The last four days have been a complete joke.

It’s been like the film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, just not funny at all. After pointlessly ticking boxes of planes (be that airplanes or aeroplanes) and trucks, to prove that I am not a robot, only to get finally onto the website and finding out the tickets have been sold out, I am almost ready just to pack it in.

I understand that tickets for the Euros mostly went to robots, who then sold the tickets on at an inflated price to ordinary folk, daft enough to pay the mark up (I am guessing), so this is why there is that extra level of security.

Might as well have gone to robots this last week. Seeing as soon as we start losing at The Theatre Of Wet Dreams, it will all go quiet in our end, like it did at Preston or Blackburn (or both?) not so long since. When all the “new” fans realise that it won’t be a goal fest and it may end up a dull 0 – 0. When they realise there isn’t be a corner or a free kick or a shot on goal every 5 minutes to keep their very short attention span focused, and that actually, they don’t know all the words to the songs, so they just look a bit stupid when they get it wrong and it all goes quiet, or no one else joins in with them. Soon enough, they’ll clear off down to the bogs and start smoking or whatever it is that they do in there. But considering they’ll all have missed the first 10 minutes anyway, because they’ll have been congratulating themselves on getting a ticket and taking selfies of each other with the tagline “here I am at Old Trafford” and posting it on instagram, they’ll not have even seen who is on the pitch – that’s if they know who is on the pitch.

You think I am bitter about it?

Too right, I am.

They’ll all be there, in their nice new shirts and scarves and every other bit of tat made in the People’s Republic, that proves that they are a Leeds fan. Trying to get the right angle for the perfect selfie whilst doing their 14 fold acca, umming and ahhing if Forest away be a home win or not and whether Livarpool will score a goal in the 96th minute to secure a draw. They’ll not be bothered about the game, just the result, and whether they will be able to join in that massive crush on the aisle if and when, we score, so they can post it on twitter. Cameras at the ready and two chargers, just in case the phone dies before they get that crucial shot of them, which proves they are “at the game”. They’ll have used up most of the charge of one of them because they’ve been lining up their match ticket with the 12 bottles of bud on the train table to get the best shot to show their mates.

Three months later, in the freezing wet snow, on a Monday night away at Brighton, after we’ve lost 5 in a row, the same ones will be tucked up in bed, watching it on SkyTVisf**kings**t, even though they have been offered tickets since they went on sale, from people who have just ordered it anyway, because they could, and all the away season ticket holders who can’t be arsed. It’ll be “oh I’m busy tonight – can’t make it, mate. I’ll see you at Chelsea next away day”. Meanwhile depriving those of us, who haven’t been able to go because the tickets were “sold out”, of yet another away game. That’s if they haven’t given up already, and stormed off twitter in a hissy fit, after they have slammed Bamford for being a donkey – yet again – and someone has had the audacity to ask them where they were when we were shit.

Is this more or less the same post I do this time of year, every year for the last 2 or 3 ( when fans were allowed into games) seasons? Probably. Will I do the same again next season? Probably. Did I ever whinge about it before 2017? Nope. Did anyone ever whinge about away tickets in 2014? Nope. Did anyone whinge about tickets in the first season we got booted out of the PL in 2004? Nope. Did anyone whinge about tickets when we dropped down into Division 3? Nope.

Were any of us surprised that the attendances dropped in 2004/5? Nope. Were any of us sorry to see the back of the ones who didn’t renew their season tickets in 2005/6? Nope. Were we surprised when even more jacked in their season tickets in 2007/8? Nope. Were we sorry to see the back of those? Nope. Would we be desperately upset if we never saw the miserable wasters ever again? Nope.

Did you all laugh when Massimo Cellino announced that if we didn’t get to the play offs he would refund 25% of the cost of your next season ticket in July 2016? Yep. Did people laugh when they found out there were less than 15,000 season ticket holders at ER in 2016? Yep. Were any of us who were still going surprised? Nope. Were any of us who were still going upset? Nope. Were any of us who were still going want any of the deserters back? Nope.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/football/how-many-season-tickets-will-leeds-united-sell-sunday-and-how-much-will-fans-get-back-if-they-dont-make-play-offs-1794153

So for those of you reading my blog, who have forgotten, or conveniently misremembered, that no one ever bothered going to watch Leeds United at home – let alone away – because they were “too busy” going shopping, playing football, washing the car, washing their hair, playing squash, going to the gym … or simply watching on the telly because you’re a c _ _ _ . Read the above article, just to remind yourself how crap we actually were.

Read the article which painfully spells out what a laughing stock we were. Go back through the annals and look at the “players” we used to have. Please note I use the term “player” very loosely to describe someone who at times just wandered round the pitch at ER for 90 minutes and considered themselves to be an actual “football player”. Read the article and refresh yourselves of the fact that Massimo was actually going to refund 50% of the cost of our season tickets back if more than 15,000 people renewed their season tickets and we didn’t make the play offs. Reacquaint yourselves with the knowledge that people were actually bribed to buy a season ticket, the price of which had already been frozen for 3 years, by the promise of a 50% discount off their next season ticket. Remind yourself how unpopular being a Leeds fan used to be – 5 short years ago.

According to records our average attendance at ER in 2010/11 was 27,296 – this includes away fans by the way. By 2014/15 season it was 22,278 and by 2015/16 it was 22,611.

There’s now a waiting list of 22,000 people who each pay a tenner to be in with a chance of getting a season ticket should someone to kick the proverbial bucket.

So, yes, I am bitter.

Bitter that those who made the effort when we were shit have now been usurped by someone who probably only got a season ticket in 2018 when we started to get a bit better. Bitter that those who unswervingly stood through the dross that was Division 3 football, now cannot even get a sniff at the burger van outside Old Trafford. Bitter that those who couldn’t afford an away season ticket, but then again, never thought they would ever need one anyway, may now never see an away game again, because they have been priced out by people who jumped on the opportunity when one came up. Bitter that I may never stand with the people who I have stood with year on year, decade on decade for God knows how long, at a game again. Bitter that the away days that I have enjoyed for so long, will be something of the past now.

I understand now we are good, people want to be Leeds fans again. But everyone started to build their loyalty at one  time. What’s wrong with biding your time and waiting your turn? We all had to do it at some point. Oh wait, I forgot, you’re Entitled aren’t you?

As for the ones who started off this whole anti loyalty thing – karma. What goes around, comes around. I hope when it does arrive, when it’s your turn, you get it ten fold in return.

In the meantime until Thursday, here’s some more planes and trucks to tick …

First of many pictures from the Stan Bowles Calendar Alzheimers Research Fundraiser. We will try to get them put up on here for those people who aren’t on facebook and twitter. That’s a nice bag on the table by the way – could be a good flag bag!

I’ll try to put as many of the photos on here as possible. I’m sure Dave will get some famous faces throughout the season, and raise money for a great cause at the same time. Anyone who has spare time to help out, please get in touch. Many hands make light work.

Shame the table got in the way of the branch flag in full glory.

Link for tickets for the do at Manhattans

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/harrogate-leeds-united-supporters-club-evening-with-the-centenary-whites-tickets-162290959629?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

August 2021 update

Monthly Branch Meeting – held at the Londesborough Club, face to face – hurrah!

Our first branch meeting of the 2021/22 season started with us raising a glass to Top Cat Cooper who sadly has passed away this weekend. He was a fine player, integral to the Revie side. RIP.

Minutes from the last monthly branch meeting in December 2020 were reviewed and passed accordingly. Minutes from the LUSC exec meetings were read out (one zoom meeting and one normal meeting – hurrah!). As the zoom meeting minutes were a little out of date regarding the information re the new Leeds United Away Ticket Policy, there was little discussion. The new policy, in summary, is better than the one that was originally put forward in the SAB meeting, but not really good enough. It was acknowledge that wherever Leeds drew the cut off line, it was bound to piss off somebody. If they left it was it has been for the last few seasons, the newbies would just be whingeing more and more. Many people in the branch were up to 99 /98 matches, so just missed out unfortunately. Some people didn’t think that the 2015/16 went go back far enough and that loyalty should be based on how long you have been following the Club. The fact that the free for all sales in the last two seasons for the larger allocations had also meant that people had failed to get a ticket was also a factor. There was surprise that the PL max allocation was 3,000. The Secretary pointed out that no home club wants to be outsung by Leeds United away fans, so why would they want to let in more Leeds fans than necessary. It was pointed out that it was different in the Cup games, as these were bound by FA rules re allocation, NOT the PL. Therefore more chance to get a Cup away ticket, should Leeds be bothered to enter a proper competitive side and not pretend and go through the motions like the last few seasons. John Mann was welcomed by Chrissie as the new Chairman of the LUSC. We will endeavour to send out the LUSC exec minutes to all branch members in the email mailout this season. We will have a purge of the email list, so if you haven’t given us your new email address or renewed, you will be deleted from it. In other LUSC news, the Club have said that the LUSC will be able to sponsor Kalvin Phillips again this season, and the fixture lists will proudly be announcing that again. The LUSC have been sponsoring Kalvin since 2015 and hope to continue to do that.  There are no details yet whether there will be bat flu restrictions at games. Freedom Day has been and gone. Hopefully, seeing as the matches are outside in the open air and at least 10,000 fans got into Wembley by storming the gates and didn’t have to show any negative results or QR codes to get in, then we won’t have to. The posh people at Wimbledon were sat closer together than we are at ER and for longer (if they watched the men’s final – not in the ladies as that was over before we knew it – only joking it was an hour and a half this year), and as far as we know, all those “pilot test events” did not result in a massive increase in cases, hospitalisations or deaths. Whatever you think about the bat flu – I do not want a “Papers Please” society which basically deprives us of our freedom and liberties. This is not a George Orwell novel, nor is it 1940s post war Berlin.

Memberships

Thanks to those who have already filled in their renewal forms. You MUST fill in a form every year, I’m afraid, even if you don’t have to pay for anything. We are still waiting for fixture lists (which will be out of date as always as SkyTVisf**kings**t will muck up the fixtures every 6 weeks), so when we get those, we will send one out with your membership card in the post for all those who enclosed a stamped addressed envelope.  For those that didn’t, should we be in a position to run a bus, you will get yours on the bus, or at a monthly branch meeting.

Away Travel

Until we know how many tickets we are going to get, we will not know if we can run a bus. Which relies on Leeds United actually putting the away tickets up for sale, the Leeds United ticketing website NOT imploding and the branch actually being able to order tickets. Everything will have to be done at the last minute. If we have to share a coach we will, but if we don’t get enough tickets, we won’t be running a bus unfortunately. We cannot afford to run half empty buses. If we do run a bus and you book a place, if you do not turn up, we will charge you for your place and if you are unreliable again, we won’t bother booking you on.

Ryan Edmondson Sponsorship

We are still waiting for the Club to come back to us re sponsoring Ryan, even though he is out on loan at Fleetwood now. They are aware we want to renew it. The MPO will email the Club again this week.

Fundraising

Thanks to everyone who participates in the (fixed) football card. Please continue if at all possible. We will look to arranging another raffle once we get enough stuff to raffle off.

Stan Bowles Calendar in Aid of Alzheimers Research.

Plans are now afoot for the weekend of the Everton game. Manhattans on Friday night, for the Centenary Whites do, Stan Bowles Calendar Stand outside The Peacock on match day, and then Sunday is the Bowls event at the Black Swan. See link below. It’s all in a good cause, Alzheimers is a terrible disease, please contribute. And I know it’s nothing to do with Leeds United but QPR are STILL not decided about naming a stand (they’ve got 4 of them!) after their greatest player. Bit shit really, seeing as he is their most famous player – but what can you do? They should really try do it before he dies as well. We will keep trying to gently encourage them our end.

These are the links below for the Manhattans event and the justgiving page if you can’t attend

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/harrogate-leeds-united-supporters-club-evening-with-the-centenary-whites-tickets-162290959629?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/hgtelusc-stanbowlesalzheimersresearch

It’s summer, the season starts very soon. What’s going on with away tickets? As the great Brian Wilson says – “God Only Knows”. This is the latest news on away tickets – make of it what you will.

https://www.leedsunited.com/news/ticketing/28377/leeds-united-update-away-ticketing-policy-ahead-of-2021-22-season?mc_cid=fc4b83093a&mc_eid=7344e39802

The lyrics of God Only Knows are a very fitting description of what Leeds United means to us. Leeds United is a massive chunk of our lives and has been for some time. I’ll put the snippet in for those heretics amongst you who don’t know who The Beach Boys are: (thanks to google for the lyrics)

I have a love / hate relationship with Leeds United, like so many of us. Whilst it has been the source of much despair, frustration and downright anger over the last 30+ years (longer for others), it has also been instrumental in some of the happiest and most cherished moments of my life. Leeds United has driven me to drink to drown my sorrows, but also been the catalyst to some of the most drunken celebrations known to man. You only have to look at the joyousness in Millenium Square after we got promoted to see the wondrous nature of the good times at our beloved football club. And we are at the good times right now. Let’s enjoy it while it lasts.

These blogs are just the written views of one, ok maybe two, loyal fans. I’m not the loyalest by any stretch of the imagination, and I don’t pretend to be. I never made it to Myanmar and pre season friendlies are not my biggest priority in life. Leeds United already takes 10 and a half months of my life, I need 6 weeks off for a rest! Running a branch is difficult. You don’t choose it, it chooses you. Bit like a cat really.

The biggest, most stressful part of running a branch?

Away tickets.

In a way, it is good that away tickets is such a problem. Why? Well, in the greater scheme of things, it means that Leeds are doing well. No one wants an away ticket when we are crap, look at Villa not so long since, when they were letting you pay on the gate on the night. So, when it comes to the “greater good” – woo hoo the good times are here!

The flipside? How long have we got? I’m going to spare you the argument for loyal v free for alls – everything that can be said, has been said, mostly on this website! Just go back in the annals and you can just enjoy it all again.

So, let’s just get on with it. Let’s digest the away ticketing policy.

Firstly, it wasn’t a surprise that Leeds United decided to change the policy after last season, actually not last season as we never got to see any of the games, so in truth season 2019/20. If I was to be honest, the away ticket issues started after we picked up when Christiansen was still here. Granted, there were always the odd games when we struggled with tickets when we were a bit rubbish. Going down to Division 3 meant a few new grounds, so the ones who just wanted to tick off a new ground, as opposed to the ones who actually wanted to watch us play, were giving us problems then. It happens every time we get a team who we haven’t played before. You turn up and people you haven’t seen for years all of a sudden are there. Salford was a recent one. Paucity of the usual crowd, quite a few long lost faces – who knew?

I digress, what does the new away ticketing policy mean?

Basically, if you have an away season ticket – get in! They’ve not got rid of them and they will be cheaper this year because there is a cap on PL tickets – £30 tops. Bargain! You still have to pay your little bit extra for your Premium product, but for this year at least – NO WORRIES! Slap yourself on the back for having the money and the foresight for getting your away season ticket when you did. For the original 350 of you, well done for holding out as long as you have done. All those years of paying more per game  than we,  mere mortals did, has got you the bonanza of a guaranteed hassle free match ticket. All you have to do now is worry how long Leeds United let you keep them. If we stay up and get into Europe, no doubt MORE new fans will want to get in on the action and the CEO will get even more emails demanding that all fans should have the right to watch Leeds United away.

The lucky 9.5% of 3,000. O level Maths at A grade tells me that there are 285 very, very lucky people who have been to 100 or more league and cup games since the 2015/16 season. Why they chose 2015/16 season as their cut off point is anyone’s guess. We’ve had worse seasons than that surely? Was that the season we had our worse attendance records? Radrizzani bought Leeds in 2017, so nothing to do with new owners taking over, or was it? Was Andrea already waiting in the wings in that 2015/16 season? Uwe Rosler and Steve Evans shared the managerial hat / sombrero, so can’t be anything to do with that surely? God Only Knows again, Brian. However they decided it, 285 people  were in it to win it. 285 people have a guaranteed ticket to an away game this season. Hurrah! Before people start on the “they are all old gippers” etc. I know for a fact that there are a few who are, for all intents and purposes, YOUNG people in that number. Much has been made of the myth that only old people could ever get on the loyalty ladder. Simply put – not true. How do I know this? Because I know one if not more of these YOUNG people – personally. The lad probably didn’t appreciate being dragged up and down the country by his old man to watch us get beat all the time. These young ones may have stood there in the beginning, wondering what the hell they were doing when their mates were sat at home, warm and dry on their playstations and game boys. They may have been there, looking around at the crowd of old drunks, still singing even though we hadn’t had one shot on goal the whole game, thinking “what the heckingbottom is going on?” But look how well it has worked out. Brucie bonus.

The other 27%. In the 2019/20 season, these people got a ticket to an away game. Seeing as quite a few of the games were done on the old “tracker” system, many of them are and have been for years in the legions of the loyal support. Some may have missed out on the lucky 285 by one, maybe two games. What solace could you seek if you had missed out by one game? And if it had been that Stoke free for all game, or in fact any of the other free for all sale games like Preston or Bolton. Some poor souls might have missed out on the lucky 285 by that one free for all game that loads of the half season ticket holders who bought their season ticket at Christmas got to, but they didn’t. Some in this category may not be though. Some might have just been lucky enough to have a decent T’internet service and been lucky to get on the system. Some have been lucky to get to the checkout phase without the basket emptying or getting turfed out by the website. Some might have been lucky to get time off work to sit in the queue and order their tickets in the first place. Some might have been lucky to have a friend who could order their ticket for them and were lucky as above. Well their luck ended there, didn’t it? Now they will have to see if their luck plays out when they all get dumped in a pot again for a 50/50 chance at getting their hands on just short of 1,000 tickets. Better odds than a free for all sale, but with less tickets to have a go at, so probably worse. It makes no difference if you had done 98 games in five seasons or just got to 5 last season. All in the same boat. Complete loss of your loyalty for the ones on 99 /98 games – perhaps because someone who got a half season ticket at Christmas managed to get in before you that day. Bollocks.

Season ticket holders. The last 27% of the 3,000 max allocation. Another reason to pay the extra tenner to go on the season ticket waiting list. Free for all sale for just under 1,000 tickets. No one knows yet whether you can go for this sale if you have already tried but failed to get one in the last category. Actually, God Only Knows. You’d also be hoping that people in this sale are actually wanting to go to the game, rather than wanting to make a quick buck and flogging their ticket to Scum away for £500 or whatever the highest bidder is willing to give them. At least though, some who have never managed to get to a Leeds away game can go and experience the smoking in the bogs, beer fights, crap view from the aisle seats, overpriced beer and then get crushed when we score.

Gold members. Sorry “MyLeeds” members. “Gold member” always brings up images of the rather unfortunately shaped spaceship in that Austin Powers film of the same name. Never did like that term. But having said that, MyLeeds now sounds far too similar to that terrible “book” by Peter Fibsdale, which he wrote when he did, to capitalise on that really troubled period we were going through. Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore has more morals than Peter Fibsdale. Gold members get the final 9.5% in the final free for all sale. It’s not brilliant , but at least there is a small chance that they might get lucky, get a ticket and not go to hospital after some sweaty fat bloke falls on them on the way up to his seat, because he’s not used to drinking 6 pints before the 12.30 kick off on Sunday lunchtime.

And that’s your lot. It goes without saying that you would hope that anyone who gets a ticket to an away game this season actually does genuinely want to go. You can only hope that the Club are going to stamp down on anyone who is happy to skank a fellow Leeds fan for a profit, or anyone else for that matter.

The fact is now that we are popular again, they’ll be many tickets that don’t actually go to Leeds fans. Jon Bon Jovi is only the first of many. You’re not seriously telling me that if Tom Cruise decides he wants 20 tickets for him and his entourage to the Livarpool game, the Club is going to turn around and go, “No Tom, we are only going to let our proper fans go” , are you? If Coca Cola decide they want to sponsor us and need 100 tickets to the Citeh game, it’s not going to go down too well Leeds United say no, is it? If the 49ers turn up and decide they want to slum it with the fans instead of sitting in the posh seats where everyone falls asleep in the Emirates Library, what’s going to stop them?

It’s a completely different kettle of fish to blagging a ticket for one of the Kaiser Chiefs.

And as for next season, who knows? It may all change again. It depends if Radrizzani is still here. It depends if we stay up. It depends on how many more people decide they want to go. Most of the other clubs in the PL are closed shops. You can’t get an away ticket unless you have been going forever. The same ones go to every game. Loyalty in it’s purest sense. Loyalty is still a dirty word though for some at Leeds United. You know my views on it. 

For now, well done to the lucky 285

It was a toss up between “Praise You” or “We’ve come a long long way together” for the title today. I decided on the latter, as it is a bittersweet time right now for the longest suffering Leeds United fans. It’s scarcely a month to go before the new season kicks off, and yet we still don’t know what’s going on with our away tickets. If anyone at the club ever read this blog, it would be a gentle nudge towards recognising how far we have come together, since those Division 3 days.

Happy times though. Today, 21st July is Marcelo Bielsa’s birthday. He’s 66 today, if he was British he’d be able to retire on his state pension now. Proper pensioner!

There’s been a few pictures of him put up today. The one from when we got promoted for instance – a rare picture of any emotion from the great man, let alone smiling, is probably the nicest one, with all the team celebrating with him. Pictures from the sidelines of him squatting down, or on his blue bucket (that everyone laughed at – not mocking now are you?) are the next most popular. All instantly recognisable, and I am guessing if you typed in “picture of Bielsa” into Google – they’d be the ones that would come up.

The one I have selected, this one, is one of the most, if not the most iconic.

What does this say to you?

What does this say about the man?

What did it say to Leeds fans after that defeat against QPR in February 2019?

Looking at it now, 2 and a bit years on in time, but eons and galaxies far far away from the where our club is now, what does it say to you about the guy that we have in charge?

Discuss.

Now if I had that question in GCE O Level English Literature – I would have got more than a C grade.

Can you imagine if you were studying sociology at A level and that question came up in an exam? Mint! That’d be me on a Astar+++, or whatever it is graded at now.

Not much needs to be said that hasn’t already been said about Marcelo Bielsa. Man, myth, legend. Coach of all coaches. Teacher of all teachers. But to me his humility, his humbleness and his self effacing demeanour is the thing that stands out. He just gets on with the job that he is paid to do.

This picture of a man despondent and alone in his thoughts, was taken after we suffered a 1-0 defeat against QPR. He looks crestfallen. He looks like a man who has personally taken all the responsibility of that loss. In these progressive times when there are so many people who take so little responsibility and accept so little accountability for their own actions, here is a guy who bore the whole lot on own his shoulders.  And in reality, it wasn’t really all his fault.

QPR had been on a rough long losing streak of 7 games – it had to end – and it ended with a lucky win against us that stopped us going top. We had the majority of the possession that game, we had two good shots saved by their keeper. QPR scored a decent goal and we didn’t. Immediately after the game, before we even saw this picture, captured so well by Bruce Rollinson from the Yorkshire Post, the doom and gloom had already set in. The talk was about how we were going to fail again, doubting Bielsa, slating Victor Orta (again), condemning the players for not being good enough  (again). It’s a good job Bielsa didn’t hear any of this that night.

Yes, we won the next three but ultimately failed at the very end. So some of the naysayers were technically correct. We didn’t get promoted that season – but look at us now.

We have come a long long way together.

The ones who were saying after the game that day, that our players weren’t fit to wear the shirt that day – they were wrong. Apart from Pontus and Kiko, they are the same players who won us promotion the next year. The ones who said that Orta didn’t know his arse from his elbow that day – they were wrong. Look at the inspired signings of Raphinha and Rodrigo. The ones who said that Bielsa would never get us anywhere because he only had a Plan A and wasn’t capable of a Plan B / C / D – they were wrong. Look at us now – Plan A works, a few tweaks, but essentially we got to within touching distance of Europe with Plan A .

Our first season back in the PL, and we have really made the rest of the PL stop and take note.

We’ve played fast flowing, one touch football, but we’ve also defended well, even though Koch, Llorente and Cooper were all out most of the season. Young Struijk has really stepped up to the mark. Patrick bagged 17 goals, beaten into 4th place by Kane, Salah, Fernandes, but still failed to get a spot in the England team, behind Calvert-Lewin and Ollie Watkins. But the biggest impact is that of Leeds United Supporters Club sponsored player Kalvin Phillips. By far England’s Player Of The Tournament. A storming Euros for the lad.

All down to this man though. He looked beaten in this photo, but maybe he was just thinking. Hatching a plan, and what a plan it was.

Thanks to Googleimages for the picture – but thanks to Bruce Rollinson for being at the right place at the right time, for the most iconic picture of the great man.