Leeds United are darting for a place back into the Premier League and are enjoying a brilliant 2023/24 campaign at the Championship, having boosted their way to the second place in the final stretch of the season.
The fans are having a party again and three particular players have impressed them into forming a brilliant chant over this season.
The Whites’ Dutch trio Crysencio Summerville, Joel Piroe and Pascal Struijk have all been strong pillars of Leeds’ impressive 23/24 season and a major reason behind their push for automatic promotion.
Summerville has been on fire as the Whites’ top-scorer with 16 goals in 36 games (in all competitions) and Piroe is right behind him with 11 goals.
Struijk, despite being a centre-back, has still scored five goals and his dominant performance have helped Leeds keep the best defensive record in the Championship so far.
These players have showcased impressive consistency and played brilliant football from the beginning of the campaign, impressing fans into creating the catchiest chant for them.
All About the Summerville, Struijk And Piroe Chant
The signing of Piroe from Swansea City in the 2023 summer transfer window strengthened the Dutch core at Leeds United. Piroe was amazed by the passion of the Elland Road faithful after joining the club in the summer as he reflected after a win over Bristol City in October: “The energy from the crowd is amazing and we are winning our duels, winning games and that’s the most important thing.”
After a shaky initial start, the Leeds United players started to significantly improve their performances and a lot of credit went to the fans’ support itself. Summerville provided the perfect message in an ode to the fans and said: “Leeds has the best fans and I want them to come to Elland Road, so I can hopefully create many more special moments for them. I want to return back with Leeds United to the Premier League.”
With the three Dutchmen performing at a high level and also maintaining their consistency, they started becoming major fan favorites as the season wore on and were piled together due to their nationalities. The Leeds fans decided to pay homage to all of them with a brand new chant, and the lyrics of the Summerville, Struijk and Piroe chant goes something like this:
“And I like it, I like it, I like it, I like it,
Oooh Whoo, Oooh Whoa,
Here we go-ooh!
Summerville, Struijk and Piroe!”
As has become the norm for football fan culture in the UK, these chants are often inspired by hit tunes from musicians which are just given a little twist to help the fans start a party of their own during matches or when travelling to games.
It turns out that this particular chant is actually heavily inspired by the song ‘Rockin’ All Over The World’ by the popular British rock band Status Quo. In particular, the chant is inspired by the chorus of the song which goes like:
“And I like it
I like it
I like it
I like it
I la-la like it
La-la-li
Here we go rockin’ all over the world!”
This song is actually really popular among the football fans and Arsenal fans were also inspired to use it in a similar fashion as the Leeds faithful to create a chant for their youth academy products Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe.
Because of the sheer love that the Leeds United faithful have showered upon them over this season, Summerville, Piroe and Struijk have all been extremely grateful for all the love and support. While they are yet to directly refer to his particular chant, the trio have praised the impact of Leeds fans into energizing their performances and getting the very best out of the players.
Struijk has grown particularly fond of the clubs’ fans and their history of passionate support, and also made a reference to the famous Leeds United song ‘Marching on Together’ in his statement after signing a new contract in December 2022 and reflected: “It feels really good, it’s been a while for me in the club now, and I’m really happy to extend my journey. You know as in the song [Marching On Together], a lot of ups and downs.”
Leeds have had an interesting history with Dutch players, with Jimmy Floyd-Hasselbaink – who scored 37 goals in 81 appearances for them from 1997-99 – arguably being their best Dutch player till date.
However, going by the gaga around Summerville, Piroe and Struijk – these three can potentially outshine Hasselbaink in the long run – especially if able to guide Leeds back to the Premier League.