The Mighty Whites

The Believer

2010-05-06T19:14:00.002+01:00

Well this is it.

The culmination of a season that has been anything but dull. Good in chunks, shite in wads, briefly glorious in the extreme. Second in the league. A win on Saturday and we are promoted; there is nothing any other team can do to overhaul us so long as we beat Bristol Rovers at Elland Road on Saturday 8^th May 2010. Remember the date as the most important in Leeds United’s modern history.

On the back of the Charlton game which still leaves me feeling bitter I am trying desperately, in this most tortuous of intervening periods, to look objectively at Saturday’s game for what it is, a decent League One side with absolutely everything to play for at home against a team with a recent poor record, one eye on the summer holidays and nothing to play for.

But I just can’t shake the bitterness from the Charlton game. It’s not that we played particularly badly given the magnitude of the game and quality of the opposition, rather the consistency of the side in failing to get the result when it really matters. My bitterness actually is not about the Charlton game, rather everything that has gone before it that it represents.

Many of my postings (which have started to sound like a broken record) reference what in my view is the biggest failing of this side; their inability to handle the weight of expectation that comes with playing for our club. Their record in the biggest games is utterly abysmal; the only victory in recent years in front of over 35,000 at Elland Road was the no-pressure last game of the season against Gillingham. All the other performances have been abject to say the lease, and that is without mentioning Cardiff or Wembley – the lowest of the low.

The problem has always been about the mentality of the players at crucial times. We want to see winners. Winners are not just players who perform well on the crest of a wave. Winners are players who, when the team has a blip, change attitude to grind out results with an increased workrate, a greater determination than the opposition and cool heads. How many times have we been beaten by lower opposition simply because they were prepared to work harder than us? Something no Leeds fan can abide.

Having spent a calendar year showing me that he could instill this attitude into his players, Simon Grayson faced his first real test at the beginning of 2010. He had taken his third division players to victory at the home of the English (and recent European) champions, our most hated rivals. After this the wheels slowly but surely started to fall off what most previously thought was a immovable force at the top of the league. A few poor results, low confidence, no sign of a winning mentality. Rather than digging themselves out, they buried themselves. Poor performances, individually, collectively and consistently. What started as a blip grew and grew to answer in clearest terms the question always posed of the greatest teams: how quickly can you get out of your rough patch? In Leeds’ case, up to and including the Swindon game at home, not at all.

There have been different arguments about the cause of the slump, two of which have featured prominently.

The Beckford Transfer Saga

Our number 9 popped himself on the transfer list at the end of December (though news of this didn’t break as I recall until after the ManYoo game). This has been blamed as a source of unsettling the squad at a crucial time and being the catalyst for the 2010 slump. I’m not totally convinced by this argument; aside from other things, before the end of January Beckford was off the transfer list publicly declaring that he wanted to help Leeds secure promotion. As far as the rest of the squad is concerned that should be the end of that.

I think there is an argument that Beckford himself has been affected by this; lacklustre performances, goals drying up. All signs pointing to the exit door on the other side of which appears to be a premier league club who must surely have only watched videos of the goals and other limited highlights whilst at the same time refusing point blank to watch his ability to control or head the ball.

The F.A. Cup Run

January 3^rd, remember the date... I know we’ll never forget it but if we don’t go up it will have lost much of its meaning for me; other than to record a moment in time when a third division football team beat the English champions in the F A Cup. The day we beat them at their own ground as their competitors in the Premier League will be far more momentous.

The start of the slump was almost instantaneous after this game. The column inches dedicated to Leeds hit levels I hadn’t seen since the Champions League days or, more recently the almost terminal financial implosion. It was difficult not to feel that the hype emanating from the press (to the effect of “Leeds must surely win League One at a canter”, “Leeds are far too good for League One”, “Some players will now be targets for Premier League clubs”) went straight to the players heads and in the following home league game the players had a reality check.

This hype was of course reignited for the fantastic trip to White Hart Lane and for about 50 minutes of the replay before the premier league men taught the league one boys a thing or two about football.

What followed seemed to be an inability to refocus on what had always been the most important task, promotion from League One. Would I swap the win at Old Trafford for promotion? Every time. It would (and hopefully will) be nice to have both but I am pretty sure that the impact of the F A Cup on the promotion push was real and significant; if a winner’s mentality requires an outstanding workrate, and arrogance eats away at this, then we had some pretty arrogant players during that run. By the time the run was over and it was clear that our league form was not good – injuries were hitting and the team looked disjointed, the management had its work cut out reinstalling the sense of work ethic, realism and belief.

As I write this now I’m not sure that they have really succeeded and irrespective of how we finish the season this is something which needs to be comprehensively addressed.

And so to Bristol Rovers at home. At this point it’s all gone pretty negative, I know. The intention wasn’t to end up this way but I think it mirrors the path of every Leeds fan’s thought processes. Looking ahead to Saturday, I am instantly optimistic, as I always am before a game. Its only when you really think about it – the wasted opportunities, Swindon and Millwall hammering us twice, Walsall at home, Norwich away, Gillingham away, Charlton away – that the frustration, anger and consequently nervousness creeps in. In fact the swing in mood in the East Stand concourse as events unfolded on Saturday at the beamback perfectly illustrated this – jumping and singing one minute, cursing and despair by the end! In the build up to Saturday the conversations among Leeds fans will no doubt follow this path almost uniformly.

On the eve of the season I blogged the following (ignoring references to M K Dons and Tranmere!):-

“There is no doubt that this is going to be the toughest season we have encountered in this league given the number of bigger names in the division. Southampton, Charlton and Norwich were all our opponents in the Premier League in recent memory. Add to this M K Dons and Milwall who were our nearest rivals last season, along with the ever improving Tranmere Rovers and we are suddenly faced with a growing cluster of sides who we expect to be fighting at the top.

And here we are; second in the league after a strong start with a blip later in the season. The point I made at the time was that the only way out of this division was automatic promotion because we couldn’t handle the play-offs. I still believe this to be true, but it is the ultimate irony that the only way for us to guarantee automatic promotion is to produce the goods in a one-off “cup final” scenario.

The key word and seemingly the word of this week is “BELIEVE”. I believe that my club belongs in football competition much higher than it currently sits. I believe we are capable of winning on Saturday by some distance. I believe there is enough talent in the side to brush Bristol Rovers aside without even breaking into a sweat.

I also believe that Leeds’ capacity to screw up the most golden of opportunities in the biggest of games is almost completely overwhelming. I also believe that League One footballers lack the mentality to deal properly with playing for this club.

The question is therefore whether we have League One footballers at our club?

I believe we are going to be promoted on Saturday.

See you on the pitch...

Marching on Together

==========================================================================

Starting Eleven for Saturday...

Higgs

Hughes

Naylor

Collins

White

Watt

Kilkenny

Johnson

Snodgrass

Gradel

Becchio

The Duke

2009-08-14T22:28:00.003+01:00

Sad to read today that it appears that the Duke is hanging up his boots (at least as far as English football is concerned).

One of the most gifted players I have ever had the fortune to see wear a Leeds shirt. Was a joy to watch when on form, in many ways on his day there were few strikers with such a brilliant all-round attacking game.

I hold many of the ex-players from the “living the dream” era with contempt for the way they treated the club and for the circumstances in which they left, though in most cases they have gone on to enjoy less money, less success and generally less of a career which I suppose placates me somewhat.

I never felt that with Viduka though, just enjoyed watching an intelligent player play football, even when he had left to play for Middlesbrough where he continued to shine before hopping onto the terminal Geordie comedy roadshow for its last trip around the block.

For a bit of nostalgia, watch this YouTube clip, and enjoy.

Marching on Together

Hello and Goodbye - 2009/2010 is our Year

2009-08-07T22:44:00.001+01:00

I’m back! You’re back! Football is back!

As appears to be the norm now (well, three out of the last four seasons anyway) Leeds finish a campaign on a bitter low failing to achieve what is expected and I run off sulking like a spoilt brat until around about the time the fixture list is released.

It’s funny that the sight of the fixture list, seeing in print actual games that we’re going to play and that I’m actually going to watch, and suddenly all is forgotten; the performance away in the first-leg at Milwall, Orient away, Histon away, and perhaps more poignantly Becchio et al showboating after the Argentinian’s goal in the play-off second leg when they should have picked up the ball and sprinted back to the half-way line having only just got Leeds back into the game, rather than parading in front of the West Stand as if they’d won the Champions League. Grrrrr.......

Sorry, I said all is forgotten, so let’s move on!

The release of the fixture list for Season 2009/2010 brought everything quickly back into view. I’m not a fan of pre-season friendlies particularly because I think they are now over-hyped and effectively hide their real purpose, training matches which assess fitness and ability over a period of time giving the manager opportunity to settle his squad in his own mind. That said, whilst they never particularly deliver in entertainment terms, they do serve to remind me how desperate I am to get back to watching Leeds in proper competitive games.

So this is my own little warm-up to the season, with just over twelve hours to go until we face the giants of Exeter at Elland Road.

If I may be so bold this is a new and different Leeds United. It was born on Boxing Day 2008 under a new leader. That leader has ambition and drive, and significantly no room for sentiment, especially of the type that had Frazer Richardson installed as club captain.

Simon Grayson knows that this is our third season in the third division, that we are no longer visitors here and that, for now, we belong here. The stature and history of the club means something to the supporters (and the “scalp” value to other sides in the division) but this is sentiment. There is no meaningful league table of supporters, only for footballers, the teams they play for, and the league they play in. The manager of our new Leeds United knows that one fact always rings true; the league table does not lie.

In something of a testament to Simon Grayson, in a league table from Boxing Day to the end of the season, the new Leeds United were the best team in League One. I championed this fact right to the final whistle in the play-off second leg. At that point the statistic became completely meaningless. And, given the consistent inability of the squad (and some of its “bigger” players) to rise to the crucial one-off occasions, the truth to be told by the next forty-something games is the most important in the club’s history.

So goodbye to sentiment. Also, goodbye to Jonathan Douglas and Frazer Richardson, neither of whom have been particular favourites of mine over the last few years and neither of whom in my humble opinion have really met the standards expected at the club during the last five years. It is ironic that Douglas arguably looked most comfortable in Richardson’s right-back position during the latter stages of his time with Leeds, but that said his lack of pace was always going to preclude him from settling there on a permanent basis.

Having been very critical of these players, particularly on this blog, I would have expected to have felt feelings akin to “good riddance” but in actual fact given the revolving door this club has become in recent years they simply merge into any number of players who have been asked to play a part in the strangest chapter of our history and have now gone. It is a long list. They won’t be missed.

Also goodbye to Fabian Delph. There seems to have been an inevitability about him going. His raw talent was clearly of a much higher standard than most players in this league and there can be no doubt that he has the potential to make an outstanding player at the highest level. Whilst there are no hard feelings on this one, there is some sadness about the loss of opportunity though; the thought that he could have been central to a great future at the club, and also a sadness that his leaving is indicative of the modern game. Not so much that money talks which is nothing new, rather at under twenty years of age that Delph feels the compulsion (with a nudge from his agent?) to play in the Premier League right now - perhaps largely as a reserve - rather than in, say, a year or two with a bit more experience of continuous first team football under his belt.

I have no doubt that of the Premier League managers a young player would want to work with, Martin O’Neill is right up there. The desire in young players for immediate success, fame and fortune is something that is human nature. However at the time of the great Scum, Leeds and Liverpool sides of the 50s, 60s and 70s this was tempered by sensible and responsible club management together with strong and supportive parenting, usually leading to club loyalty and of course the close bond between supporter and player. Since the influx of vast sums of money into the game, especially over the last decade, this desire is now simply indulged, at the root of which lies a dreadfully regulated sport awash with money and greedy agents acting as “advisers” to players, as if somehow they are acting in their best interests.

I hope I’m wrong and that Delph remains rooted in reality with a steady head on his shoulders, that he takes on the world and wins.

Taking a step back to Richardson and Douglas, they are players who illustrate a continuing debate; the question of an appropriate “standard” of player at the club. Some will defend pretty much all players irrespective of technical ability, frequently reasoning that as a League One side “we should not expect Premier League quality”, whilst others will stand behind only the most gifted, anything less being unacceptable. As with all such debates, the extreme points of view manifest themselves commonly on web forums, and the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I derive much greater pleasure from watching players of greater technical ability than those with perhaps a stronger work ethic but less of a “footballing brain”. I think it fair to suggest that if we want to play in the Championship we should have a squad at least half of whom can cut it at that level – for reasons of continuity and gradual improvement. I think it a little defeatist to suggest that because we are a League One side we will not be able to attract players of a calibre higher than that seen at our level of the game. Nevertheless there must be an acceptance of where we are, what we have, and what we can realistically obtain.

For me, our manager sees the middle ground of this argument and I am grateful for that.

And so to the new season. As ever I am absolutely optimistic, the polar opposite of the feeling I was left with last season, and the season before that and the season before that. And so on.

There is no doubt that this is going to be the toughest season we have encountered in this league given the number of bigger names in the division. Southampton, Charlton and Norwich were all our opponents in the Premier League in recent memory. Add to this M K Dons and Milwall who were our nearest rivals last season, along with the ever improving Tranmere Rovers and we are suddenly faced with a growing cluster of sides who we expect to be fighting at the top.

This makes our start to the season more crucial than ever. Sides who have won lower divisional titles in recent years have all started very strongly, leaving them with a comfort zone by the turn of the year and able to deal with any blips later in the season. Leicester, Swansea, Reading and Wigan have all been recent examples of this. This is where we must be, and this is where I believe Simon Grayson will come into his own. For me, his strength is the quietness with which he has got on with the job. Players who, in my ignorance, I’ve never heard of. Kisnorbo? But the reports are good. Blackwell, Wise and McAllister all enjoyed the spotlight in one way or another. With Grayson you get the impression that he is not interested in the spotlight, not interested in being the centre of attention. The impression is of someone who has always acted quietly, assuredly and given the boxing-day-to-end-of-season league table scenario, extremely successfully.

I couldn’t write this blog without talking about Jermaine Beckford of course. Love him or hate him or, perhaps more commonly, both(!) the goals output from this striker over the course of the season cannot be underestimated or, at short notice, replaced. The mutterings are that approaches are coming in, bookies are rapidly lowering odds of his departure from Elland Road.

Experience of the past few years tells me one thing loud and clear. The only way we are going to get out of this league is to win the whole damn thing. That has to start tomorrow and it needs the kind of goal tally Beckford can offer. To sell Beckford now, at least without the immediate replacement by a striker capable of producing an equal goals tally, would be disastrous.

So this is it. Another year of ups and downs. It has to be this year...

Marching on Together

BECKFORD, BIG 'ED, BATES ON THE BANDWAGON

2009-03-20T23:40:00.002Z

Lots of stuff to blog about this week. Let me have your thoughts on some, any or all of the following…

WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON, BRUV?

An interesting consequence of the current crop of players lucky enough to wear a Leeds shirt in League One is how they have managed to divide opinion amongst the supporters so starkly. There seems to be a line dividing those who expect to see and are therefore only interested in players of greater footballing ability and those on the other side who would say that their expectations are more "appropriate" to our place in the football league rankings, without much common ground in between. Players like Andrew Hughes and Jonathan Douglas are examples of those vilified by the former and championed by the latter; Andy Robinson and Neil Kilkenny perhaps examples of the reverse.

I have always believed that our needs as Leeds supporters are relatively simple. We love our heroes. They unify us. This is not a unique phenomenon nor exclusive to Leeds but it certainly is apparent at the moment as the broad spectrum of opinion on just about every player at the club right now illustrates this lack of a single focal point for our united affection.

The most topical at the moment is of course Jermaine Beckford. Twenty-nine goals already this season – an outstanding achievement in itself (it’s not even April yet) – would make him an ideal candidate but this is tempered by failings in the other areas of his game, not least his first touch and his temperament. The latter of these has been the catalyst for the recent explosion in the debate about our number nine.

Beckford is in fact the greatest example of the division between the supporters; between those who would have him first on the team sheet every week and those who yell from the terraces at every mistake, every misdirection of his frustration and, well, every miss. And there have been plenty.

The middle ground is, I think however, something to explore with Beckford. 29 goals is unarguably outstanding and shows that he is prolific at League one level. The transformation from RAC man to goal machine at Scunthorpe was something to behold, but this was of course via some abysmal performances during his first spell with us and relegation from the Championship. Since that relegation and Beckford’s recall to Elland Road he has become a regular goalscorer delivering tallies we have not seen since Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. That said, at the same time it should be remembered that when thinking about most goals he has scored I can recall at least another chance he should have put away and I'm talking about golden opportunities during tight games. Each as a result of a simple lack of footballing basics; concentration and control.

Herein I think lies the primary motivation for Beckford’s detractors. An inability to demonstrate consistent concentration and therefore ball control makes him unreliable, increasing the likelihood of mistakes at crucial times, particularly during key games. Given that this is League One – a fairly elementary level for those footballers with genuine ambition to succeed – the logical argument is that if we do get out of this division he would be shown up by the standard of the game in a higher division.

Add to this Beckford’s inability to keep his cool and this unreliability and unpredictability leaves some supporters’ feeling he is untrustworthy. Unshakeable Beckford supporters will point to the recent sending off at home to Swindon, and the punching of our tunnel cover, as evidence of how much Beckford cares and that, at this level, in excess of thirty goals a season is simply enough of a contribution, after all one man does not make a team.

Looking at this middle ground both sides have valid arguments. As a lover of attractive football I find Beckford continually frustrating. At times it seems almost inconveivable that a player capable of scoring brilliant sublime goals (that goal for Scunthorpe, or the chipped goals for Leeds against Hartlepool last year and Chester this year in the Carling Cup) could look so woefully incompetent on so many occasions. The two don’t match.

The unreliability argument can of course work both ways; you can always expect the unexpected with Beckford so from nothing you can have your matchwinner. I’m not sure that this has proved to be the case often enough for me, the play-off final at Wembley being the most poignant, disappointing example of a missed opportunity for Beckford to rise above the mediocrity of the division and propel himself and the club onwards and upwards.

Of course the debate and the arguments will continue in a continuous circle without much chance of resolution. But there are some common elements to take from it. We want to get out of this division. Now. With a tally of almost thirty goals Beckford is undoubtedly the man to spearhead that effort. The frustration with Beckford is that he could be the hero we crave so he is scrutinised most heavily and every mistake takes him further away from this pedestal.

History – based largely on statistics - will no doubt be kind to him and it is difficult to say that he would not deserve it.

Suspended tomorrow. Let's hope it doesn't cost us!

DAMNED IF YOU DO…

The opening of The Damned United takes place on Friday. The film, based on David Peace’s outstanding “factional” novel about Brian Clough and his 44 days at Elland Road in 1974, has generated a great deal of interest and has resulted in many printed words from journalists and ex-players alike, not to mention the numerous television programmes being broadcast reminding us what “Old Big ‘Ed” was like.

Cloughs brief tenure at Elland Road is a little before my time but I have read numerous articles, stories and anectodes about it over the years. A couple of things always stick in my mind. First of all was that Clough should never have been Leeds manager; at least not at that time. Don Revie, the man who had turned Leeds into one of the greatest club sides in the world, made his recommendation to the board for his successor. Jonny Giles, A man who knew the club inside out and in whom Revie saw the future by way of continuity. This was a model for success used by Liverpool so well over time. The board ignored him in what, historically, appears to be the most crucial misjudgement in the history of our club.

Having said that, Clough was clearly an outstanding manager which he showed over a long, distinguished and highly entertaining career. With the board having made its selection, the Clough debacle seems then to have been an enormous waste of an opportunity, caused in no small part by arrogance and disrespect on Clough’s part towards successful, seasoned professionals and what they had achieved (more than Clough at that point). However this was an ageing squad with maybe twelve months left as a competitive force and no provision had been made for youth development of the sort that provided the bedrock for Revie’s side over ten years. Some have even suggested that Revie left for England because he couldn't bear to break up that side.

There was always going to be a clash between manager and players in this scenario but it seems that upheaval is what may have been required to make sure that this aging squad didn’t disappear without adequate provision for the future. We unfortunately will never know whether Clough could have rejuvenated and revived the squad to enhance the longevity of the club's success. This is of course a much greater debate, one I would interested to be a part of at some point in the future.

Norman Hunter’s impressions of the new film were in The Times this week and make an interesting read, shedding a little light on the real opinion Clough held of the players. Well, some of them anyway!

Enjoy it if you’re going to see it.

HOPPING ON THE GRAVY TRAIN

Since the judgement of the F.A. panel that Carlos Tevez caused, singlehandedly, West Ham to survive the drop at Sheffield United’s expense, rather than Sheffield United being generally shit and therefore the cause of its own downfall, an unnecessary can of worms has sprung open which seemingly knows no bounds. First and foremost the judgement is dangerous. Football is a game with so many endless possibilities to narrow the facts down as the panel did was in my view erroneous.

And how we are seeing the consequences.

West Ham cheated and should have been punished, of that there is no doubt. In the context of the guaranteed £30 million premier league survival reward, their punishment was trivial, ill-thought and delivered with too much haste. This judgement has only exacerbated the problem. Having agreed to pay £25 million to Sheffield United all and sundry, including Uncle Ken, are keen to get their “due” from the troubled London club.

I have to say on the one hand that you cannot blame Bates. The judgement has been handed down from a court and any losses consequential to West Ham’s breach of duties should be properly recoverable. Whether those payments are recoverable is another matter of course but if they are the money would I'm sure come in very handy.

The problem is where do you draw the line? Can relegated teams now seek redress from anyone, to the point where failure in football is never the responsibility of the failed side, at least legally speaking? Also where does the responsibility of the offending party end? Can supporters sue for the emotional distress caused by relegation? Clearly some of these assertions are ridiculous but they illustrate the possible danger of how far-reaching this judgement could be.

Watch this space.

AND FINALLY…

Crewe away tomorrow. Three points crucial. We are on a good run of unbeaten form but these away games continue to be a thorn in our side as the recent trips to Oldham and Bristol proved. The fact that Crewe are on good form does not make a good omen but as ever on the eve of a match I am optimistic and, or course, expectant.

No Beckford. Dickinson in? A new hero? Three points please!

Marching on Together

A repost to long standing vilification...

2009-03-17T13:56:00.002Z

An outstanding article in today's Times about Don Revie, written by Rick Broadbent who has penned extensively on Leeds over a number of years.

If you're interested in reading about our beloved Whites, his book "Looking for Eric: In Search of Leeds Greats" is absolutely terrific.

Anyway, enjoy!

Marching on Together.

It's All in the Mind

2009-03-10T15:23:00.001Z

Well once again its been a while; sadly work commitments (particularly late working hours), are making it difficult to blog at all. If I could just be less long-winded...

The last blog centred around the difficulties we encounter with the “Champions League semi-finalists” label hanging round our necks. In the last eight days we were presented with an outstanding opportunity to get back to near the automatic promotion spots with two away games. Sadly these games have resulted in us throwing away four "massive" points rather than gaining two.

I think this goes to continue to illustrate the theme of the players unable to handle the expectation levels. I have lost count of the number of times since we were relegated from the Premier League when the chips have been down, the players have dug deep, produced unexpected results and, with other results fortunately going our way, put us in a position where our progress is in our hands, only for us to throw it away.

I recall the championship play-off season when, during January of that season, Sheffield United were slipping up and we were picking up points. Suddenly it was in our hands and, as soon as we were in that position, we threw it away. Last season, having worked tirelessly to get rid of the points deduction, to climb the table, we were within reach and it was in our control. That started the run of abysmal results and performances culminating in Blackwell being sacked.

The play-offs last year were another example of us being written off earlier in the season (with a massive points deduction) only to finish strongly, to pull ourselves back into it through the play-off semis, then to throw it away in the final (still hurts).

This all boils down to expectation. Expectation that having shown the grit and determination to put our destiny in our own hands that we should not fail. It is this expectation which I think weighs greatly on the players and it is this area of mental preparation where Grayson still has much work to do.

The defence now play as a unit. The reintroduction of Kilkenny into the centre of midfield has brought some much needed stability, ball playing and possession and has for me been the catalyst for some better football and a lot of decent chances being created. Some more clinical finishing and things may be much different. It seems that the season is creating something of a mirror of itself; earlier in the campaign, before the collapse of the defence, we were playing good football and creating lots of chances.

So back to talking of expectation. Yeovil at Elland Road tonight. I expect Leeds to win. Why? Well, after the Hereford game I wouldn’t but as I said, we have turned it around, unbeaten in four and playing relatively well. So once again I expect success. Though the difference would only be four points, victories in the Oldham and Bristol Rovers games would have put a very different perspective on our league position.

There are undoubtedly many more ups and downs before the season is out; I have written us off countless times this year. But how many more times can we put ourselves in the position of underdog, overcome the odds and throw it away when we have control?

Tonight is a must win. Nothing else will do.

Marching on Together

Welcome to “Leeds United, Champions League Semi-Finalists”

2009-01-14T14:38:00.002Z

As seems to be commonplace now with my blogging the time which elapses between the start and finish of an article – in this case Gary McAllister’s dismissal to the week after the Carlisle match – grows ever longer. I hope that this does not spoil it too much and I hope to be able to blog a bit faster in future, and a bit more regularly!

As the not so famous song starts “a new era dawns". So welcome (back) to Leeds United Simon Grayson, our new manager. To be honest I don’t think I have ever watched a Blackpool game in my life so I am in no position to comment on Grayson’s qualification to manage Leeds, or to offer any critique about playing style and the things which are going to remain important to us as Leeds fans over the term of Grayson’s tenure.

No doubt this will develop as we move on through the season.

Gary McAllister

I feel a need to mention our outgoing manager. The speed with which he was appointed mirrors the speed at which he has been sacked. And, in this blink of an eye it is easy to forget his contribution. A fabulous player and captain for the club, unjustly labelled “Judas” when he left, if leaving is the right word for the way he is alleged to have been treated.

I had my reservations about McAllister coming back as manager at a time of genuine crisis but I must say he really did surprise me. The football we have played under his management has been at times outstanding, certainly better than anything I can remember us playing since the early part of the millennium. To actually be entertained at Elland Road – by the men in white – has been something of a novelty this last 10 months and for that alone he should be remembered fondly. The turnaround from the relegation form of Dennis Wise’s solo effort (post-Poyet) was quick and seamless and brought us back round not only storming into the play-offs but also a committee-decision away from automatic promotion.

There have been the questionable decisions; Fraser Richardson as captain being the stand-out one for me; a decision I still cannot get my head round and from which I cannot see one single ounce of benefit to the side. Others include the absence of Andy Robinson early in the season, though I am beginning to feel that Robinson’s contribution to Swansea’s season last year is a little overstated, given that they are relatively comfortable without him in the Championship. Furthermore, whilst Robinson’s decision to join was clearly based on an educated gamble that we would win at Wembley in May, I’m not sure he has yet shown enough professionalism in his game to hide his disappointment when given the chance to shine.

The biggest problem of course has been the defensive problems which have made us look so devastatingly inadequate. I wrote when were still winning games regularly that the biggest underlying threat to our success was our ineffectiveness in front of goal; we were scoring but the ratio of goals to the glut of gilt-edged chances being created was far too low. I was however, wrong. We may have been scoring and winning, but we were also conceding. The football being played and the chances created papered over the crack (or chasm as it turned out) of the defensive frailties which began to take over the consciousness of the team; it didn’t matter how hard the midfield and attack worked if the centre backs couldn’t get up to head the ball at a set-piece. At this point the rot really began to set-in and McAllister, undoubtedly a visionary in football terms, simply had nothing in the armoury to redress the dreadful absence of confidence and defensive organisation.

I hope and believe that history will show McAllister in a very positive light for all he has done for the club. I think that the fact that the supporters who have been quick to call for previous managers’ heads have stayed silent on this one during matches (though not on the message boards) has been a real mark of respect for the man.

Goodbye and good luck.

On On On (quickly)...

I am not saying that McAllister could never have turned things around but his appointment was made on a short-term basis so he would never have been given the opportunity. And this is the way the club, and the fans, have seen and continue to see our stay in this division. The current “crisis” has at the time of writing taken us fifteen points from the summit of the table, though this may be much more by the time I finish this post and this is simply too far now, in my opinion, to win the league. Automatic promotion is at this stage a distant dream and if we make the play-offs can the players really show sufficient mettle to handle the pressure and expectation of playing for Leeds United at Wembley.

But actually I think this goes to the heart of the problem of the Leeds United players, whether they are at Wembley or not.

We are not just Leeds United. We are “Leeds United, the Champions League Semi-Finalists”. It may sound grandiose but in fact this is no badge of achievement or honour, rather a noose that hangs around all our necks like a curse. It means different things for different people, though largely leading to the same outcome...

For the supporters this means the demand of instant success at this level. We’re Leeds United, the players should be wearing the shirt with pride, they should be thanking their lucky stars that a club of our stature has asked them to play for it and they should be giving absolutely everything, every day of the week. Looking at the squad list, this should mean success.

For our opponents throughout the course of the season, it is without doubt the one they look forward to. It is as if they actually believe they are playing against Kewell, Ferdinand, Bowyer and Viduka, rather than Marques, Johnson, Prutton and Becchio. Victory is therefore sought after and celebrated accordingly. Histon is a perfect example. Had Cheltenham lost to Histon, would there have been the furore? No, of course not. The non-leaguers would have no doubt been delighted and yes it might have led to a little chuckle at the giant-killing exploits of a non-league side but we may as well have been back at Cardiff in 2002 for all the hype that surrounded the defeat.

For the board and management team there is also the expectation of immediate success, particularly given the facilities available to the players and the gate receipts generated by the many thousands turning out to watch them, not to mention the wages paid.

And so all of this is in the face of the players each week; the expectation from employer and supporter, the opponents in their cup final. This is undoubtedly a huge amount of pressure for the players to face and clearly it works to our disadvantage. The “on paper” fantastic squad we have does not play like anything of the sort.

I should perhaps clear up at this point where I am taking this. I am a supporter which means my expectation levels are high. I do not talk about the players in these terms because I feel sorry for them. I do not. Not one bit. But the reality is simply that the players are at the moment unable to handle the double burden facing them; expectation from those wanting them to succeed, and pressure exerted by opponents with a greater desire frequently prepared to work and fight much harder and for much longer.

Because the problems appear to me to be psychological rather than physical, this is the reason our decline this season has been so rapid – in the modern game a lack of confidence can spread through a team like wildfire and I think this has been evident. It is also the reason Leeds United has become something of a player’s graveyard; players come in with glowing reputations (and often one can recall a great performance against us for another team) and end up wandering aimlessly around Elland Road in a Leeds shirt with every spark and aspect of creativity drained from them.

It also of course can work the other way. Take the spirit and unity of a much weaker squad during the first third of last season as a prime example of this. Marques and Michalik are testament to the way a modern footballer’s game can go to pot if his head is not right. These are less than shadows of the players who were in excellent form no more than 18 months ago.

And, fittingly, talk of our centre backs takes me to the happenings on the pitch and the Carlisle game. As you know it is not my intention to use this blog for match reporting purposes, there are some excellent blogs to quench your match-report thirst. But the performance against Carlisle spoke volumes for the general mood in and around Elland Road at the moment and I think has been something of a watershed for us. Though 2007-2008 really was a momentous season for so many reasons, this was supposed to be the year we re-emerged; debt-free with a strong squad – promotion, maybe even the title. Onwards and upwards.

Half-way through the season and we are going precisely nowhere. The feeling now appears to be one of weariness; another new manager, another series of bad performances, another set of players who promise so much but deliver so little. Coupled with the kind of defensive mistakes which means that Leeds have to score in every game just to be in with a chance of getting a point.

Now, of course, a snapshot of the table puts us 5 points off the play-offs and no-one would doubt that this snapshot is more positive than twelve months ago when we were playing relegation football under Dennis Wise.

What is different this year is that there is no adversity; no points deduction, no-one to blame, no injustice. We are at the right place in the league because our performances deserve it. And though the play-off places are still so close they feel to me to be so out of reach. If they are, our season is over, and if the season is really over we can only look to next year in League One and another attempt to escape.

The problem is, as I have said before, that this is our last year as what you might call “visitors” in this division. The mindset that our stay anywhere below the Premier League is temporary – matched by the turnover of management staff in a short space of time – is starting to fade as the weariness grows, along with an acceptance that this is actually where we belong. Whether this depressing picture is right is perhaps for another blog, a greater debate, another day.

But if this lethargy and acceptance is setting in we are at something of a crucial point in our history. Therefore much depends on the quick success of our new manager.

Simon Grayson

So welcome Mr Grayson (albeit belatedly) to Leeds United the Champions League Semi-Finalists. We know little of you and what we have seen so far (P3 W1 D1 L1) falls squarely with our league position. The players you have inherited are massively underachieving, some might call them disgracefully disinterested underachievers. They have little or no mental strength in a modern game (and division) where confidence and team-spirit seems to be everything, and where playing for Leeds United means they must be even stronger. That can be changed and it can have rapid impact. But it is you and your management team who can achieve this, not me the supporter, and dare I say it not the disinterested underachieving player himself.

Also, sort out the bloody defence.

Your mandate will be simple; get us out of League One, and fast. That is your reason for being here, not to build something over time, not to mull over the long-term future of the club. Not the easiest place to be, I accept, but that is the job. You must instill the mentality of winners into the squad otherwise you will be nothing more than another feature of the Leeds United annual managerial merry-go-round.

Put simply, your unexpected achievement at Blackpool is the minimum expectation here.

Marching on Together

We Truly Are Blessed

2008-11-19T13:20:00.003Z

I think you'll find it's you who's fired, S'ralan

An interesting story emerging today, courtesy of the musings of that loveable bearded serial-sacker “S’ralan” Sugar.

Apparently we should have been punished more strongly by having to play at Hackney Marshes (which would certainly be a trek for home games though with low overheads the season ticket would be cheap) in the Zenith Data Red Square Blue Square Littlewoods Rumbelows Division 6 North and according to the man himself (presumably absent Nick and Margaret for their guidance) we don’t deserve to be in such a “strong” position i.e. struggling to stay in the play-off zone in the third division.

Clearly his rant, presumably coming at a time when he is bored and between series of The Apprentice (excellent show by the way S’ralan), deserves short shrift. I don’t know about you but the financial devastation caused to the club, the misery and depression, the (then) unprecedented level of punishment from the Football League not to mention the national humiliation didn’t feel like much of a let-off to me. Far from it. The king of the boardroom clearly fails to understand that actually the people who feel the pain are the supporters, not people like Ridsdale who are let off without any form of recrimination for their deeds.

That must be why Sugar was just so damn popular with the Spurs fans...

Marshing on to Hackney

Back to the Spotlight

2008-11-15T00:42:00.004Z

Apologies that its been a while since my last blog… work commitments, a 13 month-old and general laziness have been keeping me very busy!

It has been a bit of a funny week to be honest, pivoting on the defeat at Derby on Tuesday night. Funny not in the sense that we lost but rather that out of a game where once again we failed to take our chances despite creating the national media finally picked up on two things; the positive football that Gary McAllister has brought to us and the centrepiece of that positive football, Fabian Delph.

The reports, both locally and nationally, coming out of the Carling Cup game at Pride Park were incredibly positive for Leeds, not least the gratifying sight of chunky bin-dipper Paul Jewell openly conceding our superiority for large portions of the of the game. And I want to see more of this of course, this is the type of publicity we have been sadly lacking throughout the hundreds of thousands of written words about Leeds since 2002-3 which frankly have been more akin to the tone of recent front pages in these turbulent economic times.

However it does continue to gloss over the outstanding fundamental issue at the heart of Leeds’ performances; the lack of penetration and ruthlessness in the final third. There is no doubt that the football we are playing is of a high quality, much higher than the third division deserves. McAllister is a great advocate of the patient passing game and I have to say I agree with his philosophy. However the strategy falls down when that patience is not rewarded with an end product.

In particular at home games the crowd have less patience than the players and this needs to be tempered. Under McAllister, Leeds will never be rampaging forward, it does not fit the philosophy. Passing the ball across the park, making the opposition work harder by chasing the ball, and stretching the play to create the opportunities in the final third does.

So where is it going wrong? Well let’s face it, it’s not really going wrong is it - Northampton at home and Derby away were examples of the issue I refer to but both of these were cup games of limited actual significance in the context of this season’s objectives – we are third in the table after all on a good run of form particularly at home. But this absence of ruthlessness and penetration has been a common feature of the season so far and it is this I think that makes the difference between where we are now and where ultimately this team is capable of being. Running away with the title.

All successful teams have inconsistencies during a season but always hit a point when everything clicks, the team finds its groove, creates momentum and pushes onwards and upwards. Finding this element to our game will I believe make everything fall into place. If we fail to find it there is a danger that the confidence in the final third could disappear completely over a period of time rendering the philosophy running through the midfield totally redundant. One will happen very quickly, the other more slowly over time. The Christmas period and Leeds’ transfer activity in January will suggest which way the club see it.

The other issue is of course the defence. This is perhaps food for another blog thought but it is also arguable that if the issue up front is resolved the issue at the back becomes less problematic.
So the other big piece of media spotlight this week, and in fact increasingly over the last few weeks, has been our star player, Fabian Delph. Let’s be completely honest. Delph is an unbelievable talent, perhaps potentially the greatest Leeds United-produced talent of my lifetime. His all-round game - passing, shooting, tackling, skill and pace - are supported by an incredible self-belief and this rightly puts him in the spotlight and, one suspects, ripe for the picking by a Premier League club.

But actually this raises a number of interesting questions about football, especially about financial power and individual short-term greed against longer-term impact, potential, and loyalty. I know, I know, there is no loyalty in football any more. Believe me, I view modern day footballers with utter contempt; they are pretty much all mercenaries who see the football profession as a ticket to personal extravagance first with professional integrity and success a distant, but intrinsically-linked second. A broad generalisation and of course every rule has its exceptions but actually the more one thinks about the anomaly that is Leeds United in League One, the more this may have a positive impact on the future of Fabian Delph.

Firstly, he plays for Leeds United. This actually means something. The interest generated at every away game I can remember, from the Premier League through to the depths of the Football League paints a clear picture. We have always been and will always be famous. This isn’t bragging, it is fact. It is infamy, borne out of hatred from outside and set against total devotion from within. Secondly, we appear to be on the cusp of something of a revival, a revival which Delph may well spearhead over the course of the next few years. If Leeds can be a mid-table Premier League side two years from now there is quite frankly no point in joining anyone outside the top four.

Thirdly, if the focus then is on the top four, should any of these pose an attraction at the current time, in terms of the player’s development? Of the top four, Arsenal would be the natural choice with an unbelievable ability to develop young players. But they have plenty, and if anyone has read the recent ridiculous questioning of Wenger’s tenure at the Emirates, it seems that Wenger will not be looking at Delph for a short term impact. This realigns Arsenal with the other three; Liverpool, Chelsea and Man United have all suggested an interest in Delph but any exposure to their first team would surely be extremely limited at this stage, limiting him to admiring the facilities and playing in the youth or reserve team.

Delph is at a League One club with Premier League facilities and is a fixture on the team sheet. In short, he is actually in his ideal place for his age and development. One can only hope therefore that he has good advisers around him. Rumours will continue and will hit fever pitch on 1st January. If Delph is still a Leeds player on 1st February that will perhaps be one of the most positive signs of the inner strength developing at our club.

And so it is late, the night before the Huddersfield game. The early kick-off, the promise of 35,000 inside Elland Road, the excitement. In short, the reason why we all fall in love with the game in the first place. One thing I have learned from the past few years is that football is a relative thing and can bring the same great things whether you are champions of Europe or pushing for promotion in League One. Bring it on…

TEAM PREDICTION

Ankegren

Richardson
White
Telfer
Michalik

Douglas
Kilkenny
Robinson
Delph

Beckford
Becchio

SCORE PREDICTION

Leeds United 3-1 Huddersfield
Marching on Together

As Relevant as Ever?

2008-09-29T09:07:00.007+01:00

Despite their early positivity, Kevin and Dennis just couldn't work it out.

Though far removed from the recent Premier League mania, buy-outs, resignations and transfer lunacy of the entertaining but damaging extravaganza known as “the closing of the transfer window”, it got me to thinking about how this relates to Leeds United; to where we are now in the depths of the Football League, and to where we could be in a couple of years if we achieve the success currently predicted.

This is not an article exclusively about Leeds but is the view of the current premier league talking points, including the joke that it Newcastle United, from the perspective of a Leeds fan. First and foremost I’m sure most of you will agree that we still feel attachment to the Premier League. Consequently we look on events, somewhat unavoidably, as if we have a vested interest as opposed to those (perhaps permanently) who feel excluded, remote observers marvelling at the silly people with all their silly money.

So my initial reaction to the Abu-Dhabi multi-multi-multi billionaires is not one of mourning the death of football but actually that, if Manchester City can get this kind of money injected, why can’t we?

City and Leeds have much in common aside from the mutual and, of course, entirely justified, loathing of Man United. Both enjoy a similarly strong local fan base coupled with a decent national and international spread of supporters. Falling short of the level of blind fanaticism demonstrated on a daily basis by the Newcastle obsessives, but remaining well clear of the glory-hunting woodwork-crawlers at the Theatre of Wet Dreams, both Leeds and City demonstrate the type of loyalty that shows true supporters given the depths both have plummeted to in the football league during modern times and the continued attendance in volume despite this. In fact the City v Gillingam play-off final was at the back of my mind all day when we had a tussle with Doncaster in our final. Devastatingly the similarities didn’t bring us into line with the blue mooners on that occasion.

Both also, I think, feel a curse of sorts hangs over them. Though we have failed to achieve success in any form for as great a sustained period as City, you cannot help but feel that things are going to go wrong, that any bright promise can only bring untold misery.

In 2000-2002 Leeds spent big money. This was nothing, however, compared to some of the salaries and wages being paid today, and I’m not talking about Chelsea, Man United, or now of course Man City, rather the type of salaries and transfer fees that can be paid by newcomers from the Championship or teams perpetually struggling for top-flight survival.

Our gluttony however sent us crashing off the Premier League radar just in time to miss out on the more recent wave of cash thrown at clubs in the top-flight. This also meant, gallingly, that we missed out on the guaranteed 50 minutes of quality highlights every week, without fail, offered by Sky’s “Football First” service. That was a particularly bitter pill to swallow (recently sweetened in part by LUTV!).

But history suggests that we have missed out on so much not necessarily because of the amounts we spent but rather the point in time at which we spent it. Had events occurred to Leeds two years after they actually did (a Back to the Future-style alternate timeline if you like) it is possible that none of our recent misery would have been an issue because the flooding of so much new money into the highest level of the game coincided with the boy with the marker pen writing on his chest crying us out of the Premiership at the Reebok. I am not, and certainly would not deny that the misery which followed was a direct consequence of the way the club was run between 2000 and 2003, or that the results were the proper consequences of it. But it is interesting that the “crash” in the transfer market hit us at precisely the wrong time. We became a shining example of how not to run a football club at the same time as clubs traditionally with limited resources outspent the Ridsdale “dream-living” era by some distance using borrowed money with the support of vastly more lucrative T.V. deals. It is this which leaves me feeling a slight sense of misfortune though this accompanies, rather than replaces, the contempt I feel towards Ridsdale and the way he conducted himself.

“The Glory Years”. A classic Leeds United video. I have watched it about 4,000 times. For those of you Leeds fans who shamefully have never seen it, you would probably think the clue is in the title. Yet watching it you come away feeling not glory, but injustice, misfortune and frustration. I think it is precisely this feeling which makes me feel sympathy, perhaps camaraderie, with City over the last twenty years.

As supporters we are betrayed and brow beaten by the club we love but always come back for more. We never get what our loyalty deserves. Taking the two other examples, it would be difficult to argue that the Man United supporters deserve the success their team produce even if, begrudgingly, their players do. The Geordies on the other hand seem to be very much like the exposed bingo wings of their Saturday night women – impervious to pain – coupled with a blind optimism and a belief, presumably inspired by some form of hallucinogenic drug, that the only people that can make Newcastle United successful are people with strong links to the club. I hear Gazza desperately needs something occupy his time at the moment. Maybe they can persuade Vic Reeves to get out of the Churchill dog’s bottom and say “Oh Yes” to Mike Ashley or whoever is next in line at a club with such unrealistic expectations that their supporters will never be satisfied.

The distinction is realism. Scum expect success because they know no different. The Geordies surprisingly expect success having been nowhere near it for over half a century. We expect success but we are realistic enough to know that the gulf between us now and where we ultimately want to be couldn’t be much wider. Our push for promotion this year is a realistic one. Not because we are Leeds but because we have a capable squad and management team, for League One. We are just glad that we’re not fending off creditors, have a settled team and actually play some nice football for a change. City’s lot in the Premier League has been one of mediocrity sprinkled with the odd relegation flirtation. The Shinawatra takeover promised glory but in keeping with the curse delivered a qualified result, tainted by rumours of the owner’s criminal corruption and breaches of human rights in Thailand. Oh, and of course Sven. But they expect success because now they have the money to buy the players to provide it.

Underlying the hilarity of the Newcastle comedy roadshow (coming to a Championship stadium near you soon), and the bitterness at the perpetual Man United success story, is an interesting dichotomy in methods of pursuing success at the highest level. If Leeds did the wrong thing at the wrong time, the scum story since about 1995 is the complete opposite. Bringing a generation of youth through at just the right time, increasing the size of the stadium at just the right time, obtaining significant global investment at just the right time. All of this is of course is a matter of fortune rather than design (a common feature in their dominance since 1993). For the Geordies however, none of this would be possible with the exception of stadium improvements. The youth set-up is non-existent. Apparently Keegan was pleading for the board to buy Beckham, Henry and Ronaldinho in the summer – what one commentator recently described as “the showcase from the Rothmans Football Yearbook 2003” – but the sentiment is clear and it matches that of the Geordie masses. Buy big quick. reap quick, short-term success.

Sam Allardyce completely remodelled his squad in the summer and was given about three months to make them demonstrate European Champions class based on total attacking football. Ridiculous. His system at Bolton took three or four years to reap rewards and would probably have done the same at St James’ Park. But this was not good enough for the Geordies who in football supporting terms are simply greedy. The owner sacked Allardyce on the back of pressure from the masses and then, having brought in Keegan to appease them, put in place a structure which could only hamper Keegan and looked like the type of long-term system which would have clearly suited Allardyce. Odd.

Now Joe Kinnear has been appointed. Strange. Very, VERY strange. For this “massive club” his CV for this “massive job” included the following:-

He motivated Wimbledon into punching and kicking their way into a couple of semi-finals

He is not only able to survive heart attacks, but also one would presume the inevitable temptation of suicide at dealing with deluded Geordies on a daily basis

He is willing to touch something Terry Venables won’t

He is friends with Dennis Wise

He is happy to agree to a fifteen minute rolling contract (though this is probably governed more by the Newcastle United medical insurance policy than anything).

Please accept my apologies, this has inadvertently turned into a rant at the bar-coded jokers as they lunge from one self-made disaster after another which was not intended but has been enjoyable. So I must bring this into line with the article’s theme. Someone recently commented to me that the image of Newcastle is how we were viewed as we plummeted through the divisions. So how can I laugh so joyously and whole-heartedly at this tale of Geordie misery. Well that is because so much of this is down to them. Not the club or the manager or the board or the lenders or the transfer market, but the Geordies. We undoubtedly enjoyed the ride of the Champions League but we had no idea of the house of cards being constructed behind the scenes until it was too late. At the beginning of last season the Geordies were presented with a magnificent opportunity to create the foundations of a lasting success at the club, something they had never previously enjoyed. Allardyce the manager and Ashley the owner, instantly £200 million worse off on taking over, were the new “messiahs” on Tyneside. Oh how they love their messiahs! But their patience levels would just not tolerate this kind of idea. So they shouted about it, and they got exactly what they wanted. The Messiah!

Forgetting his last visit to save them, when millions were squandered, bottle was lost (on and off the pitch), not to mention his without-warning abandonment, he was back. Out of touch with football having not watched a game for three years he was there to turn back time and reignite the glory years. The great motivator was back to motivate the players. But these players, along with the vast majority of others in the modern game, are motivated only by one thing. And it isn’t Kevin Keegan. The great manager was back to buy all the best players the world by offering the pull of being managed by the great Kevin Keegan. But that isn’t what pulls the majority of players to clubs these days. Even if a genuine messiah was manager. He would of course have known this had he actually taken an interest in the sport since resigning, surprisingly, from his last job.

And so he has resigned. Again. Surprisingly. The irony in the tale and in the current discord at Newcastle - where the owner is scared off by the angry mob whilst he looks to sell the club for over £450 million (despite not being interested in profit apparently) – is that Keegan’s resignation allows the Geordies to conveniently forget that his appointment was a terrible knee-jerk one and would never in a million years have produced the success that he promised and they believed in. Perhaps underneath all of the “sack the board” rhetoric, the “vote with your feet” crusade, is a veiled relief that Keegan left when he did in the way he did so they could divert attention from their idiocy onto their owner, another idiot who fits in more and more with them –the XXXL “King Kev” shirt aside – with each disastrous gaffe. If they do get a buyer and the buyer brings back King Kev, that would be the crowning moment in the Newcastle self-created spiral to oblivion. Hope does spring eternal after all.

So turning back to Leeds and to my friend’s comment. As supporters we had no control, no say. We have been used and abused for as long as I can remember. Our club was all but wiped off the planet by a man and his business associates who continue in business without any recrimination. We were gutted but loyal bystanders as the turmoil unfolded before our eyes. We cried at Cardiff and we cried at Wembley. But we are always realistic. We got what our season deserved overall at Cardiff and what our performance overall deserved at Wembley (though certainly not our season). But we were not the cause of any of it. The board never listened to us, they never made a decision we asked them to. They still don’t. And though Bates may be hated there is a deference you must give as a supporter to those who run a football club, that ultimately if they did all you asked of them the club would be bound to fail. And so it proves perpetually at Newcastle. Bates, Krasner, McKenzie and now in hindsight Ridsdale didn’t listen to us. And maybe in some way that will be to our benefit in the future, subject to the curse of course! Same goes for City.

So can the blue half of Manchester really hit the big time? Fergie has been unable to resist the opportunity of having a dig in the press this week. “It takes more than money”, he says, “to win titles”. Chelsea managed it two years in a row. And at Man United the young nucleus of the mid-1990s home grown talent are on their last legs. Their team on Saturday, much the same as the one which won the Champions League (the inexpensive Berbatov being the only difference) contained only two home grown players.

Even at Arsenal, where Arsene Wenger has developed a fantastic set-up for bringing through young players, it must be remembered that many of these are still bought by the club rather than picked off the streets of North London. The success in Wenger’s model is yet to truly manifest itself but at board level you would imagine success might be measured equally between the number of trophies and the vast sums Arsenal will be able to command in the transfer market. From a personnel perspective this is perhaps the main flaw in Wenger’s plan but I really hope it succeeds.

Talk of curses aside, I think the future should look rosy for City and, for a short time, I would probably be happy for them. They have a good manager and more money than any football club in the world. As a Leeds fan, am I jealous? Yes of course it would be nice to see South American superstars (sorry Luciano) every week but perhaps it is a good time to be building nice momentum with a combination of bought, nurtured and local talent, so that by the time we reach the Premiership we will know whether football at the highest level really is on the verge of eating itself. In truth, the cursed Man City might be just the ones to spearhead the feast.

And so, with five wins on the bounce, goals aplenty, good football to watch and 25,000 for a home game in the third division with Hereford United, we could really start work our way onwards and upwards, out of the football league and back to the thick of the madness that is the Premier League. Who knows there may be a multi-multi-billionaire waiting for us when we get there!

We may be removed from it, but it is a good time to be onlookers with a vested interest.

Marching on Together.

Captain, My Captain - Time to Stand on the Table

2008-08-29T23:17:00.002+01:00

As I sat watching Leeds thrash Palace on Tuesday night and, in particular, Neil Kilkenny in the centre of midfield, the transformation of the side from the stale performances against Oldham and Yeovil to a free-flowing, attacking and tenacious turn-out was incredible.

I have bleated on about Kilkenny through numerous previous posts on this blog and, for fear of sounding like I’m his dad, I really do think that he could be the future of our club, in the short term at the very least. Having plied his trade on the flanks last season where he continually came inside to exert greater influence, it was easy to see on Tuesday why he belongs at the heart of midfield.

The key to a good footballer in my opinion is not just what he does when he is on the ball, but also what he does when he is off it (but his team are in possession). One of the many, many distinctions between League One football and the higher divisions is that whilst the majority of players attain a certain level of ability with the ball at their feet, many have to be rigorously programmed on the training ground to know where to be and what to do without it.

Beckford is a prime example of this. With the ball at his feet, going forward, he is a very exciting prospect. Without the ball he lacks the natural intelligence to automatically drag defenders wide to create openings for others. The result of this is that he has too often found himself receiving the ball to feet with his back to goal and defenders too close to turn. I concede that this happens now less frequently, but actually serves to make my point; under Wise it was all too common, under McAllister his game has developed through continued training and hard graft.

By contrast Kilkenny has natural talent and an active footballing brain. Off the ball, with Leeds in possession, he is looking for space and always finding it. He is shouting, directing, pointing and encouraging team-mates in their use of the ball, always busy, always thinking. With the ball at his feet he is hard to dispossess, has superb spatial awareness along with awareness of the positioning of his team-mates. With great self-confidence, natural passing ability and a high level of accuracy this provides a creative product above practically all of the rest of the squad.

For me, this is a breath of fresh air, having waited so long for a genuinely creative player to wear the white shirt in the centre of the park. I would even look beyond the Batty and Dacourt days to the Batty/McAllister days. Together I think these two were the most creative central-midfield pairing at Leeds during my lifetime. Kilkenny has a little of both; Batty’s ability to hold the ball well, to pass and move well, along with McAllister’s vision and distance passing.

Which leads me nicely to where all this hero worship is going. For me, from a purely footballing perspective, Kilkenny is ideal captain material and should be a player around whom the team is built. What better player to communicate McAllister’s ideas onto the field that a player who (at a much lower level) seems to have similar creative attributes. Someone who can direct the play, who works box to box, who can lead by example as well as with voice.

Kilkenny has his detractors. He is too lightweight, they say, but with a more heavyweight central midfielder alongside him in maybe Bradley Johnson (who is, lest we forget, a central midfielder), David Prutton or even Jonathan Douglas (at least until a suitable replacement can be found!) should this be a problem? And why should this be a bar to being a good captain? The only argument I have read which holds water is his questionable attitude. Those at the Carlisle home league game last season will remember his first-half tantrum resulting in a booking and almost a sending off. For this reason he may therefore have some difficulty commanding the respect of all his team mates at this time. But respect can be built over time, especially if he is proving more and more effective with the responsibility.

Another argument/question has been, put in its simplest terms, “if he is that good, what is he doing at a League One club?” Well the first response is that this must be viewed in the context of where we are, hence my cautious use of words earlier referring to the “short-term” future of the club. But there is no doubt that, at this level at least, he is that good. The second response is that, actually, he was a Premiership player out on loan when Dennis Wise signed him last year. In an interview with him last year he openly stated his unhappiness at being a fringe player at Birmingham under Steve Bruce, that this affected confidence and he subsequently shone in a brief spell at Oldham before joining us. He is also an international player which gives him a much more rounded approach to the game than the average run of the mill clogger in this division.

Whatever your view of my suggestion that Kilkenny be made captain, one thing is for certain. The current captain is not a good choice. In fact he is a terrible choice, considerably lacking in all the skill-sets I would normally attribute to a good footballer. Frazer’s commitment cannot be doubted but there are many, many other facets to his game which can, most importantly in a playing context his concentration. If a captain can either lead by example or lead by words (encouragement, praise, a bollocking) the first is a non-starter for Richardson. I imagine that everyone assumed that it would be the latter reason but he seems to be very quiet and though it was only one game he really went missing against Oldham when the chips were down.

Personally I struggle with the concept of “11 captains” on the field. There needs to be a single focal point able to convey the management’s instructions effectively, for the players to turn to when in need of rousing (rather than all looking at each other aimlessly). Putting to one side the horrific injury to the Arsenal midfielder Eduardo at Birmingham last season, the absence of any sanity of mind of William Gallas, the captain, which manifested itself at the end of the game at St Andrews, spurred a run of results which put them out of the title race. Gallas was not solely responsible for Arsenal’s demise last year, nor is Richardson by any stretch of the imagination solely responsible when Leeds lose, but as captains they play a part and a significant one at that.

One suspects that the appointment of Richardson is a mixture of a genuine struggle on the part of the management to find an actual leader, a reaction to the mutterings resulting from the clear (but unofficial) pre-season demotion of Douglas, an unwillingness to be bold and dare I say controversial, and all tied together with an appeal to our weakest point; sentiment. Frazer is our longest serving player and apparently well-respected by the players which gives the angle to sell it. But this masks the reality; a transfer of the armband from a player who is not very good footballer but who was nevertheless influential, so the statistics would indicate (though I favour coincidence), to a player who is not very good and who appears to have no real influence, but nevertheless has a guaranteed place week in week out simply as a reward for length of service.

Well this is the new Leeds United. The one that has to move onwards and upwards. If we are to mount a serious challenge we must lose any sentimentality that stunts brave progress and keep that which serves to reassure the traditions, the “Leeds-ness” that we can take with us on the journey.

Missing the game tomorrow (boooo) but my starting eleven would be…

Ankegren

Richardson
Marques
Telfer
White/Sheehan

Robinson
Kilkenny
Johnson
Snodgrass

Beckford
Becchio

Prediction: Leeds to win 2-1

Marching on Together

THE BEAUTY OF REFLECTION

2008-08-18T14:14:00.004+01:00

Oldham captain Sean Gregan celebrates the opening of the new 24 hour Mr Kipling order hotline

The strangest thing about watching a Leeds defeat on a Saturday is the difference between the post-match rant you and your fellow supporters share on a Saturday night and the reflective, considered view you take on the Monday morning.

The expectation levels are now exceptionally high at Leeds. Despite the fact that Oldham are traditionally a bogey side for us, and despite the fact that we know them to be a good side, and despite the fact that they completely annihilated us at home last season, this was all utterly meaningless as we approached a game in which I, along with everyone else, fully expected us to turn them over and continue the consistent form we have shown throughout pre-season and of course in the opening league and cup game of the last seven days.

For those who rant after a defeat (and I tend to be one of them), the immediate post-match reaction is always the same; an outpouring of hefty criticism driven by highly charged emotional frustration. Being a Leeds supporter is like being in a long-term relationship which you can never get out of. So when the team promises so much achievement, you go in a right old mood with them when they don’t deliver what you feel you should rightly expect.

But, in the spirit of a long-term relationship, you ultimately justify the team’s failings on that occasion and forgive them, at the same time restoring the expectation levels for the next game. You’ll forgive the psycho-babble but it serves to make a point about being a Leeds supporter.

RANTERS & DEFENDERS

On the message boards after the game and into the next day the posts always have a stark divide between the “Ranters”; those who want to lash out at the team for the disappointment they have been forced to suffer, and the “Defenders”; those who hammer the Ranters for hammering the team.

The Ranters are generally the same; quick to judge the players, the management and the tactics. The Defenders are a little more diverse ranging from a minority who simply will not criticise the management, team or tactics under almost any circumstances, to the majority who are able to take a more balanced view and respond accordingly.

I always wondered to myself how there can be such diverse opinion on the same game from so many people watching from the same viewpoint and with the same interests. And then it dawned on me. Actually I think we are all Defenders; the final, settled opinion you take on a game is likely to be the same for pretty much all Leeds fans. The only real difference therefore is that for most people it is simply a matter of how long it takes you to get from being a Ranter to being a Defender.

In each case it is very different but the result is always the same; by the time the next game comes around we are all Defenders, filled with optimism, and this is the beauty of being a Leeds fan (and, I suppose, any football fan in general, but it feels like it is reserved for Leeds fans especially!). No matter what has gone before we always look on with optimism; it just takes some a little longer than others.

THE GAME

The purpose of the blog is not to get too much into match report territory; you can see these on the official site or in the newspapers. The Square Ball has some superbly detailed match reports.

There are however a couple of points worth making in general about Saturday’s game.

My overall feeling (I am a Defender now, remember) is that this was a blip; a continuation of Oldham being our bogey side and John Sheridan knowing how to motivate his team for a trip to Elland Road. It is important to keep perspective. Our squad is improved from last season and it is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, in the division. But we won’t win every game and we won’t play brilliantly in every game because, well, nobody ever does.

This is the last season where I think we can all justify to ourselves that we are guests (financially welcome, otherwise unwelcome) in this league before we end up feeling a sense of depressing belonging, so I know as much as anyone how vital it is that we go up. Both Swansea and Forest had average starts last season, both had wobbly periods throughout the season, but both went up. So there is a trend to follow and to keep us optimistic.

I am reminded of watching Howard Wilkinson get lambasted by supporters in the West Stand on the “Race for the Title” video during the early part of the season when we weren’t quite firing on all cylinders. When you think of what an absolutely amazing season that was in 1989-1990 its almost impossible to comprehend.

Ultimately though, being a Leeds fan, the optimism will always be tempered by pessimism. Saturday needs to be a wake up call for the manager and the players. We have been riding the crest of a wave of opinion amongst the media, the bookmakers, ourselves and also the personnel at the club. We controlled the game for an hour and really never looked in danger. But we also created nothing and this is a little concerning because over that period of time, against any team in this division, I would expect us to have at least one or two decent scoring chances.

The wingers are being used for the opposite flank that their footing would suggest. Though at first surprising, a tricky winger cutting in can be just as effective as a by-line cross so I have no problem with this. I was a little surprised at the continued bypassing of the central midfield by the full-backs; the use of a central midfield to feed wingers is in my view more effective than predictable balls down the line so I would like to see this more.

The most concerning thing for me though was the attitude of the players when we went 2-0 down. Utterly deflated and largely uninterested the last fifteen minutes were a total waste of time and this is the polar opposite of the type of attitude you would expect to see from divisional champions. McAllister was a champion, he will know this, he needs to get it across.

The management are human after all and not impervious to making mistakes. Making Frazer Richardson captain is a big, big mistake. Lacking a voice or any form of visible leadership on Saturday but more importantly lacking sufficient talent or ability to justify a regular place in the side on merit, McAllister's decision guarantees Richardson's place. Every week. Big mistake.

But enough of all this negativity. Like I say, I am a Defender again. It was a blip, it is gone, we move on.

From Ranter to Defender in 36 hours. What’s your turnaround time?

Marching on Together

Bye Bye Tres and Thank Heavens For the Tabloids

2008-08-13T13:31:00.002+01:00

There were a couple of newsworthy developments leading up to the Scunthorpe game worth mentioning.

KANDOL TO MILWALL

From a personal perspective, a good move for all. The message boards have broadly divided in their opinion on Kandol, which surprises me considering what an awful footballer he is. The focus in the "for" camp seems limited to two goals - against Tranmere (a) and Forest (a) and, whilst they were important goals, for me (and the "against" club) the more poignant and frequent memories are the mis-controls, the terrible shooting, the misplaced passing which were continuously but permanently burned onto my memory by bad performance after bad performance.

I don't dispute that those goals mentioned were important so we can be grateful for the contribution, but it is time to be realistic. He was not, is not, nor ever will be good enough for Leeds.

I know it is a loan but his days must be numbered at Elland Road. Please.

Still, we wish him well!

"NO ONE LIKES US, WE DON'T CARE"

Despite the fact that, as we are so often reminded, we are certainly not famous anymore, The Sun found it most certainly newsworthy to tell everyone as loudly as possible that despite this we are actually the most hated club in the country.

In a poll administered by Sandler Training. Despite the fact that there is no further information on the poll, for example why it was carried out, how many people were canvassed etc The Sun has gleefully latched onto the story, printing with it the obligatory unwelcoming photo of Papa Smurf outside Elland Road which any rag happily trots out any time there is a remotely negative piece of news about Leeds.

Thankfully, The Mirror also found a little time for us in their busy schedule to mention this story. Phew.

Moving along. If you find yourself bewildered as to the reason that Leeds aren't popular, we are indeed all blessed that The Sun not only can spot a humdinger of a story, but more significantly that they have a team of specialists to help the uninformed reader get to the bottom of these unsolvable riddles:-

"Football experts believe the club has been unable to get rid of the ‘Dirty Leeds’ tag that the team acquired in the Don Revie era of the 1970s because of their tough tackling and “win nasty” style."

Unfortunately, the football experts the Sun so fortunately had to hand at just the right time were not named. Shame, really, how nice it would have been to have heard more.

Also, in a remarkably brilliant insight into the minds of all football fans up and down the country, Shaun Thomson of Sandler Training, who appears to have been heavily involved in this critical piece of research, confirms that:-

"...fans look at Leeds and immediately think they are arrogant and big-headed. To change the perception of other fans, Leeds must stop living up to the negative image that’s been created around the club and start doing things differently. Maybe that’s what Morecambe have achieved — they are new to the league, have new ideas and positive appeal.”

One can only hope that representatives of the club were on hand to read the breaking news before it's too late. At least, if nothing else, we can be confident in the accuracy of a set of results which confirms what we all knew; the most popular club in the country is League 2 Morecambe.

A huge thanks to the tabloids and not forgetting Sandler Training for helping everyone out on a very, very slow news day.

Web Watch - Episode 1

2008-08-08T10:56:00.003+01:00

Obviously the news has been relatively slow. I have been scouring the web and have found the following which may be of interest to you. All of this stuff has been available on News Now over the course of the last couple of weeks.

I suspect that Saturday’s newspapers, both red tops and broadsheets, will be giving us a mention, given that (a) there is no premier league games and (b) we are the most interesting club to write about in the football league. Sadly, this post pre-dates that so you’ll have to keep an eye out yourselves.

I don’t really quote stuff from any of the major national football web-sites (BBC) or from any of the fanzines, unless they are genuinely articles worth reading and are a little removed from the news of the day e.g. “Showumni signs” or “Becchio can’t wait to get going”. I won’t in general be linking to match reports either, or to general transfer rumour sites.

This section is really about the more opinion-based writings of the week and I hope this section will be posted every Friday to get everyone a little more excited for the weekend’s game.

“Will Leeds March to Promotion” – a blog by Paul Fletcher of the BBC

“The Resurrection of Leeds United” – a blog on the website footballfansunited.com

“Why Macca’s Leeds will be League One’s Champions in 2009” – a post on glorygloryleedsunited.com, an excellent news and opinion-based blog about the club.

“Why Leeds United need to be rubbing shoulders with Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool” – A short article by Graham Fisher on sportingo.com

“Gary McAllister on course to restore glory days at Leeds United” – An opinion-based article in the Yorkshire Evening Post by Richard Sutcliffe

I hope you find this section interesting and a useful filter for a lot of the same stuff that gets repeated through a number of sites.

Your comments as always are appreciated.

Marching on Together

A Decent Bit of Kit

2008-08-04T09:16:00.001+01:00

Having been an annual home-shirt buyer up until the second Championship season I have to say I do quite like the new kits and have decided to resume my annual shirt-buying when this one comes on sale at the end of the month.

Interestingly, looking at the Macron website, you would have thought they would use this new association to promote their kit-making services but at the time of writing we have no mention at all on their web-site. Instead they appear to remain happy to show the distinguished list of clubs whose kit they already make including Swansea City and such giants as Grays Athletic, Salisbury City and Ballymena United. We are indeed in celebrated company.

I'll still be buying it though!!

Marching on Together

A Quiet Exit or Two?

2008-08-04T09:11:00.002+01:00

Less than a week to go to the big kick-off at Scunthorpe and the pre-season friendlies are out of the way, concluding with a good win at Elland Road on Saturday and some very promising performances.

I can’t help but feel that there is another striker to walk through the door this week given that the club appear to be keen to sign Jay Bothroyd, though I suspect if that falls through there might still be strengthening in this area after the season starts and before the window closes at the end of the month. It appears that the door to bringing back Dougie Freedman on a permanent deal remains ajar. Whatever happens I would imagine that McAllister would like to have the squad fully assembled before Saturday. There is also the possible signing of Paul Telfer who McAllister seems keen on, though how consistent his role would be through the season only time will tell, should he join.

What is more interesting is the continued absence of two players who were prominent players in the side at the start of last season; Tresor Kandol and Jonathan Douglas. My thoughts on these two have been made clear already but it is difficult to ignore the fact that they appear, slowly but surely, to be moving closer to the exit. Comments coming from the official site before the Barnet game suggested that Kandol was unfit to face his old side pre-season but then turned out for the reserves (who were turned over) that very night at Harrogate. Given that the striker list runs to Beckford, Becchio, Showumni and Snodgrass, with the possibility of another coming in, not to mention Tom Elliot in reserve and Andy Robinson’s goal-scoring prowess, you are left with the feeling that there is just no room left at the table.

Douglas has featured more than Kandol pre-season but the signs have been there. Rumours have been circulated suggesting a move to Sheffield United to work with Kevin Blackwell again but so far nothing has materialised. However, considering the fact that Douglas captained the side from his return from injury through the build-up to the play-off final and at Wembley itself, it is interesting that McAllister has experimented with different captains pre-season, limiting Douglas’ performances throughout and on Saturday he was introduced on the hour mark as part of a replacement of the entire starting midfield with what looked very much like a reserve midfield. It will be interesting to see what materialises, but I think the starting XI on Saturday (minus Kilkenny in Beijing) will be a telling sign of whether or not Douglas has a future with Leeds.

Marching on Together

Onwards and Upwards – Hope for 2008/2009

2008-07-25T23:26:00.004+01:00

To say the Wembley defeat was one of the lowest points of my life as a Leeds supporter is an understatement. I cannot recall feeling more devastated at a Leeds defeat, where we lost a game of (potentially) such enormous significance in our history. Rangers in the 1992 European Cup campaign, amongs others, is still a particularly painful memory.

But as with all things, time heals and we must move onwards and upwards.

I do not want to provide a lengthy post-mortem for the Doncaster game which has long since passed as a contest. I do think it worth mentioning that in my view the manager's selection was based too much on sentiment. In my last post before the final I suggested that keeping the same team which beat Carlisle over two legs came with the danger that, of the performances in two-legs, we would repeat the under-performance at Leeds rather than the heroics at Carlisle. And, sadly, so it proved.

But this is not something to dwell on; McAllister's judgment was a difficult one to make and I don't think should be seen as inept. Additionally, McAllister deserves enormous credit for our transformation from the stuttering Dennis Wise side of January/February - rapidly running out of the luck that had served it so well during the first third of the season - to the side that finished the season strongly; playing good football and winning consistently and, ultimately this bodes well from a momentunm perspective leading into the new season.

And it is to the new season that we now look forward. At the time of writing there is no indication that any of the “big” players in the squad want to leave which is extremely encouraging and, let's be honest, a bit of a novelty during recent times. There appears to be a determination amongst the squad to show that Leeds are good enough to win the division. Perhaps at long last Leeds United is now an attractive place for footballers to come. It is though a sad indictment of the modern game that a club of Leeds’ stature isn’t enough of itself to bring in players – which I have no doubt it would be in the purest footballing terms; we must be in the right financial position first and foremost. As much as I would like to lament the motivations underlying the modern game this is the reality of football today and we must play our hand accordingly. Hopefully the finances will continue to improve along with the league position, creating a snowball effect of continual improvement and development, in effect making Leeds a “fashionable” club, attractive to players of rival and technically superior sides offering a chance to be a part of something special.

There have been some new signings of course. Andy Robinson should be applauded for taking the step and risk of joining us from League One champions Swansea. YouTube makes us all scouts these days but there are some good highlights packages to watch and he looks a quality signing, something backed up by the reports from the Barnet game. Enoch Showunmi was courted earlier in the season, decided he didn’t want to join us and then changed his mind in the summer. I don’t know a lot about him but one gets the impression from the message boards that his performances in the pre-season games so far have been a bit, well, “Kandol”. One Tresor was bad enough, but two…

Robert Snodgrass has joined us from the wing at Livingston. Apart from having a name derived from 1940s comics he has a good reputation and is ambitious. He could be just the sort of player we need. I just hope he has some pace, something we have been sadly lacking. Additionally we have the current trialists, Canadian Marcus Haber and the Argentinian Luchiano Becchio who seem to be performing positively but the jury is still out.

The average age of our squad has dropped like a stone since relegation to League One, which of course is a good thing. Despite this I cannot help but feel that the time is right for our resurgence to be led by one central figure. Collins and Strachan were the last two players - a little bit older and experienced, thought to be over the hill by their clubs - who were prepared to cut their cloth, drop a division and spearhead an almighty Leeds United revival. If there were ever a time when we were ripe for this sort of influential figure, that time is now.

As always though, this is Leeds United which means that any notion of a straightforward and rosy future can go out of the window and be replaced by nervousness, pessimism and another tortuous season of doing it the hard way! At the moment I am leaning towards a continuation of the problem which fazed us last season – failure in the face of expectation. In the modern history of the club the level of expectation of success has never been as high. Nor has the realisation of that expectation been more significant or indeed necessary. Failure to achieve promotion this year is, quite frankly, unthinkable. The damage it would do to the club would be akin, in terms of the time it would take us to recover, to the damage caused by the Ridsdale excess.

I would say that the gap between us and the top four of the Premier League is about fifteen years as a result of five years outside the Premier League. With that ratio every year languishing in League One puts us another three years away from where we believe, ultimately, Leeds United should be. Thankfully, I still feel like a visitor in the Football League, not a permanent resident. However this cannot be for long and therefore success is imperative before we become institutionalised at this level.

The players therefore have to be able to handle the weight of expectation. We are to this division what Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal are to the Premier League. The main event, the big attraction, the guaranteed sell-out. This year we have no adversity, no “hard done by” stories, a clean slate. So the mental attitude has to be different. It has to be the attitude of winners, so the heads don’t drop if we go a goal behind in a game. And we will go a goal behind in a game from time to time. The players have to be able to dig deep, to deal with being the big scalp, the team that everyone raises their game to. If the players fail to deal with that expectation this season, we may well be here for some considerable time to come.

Marching on Together

I Take It All Back. The Dilemma Starts Here!

2008-05-19T14:10:00.007+01:00

My last blog was a scathing indictment of the Leeds side about the sub-standard performance at Elland Road last Monday. It was justified of course, as I think we all felt pretty much the same level of let-down after the game.

But what a turnaround on Thursday night.

For one blog only(!) I take back every criticism of made of the players - Kandol excepted, though he would probably have also performed heroics had he played. They were, quite simply, magnificent. To a man.

The feeling when Howson's second goal went in was indescribable. I nearly passed out from the screaming and jumping around. We are going to Wembley which is perhaps the most exciting single experience a football fan can hope to have during a season; whether a League Cup, F A Cup or play-off final, it is something absolutely immense.

Having slated Frazer Richardson I think it only fair to offer praise where it is due. The Carlisle winger who caused so many problems at Elland Road was nullified by a determined Richardson performance full of concentration which is so often lacking in his game. Often the deserved target of great criticism, all of the usual reasons for that criticism were absent on Thursday. Jonathan Douglas also deserves an enormous amount of praise for the strength and leadership in his performance, calmness under pressure and, perhaps most importantly, accuracy in his distribution. Dougie Freedman thankfully lived up to expectations. Though appearing laborious on the ball he was in fact almost the most creative player on the park and it speaks volumes for the influence he wields that he was involved in all three of the goals which have taken us to Wembley.

I say almost the most creative because Neil Kilkenny's second-half performance was something to behold. My view is, and has always been, that he is a central midfielder, not a wide player. He looks lightweight but in my view is anything but. Tenacious in the tackle but most effective with the ball at his feet and the play in front of him. He created, from nothing, two glorious chances for Beckford over the two legs. He was the orchestrator of the move of the match at Carlisle. He is difficult to dispossess, has pace, skill and great vision. The ball always finds its target. His off-the-ball work rate is also phenomenal. When Leeds are in possession he is always in space, always looking for the option but directing the play at the same time. I think Kilkenny and Howson could make a terrific central midfield partnership and Kilkenny has, for me, the natural talent, attitude and leadership abilities to make a fine club captain. A little bit controversial? It seems to me a long time since we had any genuine quality in the centre of midfield and, creatively speaking, it is like a breath of fresh air. I know Kilkenny was playing right-midfield on Thursday but all of his effective play began from the centre.

Jonny Howson of course gets the main plaudits as he is undoubtedly the hero of the hour. Let's hope it doesn't go to his head until the summer hols!!!

Dilemma

And so to the big dilemma; the starting eleven on Sunday. The gut feeling is to stick with the side that performed so well at Carlisle. We also saw how that side performed at Elland Road and the question is therefore “which side will turn up”? My view is that we are more likely to see the side that played at Elland Road than the one at Carlisle.

Much was made of the fact that at Elland Road the pressure accounted for the sub-standard performance. If they are going to play that way at home, before their own supporters, how are they going to play at Wembley stadium, the ultimate pressure scenario, in front of even more – given the rumours of the number of Leeds fans who appear to be keen to buy tickets at Doncaster made available for general sale. 90 minutes to perform; no second-leg or second chances. The team that gets picked for the final is the team that has to be able to raise its game in the way we expected at Elland Road and the way that was delivered at Brunton Park.

To play that side in my view would be a gamble on Gary Mac’s part, and I would err on the side of caution. Having said that I was again proved completely wrong after cursing him for playing the same side in the second leg so once again I take my hat off to the management team for getting it right.

Doncaster are one of the better footballing sides in the division, as they proved by destroying us at Elland Road in January and by keeping us on the back foot in our crucial victory at the Keepafloat Stadium in the latter part of the season. The fact that they put five goals past Southend in a play-off semi-final says a lot about their attacking ability and open style of play. But I think we have the talent, ability and pace to match them in our squad, but I’m not sure that we do with the eleven that won at Carlisle.

So putting sentiment aside and given that this is the final and most crucial game of the season my starting eleven would be…

GOALKEEPER

Ankegren

DEFENCE

Kenton
Marques
Michalik
Sheehan

MIDFIELD

Prutton
Kilkenny
Howson
Johnson

ATTACK

Freedman (c)
Beckford

SUBS

Lucas
Hughes
Douglas
Elding
Kandol

I’ll probably do one more post before the weekend as the excitement level reaches fever pitch during the week.

Marching on Together

You Must Reflect After A Good Night’s Sleep!

2008-05-13T16:11:00.002+01:00

Leeds United 1-2 Carlisle United
League One Play-off semi-final 1st leg

Leaving the ground last night I was absolutely livid, pure raw emotional anger. Today I am a little calmer but still seriously concerned at the manner of Leeds’ performance last night and the fact that they have wasted a fantastic opportunity and set themselves up for what is now the hardest challenge of the season on Thursday night.

In front of a packed Elland Road, the Leeds players gave an abject performance devoid of skill, pace, passing, movement, width, and (almost) goals. I don’t understand how they could not have been motivated for a game like that, how they were second to every ball, how they couldn’t control the ball or pass it, why the ball was hoofed to Freedman repeatedly. Why can’t they just get it right when it matters?

There is a team collective I know, but nevertheless there are some individuals who could be held accountable for last night’s defeat. I could actually tear the whole team to pieces but a few key players will suffice.

Jonathan Douglas

The “big money” signing from the Championship days. The captain of the side. According to some, the key influence and difference between winning streaks and losing streaks. In fact I read one statistic that Leeds haven’t lost at Elland Road when Douglas has been in the starting eleven since the defeat in March 2007 at home to Sheffield Wednesday.

I haven’t verified this but if it is true I can only imagine it to be one of the greatest coincidences in the history of the world. When we paid nearly £500,000 for Douglas in the Championship he wasn’t good enough. When we were relegated there was a possibility that having previously been a Premier League player, he could shine in League One. Sadly, there is no division in professional football where Douglas’ ability to pass and shoot is acceptable, nor is there any football ground in the world (where supporters pay to watch their team) that would stand watching the team captain give up on the half way line, having lost the ball, whilst the opposition ran through and scored against an over-exposed defence. In a game of absolutely massive significance. I was, and still am, completely appalled.

Frazer Richardson

Frazer is a committed Leeds player, of that there is no doubt. His work rate is outstanding. Always has been and always will be.

However, whilst he gives everything he sadly offers nothing. Clumsy in the tackle, unable to keep his feet and composure at key times. No creativity going forward (the looking-at-the-floor run down a blind alley) and when a cross eventually finds its way in – and in fact there were quite a few last night to be fair – they are lacking in quality, precision or direction. Unless of course the training ground routine is to avoid a Leeds player at all costs, in which case he can claim to be the most technically brilliant player ever to have lived.

Those are his faults, and there are many. But Frazer doesn’t pick the team. Neither does Tresor Kandol. More on him later.

Dougie Freedman

Whilst clearly the inappropriate target of the static hoofball tactic adopted last night, Freedman’s performance was way below par. This perhaps takes greater significance because he is an experienced pro whose creativity and guile has made him, perhaps more than anyone, the crucial player in so many games since McAllister took over.

He must have known there was a heavy weight of expectation on his shoulders but his response was to go the other way; largely disinterested, no working back, no calming influence on Beckford. The number of times he tried to dribble round three or four men (which player can actually do that in the modern professional game – apart from Ronaldo?) when players were in better positions was unbelievably frustrating.

In the Championship Freedman is a substitute. In League One Freedman is a big-name, big impact player. You wouldn’t have known it last night.

Tresor Kandol

A lot is said about Kandol and he has come in for a hell of a lot of flak this season. He also got a lot of flak last season; I remember him allowing the ball to run out of play in his own half against Barnsley, at home, the score 0-0 (it might have been 1-1 actually) and with about five minutes to go when we needed to attack. I just couldn’t get my head round what he must have been thinking.

Sadly I am no closer to understanding this twelve months on. Watching Kandol last night, brought on in the second half with what must have been the single instruction of getting in amongst the Carlisle defenders and causing them problems, I again struggled to understand what was going through his mind. He seems to be happy simply to hold the ball 40 yards from goal, pass to a team mate and “job done”. Alternatively when there is no-one to pass to he tries his luck by shooting from just about anywhere. Interestingly, the closer to the goal he is, the further away from it the ball ends up.

Simply put, he is not a footballer. Well certainly not in any recognisable sense (control, passing, movement, heading, shooting, etc.). I can honestly say I think more footballing talent exists in amoeba on Saturn than in Tresor Kandol. He is truly awful and without a single redeeming footballing feature. He is sluggish to react and this makes him appear lazy which is also something I cannot abide. He does appears to be brow-beaten by the criticism he receives from the stands and his confidence is suffering as a result. For a well-paid professional at his level, I have no sympathy whatsoever.

That said, and as with Frazer Richardson, Kandol does not pick the team. They are both asked to wear the shirt and both do so without hesitation. They are both asked to do a job and, repeatedly, they do not. So where does the criticism lie? In the players for having no technical ability, or for the management team for failing to acknowledge that they will simply not get results using players of that calibre? I would say the latter, particularly where there are alternatives available.

Gary McAllister

I am a big fan of Gary Mac. I think he has done a fantastic job since he arrived, given the circumstances and disarray when he arrived at the club. I think there can be no doubt, however, that he got it tactically wrong last night.

1. Bradley Johnson is a central midfielder. He has a good left foot and therefore has been played on the left where he has become pretty effective. He is not a left back; never has been and never will be.

2. David Prutton is not a left midfielder.

3. Neil Kilkenny is not a right midfielder.

4. With Rui Marques on the bench, Paul Huntington was not the right choice at centre back.

5. Frazer Richardson is not the right choice at right-back.

6. Jonathan Douglas is not worthy of a place in the starting eleven, but if his influence is so great (Huddersfield away anyone?) he can sit on the bench and come on in the second half to save the day.

7. Where is Darren Kenton?

Suggested starting eleven for the second leg…

GK Ankegren

RB Huntington (unless Kenton is fit or reappears)
LB Andrew Hughes (or Huntington)
CB Rui Marques
CB Lubo Michalik

RM David Prutton
CM Jonny Howson
CM Neil Kilkenny
LM Bradley Johnson

CF Beckford
CF Freedman (c)

This is, I think, our strongest line-up. Howson and Kilkenny are both talented footballers. Kilkenny was out of position last night and when he was moved to the centre of midfield he controlled the game. His passing rarely went astray (pity the same could not be said for the rest of the midfield) and he has the vision that can split defences and cause problems. Why he is not played there week in, week out is beyond me. Howson was disappointing but he has shown himself to be a great learner so he deserves his second chance on Thursday.

As always though, I remain optimistic now the dust has settled. Maybe, just maybe, that goal in the sixth minute of injury time could be the most important goal in the history of Leeds United. The odds are against us and I blame the team for that. It was in our hands. Now we have to take it out of Carlisle's on Thursday night.

Marching on Together

The Time Is Now

2008-05-11T13:04:00.005+01:00

Leeds United v Carlisle United
Elland Road, Leeds
Monday 12th May 2008

With just under 24 hours until the first leg of the play-off semi-final I'm not sure I can recall the last time I felt this nervous. Even though the Preston semi in 2006 was obviously vital at the time, I have a different feeling this time around.

When we reached the play-offs in 2006 we were in the middle of a poor run of form that would take us through to February 2007, anyone willing to be honest would agree that with a couple of notable exceptions we did not play well for most of that season, the biggest downturn in results happening as soon as Bates handed out a new three-year deal to Blackwell.

This time, however, things are different. Instead of a squad full of overrated (Healy), borrowed (Miller), disinterested (Blake), crap (Butler) journeymen, we have a talented management team overseeing a - relatively speaking of course - decent squad of players, ambitious and passionate and seemingly stripped of all the unsightly elements of the game that have hung over us like a black cloud for so long. More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that Leeds are a form side in League One with six wins in seven, real momentum approaching tomorrow night's game and a genuinely exciting opportunity to push on to Wembley.

Our opponents must not be underestimated in any way. Carlisle have been the third best team in the division for most of the season. They were the first team to beat us this season and ran us very close at Elland Road. Their recent form has not been good however but, though we were true to form at the Millennium Stadium, remember that poor form was enough to carry us through the semi-final. We are probably better than Carlisle in overall terms at the moment. We achieved more victories and points during the season, have a slightly better squad and if the second half of the game at Elland Road is anything to go by, we have greater attacking guile and pace.

The mind games have begun, such as they are at this level. The Carlisle captain has come out and said it is disrespectful that we were happier to have drawn them rather than Doncaster or Southend. There is of course a sound logic to that view so I'm not sure how that can be disrespectful; nevertheless that is the mentality Carlisle take into the semi-final and we should be wary - in the grand scheme of things this opportunity has a much greater significance to us than Carlisle and we end up at opposite ends of the scale; Leeds under enormous pressure and Carlisle with the underdog, "nothing to lose" mentality.

This could and should be the start of our revival as a major force in English football; a club based on ambition, determination, unity, realism and most of all stability. Focussed minds, skill, passing, movement from the first whistle at Elland Road until the final whistle at Wembley.

The time is now. Our time is now.

Marching on together.

The Verdict - Disappointed Acceptance

2008-05-02T08:37:00.009+01:00

This article was started after the judgment was handed down and finished after the Gillingham home game so apologies for any timing inconsistencies…

Now that the decision has been made the line must be drawn. No points back, the play-offs guaranteed and 40,000 on Saturday to celebrate the incredible achievements of a football team succeeding (there is no other word for it) in the face of incredible adversity. The players now have to be motivated, driven and most of all prepared for what will hopefully be a glorious last four games of this remarkable season.

So, reluctantly, we must accept the decision of the independent arbitration panel. No, we don't necessarily agree with it, just like we didn't agree with the original decision. But, like a galling refereeing decision, it is not going to change and we must move on to much much bigger and better things and render it irrelevant in the manner we have done all season.

Just before we do though, I have to say I am left with a feeling of disappointment towards Ken Bates and his team of advisors, who were quick to tell us on judgment day that they had "done the best for the club and the fans" and who now deflect the attention by egging us on to vitriol against Paul Scally and Gillingham tomorrow (not that I need much encouragement on that score mind you - I would love to relegate them) having read the Panel's judgment, would like to like to raise a few points.

The Extent of the Main Judgment

I think the first, possibly surprising aspect was the remit of the panel. They did not, contrary to what appeared to be a common belief, seem to have any intention at looking at the “fairness” of fifteen points as a deduction and therefore do not appear to have been in any sort of position to amend the punishment i.e. 5 or 10 points back.

The basic decision was made swiftly; did the Football League, as a private member’s club, have the power, authority and discretion to impose the penalty in the manner in which it did. The answer was yes and everything else became completely irrelevant. The remainder of the judgment deals with a number of other elements but these are largely as a courtesy to the time and effort put in by the parties over the course of the arbitration. Nothing more.

Established Football League Rules

Maybe it's just me but at no time before was I told that the Football League's established rules (not ones they had to make up) actually stated that new members to the League - which LUFC, under the control of the Bates consortium, effectively were - should take an automatic relegation to the league below, in our case to League Two. This is Regulation 11 of the Football League's rules, an established rule of membership of the League.

So at the outset once the CVA was challenged by HMRC, under established League principles there were three options to the League:-

(a) demotion to League Two
(b) expulsion from the League altogether
(c) return of the golden share under the exceptional circumstances provision

In my last article, I suggested that only (b) and (c) were the available options and therefore if the circumstances were “exceptional” the golden share should be returned without qualification. For me, the appearance of the demotion option under Regulation 11 changes the complexion somewhat.

Expulsion from the League is I think excessive and unrealistic in all the circumstances and it is highly unlikely we would see any club suffer such a fate for a technical breach of the insolvency rules cased brought about by an HMRC challenge.

Demotion however, seems a less excessive and therefore more likely prospect, and I suspect that the Bates Consortium knew that this was on the horizon and had the League imposed that penalty the type of challenges made through the arbitration would simply not have been available to Leeds.

The reason I say there is a different complexion is that, according to the judgment, the Football League were required, without having to make up any new rulings, to relegate us to League Two. Not knowing this until now I, and I think most others, have operated on the assumption that expulsion was never going to happen so the only other option was “exceptional circumstances”, under which an assumption was made that the circumstances were exceptional and the share should have been transferred to the new company. Throw in the demotion requirement and you get a different picture; it is the club approaching the League, cap in hand, asking not to be relegated (which would have been absolutely disastrous) and to which the League were receptive, saying that they could either start League Two on nil points or League One on minus fifteen. This was a compromise and Leeds agreed to it.

The Club's Conduct

Another significant aspect of the judgment is the evidence and comments in relation to the conduct of Ken Bates and in particular, Mark Taylor, a solicitor and director of Leeds United 2007. It is an underlying theme of the judgment that Mr Taylor failed to act promptly in a number of instances, and receives criticism for the issuing of "misconceived" High Court proceedings, not to mention what appears to be the odd inclusion (which Mr Taylor appears never to have explained properly) of Barnsley F.C. to those proceedings to the South Yorkshire club's apparent surprise and eventual protest!

A key point made in this context by the panel is that there was no reason whatsoever that Leeds could not have instigated the Arbitration Proceedings in August 2007 and a decision reached by the end of 2007. How many times have we heard Ken Bates tell us that the delay in reaching the arbitration was the fault of the Football League? The proceedings were instigated under Rule K of the Football Association rules and there appears to be no reason whatsoever why these proceedings could not have been instigated, by Leeds, in August 2007. Even if it is the case that Mr Bates did not know of this option his legal advisers certainly should have done.

Instead what emerges is a picture of procrastination on the club's part until early-to-mid February when the writ was served, just about the time that we were falling apart on and off the pitch with terrible performances and clueless management. Just about the time that our hopes of reaching the play-offs were all but gone, coincidentally. The panel concluded that the delay, by Leeds, in bringing the arbitration proceedings was "unreasonable" and "inexcusable", and a failure by the club to instigate the proceedings led the panel to a conclusion that the club (the management, not the supporters) were less bothered about the fifteen points in August.

Future Consistency

If there seems to have been one common denominator amongst the speculation, it is that if the deduction is upheld, a precedent is now set. Having read the judgment, however, this appears not to be the case.

Criticism of Leeds' tactics in the arbitration is, in effect, immaterial because the main thrust of the decision is that the League had the relevant authority, and discretion, to make the decision it made. There was no specific question about whether the 15 points was fair because if the League made the decision properly and with appropriate authority, the fairness aspect is implied.

Furthermore and most importantly the panel were at pains to point out, in its postscript, that the...

"15 points in the [Leeds] case was not (and was not intended to be) a precedent i.e. an automatic sanction in the absence of a CVA. Each case has to be assessed by the League having regard to the Club's individual circumstances leading up to and of the insolvency itself. Such Conditions as the League considers are required will reflect these circumstances and any merits the club can establish."

We expected as follows in future instances:-

1. Administration = 10 point deduction
2. Failure to return to the league with an approved CVA = 15 point deduction

Myself included, we expected that Rotherham, Bournemouth and Luton ("the Unlucky Three") would suffer the same fate as us. Not so.

The decision vindicates the League in using absolute discretionary powers to create the 15 point penalty but, crucially, considers the extent of the deduction to be particular to the circumstances of the Leeds case. One suspects that the League looked at the circumstances in the round; not only the manner in which Bates took the ten-point hit on administration, conducted the "pre-pack" administration and the initially ratified CVA, along with the failure itself to successfully deal with the HMRC challenge, but this probably also looked back at the destructive financial mismanagement of the Ridsdale era, for which it cannot be disputed that the position the club was in at the end of the 2006-2007 season was a direct and absolutely foreseeable consequence.

By validating the discretionary powers of the League and further stating that no precedent should be created by the decision we end up with no closure on the matter in real terms; the crucial element is that the level of punishment dished out to Leeds was based on the League’s view of the circumstances surrounding the conduct and activities of the club over a period of time preceding the decision. They will do the same in the case of the Unlucky Three but of course may not reach the same verdict.

The question on everyone’s lips has always been “what did Leeds do wrong?” What were those circumstances, conduct and activities which justified the fifteen point deduction? The major difficulty in accepting the panel’s decision is that, factually speaking, we are not sure what those are because all of the deliberations of the Football League have been private, as has the evidence placed before the panel. This, if you like, is the Bates’ consortium continued protest. My suspicions aside, the Football League have deducted 15 points but have not been clear why that penalty has been applied, aside from effectively saying “because we can”. I have told you my suspicions above, to be viewed in the context of Regulation 11, but those suspicions have never been confirmed by the Football League. See Ken Bates’ continued comments over the last nine months. He is a confident man but if the information revealed by the judgment is anything to go by, pushing this point to revelation may be opening an unseemly can of worms.

So looking at the use of the two-stage process going forward:-

Stage one is the Football League's decision on application by the defaulting club to allow a club to recover the golden share under the "exceptional circumstances" provision. The League, we now know, has absolute discretion in the decision-making process. What if the Unlucky Three create a CVA approved almost unanimously by their creditors who all think they are getting a fantastic deal? What if there are no rumours of offshore companies and ambiguities about who owns what, no third parties publishing dossiers on the existing chairman or getting into spats in newspapers about who, when or what is best for the club, no immediate history of financial suicide? The League is well within its rights to use its discretion under the "exceptional circumstances" rules and, in the circumstances, to simply hand the golden share back without the deduction.

Stage two, if required, is the appeal to the other Football League chairmen. With the greatest of respect to the Unlucky Three, they are hardly the type of clubs to stir the emotions amongst rival clubs and supporters in the way Leeds United are. However good a side they are, Bournemouth's away fixtures will not bring about the pay day of the season for the home side, nor will the clubs in the division above want to keep them suppressed for fear of their own ambitions being thwarted in the same way that clubs in the division below won't give two hoots about whether they come down into their league or not. The same goes for Luton and Rotherham. It is fair to say, that in real footballing terms, the Unlucky Three simply don't matter (other than to their own supporters) as much as Leeds United. As a Leeds fan who just wants his club to get on with their football without all the side-show nonsense this is not a boast, believe me. But it is relevant because the appeal process is a free vote for the club chairmen; I'm not sure that because a chairman voted against Leeds to uphold the points deduction, this would oblige him to vote the same way again when faced with the same bare facts (administration and CVA failure) but against a different set of contextual circumstances. The same goes for the few chairmen who voted in Leeds' favour; they have a similar discretion to change their minds. Otherwise what is the point of the appeal?

Having said all of this, the panel recognised the folly of putting such an appeal before the other member clubs and has recommended not just an amendment to the second stage but also a revision and settling of the Football League’s insolvency rules over the summer.

There was an excellent post mortem article by Rick Broadbent in Friday’s The Times.

The Future

So, it is done (as are Gillingham, Mr Scally). We move on. Carlisle await us in the play-offs as does, hopefully, a fantastic day out at Wembley against either Doncaster Rovers or Southend United and, ultimately, promotion to the Championship on our way back to the Premier League.

The Gillingham game was a bit of a non-event to be honest, bearing in mind the crowd assembled to watch it. But, if nothing else, I once again take my hat off to Gary McAllister who I criticised for playing a weakened side when he should be maintaining momentum but he got the appropriate response and a sixth win in seven games. He also has fresh players chomping at the bit for 12th May.

After this season we must forget the 15 point issue because it will only serve to frustrate us in the future when the League applies more lenient penalties or settles new written Regulations which are out of line with the way we were treated. We do have an amazing opportunity before us to do nothing but play football and achieve great things doing so. We have represented everything which is ugly about the game over the last six years; greed, indulgence, crime, violence, and the disappearance of any link between player and supporter, and we have come out the other side whilst the rest of the game (especially at Premier League level) continues to appear ruined by those very factors.

On on on.

15 Points, We Give a F**k?

2008-04-25T14:16:00.002+01:00

The final submissions have been made at the arbitration and the three man panel is considering its verdict. There is a part of me which says “f**k them”, let them uphold the decision; let us concentrate on our football and cap what in anyone’s terms has been a magnificent season with a sensational victory at Wembley stadium (anyone want to banish the memories of 1996??) and promotion to the Championship. Let Luton, Bournemouth and Rotherham reap what the Football League has sowed, take a further 15-point hit, possible eventual relegation to the Conference and oblivion. Thank you Lord Mahwinney.

I have to say I have been relatively calm about the whole thing throughout the season. Even after seven games when we had been winning games without playing particularly well - though the post match huddle and fervour generated at ER was one of the greatest feelings I’ve experienced as a Leeds fan – I would have taken the current scenario after the dross I had to suffer last year even if we had not been deducted any points.

However since the players, chairmen, managers and anyone else associated with our fellow League One clubs have started throwing their two-pence in I have become increasingly annoyed and have been thinking for a while about expressing my annoyance on paper, largely as a retort to the ill-informed and badly thought-out response of these people to the possibility that on 3rd May 2008 we might be playing for the title of Champions of League One.

What Happened in Summer 2007?

Most of this is well documented but here goes, in summary…

Having gone into administration at the end of last season and been docked ten points (correctly), none of which is in dispute, the attention turned to how the club would get out of administration.

The basic football league rules state that in order for a club to return from administration to receive a “golden share” – that is the right not only to play in the football league, but also to be active in the transfer market – it must exit administration through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA). This is a vehicle created under insolvency law to assist companies who are technically insolvent to reach an agreement with their creditors to repay part of the debts owed under a structured arrangement managed by the insolvency practitioners appointed to oversee the administration – in this case KPMG.

As a side issue, there is some suggestion that the club could have played in the league for an extended period without the golden share, though there is no evidence to suggest that any transfer activity could take place at that time, nor that any funds would have been made available to maintain the club’s running costs.

In accordance with insolvency procedures a proposed CVA was in fact put to the creditors and, at a meeting, was ratified by the necessary percentage of votes. What then followed was a period of time in which any of the creditors could lodge an objection to the CVA and the proposals could then only be ratified by a court hearing; expensive and time-consuming.

H M Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was (and one suspects will always be) a creditor of the club but in recent years its status as creditor has changed in the footballing world from “preferential” – meaning in the order of payments to be made it would be paid in full – to merely “unsecured”, a member of the group of creditors who share the scraps when the secured and preferential creditors had been paid off. “Football creditors”, under the Football League rules, must be paid in full and are therefore treated as “preferential”. Unsurprisingly, HMRC is unhappy about this and has chosen to target this particular loophole for its challenge to the current system of distribution.

One hour before the stated deadline HMRC lodged a tactical objection with the court. This single act meant that for Leeds to exit administration through a CVA it would have to have fight the HMRC’s challenge and have the CVA ratified through expensive, drawn out legal proceedings (with no guarantee of success). A date for the hearing was set but could not be scheduled any earlier than early September, after the season had started.

In response to this challenge, the administrators KPMG, presumably acting in the best interests of the creditors (because the continuation of the company in administration would run the risk of liquidation?), called a meeting to agree the sale of the club. The administrators sold the club to Leeds United 2007 Limited.

There was some considerable unhappiness, amongt many Leeds fans in particular, about the sale to Leeds United 2007 Limited, a company run by Ken Bates. Having said that, and perhaps more importantly, the noises made by other seemingly interested parties at the time of the bidding process (Simon Morris, Redbus, Mr Revie, the Sheik etc.) seem to have been a lot of hot air as not one person has actually challenged the decision of the administrators and once the decision was made these parties went very quiet indeed.

Therefore the club had come through the administration process within the provisions of insolvency law but not within the provisions of the Football League’s basic rules, i.e. not through a CVA. So the company applied to the Football League for its golden share under an “exceptional circumstances” provisions –I haven’t actually read these rules because the Football League is a private member’s club so I can only use the information I have seen reported. The circumstances were, and remain, unprecedented; whilst this was, apparently, the 41st administration dealt with by the Football League, the “exceptional circumstances” provision had never been utilised before.

Without precedent, the Football League decided to allow the return of the golden share under the “exceptional circumstances” provision on two conditions; firstly that the club should be handed a fifteen point penalty and secondly that neither Leeds United nor the Football League would commence legal proceedings against the other party. The club then appealed the decision which was brought before an emergency meeting of the 72 (I think) Football League chairmen, an “overwhelming majority” - in excess of 75% - of which confirmed that (a) Leeds had breached the League’s insolvency rules and should be punished; and (b) that the punishment of 15 points should not be reduced.

As a result Leeds were, said Mahwinney at the time, “starting the new season in League One as a valued member of the league's football family but with a penalty of 15 points”. Anyone feel patronised?

So that is how we got to play football this season and the club have, despite signing an agreement to the contrary, initiated legal proceedings against the Football League who have asked for the matter to be dealt with privately through an arbitration hearing consisting of an independent panel of three and whose decision, we understand, will be accepted as final by all parties.

The Arbitration

The legal basis for the challenge by Leeds has not been fully revealed (due to confidentiality requirements for the arbitration) but one would imagine it would be based on the following – these are merely speculated and some, all or none may be valid:-

1. The condition of a signed agreement which says that neither party would initiate legal proceedings against the other has no legal effect on the grounds of duress – the “gun to the head” analogy.

2. The fifteen point penalty was wrong because:-

(a) the “exceptional circumstances” provision within the Football League’s rules does not have conditions attached, either the circumstances are exceptional and the unfettered return of the golden share is warranted or they are not. By agreeing that the circumstances were sufficiently exceptional (the failure of the CVA was entirely out of the control of the club) this should have been enough to return the golden share; and

(b) it is simply an attempt to punish the club who for taking a ten-point hit without being penalised in real temrs; an additional punishment because we didn’t actually suffer the first time around. Take for example, Paul Scally, the Gillingham chairman who openly admitted in front of the television cameras that Leeds deserved the fifteen-point penalty for the way they had conducted themselves.

3. The appeal against the penalty should not have been placed before persons with an undoubted conflict of interest. It is not a leap of faith to suggest that the parties voting at the emergency meeting in London had a direct (or indirect) interest in its’ outcome. When a court puts together a panel of jury members, questions are asked by a judge of the jurors as to whether or not they are “conflicted” vis-à-vis the defendant and in the case of every single member of our jury each one would undoubtedly have been excused.

4. The Football League’s rules are in effect unworkable as a result of the stated policy of HMRC to challenge any CVA proposed by a club in administration, which in turn would result in each case for a further fifteen point deduction. A club starting a season in administration on -10 points would be deducted a total of 25 points in one season for in effect the same misdemeanour. The Football League has a duty to protect the interests of its members and has done nothing of the sort in the face of HMRC’s challenge to its rules.

These are a few suggestions and focus on the flaws in the decision-making process along with the lack of any real justification for the 15 point penalty. As mentioned the Football League have been completely silent on their position since the initial decision in August 2007 so it is difficult to predict their precise position. If indeed their position hasn’t changed since August one can perhaps speculate on the following arguments:-

1. The club signed an agreement not to pursue legal action against the Football League. That agreement is valid at law and therefore the proceedings should be thrown out by the arbitration panel. Mahwinney stated at the time that all forty clubs who had previously been in administration had signed agreements on the same basis.

2. As a private members’ club (and therefore largely unregulated by statute law) is entitled to interpret and enforce its rules as it sees fit and in its absolute discretion, subject to the ratification of the members which constitute the club. The activities of the Football League are governed by the national (F.A.), continental (UEFA) and global (FIFA) football associations. This allows the League to govern itself and impose membership rules outside the sphere of some statutory rules (e.g. the Companies Act) and the standard rules of the courts (impartiality etc). It would probably be difficult to avoid liability under some statutory laws however, laws against discrimination are the most obvious of these.

3. Leeds United could have played in the league without the golden share back, to enable them to resolve the issue of the CVA at court with HMRC successfully, complied with the League’s rules on insolvency, and recover the golden share without having to face further penalty. Leeds United chose not to do so.

These are the only things I can think the League would put forward in countering the Leeds position, but there may be more or less, or these may be completely wide of the mark. It also (more importantly) does not mean that I think that any of them are valid.

So that is the history and a bit of speculation on the current position. Here are some facts. Since Mahwinney’s patronising comments our record on the pitch is as follows (as at 24.04.2008):-

Pld W L D GD Points

44 25 10 9 +32 85 (70)

Only Swansea have performed better than Leeds and, despite the shit that flies around on message boards, you have to concede that they deserve to be promoted (I won’t say as champions at this stage!) – the football they have played at times has been far too good for this division, with a manager who has an excellent footballing philosophy. It is interesting to think how we would have fared had McAllister been in charge since the beginning of the season, but this digresses onto matters for another topic, another debate, another day. Back to the task in hand…

The Ongoing Debate

At the time of writing the final submissions have been made and the panel are now deliberating on their decisions. Since beginning this it has turned into something much more in-depth than originally anticipated but what has gone before can serve as a platform to deal with the comments made recently as the potentially “affected” League One clubs come crawling out of the woodwork. It is frustrating that people seem intent on making comment without considering their position – such is the consequence of the partisan supporter I suppose – but perhaps we can clear up some of the fact from the fiction.

There are lots of elements to the “debate”, if one can call it that; usually a debate involves two opposing and potentially valid arguments to the same set of circumstances but no-one seems to be able to tell me what the Football League’s position is. So I thought I would look at the elements of current debate in turn.

Other League Clubs Considering Taking Action if Leeds Succeed

One overarching fact to bear in mind is that Leeds were always considering some form of legal action; the comments made by the club after the decision was ratified about this are well documented and can be seen from September onwards. It can therefore not come as any surprise to any other club in League One that some action has been taken.

So let’s say Leeds succeed, the other clubs are angry about it and want to take action. But who against? Leeds? I cannot see how they would have any avenue of redress against Leeds if an independent panel cleared Leeds of any wrongdoing. What about the Football League? Even if the other clubs can establish a breach of the Football League’s legal obligations to it’s members, what have they lost? If the League has such obligations and the arbitration reverses the League’s decision, wouldn’t it be Leeds who have lost out, not only in terms of the uneven playing field they have had to face all season, not to mention the signings that could have been made in the summer and the possibility of lost revenues associated with that.

I know that is quite speculative but what I am getting at is, how would the other League One clubs have behaved differently had Leeds started on zero points? It’s not as if they could argue “we would have tried harder”, “we would have spent more money”, “we would have picked a different team”. If anything the last of those three operates the other way because they reaped the benefits of the fall-out of us being unable to sign players during the summer who ended up going to rival clubs. What supporter in his or her right mind would stand for being told that the management and players of its club had given anything other than everything all season, irrespective of another clubs’ fortunes – one game under a given set of circumstances perhaps, but over a whole season? It would be a catastrophic admission.

Also, put yourself in the shoes of the board and management of the rival clubs in League One. Would you not be pressing home to your players that the punishment against Leeds is likely to be appealed (given the plethora of information in the public domain at the time) and that to make absolutely certain that you finish above them you have to remain at least 15 points clear. Surely any prudent manager with half a brain would be adopting this approach privately, even if not publicly. Furthermore, on the basis that Leeds’ challenge should not surprise anyone, why didn’t the rival clubs take legal advice at the start of the season on their position should the situation manifest itself? We can but speculate here, but it would appear not based on the panic-driven statements we are all reading in the papers. Is this imprudence not of itself a breach of a duty owed by the board and management of the clubs? Perhaps they have to ask themselves some serious questions on this point.

Vocal figures recently have included, amongst others, the chairmen at Brighton and Doncaster who have admitted they are “considering their position” but frankly it is difficult to see how they could argue a case without reverting to the dangerous admission that they, as a club, would have operated differently over the course of the season.

They may say of course that they were “entitled to assume that the punishment would stand” but their gripe on this point is therefore with Football League directly , not with us. However you look at it though but we do seem to end up in the same place; the Football League in its defence would argue that the league clubs have not relied upon the initial judgement to their detriment; that is they have not acted or behaved any differently than had the penalty never been imposed in the first place.

A further, potential argument, might be that they were deprived of something which was “rightfully” theirs e.g. play-off place or automatic promotion, but this argument must fail absolutely on two counts; firstly Leeds have, to date, been the second best performers in the division, a full six points better than the third best performers, so no other team could claim to be second best by right. Secondly the League’s decision would have been overturned by an independent tribunal and therefore any question of what is right can only be established by looking at the circumstances created by the ruling; i.e. if the deduction is upheld, Swansea are rightfully champions; if it is overturned, we are in second place by rights.

Nonetheless even if such arguments were put forward by the other clubs, they would have to take this up with the Football League and I cannot see how this would be anything other than a claim for compensation. What other remedy could the Football League, in the circumstances, offer other than financial compensation for inconvenience caused by its flawed decision-making processes?

If the arbitration panel rules in our favour; the other clubs can do as they please in relation to the Football League! Maybe they can sue each other for the way they voted at the original appeal in August!

The Timing of the Decision is Appalling

This is the one argument it is hard to disagree with. The fact that it took the Football League so long to offer the arbitration hearing shows that the League are as willing to procrastinate when a speedy and expedient decision is required as they were quick to judge at the outset when a balanced more thoughtful approach was needed. There is in any event to my mind, no reason why the arbitration could not have been set up in October and a decision made by Christmas. Whilst I have no doubt that we would have heard the same outpourings of panic and frustration from the same sources, the matter would have been resolved long before now and there would be the certainty that the Leeds supporters, as much as if not more than anyone in this division, have craved for so long.

Having said all of this we come back again and again to the same position. So what? Apart from being inconvenienced, what difference does it make if the arbitration happens in December rather than in May?

The 15 Point Deduction Spurred Leeds On

This seems to centre around an extremely weak argument that Leeds’ rise through the league has been because of the penalty and nothing else. There is no doubt that a siege mentality was created at the club because everyone felt an enormous sense of injustice at the decision, but the argument can be easily countered when you consider that before this season no team has managed to survive in a division having suffered a points deduction so all signs pointed to League 2 rather than the Championship.

The suggestion that we would not be where we are if it weren’t for the deduction is, of course, nothing short of ridiculous. Had we been allowed more than five working days to make transfers at the start of the season the players reportedly lining up to join us wouldn’t have gone elsewhere, the squad would no doubt have looked a lot different and we would have probably been one of the favourites to go up in any event so for me the argument holds no water at all.

In the event that the arbitration concludes in our favour it will be interesting to hear the undoubted claims about the impact of the decision on the last day performances of the clubs; “our morale was shattered so we couldn’t perform”, “we cannot be expected to play to our best under these circumstances” are examples that spring to mind. Hypocrisy at its height.

Leeds Should Have Accepted the Decision

Another weak, badly thought-out argument. Why should they have accepted it? Because it was imposed on them without precedent or deliberated reasoning? That the decision was ratified by the chairmen of clubs for whom Leeds have provided the biggest pay day they have seen in years, not only from the gates at Elland Road but when our supporters have paid to visit away grounds in their thousands (at times outnumbering the home support!). No fewer than the top six attendances in the division have involved Leeds United.

Most importantly, of course, there is not a single club (unless they are totally spineless) in the entire Football League who would not have pursued every avenue of redress available to them in the face of a decision of this nature. I simply cannot believe otherwise, and anyone who makes such a claim is lying to serve a different motivation.

Leeds Acted Improperly in Using the 10 Point Penalty Last Season

Again, find me a team who wouldn’t have used the loophole in the rules to their advantage. They do not exist unless they are run by people with the intellectual capacity of a boiled potato. Furthermore, it is crystal clear that the penalty imposed at the end of the 2006-2007 season has absolutely no relation to the current penalty being disputed. So any suggestion that the motivation for the 15 point penalty was that Leeds were in effect not penalised by the 10 point deduction does nothing more than serve the argument that the 15 point deduction is completely unjustified.

Swansea Should Have the Trophy on Saturday
(for their last home game)

This of course is the latest “controversy” but actually falls squarely into line with what was discussed above about clubs arguing that they are entitled to things by right. That argument, as discussed, is without foundation. The arbitration will rule on whether the Football League’s decision is right or wrong. If it is upheld, the trophy is Swansea’s. If not, we will fight it out on 3rd May in the last game. Interestingly enough, the Swansea supporters who contend that we are bleating on about the injustice of the points deduction cannot get to their keyboards quickly enough to post on this one.

This morning in fact, the seemingly absent-minded vice-captain at Swansea City, Alan Tate, has spouted the most unbelievable drivel actually blaming Leeds directly.

Some outstanding quotes include…

“Leeds are trophy killers”(!!!!!!!!)

"They should have been given the fine and told that was that, but they probably thought 'We're Leeds, we'll get away with it’”

"It's embarrassing that it's still dragging on now and if I was a Leeds fan I'd be embarrassed about it."

“They're trying to be the big club they were a few years ago. They are a big club, but they need to realise they are in League One.”

Quite honestly I have never heard such shite.

Decision Reversal will Punish the Other Clubs who Have Done Nothing Wrong

This is quite an interesting argument but I think this can also be dismissed straight away. As mentioned the arbitration panel will rule on whether or not the original decision was correct. If it was not, it was wrong. If it was wrong, the people responsible for the decision were wrong. You see where I am going with this! My point is that the clubs who were so quick to judgement in August appear unwilling to shoulder any responsibility for making that claim. A little internet research has thrown up an interesting anomaly which might give an insight into the blame game which will follow should the panel rule in our favour.

Lord Mahwinney in The Times, 9th August 2007:-

"Leeds United presented their appeal and why they thought the board was wrong, We then had a vote which overwhelmingly endorsed the decision that there should be a sanction. In a second vote the League overwhelmingly endorsed the sanction. Overwhelmingly means the vote was over 75 per cent in support of the board.”

Cue Paul Scally, Gillingham Chairman, on the same day, in the YEP:-

'I wasn't responsible for deciding whether Leeds should be punished, or what their punishment should be. Neither were any of the clubs. The board took that decision, and we were simply asked to back one party or the other using the evidence in front of us.”

Watch this space!

Leeds are Simply Seeking Media Attention

This is the latest spouting from the Swansea chairman on the morning that I finish this piece. Apparently now we are only doing this for media attention. Whilst the urge to curse and give this man the labels he will no doubt be deservedly attracting on the message boards is overwhelming, I will restrain myself and ask some questions in reply. Does he believe the media will influence the decision of the panel? Is he scared that some unbiased reporting (see The Telegraph on 22nd April 2008) might actually allow a sense of injustice seep into the consciousness of a public who revile us? The reality is of course that this comment is unhelpful, totally irrelevant and on the basis that it adds nothing to the debate is in fact entirely hypocritical; clearly he has nothing to say of any note but needs the media attention himself.

Conclusion & The Future

So here we are awaiting the verdict and it seems to boil down to a straightforward question; was the decision to deduct points right or wrong. Whether you are a Football League board member, a Football League club chairman, manager, player or supporter, it appears that the decision when made will draw a line underneath it.

As Leeds fans we do not think it fair and just that we have been treated this way and irrespective of the outcome it can only be deemed proper that we were given the opportunity to have the arguments we presented to the kangaroo court heard by an impartial tribunal. If they reach the same verdict, the precedent is set, we must hold our hands up and accept the decision. If they overturn it, similarly the decision must be accepted by everyone.

More importantly perhaps, every club going forward must be subject to the rules as they are decided. If the penalty is ratified HMRC will continue to challenge the CVAs and the 15 point deductions will only cease when that situation is finalised. This would of course mean a time-consuming and expensive court hearing so don’t expect any club to be taking that one on in the near future. Disappointingly, also don’t expect the Football League to take this on by testing the inconsistency between its and the HMRC’s positions in court which would be the most sensible course of action to clarify the position going forward.

If the decision is upheld we must look to the play-off route which is an absolutely remarkable achievement and for which we have received absolutely no credit whatsoever this season from anyone outside the football club. There is a sense that Bates cheated, morally if not legally last season, and the club continues to remain as unpopular as ever amongst its competitors. Not that this particular point is of concern to any Leeds fan of course but internal conflicts do still remain, only this morning as we prepare for the biggest gate at Elland Road in five years and the possibility of winning League One on that day, the perpetual “Bates Out” campaign continues to gather apace.

To be honest I have had to ensure so much nonsense from the people who have unfortunately been associated with Leeds for so long; predominantly those at board and managerial level, not to mention some of the players who have been the worst in the history of the club (not necessarily in terms of raw talent but in terms of attitude, application and passion) that I am just glad that I can look forward to watching a Leeds team with some players I actually like, some who actually have ability, and a management team who genuinely want me to leave a game feeling entertained.
Turning back to the present happenings, my view is that the issue should be black and white; the decision was right or it was not. If it was not the penalty must be overturned immediately and the points reinstated in full. The clubs may seek some form of legal redress but it really is difficult to see what they would be claiming for; no-one can argue with the bare facts and the success we have had on the field this year. They say the league table doesn’t lie; for me the League One table has been fibbing since day one of the 2007-2008 season.

Wizzy