Not wanting to be carried away on the wave of optimism that is sweeping across the amassed Leeds fans in country (and the ones who don’t support us but want to see us back in the Premier League), I am dodging the addictive enthusiasm by briefly looking back at how far we have actually come since the demise of the miserable beardy bad loser.

Believe it or not, this months blog has been inspired by, of all things, ordering Hull tickets. Hull tickets are £24 plus £1 bates tax for the cheap seats and £27 plus £1 bates tax for the nice(r) seats down the side. They do not have any concession prices for senior citizens or juniors. The reason for this stems from their last few seasons of turmoil. If you remember, when they got bought out, their new owners decided that they wanted to change the name (in an all American franchise-type way) to Hull Tigers (as opposed to Tigers  Tigers Ra Ra Ra). This despite the fact that Hull City Association Football Club has been in existence since 1904 (technically older than us then) and completely against the wishes of the fans. On their return to the Premier League in 2016, the club badge had the “Hull City AFC” “The Tigers” (Ra Ra Ra) removed and instead just had a picture of a tiger on the front. Their crowds have dwindled since the heady days of Phil “Tango” Brown and sealing that brilliant promotion ( that technically we gave them by beating Watford) in 2013. Even with the falling ticket sales, the new owners are still embroiled in a dispute with the fans regarding ticket pricing and now, I believe the Football Supporters Federation are involved as well to help the Hull Supporters Trust to sort this out. The season has begun and ticketing has not been resolved. Interestingly enough, Hull FC (egg chasers) share the same ground/ ticket office/ facilities etc. and they DO have concessions. So much for fans being the heartbeat of the club, hey?

Meanwhile, across the border, in another one of Peter’s flawed attempts at Chairmanship, after hoisting up his white flag to the Malaysians, the Bluebirds were threatened with fire to re brand them into Red Dragons. (oh I am getting the puns in here). Across the proper Pennine border, Blackpool are still neck high in the mire with possibly the worst owners in football history, closely followed by Charlton, whose new owner practically declared that they were merely a feeder club to his European teams. Regular readers need not be reminded about the Blackburns of this world.

Leeds United have had their fair share of difficulties, and this piece is not the case of people in glass houses not chucking bricks. My point is that since Beardy finally got his marching orders from Sig. Cellino we have still had our ups and downs. And, unfortunately s**t sticks, so the phrase “doing a Leeds” is still evident in the ether. However, it seems that whilst we bore the brunt of the full force of the Football League and the hefty points deduction in 2007, like most things in 2018, carefully placed money can now resolve this issue (Villa, Bolton, Sunderland..woo hoo!). Thankfully,  despite all the showboating aerial stunts, projections, coffins and other (un)social media campaigns, Leeds fans have not yet had to resort to throwing tennis balls onto the pitch or boycotting en masse, since Bad Santa took his sack of toys out of Elland Road, without taking a penny in wages – remember. In real terms, we have not had it as bad as some. It is something we can count our blessings on.

Our club went through the lowest of the low in those 10 years. Those who thought that it was bad under Cellino either can’t remember how bad it was, or have chosen to block it all out of their memories. Even before Beardy, there were signs of trouble ahead. For example, the insistence that the majority of the fans voted to move to Swillington and the badly thought out titles of books and DVDs (Leeds United – A Season on Trial, United We Fall and my personal favourite – Peter Ridsdale -My Leeds United). Never has the phrase, you reap what you sow, has been so apt.

From the sublime to the ridiculous. We had Swillington Sewerage Works, the Fullerton Ice Rink and Beeston Super Casino, then the Bates Hotel / Motel , all which would help the Club??? We went from semi-finals in the Champions League to not owning the ground, the Academy, the  training ground and not even the matchday  catering made us any money.

So when Cellino came in and cleared out, he did what no one else had the balls to do. He took back charge, or at least he tried to. He tried to stick two fingers in the face of the Football League, Harvey and his not fit for purpose buddies, Skytvisf**kings**t and everyone else who realistically couldn’t run a Subbuteo football team, let alone a Division 2 outfit. Yes, he made managerial mistakes, but in doing so, he laid the foundations clear for Radrizzani. Yes, under his tutelage we made some random signings, but it was the basis for what we have now….Beradi for one, without Kyle Bartley there would have been no Ayling… But of course, Cellino will never be credited by some people for what he did.

And, back to the now. This Saturday sees a meeting between the Supporters Group and The Club about our Centenary year celebrations. Badges aside, our Club is listening to it’s fans, and in the end, the board did listen to the fans anyway about the crest.  We have secured Bielsa who has transformed our team of end of season relegation dodgers, into tip, top, top of the leaguers, who are being raved about from all four corners.

Yes, it is early days still, but it is looking like the sun is shining….

I asked The Chairman if he wanted to write a few words about a very eventful trip to The Big Smoke and the preceding events leading up to it, but nothing yet. So I decided to do it for him instead.

Went to Millwall. Got stuck on the way down on the A14 because of the roadworks. There was a bridge but it was clearly broken. Didn’t have a very long pub stop. It took forever to get to the ground. We only just got in before kick off. Had a pie in the ground. We drew one all. Fell asleep on the way back and slept through the terrible traffic, missing the 4 lanes going down to 1 lane on the M1.

here is the link to the roadworks which cost us so much time

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/a14-reopened-massive-new-bridges-15158477?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

The End

Enduring image…isn’t it?

Not so much nowadays, Ron Manager. Plus, I don’t even know if, in this modern world of political correctness, you could even say, “small boys, in the park, jumpers for goalposts” anymore without someone showing you a yellow card for the lack of inclusivity. Should I say vertically challenged, self identifiers, in a green space, clothing dedicated as vertical structures? Oh and, by the way, this isn’t an excuse to pay homage to the Fast Show, it is merely to demonstrate how much football has changed.

For the better? Not so sure about that. On the flipside, can you imagine a 21st century version of The Fast Show? An hour of complete inoffensiveness, now that would be something. Oh hang on, it’s the BBC . Normal telly then!

After coming home from the hard fought 0-0 against the Smoggies last night and after much heated debate in the Golden Lion about a point gained over two points dropped, that phrase popped into my head. It suddenly occurred to me that Friday nights game was about as far away from “jumpers for goalposts” as it could be.

To me, the result wasn’t so much the issue, as the style of football that we had to endure. Well, it wasn’t football really was it? It was 90 minutes of the antithesis of football. There was no skill there. No perfect through passes, no floated crosses, no one-touch silkiness, no intricate cross field fluidity. NADA. It was typical Pulis, niggling, pushing and shoving and blocking. Anti football as my friend, Alan Barker put it. A team of 6 foot plus built-like- brick-shithouses giants, but with all the stability of the first of the three little pigs’ houses. You huff and you puff and you blow the house in.

That would have never happened in the park. If you fell over, everyone just ignored you and carried on playing. If you kept rolling about on the pitch as if a sniper had got you, you would suffer the indignity of being picked last next time, along with the fat kid. Or even worse, never being asked at all. In those days, it was all about getting the ball and legging it up half the pitch, to smack in that wonder goal. The goal which people would still be going on about next half term.

The worse thing was that we let THEM drag US down to their level. Gone was the one-touch finesse of Derby and Norwich away. Gone was the “We’re Leeds United, we’re taking the piss” swagger of the first few games. It was replaced by the same dross that we spewed out last season against the likes of Cardiff and Wolves. Where all we could do was try and hack people down. The same stupid tackles that saw off most of our team at some point in 2017-18 in a flurry of red cards and costs us our points so dearly. Until New Year we were on the up and then it all just fell away, the most sendings off for many a season.

I was never lucky enough to see John Charles play, and at the time, not old enough to fully understand what the great Don Revie did in the Golden Leeds United era. I am lucky enough to have seen the videos of them and the great skillful play of the likes of Pele, Cruyff and the latter years of our own Championship winning side, not to mention the craftiness of Roberto Carlos (look him up younger readers). We have seen what Bielsa can do to the team, he has improved it enormously already. Remember it is the same team as last season, bar Douglas and Klich. It is too soon to say what style of football he plays, as he is still essentially tinkering, until he finds it. God knows what happened at Preston! Must have been a blip. The positive is that the players are able to adapt, even though they are the same players, they are not limited to one role. The team are pushing forward at speed but still covering the defence.  Look at Douglas flying down the wing, like a young(er) Tony Dorigo, it’s not just Ayling that can put a cross in. I am hoping that Bielsa can bring out more of the potential out of the team the longer he works with them. I am also hoping that he can build a resilience in them, so they stick with the game plan and resist the “play ugly” timewasting, cheating crap that the rest of the league resorts to.

As I was walking away from the ground, I heard someone say ” well that’s it, everyone has worked Bielsa out, that’s our season gone”. I thought, Jeez, it’s only August and you’ve given up already. There’s another 7 months to go at. What sort of a football fan are you, if you call it quits before the season has even started going! In the days of jumpers for goalposts, you could have been playing football from dawn to dusk. Doing “next goal wins” for hours until the person who brought the ball actually scored a goal and won. You needed stamina in those days to play the beautiful game. We’ve still got plenty of time before February to go up as Champions.

Beans on toast for tea. Marvellous!

There is a heady air of optimism hanging around LS11. It is almost palpable. There is an excited hum of anticipation amongst most Leeds United fans and bizarrely enough, some elements of the British sports press. This is the Bielsa effect, the Bielsa Buzz. I am going to abstain from all the apian puns / hive of activity etc. etc for the sake of sanity.

Comparisons could be drawn to last season, when under the tutelage of Thomas Christiansen, we also had an unbeaten start. But that is where the comparison pales into insignificance. The style and quality of the football that we are bearing witness to, is a million miles away from that. Plus, we are only at the second game. Is the best yet to come?

It is difficult to describe how this feels without using every cliche in the book. There appears to be more of a hunger to compete. A desire to win, but not just win, to excel. There seems to be a competitive edge to be fitter, stronger, faster and better. Something that seems to be drilled out of youngsters nowadays in the whole era of inclusive equality, for fear that someone may get a bit upset if they are told that the next guy who has put the extra effort in, will be rewarded when they aren’t.

So what is the Bielsa Buzz?

There is an aura, a presence, a sense of gravitas about him. Silent but deadly. But not in a menacing way. It’s done in a confident way which simply says, “I mean business”.

After the first of the Bielsa interviews, he was the laughing stock of SkyTVisf**kings**t and the BBC pundits. These fools, who mercilessly took cheap digs at the fact he “needed” an interpreter. These are the same “journalists” who lauded on the testimonials from Pep Guardiola and Pochettino, and then in the same breath, added the Snidley Whiplash comments about him jacking in the job at Lille. For starters, can you see an English speaking manager going to Spain/Argentina, and making the effort to learn the language to try to speak the local lingo for the native TV audiences? Ok, Roy Hodgson aside, not really. Secondly, the interviewers don’t really care what you say because they have already made their own minds up – so why bother? Treat them with the contempt they deserve. Thirdly – yeah – as if he can’t understand what you are saying. Who’s the fool now?

To those “journos”, I say, actions speak louder than words, my friends. When we go up as Champions in February, the silence will be thunderously deafening.

I, for one, would much much rather have a measured, well reasoned, deliberate response over the  animated “its all Tom Lees’s fault / I’m gloating over a narrow one-nil victory” verbal “I like the sound of my own voice” diarrhoea barrage. I, for one, would rather see a calm and collected Bielsa sat on a bucket than an animated Klopp The Flop, gurning and gesticulating like a dog straining on a short leash (apologies to a dog).

Am I the only one sick of managers slagging off the refs/linesmen rather than fessing up to their own failures? Am I the only one sick of managers glorifying their dodgy last minute penalty in extra time results? Am I the only one sick of managers who think that sticking 10 men behind the ball constitutes a solid team display? I don’t think so. Admittedly, I don’t know how Bielsa will react should we lose a game, I’m hoping I never see that day anytime soon.

I like the way Bielsa has this no nonsense attitude. Just get on with it, play the game. No mad running-down-the-side-of-the-pitch-like-you-have-just-completed-the-treble goal celebrations, no high fives, no hugs and no kisses. After all, the Club is paying you to do your job, not advertise your potential to be the next Sports Personality Of the Year (not that it is much of a merit of an award when it is won by a certain “Mr SuperInjunction” G**gs). No extra plaudits and no post match back slapping congratulatory tweets. A healthy departure from the social media factions. No rehearsed, showcased soundbyte post match interviews. Just concentration, total concentration to the task at hand.

It’s refreshing to see this and long overdue. I am hoping Bielsa has the same attitude to the Cup games.  I am hoping he will show the respect that the oldest competition in English football deserves. I am hoping that not only did he watch all the league games last season, but he watched the dismal performances in the Cups. I am hoping that the conclusions drawn from them and the devastating impact of fielding poorer sides in the Cups is realised , so making sure that history does not repeat itself.

I saw a flag at the Derby game which said “agents are poisonous”. I figured that it wasn’t referring to park benches in Salisbury, but more to this “overcommercialisation” of football (I don’t even know if that is a word, but you know what I mean). Agents and the media are responsible for the theft of football away from the fans. They are too busy lining their own pockets to think about the effect of obsessively  hyping up the “worth” of footballers. It used to be about the skill on the pitch, now it’s more about shirt sales and sponsorship deals. It doesn’t matter that someone is a one trick pony, it is more important that he can sell dandruff shampoo or some other male grooming hipster products. It doesn’t matter that only one in five crosses is actually any good, it is more important that he has a million followers and his missus has appeared on celebrity big brother. It doesn’t matter that he can’t run half the length of the pitch without getting out of breath, because people are talking about his tattoos, his wedding was in OK magazine and he looks good on the front of FIFA 2019. “Sell-ability” over “football-ability” (again, apologies as this is not a word). I have no doubt that some agents are very good and only have their clients best interests at heart. Like most progressive 21st century modernities though, I am sure that there are the unscrupulous few, who would rather take their cut of the signing on fee and be happy watching their players warm the bench for 95% of the season at the “bigger” club, than watch the patient progression of a talented young player up through the youth ranks into the first team.

This is a sad testament to “Generation Swipe”. The “I Want It All Nows”. I don’t think it is necessarily greed that drives them and it probably isn’t that they are lazy, it is more that this instant gratification lark is instilled in them at an early age. It’s not just the players that would rather take the easy option and go somewhere else to get more money (even though it may mean that they never kick a competitive ball again) than stay where they are to become the finished article. There are many fans who would jump ship and abandon their home club to go support the more bigger famous ones, just because they can’t take the ups and downs. And, it’s not like we have never seen the top division clubs attempt to “buy the league” in this results based culture, rather than take the hard graft route. Which makes it even more laughable when they fail. Let’s see how Villa get on this year!

And here are the cliches…Patience is a virtue. Work hard, step up to the challenge, take responsibility for your own actions. Get back to basics. I was reminded by The Secretary that Bielsa seems to be doing what Herbert Chapman did way back when, getting the players fit enough to play football in the first place. To last out the 90 minutes, something that was sadly lacking in 80% of last seasons games. Tactical football to get that properly finished result – a great team display.

So, analogy for the sake of analogy, like bees working together in the hive to make honey for the common purpose – for the colony to survive…  work hard for each other, play as a group for the one purpose – to win. Promotion by February please. No infighting, no personality clashes, no badge kissing just to further fans favour. Just work as one for the greater good. The epitome of the famous “SIDE BEFORE SELF”?

After all, you can make a T-E-A-M out of your mates!

I while ago, I made a promise that I would write this, in the hope that I would eventually write it. After 12 months, true to my word, I have. Welcome back (home) Simon.

For those of you who are unaware, Harrogate Whites have a long standing affinity with our Scottish neighbours in Falkirk. This goes back some 30 years, when the (young) Branch Secretary made his way up to Falkirk to find some football to watch after one of our games got cancelled in 1989. He found his way to Elliots Pub in Falkirk and was met by some very friendly locals who were a bit surprised that someone would travel so far just to watch a Scottish 1st Division (those were the days) game. A lasting friendship was struck in Elliots that day. Since then, when fixtures have allowed, The Secretary, The Chairman and various branch members, old and new ( Mr Smith, Mr Charles, The Jap, Chris, Sonia and The MPO)  have made many, many sojourns to Brockville (now Morrisions car park) and since 2004, the shiny new Falkirk stadium, to watch The Mighty Bairns. This was reciprocated by the Falkirk faithful, who vice versa, travelled to Leeds, to cheer on the Mighty Whites, when their games were similarly altered. Pre SkyTVis f**kings**t meddling with our games, planning ahead for fitting in Scottish football was easy, now that we are permanently on the telly, recent trips have been scarce.

You cannot put a number to the many happy memories of day trips and rough mornings after late nights at Elliots (aka the Graeme Hotel) and The Red Lion at Larbert (now a chinese emporium) in the fantastic company of our Falkirk family, led by the inimitable motormouth Brian “your team’s shite” Stuart. Now there’s a man who knows how to run a football bus or three! The people of Falkirk simply refer to us as ” The Leeds” and have welcomed us with open arms at every establishment and watering hole for decades. Not just at Elliots, but to name just a few, Behind The Wall, The Tav, The Drookit Duck, Noors (home of the midnight munchy box) and of course The Mill Inn (Chris and Sonia’s favourite) second only to The Co-op. Probably should mention and thank the usual suspects, Andrew (Bodger) and Matty Gardner, Fraser (Housty), Davy Bell, Evil Dave, Ross and young George, Norrie, Bep, Dak (incl. everyone connected with nU2), Lesley, Des, Stevie, The Seals, Brian Flynn from BTW, Big Willy, Lieutenant Stardust , Billy, Wheezy, Munroe, Marsh, Derek (incl Razur Cuts) etc. etc. for their excellent company. Not forgetting the big man himself, Brian Stuart, and old Jim and the staff at Elliots. I have missed out many more but you all know that you have been a big part of our lives. I just need to finish with the Quote of The Century by Bep, ” I just had a Brian Stuart 15 minute tirade, he must have said a million words, of which I understood  10″.

So, to Simon.

Simon Barker is 21 and has been a Leeds United fan all his life. Simon was affectionately known as “Wee Jinxie” in his younger days for his uncanny ability to end a team’s winning run, just by purely turning up. Simon bore his tag with good humour, or at least as much as he could, whilst being surrounded by his merry father, Alan Barker, and his dad’s (even merrier) mates. As he grew up, the curse lifted and basically since the age of about 8, Simon has been the responsible adult in the group, supervising the trips from Falkirk to Leeds. After we won promotion against Bristol Rovers, Simon had to escort his father off the pitch. Alan was further reprimanded by another Simon,  Mr Simon Grayson, for his efforts that day, when Leeds played Falkirk in a friendly later that year. As a mark of Simon’s dedication as his father’s carer, he would benefit from periodic gifts from us, of Leeds United and LUSC memorabilia in the form of badges, wallets, scarves and copies of TSB and programmes etc. This has continued, despite the thousands of miles between us, after Alan decided to emigrate to Australia in 2013.

In July 2017, we received the sad news that Simon had been involved in a road traffic accident in Queensland. We were told he was in a coma and may not make it. He had suffered a traumatic brain injury and was treated at the roadside for an hour before he was stable enough to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit at Gold Coast University Hospital. Simon underwent 7 hours of brain surgery to treat the bleeding and swelling on his brain. He also sustained a broken neck, a ruptured spleen, blood clots on his lungs as well as the fact that most of his skull was missing. Simon was in a coma for the best part of four weeks.  Alan kept us updated, but Simon couldn’t speak, eat or hardly move and at the time, all we could do was send our thoughts to Alan, mum Linda and his sister Grace. In late August 2017, Simon was moved to the Brain Injury Rehab Unit in Brisbane, where he has learnt to walk and talk again. We, and most of the Falkirk family, were kept updated with photos on social media and #teamsimon. In September 2017, Simon was discharged home from hospital, with a view to returning for another operation to repair the skull damage. This operation was completed in May 2018, and as promised whilst Simon was in ICU, Alan is bringing Simon back to the UK, back to Falkirk, and more importantly, back to Elland Road.

Simon and his family have been through so much in the last 12 months, they have battled through it with courage and bravery. Hopefully if all goes to plan, Simon and Alan, along with a few more of the Falkirk Crew, will be here on August 18th for the Rotherham game. Last season, when the new (figure fitting) shirts came out, we sent one out to Simon, along with a few other treasures, and a scarf (!) in the post. It eventually got to him in November 2017 via snail mail. Alan said he wore it straight away and then asked for it to be washed, so he could wear it the next day as well. We received a video of Simon, thanking us for his gifts and an out-take of it. I have it on good faith that this was the first time Simon had laughed so much since his accident.

On behalf of Alan and his family, the branch would like to thank Phil (first man on the scene) and Queensland Emergency Services, the surgeons and staff at Gold Coast University Hospital Intensive Care Unit and all the staff at Brisbane Brain Injury Rehab Unit without whom Simon would simply not be here.

The montage of pictures below have been kindly used, with Alan’s permission, to show Simon’s courage in battling through this last year, and just how much it means to be Leeds, Leeds, Leeds. Welcome back, Simon.

Leeds Leeds Leeds

Alan and Grace taking Simon for a spin

Ready and raring to go

Walking on his own

The cop who saved Simon’s life. Thank you Sir.

May 2018

Awake after skull op

Thanks to the players and staff at Falkirk Football Club. #TEAMSIMON