Like many branch secretaries and admin folk today, 10.30am was spent watching the Leeds United website slowly tick down until tickets could be ordered for Blackburn Gold members. In the back of my mind was Sutton in the Cup, as well as Huddersfield.

Don’t get me wrong, since the news of the draw broke out many minutes have already been spent looking at the logistics of either Sutton or Wimbledon away. The aa route planner was, as usual, the first website visited, followed swiftly by an email to the coach company. Either ground looked like a long haul to get to and we simply  cannot dodge the parking lot that is the M25, so the only blessing is that it will be on the Sunday and traffic might not be as bad as what it could be. There are already people speculating about how our team will fare on the 3G pitch, but apparently Thorp Arch has the same pitch anyway, like most pitches in Scotland actually, and at least it won’t be as bad as that miserable excuse for a pitch at Histon. Incidentally, a game which should NEVER have been played, and in fact probably was only played because ITV Sport wanted to show it. Which says a lot about why football should not be governed by TV companies.

Going back to Sutton in the Cup, the main problem is the lack of tickets to these small grounds. Whilst in the build up to all of the cup draws, the usual people are wanting “glamour ties” or grounds that they have never been to, so they can tick them off, I much prefer home games all the way to the quarter final. Boring, yes, but at least I can be assured of a ticket and there is less chance that the branch will lose a load of money organising transport to a game where tickets are in short supply. For people who travel independently, or at least don’t have the responsibility for ordering tickets for other people, these little grounds are no problem, especially if they have the luxury of an away season ticket.

I say luxury, and I mean it. Not many of us have the funds to fork out the money for our season tickets and an away season ticket at the same time. I appreciate if you really want to devote your life to Leeds United, these are the lengths that you have to go to, but sadly, not everyone has the opportunity or the means to do so. So, the lucky few can make it to every single game if they can afford it. The rest of us have to rely on our own phones/laptops/devices or some very helpful branch admin person who is willing to devote their time on ticket ordering day to do it for them.

Needless to say, I really don’t like ticket ordering day, as I am the unlucky one who gets to sit in front of the screen watching the little yellow time bar go down from 10.30am onwards, sometimes an hour or more goes past, an hour that I will never get back. The build up to 10.30am consisting of worrying about whether the broadband will go down or not, if I have missed anyone off the list, if I get the tickets ordered in the correct order so people can sit with each other, etc. etc.etc. Before the updated Leeds United website, the added factor was if the ticketing process servers would cope with the strain of the number of tickets being ordered and the number of people trying to order. Thankfully, Leeds United have made improvements and have also very helpfully used their “Away Games Tracker System”. I know many people are against the use of this tracker system, but given it allows the loyal few who go to the majority of the away games through the season to be guaranteed a ticket, most will struggle to hold a valid argument against it.  There continues to be the few who moan that they can’t get tickets to away games, but considering Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton games were still selling on the day and more recently Blackburn ( to press these tickets are still on sale) haven’t sold out yet, I don’t think these people have a leg to stand on really. What they actually mean is that they selfishly want to be able to pick and choose which games they want to go to over and above anyone else, regardless of whether they have made the effort to any other games or not. Harsh but fair. Sadly, this is true for home games as well. I was one of the paltry 8000 who turned up to the 3rd round Blackburn cup tie at home. Although the Club admitted that the pricing could have been better for non season ticket holders,  there were still 14,000 or so tickets were up for grabs for £15. The crowd was disappointing to say the least. The following Cup game (Norwich 2-2 but beat we them on penalties) didn’t really start selling until we beat Wolves the weekend before, despite them being a very reasonable £10 for season ticket holders and £15 for non season ticket holders. On the night of the Norwich game, the queues at the ticket office at Lowfields were horrendous apparently, but anyone who was lucky enough to be there witnessed a cracking game, which unfortunately signalled the start of Norwich’s decline into mid table mediocrity. Had we got a home fixture in the next round instead of Liverpool away, there would be no doubt at all that Elland Road would have sold out. I don’t begrudge anyone who is starting to come back, I am happy that they are. There are many who for their own reasons chose to stay away from Elland Road, some just simply could not afford to come back and some can only make it to a few games because of geography etc. The team and the manager and the owners are keen to reaffirm their commitment to and their appreciation of the fans, so the more the merrier I say.

On Sunday 29th January 2017, the branch will have it’s day out in true Harrogatewhites fashion, and a good day out will be had by all. In previous seasons  it would be at this point where I would add, “before it gets ruined by the 90 minutes on the pitch”, but this is just not the case any more. For too long have those words been a stock phrase when it comes to talking about Leeds United, and I am very glad that I don’t have to churn to them any longer.

Today Massimo Cellino sold Andrea Radrizzani a 50% stake in Leeds United, and Mr Radrizzani has reportedly said that he is excited to work alongside Mr Cellino to make Leeds United as successful as possible. He also said that he is aware of the heritage and traditions and wants to be a fitting custodian on behalf of the Leeds United Supporters who are the lifeblood of The Club.

After the years of misery under Bates, can you believe someone is saying that?

However unbelievable that is, it is even more unbelievable that there are still people who cannot bring themselves to be happy that this is happening, and are choosing to see only the worse possible scenarios of this. Whilst I completely respect that everyone is entitled to their own views, as we do live in a democracy, I am now getting really fed up with all this negativity.

I suppose this situation can be paralleled with the Star Wars franchise in some bizarre way. Whilst the original Star Wars films had their individual moments of epic cinematic history which gave them their greatness. There is no doubt that certain things like those annoying Ewoks (for the benefit of The Branch Secretary) and those other weird creatures in Jabba The Hut’s entourage, seemed a little out of place in the trilogy. However, the original Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi films were THE benchmark. The one thing everyone will hark back to, and now that Carrie Fisher has gone to that galaxy far, far away, she is the icon of a generation.

Then came perhaps THE biggest mistake of all time, the release of the “pre-quel” films. The Phantom Menace, which was ruined by Ewan MacGregors really dodgy accent. The Attack Of The Clones or rather Jar Jar “Chandler Bing” Binks Story, ruined by Hayden Christensen this time around and similar to the next film Revenge Of The Sith, sabotaged by poor CGI. The films were a long time coming, they were filled with promise and came with a massive advertising campaign, but alas failed to live up to the standard of the original films, both in acting prowess and storyline, despite George Lucas doing his level best.

So to The Force Awakens, and many fans were worried that after the last three shoddy attempts, it was going to be another unprecendented disaster, quite honestly, in my opinion, it was pretty darned good. I have now seen Rogue One, and without giving too much of the plot way, that explains that! All credit to JJ Abrams, he took us back to that epic adventure in 1977 within the first 10 minutes of the film, back to what the fans wanted, not the CGI nonsense that we had been served up in the last three films. I agree that you cannot make a film about a galaxy far, far way without CGI, because there are no such things as starships, right?, but when the effects take over the film and the acting despite Samuel L “Mother******** snakes on a plane” Jackson and Liam “I have a very particular set of skills” Neeson, resembles the collective acting talent of Nativity 2: Danger in a Manger, you are already losing the battle.

Are you still keeping up with me? What parallels I hear you say?

I am not saying that Princess Leia is Billy Bremner, but what I am saying is that, most Leeds fans will hark back to our Glory Years. For some that is the Revie Era, for others the Championship side of 1989/90 and 91/92 and for the younger ones, it is the team that got us into the semi finals of the Champions League. These are the standards that we use to compare our current situation with.

After the debacle of Ridsdale and O Leary, Bowyer and Woodgate etc. we fell from grace with a massive thud. Successive failures under Krasner, Crozier and The “Consortium”, left the Club bereft and dangling by a thread to be swept up by Bad Papa Smurf and converted into what became his giant cash register, with lots of money coming in and out but no particular place to go…. definitely NOT in his pockets, given he always said that he never took a wage.. your Honour, and definitely no receipts or invoices. Then came the poorest Arabs on the planet, welcomed in with open arms by Mad Papa Smurf and certain vociferous members of the Leeds United fan base who claim (and still do) that they are the voice of the fans.

The result? Continuing abject failure. Failure to get a decent manager, failure to secure a decent team which didn’t consist of hasbeens and mercenary one season or half season wonders who no one else wanted, failure to beat Rochdale in the Cup, need I go on?

It is now nearly three years since Cellino tried to sack Brian McDermott, and how far have we come? As it stands today, we are third in the league and about to play either Sutton or Wimbledon in the 3rd round in the FA Cup after getting very near to quarter finals in the League Cup.

I say we have come a very long way!

This is an article taken from the Cambridge United v Leeds United programme Saturday 7th April 1984 about Cambridge United’s main fan group the ICT ( Inter City Trickle).

So the countdown to Christmas has begun, and what a start!

It is pretty unanimous that we gave a good account of ourselves in the quarter final in Liverpool last week. I thought Roofe played really well and deserved a goal. We could have easily got a result if the ball hadn’t come off post like it did or if Bartley’s free header was on target. The injury to O Kane and resulting early substitution had an impact on our shape and, I genuinely think that if Wood had started the game instead of coming on as sub, it would have made a massive difference. It was Garry’s decision at the end of the day, and I completely understand that he wanted to keep the faith with the Cup side that we had gone the distance with. One of the best highlights of the night was watching the new West stand emptying to the shouts of “Is it a fire drill? Is it a fire drill?”, they didn’t quite understand the irony as they trudged up the stairs in silence. To be fair to Liverpool, I have inside information that said that tickets for the game were sold out to season ticket holders even before the members had a chance to get them, so Leeds United sold out their ground for them, kinda anyway. As usual, I don’t pay very much attention to social media apart from what I have to do on facebook and here of course, but someone on the telly had said that Leeds fans were easily drowned out by the home supporters. Seeing as I don’t have a degree in Acoustic Sciences, I can only assume that he wasn’t sat anywhere near where I was. But, I suppose if you can’t let something speak for itself and you feel that you have to make the point on telly, you have already lost that argument anyway.

Glad tidings we bring, to you and your kin. We wish you a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.