place to ask but if the people targeted by Savile ever feel like faceless numbers, rest assured that they aren’t. The allegations against him were so vast that it is almost inconceivable that others don’t sit in the home end of stadiums where Savile is brought up over the course of each season. Has the Championship become hardened to it? Has it gone beyond the point where songs about Savile are fresh enough to cause offence? Or is football too ambivalent to deal with something it should have taken on years ago?

“These questions are a magnet for whataboutery: counter points about songs relating to the Munich disaster, the trouble United’s support can been guilty of causing – exhibit A: reports of a vandalised tram before last month’s derby at Sheffield Wednesday – or any bone of contention which reminds someone like me that Leeds are not as pure as the snow. But this is about Savile and I would challenge anyone to identify a slur as ubiquitous as the chant about him. I would challenge those who govern the sport to say if they would sit back and let it ride so freely were the chant in question about Barry Bennell (the former football coach sentenced to 30 years in prison for child sexual abuse).

“Many of Savile’s offences were committed at Leeds General Infirmary, on patients between the age of five and 75. I’ve been to the hospital twice in the past few months with a number of United’s players (the club are working in partnership with the Children’s Heart Surgery Fund) and having seen the sickness, the vulnerability and the professionalism there, the only conclusion you can draw is that it takes a rare type of degenerate to take advantage in those circumstances. This is best left to those who properly understand the psychology of offenders but it is grim to think of Savile gleaning pleasure from his notoriety or the banter he is inspiring. Would he have wanted this? Only he could say but he is a long way past deserving the benefit of any doubt.

“Football has the power to call an amnesty and put these chants to bed. Clubs can speak out, the authorities can take an interest and supporters can self-police. Even without Saturday’s evidence it is obvious that some supporters need to. Just look at the facts: abuse by Savile was reported in Leeds, Manchester, London, Surrey and Middlesex, in more than 20 different hospitals, in schools and in other places where his celebrity let him do as he pleased.

“It is a national scandal of modern times, virtually without comparison, and it deserves to be treated as such. The only thing the game should be doing is leaving him to rot.”

More is reportedly being done to get rid of chants such as these with fans being warned by the FA that they could face criminal charges over crowd chants.

Douglas Mackay, CPS sports lead prosecutor, said to Sportsmail in 2023: ‘We are horrified that the beautiful game has been marred by hateful and abusive behaviour in recent weeks. While chants create an amazing atmosphere, songs that include homophobic or racist language have no place in the sport.

‘This illegal activity can be, and has been, prosecuted, with perpetrators receiving criminal records and football banning orders. The CPS will continue to work closely with the police, football authorities and fan groups to stamp this out.’

A source of the FA also said to Sportsmail that they were ‘deeply concerned’ about the frequency of offensive and abusive chanting and that tackling the issue has become a key priority for the governing body. ‘We are determined to stamp this behaviour out.

The ‘Jimmy Savile, he’s one of your own’ chant often gets aimed at Leeds supporters, who sometimes retaliate with even more abhorrent lyrics about the sex offender who was born in the city and died in 2011.

Graham Hyde, former vice chair of Leeds United Supporters’ Trust, said: ‘Why do they sing about a serial paedophile and rapist? He wasn’t even a Leeds fan. But part of the nature of football ‘banter’ has traditionally been trying to provoke the other fans with something and if you get a reaction then you have won.’

Fair to say it caused quite a stir on Twitter since then and continues to do so.

As a new video emerges of Leeds fans again signing the chant about Jimmy Savile and Elton John, this is what users online previously said on it…

@Dom_LUFC89: These chants were boring years ago and still are 😴

@PaulLUFC1919: Not really funny though is it?

@Chris_CD2010:
Very bad taste.
Nothing to be proud of.
Not funny.

@CorporateAK: Poor taste to think this is funny

@KristShallcross: Grow the fuck up 🤦🏼

@RealSligonian: Singing Jimmy Saviles name in any context is a disgrace and a stain on some of the fans in our club. He abused children ffs. It’s not funny.

@elland_toad: How in any walk of life do actual grown men think this is funny?

@mirts88: We cry foul about chants that involve Galatasaray, rightfully. But Jimmy Saville was a monster whose victims and their families suffered greatly too. Honestly think it’s vile to chant about him. #lufc

@_LewisStant: These chants aren’t funny at all. Mentioning that mans name brings our name down in the mud. It’s vile and should be left alone. Stop singing about him. Absolutely vile.