From Bangkok radio to a private audience with Marcelo Bielsa in Kuala Lumpur, Nigel Woods has spent 26 years following Leeds United abroad.
According to yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk, the Yeadon-born fan left England in 2000 and has lived in Thailand, Taiwan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Ukraine and the UAE. He tracked Champions League peaks, League One troughs and a Premier League return, turning to BBC Radio Leeds when TV coverage vanished.
Southeast Asia’s passion surprised him, from a Bangkok immigration officer naming Leeds players to Thai channels occasionally showing Champions League ties. After relegation, broadcasts were scarce, so with better internet he listened in Bangkok to Bryn Law and Norman Hunter on Leeds Radio.
A favourite memory came in League One, when the FA Cup brought a televised Manchester United tie. Skint in a tiny East Bangkok flat, he still savoured every minute.
Now in Kuala Lumpur, he helps run the Leeds United Supporters Club Malaysia, where around eight to 10 gather at Bar Roca and the WhatsApp group keeps growing.
When Uruguay and the Dominican Republic visited last October, former liaison officer Peter ‘Stix’ Lockwood arranged an audience with Bielsa. Members carried a banner reading “Gracias Bielsa & Firpo. Marching On Together”, kept the meeting’s details private at Bielsa’s request, and Firpo later stopped to chat, pose and sign. Woods then presented Lockwood with a Malaysia supporters’ club jersey at the Brentford game.