The last Chairman Charley was way back at the Hull game in March. It seems like it was a century ago now. Back when we were able to enjoy an away day like normal civilised human beings, March 2020 BBF (before bat flu). So, this new season’s Chairman Charley comes from his seat at the Harrogate Arms, rather than Row 2 of the coach.  The musings last Saturday? Scott Parkers’ (lack of ) sartorial elegance and an update on the vesta dinners. It was hasta la vesta to both Scott’s rather disastrous choice of open, deep collar sweater and The Chairman’s supply of his favourite convenience food.

Fine Dining

Q: Guess what I did after the Liverpool game?

A: Had a load of cider, went to the chinese, got a special fried rice and beef chow mein, tripped up and threw it all over your car like you did last time.

Q: No, guess what I had instead?

A: What guess what else you threw all over your car instead of special fried rice?

Q: No, guess which Vesta delight I treated myself to?

A: I give up, just tell me

The Chairman: I had the beef curry. It was really nice. They are gaining popularity now you know, thanks to me. Can get them at Asda and Poundstretcher. Perfect post match food. The chow mein is very good and it cooks so easily, hardly any cooking involved.

A: Plus there’s the bonus that you won’t have the chance of throwing it all over your car on the way home.

Appropriate Pitchside Attire

Q: What the hell is Scott Parker wearing?

A: Eh?

Q: He looks like he’s just stepped out of a 50s clothing catalogue with that cardigan on

A: Eh?

Q: That thing he’s wearing on top. Look at the lapels on that! What’s the point of that?

A: Keeping him warm but allowing him freedom of movement?

Q: It’s pointless. That’s not doing anything. Better off just wearing a jumper. What’s the point of all those buttons?

A: To be honest, I’ve not really noticed

Q: It’s like what people used to wear in the 50s. Yes it was all the rage then, like smoking jackets and slacks

A: He’d look better if he turned up wearing a smoking jacket in the second half

Q: I bet he thinks he’s really stylish, but he just looks really stupid. You don’t wear that sort of stuff at football

A: Maybe he just wants to look smart for the cameras

Q: What looking clever in a cardigan?

A: Fashion forward 50’s football casual

Sunday morning 5 a side football

Q: These VAR decisions are about as much use as asking the bloke that was on the sidelines at 5 a side on Sunday mornings, who was too hung over to play because he’d been out all night, if it was a goal or not.

A: Eh?

Q: Remember? When we were at 5 a side and there was always one who couldn’t play and was just stood about? You used to ask him if it was a goal or not?

A: Really

Q: Yes! When you didn’t know if it was a goal, the one who was smoking always got asked it it had crossed the line?

A: Was there actually any point asking him, seeing as he was probably still pissed from the night before?

The Chairman: yeah, well. It would still be miles better than VAR now.

True True.

Well, short of us getting the point we deserved on Saturday, that was a pretty good start to September 2020. Had we actually been able to go a see us play that game, that would have been a completely different kettle of fish. We would have been the 12th man that would have made the difference and maybe Rodders wouldn’t have panicked so much in the final throws of that game and given them that pen.

I say we, but you know what I mean, the crowd. Admittedly, we probably would have only got 3,000 tickets. The AST holders would have been ecstatic and had Leeds United stuck with the loyalty tracker, there would have been no end of people whingeing on social media that they are sick of the fact that there will be no way to get an away ticket now we are in the PL until one of the saddos, who trudged to every game when we were in Division 3, pegs it. If it hadn’t of gone on the loyalty tracker and just gone for the free for all, there would have been a meltdown in the ticket office, the whole of T’internet would have gone down, despite Leeds getting another 1,000 servers on the ticketing page, no Leeds fan would have got a ticket but there would be 2,000 tickets up for sale for the bargain price of upwards of a grand each on ticketmaster. It would be funny, if only it wasn’t true……

Monthly Branch Meeting – Technically the AGM

Woo hoo! A socially distanced AGM was held at the Londesborough Club on Sunday 6th September. Thanks to all who attended including Calvin from the Stray Ferret and Craig from the Harrogate Arms.

Given there was no LUSC AGM and there have been no exec meetings since the havoc unleashed by Bat Flu, this was probably one of the shorter AGMs in recent times.

Chairman Charley:The Chairman did his usual read through of the minutes from the last AGM and these were agreed as a true record of events, proposed by Taff and seconded by Dave Poole.

Memberships:The Membership Secretary was MIA as usual but there have been sitings. Numbers were up last season to approx 179, however there are plenty of juniors and 65+ concessions to affect the accounts figures, despite increased memberships.

Secretary: The Secretary thanked everyone for attending the branch meetings in the last season and all the attendees at the LUSC exec, when we were allowed. At least we managed to use the Hospitality tickets that are part of the sponsorship package for the Reading game, and a jolly good time was had by Mally and Smuff in the free beverage area. The invite to the Legends event was attended by Phil “You Are My Sunshine” Reeves and Ruairi Stirling, who enjoyed a good do rubbing shoulders with the Great and the Good of Leeds United.

MPO: The MPO reported that the Centenary merchandise had sold well to start with, but we still have stuff to sell. Hopefully once we get back to normality, we can push these items to raise more funds. The SAB meetings throughout the season at ER have continued via Zoom because of the bat flu. The website is continuing to be useful at attracting us more new members and continues to be read. No Googleanalytics figures available, but despite the costs at £11.99 per month and then the annual fees, it remains a worthwhile investment at present. Ryan Edmondson has been sponsored again for the coming season on the same Standard Silver Sponsorship. Sponsorship package includes 4 hospitality tickets, a VIP Legends event, 2 tickets to Player of Season Awards at ER, a signed shirt and certificate of sponsorship for £1920. Form has been processed and BACS will be made as soon as invoice is raised. Raffles will be held through the season for these events and any other stuff that we can acquire to raffle off. The email list is being updated to ensure that every branch member has a chance to go for these.

Treasurer: The Treasurers report was set at 14 months as opposed to the usual 12 due to the extended Bat flu season. Overall we were in deficit, but cash in the bank has helped. We avoided accruing the usual large losses at Brentford and QPR away, by not running buses, because of the low allocation (Brentford) and the fact we got no tickets for QPR. £108 was raised from the raffle for hospitality and there has been additional fundraising to the tune of £700 by Andy during the lockdown to help out. The Cardiff bus bill will be paid now that the cheque has been signed and there were sundry items such as the bank charges and the tip to the bar staff before the Hull game. The extra ticket costs incurred by Leeds only refunding for the ticket price and not the transaction charge, will be attempted to be recovered by selling the unused tickets for £1 each to the people who had booked on. The accounts were proposed by Ray and seconded by Chrissie.

Travel: Away travel was overall fine apart from the fact we lost 4 good planned trips at the end of the season to some of the best pub stops of the season. Bloody bat flu. No other issues. See minutes for precis of away trips.

Officers: Re-election of officers, all willing to stand, proposed by Chrissie and seconded by Dave, show of hands agreed. The election of Andy Yates as the Social and Fundraising Secretary was proposed by Ricky Greenwood and seconded by Dave Poole. A vote was taken and Andy was duly elected by a majority show of hands.

A.O.B: The resolution that Ripon branch were permitted to participate in all events on par with Harrogate branch members was passed by a show of hands. Craig from the Harrogate Arms has offered to reserve seating for branch members for the televised games. We will provide Craig with a list of names in good time before each game. Andy is also coordinating with the Empress on matchdays for a branch members. Leeds are now doing home programmes, so if any branch members have anything for the LUSC programme page, please get in touch with the MPO.

A.O.B

Makaela stated that she felt it was unfair to all those Gold members who may not get to a game this season and forked out £50. This will be taken to the next exec meeting and raised at SAB. There is now a ticket exchange system at ER, which makes sense once we are allowed back to the grounds. Dave said that refunds have still not been received – this will be raised at next exec and SAB. Middy asked if there was an option, once we are allowed to travel again, if the branch would consider going by train and booking group seats. The Secretary said people had been going by train anyway when we were short of tickets previous seasons, we will see if it comes to that.

AGM closed at 9pm.

Last season the phrase was “hold your nerve”, as the new season is about to begin, my new buzz line is keep the faith. Unlike the Bon Jovi album from 1992 – yeah nearly 30 years ago – that I can still happily sit and read the sleeve notes from, the situation we find ourselves in is far from youth angst, relationships and rebellion against authority. It’s edge of your seat apprehension about what could be, and what might be. It’s steadfast clinging onto the belief that Bielsa has got this. It’s standing on the precipice looking straight ahead at what is coming at you not staring down the gap worrying about the fall.  It’s nervous trepidation, excitement and anticipation, not worry, anxiety and fear (for a change). 

I said WGUAFC at the start of last season…. and we did. The nails were in tatters after that Cardiff game and I openly confess that PPG was looking a good option for reducing the chance of any impending cardiac problems. But we held our nerve, and in the final run up, West Brom and Brentford didn’t. We finished on a flourish of 8 unbeaten games and the highest point tally for ages with clean sheets galore, despite the EFL’s best attempts to scupper this by holding poor Kiko hostage for 8 games because someone thought he heard something that no other f**ker heard. Leko got his just desserts as did his loan club Charlton Athletic. A grudge is for life, not just Christmas.

Within hours of sealing our promotion, the rumour mill was well and truly grinding at full pelt. No quarter was given, Cooper and Klich had barely woken from their drunken stupors, before the whole “Bielsa for Barca” thing started. Picture Klich waking up the next day on the settee, reeking from cigar stubs in that mega mix donner kebab, that seemed like such a fabulous idea at 2am from Mill Hill kebabs, knocking over Stella empties, reaching for his glasses, and peering at his phone to the news that Messi was demanding that they get Bielsa.

In fact, there’s hardly been time to draw a breath since we a) sealed promotion, b) got promoted as Champions (like I said we would) and then c) the “pi-ess de resistance” or piss take that was the guard of honour from  Derby. We got promoted without kicking a ball, and all of a sudden, we needed to invest and buy more, indeed, some “fans” used the word “proper” players. Christ, we’d just got promoted against the likes of Brentford and West Brom. Brentford had hardly lost a game in 10, they’d gone on a massive winning run and had the best defence in the league. West Brom, well with Bilic in control, a man who had proven managerial calibre in the English game (unlike Bielsa who had proven that he couldn’t hack the pressure last season), promotion was inevitable. Wasn’t it?

You’d think everyone would be ecstatic, but even before the stench of the blue and yellow smoke bombs had time to disperse outside ER, the old critics were sharpening up the pencils, and the millenials were charging up their phones to complain that we now needed a proper team.

The fact that we’d deservedly got promoted as Champions meant nothing. From what was posted on noseybook alone ( I don’t do Twitter or have anything to do with these noticeboard fan sites) you’d have thought we’d only just scraped through by the skin of our teeth. Admittedly, despite Bielsa’s high intensity training regime, we were lucky with injuries last year. It might be a bit different in the PL. Having said that, after putting myself through the pedestrian strolling of some of the PL games on Sky last season, it may not be as much of an issue as we might think.

Having been through the Ridsdale era of spend, spend, spend beyond our means and the consequences of said frivolous squandering, I am weary of splashing out on new players. Yes, the likelihood of getting Ben White has waned away, so we need someone to bolster the back, but the thought of frittering away every last penny of promotion cash that has found it’s way to the coffers, is the thing that is worrying me the most. I think one Seth Johnson, is one Seth Johnson too many. Bad enough when we got Thomas Brolin. We need to learn from our mistakes. We have got promoted playing some of the most exciting football since, well, last season. Our players play as a unit, a well rehearsed unit, I am really uneasy with the thought of a repeat of the “we need to buy more players in the transfer window” Augustin episode. It was bad enough when we got Izzy Brown because ” we desperately need more investment”. There’s no point buying more players for the sake of it. The wage bill will keep going up, at a time when matchday revenue is the princely sum of £0. Yes, there will be SkyTVisf**kings**t money and money coming in from the advertising etc. but if the players are on £60,000 a week, that’s £3 million already gone in just one player a year. Don’t even get me started on FFP and all that.

We need to consolidate, not speculate to accumulate. It would be great to see us get the magical 50 points by Christmas needed to stay up. That’s all I want for Christmas, cheers Mariah. Don’t get me wrong, it’ll be fantastic to get Top 10 and even better-er to get to Top 6 with maybe a decent cup run. PLEASE let us have a decent cup run. I’m fed up of this pretending to join in rubbish that we have been subject to in the last decade. Field a decent team, PLEASE or just don’t bother filling in the application form in the 1st place. I really do not want to join in with the Burnleys and West Hams who just go through the motions because they are focusing on staying up. We are better than that. Surely?

The main thing, keep the faith

 

August news has become another victim of the bat flu. Like our presence at ER in the last month or so, it is sadly lacking, but nevertheless, we plough on and hope to God that we get to see our newly promoted team sometime soon. Like Barbara Dickson in another Mike Batt immortal ditty, we’ll be sailing free, one day soon nothing in the world is gonna pull me back and nothing’s gonna keep me in,

Monthly Branch Meeting held Sunday August 9th 2020

Everything got cancelled because of bat flu… The End

OK, there was a little more to it than that

No LUSC exec meetings have been held because of bat flu, so no minutes to be read out. The LUSC main AGM has now been called off because of bat flu. We will be holding ours however, see under AOB.

Memberships

No new memberships because of bat flu. The Membership Secretary has been seen during the pandemic but was absent from the monthly branch meeting, not because of bat flu though.

Away Games

Got cancelled because of the bat flu. Not looking likely that we will entering a football ground anytime soon, but, if and when we are allowed in, we will look to pursue adequate arrangements as soon as possible until normal service resumes.

A.O.B

AGM

Our AGM will be held on Sunday 6th September at the Londesborough Club 8pm prompt start please. The bat flu rules apply, so you will all have to sign in at the door, leaving a contact number and walk through the one way system to get to the bar and upstairs. There will not be a bar available upstairs unfortunately due to staffing, but drinks can be sourced downstairs. If you can confirm your attendance in advance, please can you do so, usual channels. The deadline for agenda items and proposals for committee members has now passed. Andy Yates has been proposed as the new social secretary by Ricky Greenwood, seconded by Dave Poole. The branch exec officers will be up for re-election as per usual. However, there were no takers by the deadline date of August 9th.

Renewals and new memberships

Renewal forms will be emailed out imminently, please can you include a stamped addressed envelope for your membership card to be returned to you quickly and efficiently. There will be forms available at the AGM, please bring an envelope with you if possible. New membership forms are available via the link below:

New members Form

Please note that TWO passport sized photos are required for your photocard.

Media & Publicity

Two interviews were done by the MPO. They appeared in the Harrogate Advertiser and The Stray Ferret. The branch were also involved in a film for the Sunday Times, hopefully to be shown just before the start of the new season in a few weeks. Thanks to Dave Rowson, Phil Reeves and Angus Smith for their invaluable contributions.

Again, anyone who is wordpress savvy and wants to help with the website, please get in touch, especially with the gallery side of the website.

Champions Trophy

Congratulations to Phil Reeves and Ruiari Stirling for winning the two places at the Champions Trophy event. Hopefully everyone will have received the email with all the photos from the event. Incidentally, congratulations to branch member Phil Reeves on his new book which I hope branch members will purchase.

Lastly, thank you to Dave Rowson for the moment of comedy gold at The Chairman’s expense – brilliant

In the outstanding harmonies of Miss Karen Carpenter – incidentally Smuff’s (Paul Smith’s) favourite song – we are truly on top of the world.

We’ve waited a long , long time to see the cup that Strachan raised aloft 28 years ago, thrust skyward again by another Leeds United captain at Elland Road. And tonight, the pleasure, excitement and exhilaration of that momentous occasion has been stolen from us by bloody bat flu

After getting so close last season, hampered by injuries, suspensions and all the off the pitch shenanigans, it felt like the ground had collapsed underneath us. Even that picture of Bielsa, alone, in his customary crouched position but head low, bereft and crest fallen rather than his norm alert and on point pitchside pose, was enough to rattle even the most optimistic optimist known to us – me. It was taken after we lost to QPR, but that image followed us like Churchill’s black dog, till the final whistle of the play off against Derby.

The photo earned the photographer, Bruce Rollinson, a submission in the Society of Editor’s Daily Photographer of The Year Awards, the prestigious national industry ceremony. The prize was won by Simon Hulme from the Yorkshire Post (see link below)

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/unusual-photo-leeds-united-head-coach-marcelo-bielsa-earns-award-nomination-2876903

I have spent some of this week reviewing my blogs from last season. I can’t help but repost some of them and I have to admit sometimes the urge to be childish and go “ner, ner – ner – ner, ner” has to be held back by going to the fridge for a cold beverage …. or two.

Some of you may say my unnerving and sometimes annoying optimism until it is mathematically impossible for us to get promoted, has been like a broken record, over the last few years. As if you didn’t know already, I couldn’t care less. I am proud to say that despite everything that has happened, despite every obstacle that has been chucked in our path to glory since we got relegated in 2004, I never gave up. It definitely wavered when I heard that Warnock had been appointed. What I feel about that guy is unrepeatable in polite company, and yes, most of you have heard it several times. When the Redfearn, Mcdermott, Redfearn, Hockaday, Redfearn, Milanic, Redfearn, Rosler, Redfearn (put that in for comedy value) Evans and Monk combo was finally exhausted by a winning run from Thomas Christiansen, no one was happier than me …. at the least just not to see Redfearn’s name repeated on that roster!

The attendances according to the Leeds United programme from 2015/16 season do not make happy reading. Although they had increased considerably from when bates was in charge, they still reflect badly on us. The highest attendance at home was against the Huddersfield tesco bags at 29, 311 and that included 2,082 dog botherers. The next home game against QPR a massive 17, 388 albeit on a Tuesday night. The number of home games with above 25,000 Leeds United fans was 2 – seriously TWO. Burnley and Huddersfield. The other attendances over 25,000 were helped by the larger numbers of away fans like Brentford who brought 621 bees with them to boost numbers to 25, 126. The only other game was against Rotherham United who brought 905 fans to bolster the 25, 802 numbers. So including the opening game against Burnley, the number of attendances over 25, 000 that season was 4 – seriously FOUR.

But right now, I am just going to enjoy the moment…

To finish with, here’s a young Kalvin Phillips from when the original LUSC sponsorship picture was taken. My how he has changed