Much has been happening of late at Leeds United. New signings, winning pre season games, buying the ground back, improving the stands…. Far too much like a properly run football club. Luckily enough, as by the sounds of it some of our fans are still misbehaving. Thankfully, some things haven’t changed that much. Here’s an update and a summary of the branch AGM July 2017.

Annual General Meeting held Sunday 2nd July 2017.

Thanks to everyone for turning out at the AGM. A delicious pre meeting buffet curry at Jinnah (where the drinks bill was higher than the food bill) probably wasn’t the best idea in the world, but we live and learn. I would like to mention Des Yates and Nicky, it was good to see you and thanks for coming. It has been a really tough year for the branch off field again. We hope and pray for a better coming season.

The Chairman read the minutes of last years AGM out, there were no points arising or questions and these were duly proposed by Mally Appleyard and seconded by Chrissie Colman.

LUSC AGM: The main LUSC AGM held earlier that day, was briefly reviewed. Please note, the MPO will try to send this meeting’s minutes and future ones out in the group email this coming season. This will ensure you are all kept up to date with what is going on at the LUSC. Good relations between the LUSC and Leeds United continue, and we hope that this will be maintained. The LUSC exec meetings are still held at Elland Road, as is theAnnual  Quiz. The Annual Dinner has also been welcomed back to the West Stand, hopefully for the foreseeable future. Social media presence of the LUSC is growing exponentially across facebook and twitter.  This despite much competition from other Leeds United groups across all forms of social media. Membership is on the up but funds going down.  This is due to the LUSC getting more younger (free) members and also at the other end, as unfortunately, we are all getting a bit older too! There are now 36 fully paid up LUSC branches across the globe, ( Harrogate are the 2nd biggest LUSC branch according to the figures available).  There continues to be enquiries from potential new branches throughout the season. 2019 will be the centenary year of the LUSC , the LUSC exec are asking for any help to organise the coming celebrations. It was decided that the LUSC continue with the sponsorship of young Kalvin Phillips for the coming season. Angus Kinnear the CEO of Leeds United then did a speech and a Q&A session which was very good in my opinion, given he is technically still only 2 weeks into his job.

Membership Report from Roy: Memberships are still rising. Roy would like to thank everyone who very kindly encloses a stamped addressed envelope for the return of their membership cards.It is very helpful, please continue.

Secretary’s Report: The Secretary thanked everyone for their attendance and participation in the non footballing activities. Our guests, Fish (Peter Haddock), Debbie and his two lads, Peter and Carl attended the LUSC Annual Dinner. The branch had two tables and supported our members with subsidised tickets and travel for the night. The LUSC Annual Quiz was well attended, featuring three teams from our branch. We did ok but could have probably done better had The Chairman been available. The pork pie and peas supper was very tasty, but the bottle of red wine may have been excessive. All the LUSC exec meetings were attended. The LUSC Sponsored Player packages were another highlight. Deputy Andy Yates and Mr Steve Carass represented Harrogate & District Branch and the LUSC at the players lunch. Helpfully clearing up any left over alcohol and kindly escorting Kalvin Phillips and Charlie Taylor back home after their exhausting training day. Sorry should that be the other way round??? The Secretary also won a pair of the West Stand hospitality tickets for the Norwich game at the end of the season. The Paul Reaney Suite was very pleasant, as was the fillet steak and salted caramel roulade. Sadly, the same can’t be said of the first half of the game. Unfortunately, we were subjected to the company of a certain ex managers family sat behind us not really watching the game. Luckily enough, in the second half they were replaced by a few Italians happily screaming and shouting, which was much better. The Secretary thanked Deputy  Yates for the signed shirt which we raffled off ( won by Karen Webb eventually!) at the Wigan game.

Treasurers Report: Excellent season all in. The losses on the long away trips were mitigated by sharing with The Mavericks, Bradford 2011 and Bradford Whites. As Mr Flynn had previously stated, memberships are up again this season. The 250 draw yielded some good results. The Treasurer thanked Deputy Yates for the shirts and everyone who does the footy card. The costs this year included the LUSC Annual Dinner ( subsidy on the tickets, Peter Haddock’s costs and taxi fares) and transport costs to the (other) Members Dinner. Other items such as the wreath for Terry Rankine and support for the midweek long aways where we did not run a coach were also taken into account. Faye Smith ( a steward in the North East Corner) was sponsored in the London Marathon as was branch member James Proctor in a swimming event. The branch have ordered a new flag to replaced the dated and sadly, stained, old Harrogate & District flag. Branch members voted on a new design and this will be unveiled at the preseason Austria games. We are a not for profit organisation, any money raised goes back to the branch via subsidised coach travel and support to non football branch events etc. Accounts were proposed by Steve Smith and seconded by Martin Thomas. Approved by a show of hands.

Review: Coaches were run to all the weekend games and most of the midweek ones apart from Bristol City, Fulham and Brentford. This season there was a branch presence at all away games however, by car and/or mini bus. Our thanks go to Tim the Driver for his excellent efforts and we are sad to see him move on. The Secretary thanked the Chairman and the MPO for their help running the second buses. Our 2016/17 season refreshment stops have been a resounding success and any suggestions for future venues are welcome.

Election of Officers: No nominations or applications were made. All 4 existing committee members agreed to stand again. Proposed by Chrissie Colman and seconded by Dave Poole.

A.O.B: Bookings currently being taken for Bolton, Sunderland and Forest. The Secretary thanked everyone for the generous collection and also the committee.

Meeting closed 9.07pm.

Away Games.

Bolton now Sunday August 6th 4.30pm kick off

Sunderland now Saturday August 19th 5.30pm kick off

Forest now Saturday August 26th 5.30pm kick off

Bookings currently being taken, looking like there will be two buses for Bolton, usual channels please.

Memberships.

Please return all forms with the correct payment as soon as possible. Your forms and subs are due now.

Website (and other social media).

Our old “We Are Leeds” fanzine has now all been uploaded to this site. Reports from The Chairman are that people are finding this interesting, so it looks like all the work to get it on here has been worth it. We would like to thank The Chairman for his efforts in compiling this.

I will continue to do the updates from the monthly branch meetings in the ‘News and Events’ section. Preseason reports will also go on there with any pictures courtesy of Deputy Yates and anyone else who can hold their phone steady enough for some decent shots. A couple of queries about the post documenting Deputy Yates and Mrs Silvestre’s shenanigans were made. The pictures were certainly NOT doctored by me or Deputy Yates, as far as I am aware.

It is difficult to do the blog, as well as all the other things during the season ( ticket ordering, sorting pubstops etc.) so this will only be done as time allows.

The Chairman would like to continue with his Charley Says section, but STILL does not have a computer to do so. This puts extra pressure on the MPO. So, this is section is intermittent as some of his “memory matches” and comments are just posted on the facebook page instead. The MPO hopes to have a sensible chat with The Chairman at some point (this century) to discuss the way forward for his Charley Says.

Our Gallery section will continue as a store for any photos through the season, and is especially useful for those not on facebook apparently. I want to avoid repetition and will update it as and when I get photos.

When I get the Google analytics figures, I will put them up, but it looks like the website is useful, so will continue as it is. Any comments are welcome.

The MPO and therefore the branch does not have a twitter account and there are no plans for one because of the extra time/work etc. involved. If anyone wishes to help out with the website etc. please feel free to volunteer.

If anyone wishes to be removed from the group email list, please can you let us know via the usual channels please?

 

Sunday Monday Happy Days

Before the Millenials hijacked “happy days” and turned it into an insincere flippancy, to an older generation it meant something else. The Fonz.

Looking forward to the New Era at Leeds United, we now have The Radz. I just want to stake my claim for this before someone cleverer, more IT competent and more business minded than myself takes my idea and turns it into merchandising.

Radrizzani and his “radzical” take on football.

1) Why shouldn’t you own a football club and own the stadium and the ground it stands on?

2) Why shouldn’t the catering facilities (and therefore profits from matchdays and events) be owned by the football club?

3) Why shouldn’t you pick your best team to play a football game in order to make sure you win every game you play?

4) Why shouldn’t you properly engage with the fans, was it a good idea to completely disenfranchise the biggest supporters group?

It’s like that music magpie ad on the telly – why wouldn’t you?

It seems beyond belief at why anyone should think that the priorities of a football club are anything but; be successful by winning games and trophies and encouraging people to come and watch games in the stadium. By winning games, the extras of selling merchandise like shirts and clothing, and selling the brand, in terms of advertising revenue and sponsorship come as a bonus package. By engaging with the fan base, you are looking at future investment in the younger generations. Hardly rocket science is it?

So to all you people who are STILL out there defending Bates and Harvey, I say REALLY?

I know I am dwelling on the past here, but given what Bad Papa Smurf did, can you really say that the torrent of abuse levelled at Mr Cellino was really warranted compared to the paltry exchanges handed out to Bates and Harvey, the Burns and Smithers of Leeds United ( and I don’t mean that in the LGBT context before anyone starts accusing me of hate crimes). I think Signore Cellino did his level best when he got here. I think  despite the due diligence etc. he found the complete lack of any sensible business model simply  incomprehensible. This seemingly endless pit of chaotic frustration , coupled with the excessive influence of Sky TV, the EFL, FA and media vendetta against him and generally people just being really annoying, was just a bit too much. The guy is an Italian for crying out loud, well known for being relaxed and easygoing, so Christ knows what he thought when he saw the utter shambles of the last 13 years.

Hindsight is a fantastic thing and given that Cellino and Signore Radrizzani had been in discussions for a length of time, I think The Radz has benefited from learning from the mistakes that Massimo made. Time will tell, but controversial as this is, I genuinely think Massimo Cellino did as good a job as he could. We got to 7th after all. Realistically, given some better team selection decisions and not bottling the last 8 games of the season, we could have got the play offs. Plus, had we taken the Cup a bit more seriously, a good money spinning home tie against Arsenal could have been a genuine possibility.

This season we finally have our ground back. Now that Elland Road is owned by the Club,  the long needed work has started to improve the aging  facilities. After all, why develop the stadium facilities if you don’t own it???? Ooops. We have a new owner who has told us that he is here to make history not money. We have made signings, and hopefully Christiansen will actually play them rather than letting them keep the bench warm. It looks like we have kept our better players. I hope the preseason is used effectively to get them used to playing as a team. The Radz has promised that our players will do more than just play football, they will show commitment to the fans, recognise and reciprocate the effort that we fans, both home and away, put into supporting our amazing club. He has promised that we will go out to win every game.

I genuinely looked forward to last season and this season I am even more eager for the first game in August. Surprisingly enough, it is on Sky. I waited for the next tranche of televised fixtures to be released before posting this blog, and it looks like so far we have been spared the game of musical chairs that we were inflicted with last season. The season ticket sales are up in the 16,000s and Leeds United are aiming for 20,000, with murmurings of the half season ticket being reinstated. If we are doing well by Christmas, the half season tickets will be an excellent idea and more money in the coffers, so I hope this becomes a reality.

All in all, it’s all looking good. As Fonzie would say “Ayyyyy”

 

Sacrifice. It’s a human sign, apparently, when things go wrong…

On 27th May 1989 our greatest manager sadly passed away from a terrible illness. There has never been another to match him at this club. There has never been a team to match the team he put together and nurtured. We see the phrase “side before self” used so often when the great Don is mentioned. Those days seem a million miles from Leeds United this last decade, but this, for me, should be the way forward.

The players and managers today complain about fixture congestion, when they travel to USA, Asia and Australia for money spinning friendlies at the start, during and at the end of the season. The primadonna players feign fouls, exaggerating excessively to get the upper hand, rather than try to win the ball honestly. They  complain about risk of injuries, when back in the day the pitches resembled mudbaths and the footballs weighed a ton. This whilst wearing scientifically designed boots and aiming at the roundest, fastest and lightest footballs ever. The clubs hold the home countries to ransom, objecting to players playing in  international tournaments. The pride for playing for your country has completely waned. It is all about the money, money, money. The managers / coaches play weakened sides in the League and FA Cup fixtures, especially those teams who play in the Champions League / Europa Cup / concentrating on staying in the league – delete as appropriate. The fans dismiss the early exits from the cup games, claiming they have bigger fish to fry – like getting promoted or even just saying in the league.

It was said that Don kept a detailed log of every team he played against and was due to play. He did this to make sure that every weakness could be exploited, and he could optimize our performance to make sure we got the upper hand. That was 50 years ago, so given the digital age, how easy would this be now? We have media capabilities that enable the game to be viewed from every conceivable angle, not just from the pitchline but also via drones. We have “go pro” and other similar programmes which can be utilised, over and beyond just pen and paper.

Now that Monk has left the building, what do we need as a new manager / head coach (delete as appropriate)?

Firstly, we need to stop bickering about the difference between a manager and a head coach. Whatever we call him, he is the guy who is responsible for what goes on in that 90+ minutes. Whether he has a team of Lionel Messis and Ronaldos or a Sunday league side, he is the bloke who tells the 11 men what to do. So he needs to have a plan A, plan B, plan C or however many plans he needs. He need to make sure he doesn’t field a team of small wiry players against a a midfield and defence made up of solid six footers. Equally, no hoofing the ball up either. The man in charge needs to prepare for any eventualities if we lose a player to injury, give away a needless penalty, get men sent off, or even, if we go three goals ahead in the first 15 minutes. He is the one who decides if and when to sub, and who to sub for. Ok, he may not be able to buy players he wants, but he certainly has to play to the advantages of the players he has got.

Secondly, our players need to step up and play to the best of their abilities for the full 90 mins. If they can’t, the manager needs to change it at the time and then address it during training through the week. They have as much responsibility as the managers have. This is regardless of whether they are just on loan or permanently signed ( as permanent as a full contract is!). Players should be playing for their own pride, nevermind just trying to win the game. As for refusing to travel and play on the day, well, enough has already been said about that. No one wants to see half hearted challenges and lukewarm chasing down of long balls. The one thing that stood out this last season was the way Beradi and Ayling flung themselves in front of the ball to deflect it away from goal. It looks like we are going to lose Captain Bartley, because he has had such a good season with us. I wish him well and he has my thanks.

This leads onto my third point. We need a good captain, someone who can command respect from his team and lead them. I don’t think Bridcutt was cut out for the job but Captain Bartley was. As it stands, we have no obvious stand out candidates in the present team, but who knows?

Whoever becomes our new man in charge, I hope he can pick up where we left off in our positive areas and see what we need to change to improve where we were lacking. Our defence was good, Chris Wood was on fire, I still think O Kane and Phillips suited each others play. The gaps just need filling in, as long as we don’t lose anyone else.

The final words are left for Garry-with-two-Rs. You could have done it you know. I really believe we had a chance to go up last season. Newcastle were struggling and all we had to do was pull some decent results out of the bag. We couldn’t hold the draw at Huddersfield and never even got going at home to Cardiff, sadly beaten by Sol Bamba. We hung on from the 5th minute at Fulham for the draw and QPR at home was a non event. Then came the run of 8 games at the end of the season where we won ONE game. That’s relegation form, no one can gloss over that fact. Yes, we got the equaliser in the 96th minute at St James Park, but we lost to Burton for crying out loud and Wolves at home was just embarrassing. Any other coach/manager, at any other time of the season would have been sacrificed..

 

The great Peter Sarstedt sadly left us this year. In tribute to his most famous record, the MOST requested song on the Battlebus, the classic “Where Do You Go To My Lovely” (need you ask?) forms the next chapter in the close season series.

So, where exactly do we go? Much depends on what happens in the next 12 weeks, of course. We can only hope that the next few months are productive in terms of managerial stability. Ben Mansford has left the club on good terms and having met the guy in person, I and the branch wish him every success in the future. For a Barnsley fan, he was a very nice bloke, approachable and honest, and a big believer in fan involvement. Having seen his message to the fans on social media, I hope all is well with Cellino and Mr Radrizzani, given we don’t want to go two steps forward and one step back. Today it has been announced that Mr Cellino has finally been bought out by Andrea Radrizzani. As I said in my last blog, I wish Mr Cellino well and thank him for all his efforts.

Garry-with-two-Rs has done ok this season. A reasonable run in the League Cup, some good buys at the start of the season gave us hope. The impressive game against Norwich away then that thrilling night at Elland Road resulting one of the best goalkeeping displays seen at home by Silvestri in that penalty shoot out. We were going on decent runs and play offs looked a dead cert… then it happened. The “Game That Should Never Be Mentioned”. A complete utter total mistake by Garry that sealed our fate and heralded our fall from grace. It is said there is always a rise before the fall, and boy did we fall.

So can I sum up what the problems were? Is there a solution? Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Where do we go to now?

The most obvious thing for me is that there needs to be a plan B for scoring goals. Chris Wood has been immense for us this season, but we cannot leave all the work to him. Who else scored for us? Captain Bartley, Pontus, Pablo, a few goals here and there, but no valid cover. I had my doubts about Roofe at the start, figuring that the jump from Oxford to Leeds may have been a leap too far. If Roofe had started scoring from the off, his confidence would have been a massive springboard, but he didn’t. But to be fair, what actually was the game plan? Antonsson certainly wasn’t in that plan. The guy came with such high hopes, but never really got a chance. It seemed like the only plan was to get the ball to Wood. Regardless of whether we were playing a team with 10 men behind the ball, or 4,3,2,1. We all laughed at Stam and boring, boring, Reading, but who has had the last laugh, I ask you?

I am still not sure why Pablo played so much either. Yes,the guy has talent, but to me he couldn’t last the 90 minutes. Some fantastic runs and cracking goals but some serious misplaced passing and lacklustre legs at times too. To me Pablo was a player to start at home but come on as sub at an away game. Sacko again, sometimes spent more of the game giving the ball away and then trying to retrieve said ball, then actually making a run down the wing, to cross to…wait for it….Chris Wood.

Still, at least this season Chris Wood proved his doubters wrong. I am so very glad (and grateful) he got his mojo back. It took till at least Christmas for people to stop there endless whingeing about how little they rated him. He still has those few haters who just cannot bring themselves to recant, despite 30 goals. Some people are never going to change, but by March the majority were finally admitting how wrong they were.

Frankly, the midfield was the problem. The defence went from strength to strength with Green improving every game and Wood was on fire, but we just could NOT get the midfield right. Giving Bridcutt his place back as soon as he was fit, wasn’t a good move. I thought Phillips and O Kane were on a roll, but then O Kane got injured and Phillips lost his perfect partner. The loss of these two holding midfielders left the midfield bereft. We tried with Vieira and Bridcutt, but two players that are basically the same never works. Then we tried Pablo with Bridcutt and then any combination of Bridcutt, Vieira, Pablo, Roofe and Sacko. With Bridcutt at times going deep and helping the defence , bizarrely enough. When Monk made no attempt to give any game time to Murphy, Dave and Doukara I thought that signalled then end for them. Big Dave and Luke Murphy were shipped away, but surprisingly enough, The Duke was given the chance of super sub at home to Burton and made his impact with that goal in injury time. It kept him in the team, well that an his fantastic volley at home to Forest, and when he did get a chance, he did his level best. Dallas too made a couple of appearances as well, and he did make an impact.

It was after “The Game That Shall Never Be Mentioned” that we started to really struggle, so much for “resting” the players then. However, Monk kept to more or less the same team, and even when we were crying out for a change, he still didn’t let O Kane back. Murphy would have been an option in the middle, as would Dallas on the wing. Pedraza and Mo Barrow both came on as ineffective subs at Huddersfield, not too sure why, not the best game to get your debut in a Yorkshire cup final! Like I said no plan B.

As much as I hate to say it, he bottled it. We had the play offs and were jokingly tentatively going on about going up in 2nd place, or at least I was. So, where do we go to?

Excelsior!

 

Apologies for the delay in adding this.

I have to say that I am not sure what The Chairman has against York City, but if I don’t put this post up, he will only badger me at the AGM and complain again that I am still not extoling the virtues of KFC as much as he would like.

Apparently The Chairman will have a computer imminently, so the MPO is looking forward to The Chairman’s words coming straight from the horses mouth onto the Charley Says page in the very near  future.

York City’s New Chant (Adapted from Pulp’s Common People)

I wanna play in the conference north,

I wanna do whatever Halifax do

I wanna sign crap football players

I wanna watch this club just slide out of view