For about 30 minutes of Leeds United’s match against QPR on Saturday, despite leading by a goal and dominating the game, all you could hear were the away fans. “Where’s your famous atmosphere?” rang out around the ground in thick cockney accents.

It is a legitimate question not answered easily. Is it ticket prices, modern football, recent seasons at Leeds, something else or a combination of all these things?

Early in the second half, a sustained chant of “we are the champions, champions of Europe” sparked the home fans back to life, but it was far from Beeston’s boisterous best.

This season marks the 50th anniversary when United reached the peak of club football on a balmy night in Paris 1975, where they met Bayern Munich for the European Cup.

Leeds were denied a clear penalty when Franz Beckenbauer scythed down Alan Clarke without even a shoelace on the ball. And a legitimate United goal that was given was then overturned bizarrely after Beckenbauer’s remonstrations.

The anger of 1975 has smouldered on in the form of the “champions of Europe” chant. The high watermark of Leeds’ rich history still haunts the club – a point from which the Peacocks have never returned and seems as far away as ever.

The past few seasons have left their mark on the fanbase too.

Marcelo Bielsa’s bubble burst, and that pain was compounded by another relegation and play-off final loss. Even for the hard hearts of Leeds fans, this has been a run of diminishing returns.

Daniel Farke’s football has been criticised as “boring”, but the defensive solidity of the German’s style is key to his success. It is effective, if not always inspiring.

Perhaps only promotion will reignite Elland Road to what it once was.

Until then the atmosphere is still surviving on anger five decades old, echoes of a glittering past.

Find more from Adonis Storr at The Roaring Peacock, external