Leeds-born Thackray says she was given no choice about who to support.

“My family are all Leeds mad. I came out of the womb, and was handed a Leeds United shirt,” she told BBC Sport.

“My first proper memories of football were the late 1990s and early 2000s, so my favourite players were the likes of Lucas Radebe, Alan Smith, Lee Bowyer and Mark Viduka. That David O’Leary era was the time for me where I was connecting with the team and we were playing the best football of our lives.

“I got to see us beat AC Milan at Elland Road and stuff like that, so it was a great introduction to football. Let’s just say things fell off a bit after that.

“People describe what happened next as Leeds in the doldrums but we still had some players who stood out, and most of them were probably the ones who came through our academy.

“My heroes during those years were people like Sam Byram and Jonny Howson -Howson’s parents live around the corner from mine and it was always quite strange to see him at the supermarket and things like that.

“It is just a shame that we cannot seem to keep hold of our homegrown talent, most recently with Archie Gray going to Tottenham. It’s another reason we need to be back in the Premier League.”

Leeds missed out on promotion last year when they lost to Southampton in the play-off final, but they are currently top of the Championship table.

So will they be back in the top flight next season?

“We have to be, really,” added Thackray. “It feels likes do or die because, if we don’t go up this time, the club could fall apart and we could face another 20 years out of the Premier League

“I think we will do it, although I am not sure whether we will hold on to top spot because Sheffield United look really strong.

“Finishing second is fine though. Us going up is all that matters, really.”

Chris Sutton and Emma-Jean Thackray were speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.