Indignity or indignation, or even in dignity –  however you choose to read it.

After the horror show that was Sutton, I expected, nay demanded, a fightback. Blackburn at home and then a trip to the John Smith stadium was on the cards, and I, like many others basically wanted blood.

The Blackburn match was uninspiring and unenthusiastic to say the least, apart from the last 15 minutes of the game. I thought the first half was terrible, and spent most of it fuming about how annoyed I felt at Sutton, and thinking up various expletives to shout at the team if we didn’t get a result after 90 minutes. Luckily enough, up popped Pontus for a fantastic header and the lad saved the day once again. So, I was placated and though still very cross about Sutton, went about my business, and branch business, preparing for the away game at the weekend. This was of course made difficult by Huddersfield deciding to limit the away allocation by segregating the stand behind the goal, rather than giving us the whole end as in previous seasons. To be fair to them, they did fill the ground. Or at least what was left of it after their sponsors decided to maximise advertising space by using huge flags which drastically reduced the number of available seats, rather than the bog standard advertising hoardings. I can’t say I have seen such dedicated sponsorship packages before at a stadium, normally seats are for sitting in, but hey, this is Huddersfield, and this must just be how they roll.

When they came to Elland Road earlier this season, simply put, we could not cope with their midfield. That guy Mooy did all the damage, so this time round I thought Garry with two Rs would have learned from his mistakes, and fielded a stronger and more steadfast midfield. Unfortunately, lessons had not been learnt, and whilst our defence coped admirably in the beginning, our midfield was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. And before anyone starts on me about how brilliant Bridcutt and Vieira are, what we needed on Sunday was Batty and McAllister, not Torvill and Dean. We needed a midfield who could trap the ball and hold it up until the wingers and Wood regrouped, not someone who got the ball but then just gave it straight back, or lost it straight away. There are some games when you need a couple of quick flair players, others when you just need a big brick wall. From where I was standing time and time again, I saw high balls being foisted across to two of our smallest players in the middle, who frankly never stood a chance. As for the substitutions, well, I agree that something had to change, but given Pablo looked like the bunny with the crap batteries in the Duracell ad, I would have taken him off before Dallas, who looked better when he switched to the right side. Apparently Roofe and Sacko weren’t available, so Garry with two Rs had no option but to play his two new players. Two players who had only just signed up and had maybe just two days of trying to fit in to a team. The lad, Pedranza had a chance at goal early on, but poor Mo Barrow may have well have been sat in a barrow. Me, well I would have started with Phillips and Eunan O Kane, and then brought on that bit of pace in the second half, to try and get a winner. It was always going to be hard going, but you have got to learn from your mistakes. As for those free kicks that Pablo pretended to take, I have two words to say, Matt Grimes.

I can’t finish without mentioning what happened at the end. I haven’t seen a copy of the YEP yet, but I am pretty sure words like “disgraceful scenes” and “shameful behaviour” will be up there. The YEP have got their predictive text down to a tee when it comes to Leeds United. I didn’t see very much myself when their winner went in. I remember going, “don’t let him cross” and then the inevitable happened, somehow the ball hit the back of the net. All from our free kick, which we gave away. I didn’t even know the bearded one had run down the pitch to celebrate, so when I saw the melee by the dugouts and the Leeds players, led by Captain Bartley all diving in, I just assumed that we were bad losers and just couldn’t take it. When I got back to the bus, there was talk that Garry with two Rs had shoulder barged him and got a big shaking off the bearded one for doing it. I didn’t realise that this had all happened in our technical area and he shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. Having seen the stuff posted on social media, I thought I had better share it myself, as Garry did walk across him with his hands in his pockets, as I probably would have done myself. The reaction he got from the little bearded man was excessive really, and although it was good to see all our players going in to defend Garry with two Rs honour, there will be repercussions.

Whilst many focussed on the fisticuffs, Garry with two Rs nonchalantly wandered off with his hands in his pockets, sloping away like Paul Kersey in those fabulous Michael Winner films did. One of my all time favourite actors Charles Bronson, the gravitas of the man, the dignity

February Update

Monthly Branch Meeting

The meeting was held in the Londesborough Club at 8pm on Sunday 5th February. Thanks to all who turned out (in a fashion). Special thanks to Dave Rowson who made sure The Chairman duly arrived in the “ruined” state as requested by The Secretary. A bumper crowd turned out, including Makaela Rolph (taxi driver) but sadly Deputy Andy Yates was a no show ( part-timer). This was a “lively” meeting with The Chairman in a much more vocal mood than he is normally. The meeting was slightly held up as The Chairman decided we couldn’t start until Mally Appleyard turned up, as apparently Mally has never missed a meeting. Mally duly got his round of applause when he arrived eventually 10 mins late.

As part of the LUSC Sponsored player package the LUSC gets tickets to a training day at Thorp Arch, a lunch with the sponsored player and two pairs of tickets in hospitality in the Magnificent New East Stand at the end of the season. These tickets are raffled by the LUSC. The Thorp Arch tickets were available at this meeting, if anyone wants any more they are now on sale at £1 per ticket, please contact The Secretary before the next LUSC exec meeting, which is 16th February. There wasn’t a date set by Leeds United for this Thorp Arch event, so you need to be able to get the day off at short notice I am afraid, but according to Eric Ware and Makaela Rolph, who won it 2015, and 2016 respectively, it was a good day out and the players were happy for photos to be taken etc. As soon as the other events are organised, the branch will let you know.

Away Games

We will be ordering the gold members tickets for Ipswich on Weds 8th February, or at least trying to. Once tickets have been secured, we will let everyone who has managed to get a ticket know and then communicate the departure times and details in the usual fashion. Fingers crossed please! We are currently taking bookings for Birmingham on Friday 3rd March, we will be running a bus to this fixture. Deputy Andy Yates will be running a minibus to Fulham, we are happy to order branch members tickets for this fixture but please get in contact directly with Mr Yates. We will be running a bus to Reading, tickets permitting, but no plans at present to run a bus to Brentford.

Memberships

Membership Secretary as usual MIA. The Chairman has decided that memberships will close in April, as in they will close at midnight on April 1st. And no, this is not a joke! The website is generating more new members. The MPO would like to reiterate that admin on the closed group Harrogate Whites Supporters Club page do not add new members to this group until we get their £7 membership fees. There will be a cull next season.

Website

After the MPO went off on one and wrote that blog piece there was a massive spike of about 2500 views to the website. Paul Yates has requested that more of the website links are shared on our normal facebook page, to increase publicity. Any comments on this are welcome. If anyone is reading this via the facebook link that I have shared this on, then please feel free to comment. We will also consider putting a sponsor page on the website for branch members to advertise, again, only if there is enough interest.

Quiz

The Annual LUSC quiz will be held on Thursday 23rd Feb in The Eddie Gray Suite in the magnificent New East Stand. 7.30 bar  to start promptly at 8pm. Teams of four and the branch will pay the entry fee. This is open to all LUSC members and there is a pie and peas supper included. Questions will be provided by Andrew Dalton (“Stats” as I was informed by Dave Rowson on Sunday). Several rounds of questions including Leeds United, general sport, general knowledge, general football etc. The branch has won the quiz a long time ago, sadly in the last few years we have managed one trophy for joint runner up in 2009. This was a magnificent effort by The Secretary and The MPO who were flying high at the end of round 7 in first place, but failed miserably to answer any of the Leeds United questions in round 8. It was a little disappointing but demonstrates clearly how much The Chairman was missed… Our last trophy below:

That is putting it mildly. Disappointment, outrage, disgust, embarrassment, a tumult of feelings, not one of them good. I had my little rant last night after getting home at nearly 11pm following that poor excuse for football match. After getting up at 4.00am, that was nearly as bad as Brighton, we lost there as well.

I wasn’t planning on anymore complaining, as it was plain to see that the keyboard warriors were already out in full force. At least I wasn’t, until I saw the ridiculous number of piteous “meaningless Cup” remarks. In the past I have tried not to get annoyed by these throwaway phrases that people use, and I have tried not to make disparaging comments about those people who say these things who don’t actually go to games. Unfortunately I am rising to this because frankly these people really piss me off.

I am so riled I don’t even know where to start. So, in no particular order:

Garry with two Rs

I can’t even pretend I know or understand how/why you picked your team. I do understand that you wanted to protect your first team players on that pitch, especially those who have just come back from injury like Pablo and Jansson, and those who have played a lot of games this season like Captain Bartley and Chris Wood. I understand promotion is high on the agenda. So why didn’t you field the team that played against Cambridge, or even the team who did so well in the League Cup? It felt like you were running a Sunday morning pub game. You just waited to see who would turn up for the team bus outside Elland Road, picked the ones who didn’t look hung over and then randomly pulled names out of a hat for the rest. What happened to the famous half time talk, and those brilliant substitution decisions? Thanks for not taking into consideration the time and the money that those fans who turned up to stand in the cold and rain wasted.

The Team

I am not bothered how much you get paid a week, because you are probably not bothered about how much I get paid either. All I and other fans ask, is that when you pull on that shirt, you concentrate for 90 minutes whilst you are on that pitch and play the game 100% to the best of your abilities for the whole 90 minutes. It would be great if at some point, you could consider how the fans feel, but that is a bonus really, seeing as some of the fans do nothing but hurl abuse at you anyway especially when you do something wrong. So, because you can’t really reciprocate that and it is difficult to ignore it, walking off in a huff every now and again is fine too. A wonder goal once a month doesn’t excuse you for not bothering to chase a ball down or pass to another Leeds player for the other three or four games you play. Regardless of whether you are in the first team or in the 2nd or 3rd team or under 23s, you should still be able to string a couple of passes together, and more importantly take a free kick and help it towards the goal.

Moaning fickle Leeds United fans

Our branch, like most LUSC branches is a non profit organisation. That means that the reason we do what we do, is not to make any money, it is for the branch members. All the effort that is put in, is purely to do what we do best, and get our members to away games. I know many fans get their own tickets and many fans make their own way to grounds either by bus or train or drive themselves. It is up to you how you do it, and if you have the luxury of the time, the means, the money and patience to sort all of this out on your own, then fair dos, well done. Lucky you! Be happy that you have a job that allows you the time and the money to sit in front of a computer and order your match tickets and organise your travel arrangements. Be happy that you have an understanding family and friends that spare you the time to do this. Most, if not all of our members aren’t so lucky. Most, if not all of our members have jobs or other commitments like caring for relatives and families etc. Most, if not all of our members work hard for the money that they need to go to these games.

So we ( The Secretary and the rest of the branch committee) do it. We negotiate with the coach company in the closed season to make sure we get a decent deal for our members. We make sure we have a coach company who will turn up on time, who will give us a decent bus with decent facilities and a decent driver. We make sure bookings are taken in advance of the tickets going on sale, so any member who wants to go to a game gets as good a chance as possible of a ticket. We sit in front of a computer ordering match tickets on the day, and we pay for them. We sort out our refreshment stops pre match, so we all have a good day out. We make sure everyone knows the departure times and we sit and wait for anyone who is late. We liaise with the Police Liaison Officer to make sure we leave enough time to get the coach to the match complying with the police instructions. We, in short make sure we get our members to games.

So for you to chelp on about not caring because it doesn’t mean anything anyway, just have a think for one minute about how much this game actually did mean. You selfish, insensitive, miserable wasters.

It is not just about the cost in money terms. It is the time spent away from families, doing family stuff. It is the time spent negotiating time off work. Not everyone works 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, sitting on their backsides all day in front of a computer screen. Some people are self employed, that’s a whole day when they could be working, this includes on a Sunday believe it or not. Not everyone has jack all to do at the weekend and spends it slumming it in front of the telly watching Netflix or your box sets. Not everyone has no other responsibilities or commitments in life.

More importantly, its about pride. Pride in the history of Our Club. Pride in our loyalty to Our Club. When you start whingeing about why players, including our Youth players, leave Leeds United to go to another Club that pays more money, or has more opportunities, that’s because it upsets the pride that you have for Leeds United.

When you next sing about “January 3rd, remember the date…” think about how little the FA Cup means to you then. Should we have won on Sunday, we would have got Arsenal at home. How many of you would have been desperate for a ticket to watch the “Mighty” Arsenal? How many of you would be complaining about the crap service at Leeds United’s ticket office for your one home game per season for that “Glory Tie”. Oh sorry, 2nd because you obviously came to watch the Newcastle game, right? How many of you scrambled to get a ticket for that League Cup 4th round Norwich game, when you couldn’t be bothered to shift yourself for the Blackburn 3rd round tie ? How many of you moaned incessantly about “how unfair” it was when you couldn’t get a ticket for the Liverpool game at Anfield, because surprisingly enough, Leeds made it a “loyalty tracker game” in the first instance, and you had only bothered to go to one away game this season? All in your “meaningless Cup” or another Cup that doesn’t really matter until you get a “Big” game?

As the younger generation say, jog on.

(As usual, my thoughts are my own and please read the Disclaimer like it tells you to)

I have decided that the new branch phrase should be Excelsior! Why? I hear you say.

The Branch Secretary reliably tells me that the great Stan Lee uses this frequently. In fact, at the end of the last Avengers film, it was noted that he shouted this word. Loosely translated, it means ever upwards, therefore it’s relevance to both the Harrogate & District LUSC and Leeds United. I know I have used another phrase intermittently, as have noticeably several others in the last few months on social media. I cannot remember who said the phrase “onwards and upwards” first. I thought it was Buzz Lightyear, however I have been corrected, his catchphrase is ” to infinity and beyond” and we aren’t so bothered about going to infinity. The aim for Leeds United really is The Premiership, which technically is upwards, therefore, I declare the new Branch motto – Excelsior!

The game at Barnsley this weekend was a little disappointing to say the least. Apart from the fact we scored two goals, we lost the game, so let’s break down the disappointments.

First, the allocation. The first time I went to Barnsley, Oakwell was, to put it bluntly, a right mess. That was decades ago, when there used to be a ladies toilet, cunningly disguised as a bike shed in front of the goal. The Secretary informs me that back in the day when you could choose between standing and sitting, we used to get tickets not only behind the goal, but also to the side of it, in the main West Stand L5 to L8. Similar to where Leeds United put the away fans now, although the view isn’t fantastic, it is better than being stuck behind the goal. Having gone on the Barnsley website before our allocation was announced, we knew that Barnsley were charging non season ticket holders £37 for tickets, the same as we were being charged, regardless of where they were seated. £37 is a lot of money to watch a Division 2 match. It is what Leeds United charge visiting fans since Bad Papa Smurf moved them out of the Cheese Wedge, so we cannot really complain when other clubs charge us the same. Sadly, every game we play in this division which involves a team in the Yorkshire, is deemed THE “Yorkshire Derby”. Leeds United attracts fans from not just Leeds, but the surrounding areas, we know the fan base is huge in Yorkshire. So given just these factors alone, it was extremely disappointing that the allocation was so low. Barnsley could be forgiven for thinking that their fans could sell out the ground for this fixture because of the connotations of a “local derby”, however, the match was going to be on telly, at 5.30pm, and for non season ticket holders they were going to charge £37. NOT A CHANCE! It turned out that the attendance was a disappointing 17,870, with 5241 Leeds United fans. According to the footballgroundguide.com the capacity is 23,009.

(thanks to Julie Trimble LUSC https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedsunitedsupportersclub/ for the photo by the way)

So given the West Stand was half empty, why not give more tickets to Leeds fans? It would have generated more money for starters, maybe another 1500 at £37 per head = £55,500 and it would have prevented some of the crowd trouble generated by Leeds fans who had acquired tickets in the Barnsley end. Barnsley must be cash rich, seeing as they could afford to turn down the best part of £50,000.

This leads nicely to the second disappointment. Crowd trouble. The media immediately focused on “crowd trouble and arrests”, not football. People were sharing pictures of fans, police and stewards, with our fantastic value for money (72p) local rag the YEP, guilty as charged for their facebook pictures of “horrendous” scenes. Now I am not condoning any violence, and I am certainly not excusing any of the behaviour of the people who were caught on camera shouting and tussling with each other at the front of the pitch in the East corner, but this was a small number in comparison to the 5000+ Leeds fans who attended that game. The only way to know exactly what happened to trigger this event, is to hope that the police had those little body cameras attached to their shoulders and they were recording at the time. The tension had been mounting up after Chris Wood scored, but what actually happened is anyone’s guess really. The only thing that could and should have been done as a preventative measure was to not have the game kick off at 5.30pm in the first place. South Yorkshire police are responsible for our safety outside the environs of the stadium. Exactly the same police force have been responsible for not letting us play Sheffield Wednesday at any other time apart from midday since the 1990s and possibly longer, for what reason you ask? Safety. So, why did they agree to move this game to 5.30pm? Need you ask?

The third disappointment, our fans. Despite the (relatively) large allocation compared with some other clubs this season, many of our branch members missed out. I don’t like the disparaging phrases that have been used of late to describe fellow Leeds United fans. Whilst I have my own feelings towards some Leeds fans, you always have to recognise many Leeds fans simply cannot afford the time or money to go to games. I consider myself very lucky that I can afford my season ticket and am lucky enough to go to away games as often as I do. Since the Internet revolution, and the Television Gods taking over football as we know it, many fans who would not have been able to engage in football banter in the 80s and 90s, are now enabled. So some people who have never been to a live football game, have now the benefit of pause and rewind to be able to comment on the game. Good for them. This leads to some folk thinking that they are superior because they think that they are “proper” fans as opposed to the “armchair army”. Well, I have news for them. Lately I look around at an away game and all I see are people doing anything but watching the game. Some are on their phones looking at other scores, some are taking selfies or videos of themselves at the game, some are just watching / having a pop at the home fans trying to stir something up. I sound like an old git moaning, but I really don’t know why you would want to go to a game and not actually watch what is going on the pitch. £37 plus £1 bates tax to not watch the game. The worse thing is, that we had branch members who wanted to go, but we couldn’t get tickets for them because they had sold out, and they would have wanted to watch the game. This season we have played some of the most exciting football in years, well worth watching, yet some of our so called fans haven’t seen it and may as well have just sat in front of the box instead, just like the people that they moan about.

So, the next issue; social media. Whilst I appreciate the ease of communication that facebook provides, and The Secretary definitely does not miss those phone calls and texts late on a Friday night/ Saturday morning asking what time the bus is leaving, the world wide web sure does have its foibles. The trouble is once you write something on facebook or twitter or whatever else you use, it is there for ever and ever, and you cannot take it back. I thank my lucky stars that they did not have this when I was younger! Take our unlucky old number 19 player, for instance, look at what happened to him. I believe in Freedom Of Speech as much as the next man, but I have to draw the line when it comes to throwing insults at all and sundry, whether it be chairmen, managers or players, or their respective families. This is completely out of order, and this applies to singing and chanting as well. The odd comment can be funny, but when there is a continual barrage, its is neither big, nor clever nor funny. The press have always hated Leeds United, and this goes back to the Revie Era, and not just the team but Don himself. So, when you already have the newspaper conglomerates against you anyway, the TV Gods being awkward with Leeds United, despite them secretly enjoying our success because of the viewing figures, there really is no need to start a war on the rest of the 24 hour social media platforms, even if you are doing it after you have had a few too many. The long and short of it is that however long there appears to be “friction” in between fan groups, “fans” v Chairman, fans v fans etc. etc.  the media will reap in the benefits. “Divide and Conquer” or in its true form “divide et impera” Julius Caesar – divide and rule. Before Bad Papa Smurf the majority of Leeds fans were united. He sparked off the split between fans and to some that split is irreperable. In the last few seasons there have been attempts to “Unite” Leeds United fans, for example the Trust, this LFU thing and so on. None of these have really taken off, the march through Leeds City Centre where a select few were seen to be swearing and abusing shoppers didn’t help, and the “stunts” outside Elland Road left some with an extremely bad taste in their mouths. Personally, I think they should all just let it go. I think all fans groups who are able to engage in dialogue with Leeds United without unnecessary language and publicity stunts, should all have an equal footing.

At the end of the day, all we want to do is support our team. Our branch does it by buying season tickets or memberships and getting tickets and running coaches to away games when we can, thereby being part of that fantastic support that Garry Monk  keeps mentioning. The LUSC does it by sponsoring players and most if not all LUSC members have either season tickets or memberships. The motto of the LUSC: Always Leeds Always Loyal, Getting Members To Games Since 1919.

Excelsior!

For those of you who remember the days when Leeds United used to play Cricket at The Union Pub, Calcutt, Knaresborough back in the 70s in pre-season, here are a few reminders courtesy of Andy Logan ( branch member since 80s). To be fair, I think Andy found these in his attic somewhere, where they have been hiding for quite a while. They look a bit battered, but are a timely reminder of how much Leeds United interacted with the community, how much they valued being part of it, and how much respect they had for the fans. The Chairman has fond memories of these games, as have quite a few of our Harrogate & District LUSC members. I am not saying that Monk and the team should pick up a bit of willow in June and start playing in the Harrogate and Wetherby leagues, but I think that this is something that we can now at least begin to aspire to. It has been a long time since Leeds United has had such a great relationship with its fans, but it’s a start.

Happy reading!

MPO on behalf of The Chairman