Happy New Year! This is the January 2023 first post of the year. Unfortunately due to the lack of league football in the last few months there hasn’t been much to update you on, but after the storming draw against Newcastle and the predictable loss against Citeh at home, we are back on track with a vengeance.

Monthly Branch Meeting.

The first monthly branch meeting of the year was held on Sunday 1st January with a smaller than usual turnout. Perhaps the result against the Barcodes the day before was to blame, but just a select group managed the short meeting at the Londesborough before the Christmas decorations were taken down.

LUSC Player of The Month for November was Meslier (who has been player of the season so far for me anyway), votes are due in for Player of The Month for December now.

The final figures from the 40th anniversary do have been collated. After the costs of the entertainment etc. have been subtracted, Dep Andy Yates confirmed that £150 has been donated to St Michaels Hospice. A bag of Leeds United / LUSC goodies were also gratefully received at the Hospice shop before Christmas.

Away Games

Despite initially announcing we would not be running a bus to Cardiff, we have now conceded and the bus to Cardiff on Sunday 8th is now nearly full and tickets are still on sale at Elland Road. I think Cardiff are giving us the whole end plus a bit more according to the Leeds United website. I never thought that I would see the day when we would not sell out an away allocation, given our rise into the upper echelons of the PL. I thought the days of being able to pay on the gate at Villa away because no one wanted to go to a midweek away fixture were a thing of the past. However, I think this is more of a combination of post Christmas skintness (including massive gas and leccy bills) and the apathy of Cardiff fans. After all, who wants to go watch two teams who have no interest in progressing into the next round? If someone were to ask me who has the least interest in going through to the 4th round, I would say we are on an equal par, but Cardiff are desperate to stay in the Championship, so I am guessing we will win. Woo hoo.

If anyone has any feedback on away games re stewarding / facilities etc. we are still doing reports for every away game, so please feel free to email any comments (good or bad) after aways so we can keep the Club / police informed.

There are still a few places for Villa away on Friday 13th January, get in touch if you want any travel.

We will aim to continue to try to keep the travel costs as low as possible to help people out as much as we can in the current climate.

A.O.B

There may be an event in early February, please keep a lookout for any details.

We are still doing mailouts and facebook posts simultaneously re aways etc. for those who aren’t on the facebook closed group. If anyone has joined the branch and isn’t receiving these, please can you let us know as soon as possible and we will try to add you to the group. Please note, we are NOT accepting friend requests on facebook for the foreseeable future due to the hacking etc. but we will add you to the closed group when you join up to the branch so you have access to the departure details etc.

Congratulations to the lucky winners of the raffle prizes at the 40th do. I will try to post the pictures up at some point in the gallery. We are having technical issues at the moment.

There will probably not be a monthly branch meeting in February, as we are playing most Sundays. In the event that something important comes up, we will have an informal catch up, otherwise please keep your eyes peeled for any updates on the mail out / closed group.

Well folks, it’s Cup football week and sadly, it’s the same old, same old AGAIN.

You may be asking why I would think anything different would happen this season. After all we’ve got a gruelling run up til Christmas of non stop long aways and we’re down at the bottom of the table, lower than our opponents, Wolves, so why would it be any different from any other season? We need to concentrate on the league surely, because we have had so many injuries at the start of the season and our players are exhausted after the intensity of the summer’s international tournaments. Right?

What’s that?

We don’t have an imminent terrible run of long aways? No one told me that after Spurs there was going to be a 6 week break for most of the team because of some tournament? Really? 6 weeks more or less of no games? Has anyone told Leeds United about this?

But surely our opposition on Wednesday were better than us and we wouldn’t stick a chance?

What???

Are Wolves below us in the league? Wolves don’t even have a proper manager? That one has passed me by. Nah, that can’t be right. Wolves have got a worse record than us since the start of the season? Eh? But haven’t we had a horribly depleted team full of injuries because Murderball and Bielsa is too much for them? Bielsa got sacked in February?

WHAAAT?

On paper we should have won that game on Wednesday. The Wolves fans were thinking that they were going to have their arses well and truly  whopped before the game.

What did we do?

We lost.

But “nevermind guys, it was a good performance, and we were really unlucky”. “They were a far more experienced team. The young guys played really well”. I think Ayling, Harrison and Klich might have had some experience getting us promoted to the PL, or did Take Me Home get that wrong? Mind you – they were playing in their right positions for most of that time.

These are the line ups

And these were the subs. Pay extra attention to the two Wolves subs who got played, shirt numbers 77 and 81

Vastly more experienced team? You are having a giraffe.

This was the subs bench at the Citeh v Chelski game

Do you notice anything different?

I admit, they have bigger squads, but how many of those players will be representing their country in the Slavery World Cup too and have been having that extra pressure on them? Citeh have Brentford and Chelski have the newly resurgent Bar Codes tomorrow. But they still put out a decent bench and Conti played Kane, even though he’s had his work cut out since Son has been injured.

In summary, we had an unusually winnable game at Wolves on Wednesday.

Unusually, there were plenty of tickets for the game on Weds, because it wasn’t a massive “glamour tie”, so parents and kids hoping to see their heroes, were able to get tickets. Judging by the number of unfamiliar faces I saw on Weds, there were quite a few there who had been lucky enough to get a ticket, that don’t normally go away.

Unusually, the game came on the back of a bit of a good run. Despite people on the day of the Liverpool game actually saying they wanted Dyche, after our win, it was all BRILLIIIANT again. Even though Liverpool were less than ordinary and are still suffering from the departure of Mane to the Bundesliga.

Even betterer, we then go on to beat Bournemouth, after overturning a 3-1 deficit, with …. wait for it ….. substitutions which changed the starting formation! A novel idea if I ever saw one. How refreshing it was to see a corner being taken without two grown men whispering to each other like characters in a Jane Austen book. Honestly, sometimes I think all it would take would be a couple of ribboned bonnets and corsets, Colin Firth to come striding out of the North East Corner in his undies, topped off with Emma Thompson overacting, and it could be Pride & Prejudice or set piece Sense and Sensibility. Oooh Mr Darcy!

So SkinnyJeans has been catapulted, as they say in the USA, from zero to hero. The inspired subs of Willy “he’s not ready for the PL until at least January” Gnonto and Greenwood have propelled us to a massive 12th. 15 points already and only another 24 points needed to secure us PL safety ( I hope). Over a third of the way there, and it’s not even Christmas – with a game in hand.

With Wolves and Forest thankfully having a truly terrible start, we are sitting pretty on top of the 6 remaining relegation fodder teams, PLUS we have that game in hand. So what was wrong with at least trying to get a couple of cup games in, and maybe get a decent home draw to make some money in before Christmas? A full house a ER in the run up to Christmas would have got Leeds some money in from all the kids wanting extra tat in for Christmas. They could have sold a load more of those mass manufactured Xmas jumpers made in the sweatshops in the Far East, and probably raked in a bit more in food and drink to boot. Maybe add a few more £75 memberships and a few more onto that season ticket wait list. £££s or should it be $$$?

What’s wrong with gaining a bit of winning momentum? Three wins in three?

But he just couldn’t do it though. And the keyboard warriors all just went along with the narrative of “let’s stay focused on the league”. 

What have our miserable failings due to fielding weakened sides done for us in the last 20 years? I can forgive Bielsa to an extent because his job was to get us promoted. Apart from the last season where the Board probably were wanting him to get dumped out of the domestic cups sooner, to give them an excuse to give him the boot quicker.

What have our early exits achieved in the last two decades?

Jack all. Apart from managing to piss off every fan who dragged their sorry arses (when they could get tickets because the ground-hoppers were desperate to tick a box) to the likes of Histon, Sutton, Newport etc. 

“First it was the League Cup and before so very long”

Well at this rate, it will be another 50 years before we get to Wembley in a Cup final. Realistically, how else would we get into Europe again? We can’t match the moneymen in the Top 6 for a Chumpions League spot. A win in the Cup could get us to playing Sc*m in the heady heights of the Europa League Final. If we could be bothered that is. This season we could have done a bit more, but same old, same old.

What is wrong with a bit of aspiration? What is wrong with a bit of pride in yourself and passion for the game?

Where would the world be without people who dare to be different, break away from the shackles of normality and put their heads above the parapet? You’d like to think that there are parents and teachers out there who inspire and encourage the young to better themselves. When I was little, it was drilled into me to not just accept stuff without question because I was told to do it. That to simply follow the crowd and accept what was going on wasn’t good if it felt was wrong. I was taught to fight for my beliefs and challenge those who would try and convince me otherwise.

Not to be though, and the keyboard warriors just toed the line and defended everything. And when they couldn’t defend it anymore, they just started with the name calling and insults.

If there is anything that annoys me, it is those Entitled super-fans who feel that they are “more Leeds” than others. No one is any better than anyone else. We are all just Leeds. In some people’s heads though, some are more Leeds than others. 

These are the ones who without any thought or consideration like to chuck insults around to anyone who dares to disagree with them. They have no accountability for their actions or comments, and are just as likely to be screaming for the managers / boards (delete as appropriate) heads one week and then claiming them to be the best thing since sliced bread the next. There’s nothing wrong with changing your mind, but no doubt the ones for example who were sending death threats to players a few seasons back and claiming that none of them were fit to wear the shirt, were all at ER at the open top bus thing celebrating along with Amazon when we got promoted. Similarly the ones wanting SkinnyJ out before Liverpool, probably posted that hugging heart emoji on the video of his post match interview pledging their undying allegiance to him.

Some idiot was laughing at people who went to the game (stupidly) thinking we would win. This fool clearly has no idea that there is a cost of living crisis going on, where every penny counts. And clearly has no empathy for any poor parents who have forked out hard earned money to take their kid to watch their heroes play football. Only to see that disappear in a cloud of complacency and apathy. It is still difficult to get time off work, it is still difficult to get an away ticket. Unless of course, you have the luxury of having enough money to do whatever you want. But you’d think if you did have all that, you’d be a little bit mindful of people less fortunate.

The only thing that riles me more than these imbeciles, are the ones who deliberately stand in your seat at away games and refuse to move on when asked. The ones who “are Leeds United and we’ll stand where we want”. Pushing old people and kids around so they can stand with their mates on their big day out until we start losing. Then they skulk off down to the bogs to do whatever it is that they do in there. The ones with complete disregard for anyone else who actually just wants to watch the game. Because they think that everyone should be like them or they ” aren’t proper Leeds fans”. Even though some of us have been going to games before these were managing to get through the night without wetting the bed. 

We turn up. We watch the game. We celebrate if we win and moan when we lose. It is just how it always is. We pay our money, we have a right to disagree. No need to take the p*ss out of people who just want to see us win, because ultimately, surely that’s what we all want, isn’t it?

Here’s to a FA Cup run in January. Fingers crossed. Unless it is the same old, same old

 

After the weekend, I had no choice but to write this. Because unless you weren’t at the game and couldn’t hear the South Stand, or haven’t seen the video already (which I am not going to share – cos it’s a bit sensitive), it was life imitating art (sort of). I wrote this (see below excerpt) in the last blog, and there it was on Saturday. We start scoring more than two goals in the game and someone starts a song off about Willy Gnonto

I had to laugh, because this may well be the new song for the rest of the season. That is of course, if someone doesn’t report it for being offensive and un-pc, leading to it being cancelled. And rather than it being a small section of the crowd, most heard it and joined in with it (apart from the Offended). And the supposition that Gnonto drinks moretti, eats spaghetti and …. I just can’t write it … was shared over social media. I think we have the Gen Z Enoch Showumni!

Praise to the South Stand from me is rare, mostly because you know my opinion of the “limbs” thing. But whether or not the instigators of the song had actually read my last blog, or whether they just have the same bizarre culturally misappropriative mindset that I have, it was too much of a coincidence. It was life imitating art. Should you find that sort of thing funny – it was funny.

However, if he stops scoring (unlikely) or if the higher powers that be decide that it pushes the boundaries a little too much (more likely) – that may well be the last time we hear that song. But well done. A sturdy pat on the back to you – whoever you are.

The song, like parts of the second half, harked back to some semblance of the days of football past, when we played proper football. I’m not saying that Gnonto and Summerville are the finished article, far from it. Anyone who has spoken to me recently knows how much I think there are bits of Yeboah about Gnonto already. No, I am referring to when we used to be able to pass a ball to one another, in fact string a few decent passes together.

It took the despair away from the mighty mess which was the 1st half at least. I know I have moaned about Leeds fans being fickle, but it was a challenge, even for me, to see any positive in the first 45 minutes. We were dire.

Like we have seen many, many times before we were ridiculously narrow, no wide options to pass the ball to going forward and our midfield, again, were none existent when they hit us on the break. We gifted the equaliser and the second goal, well, no comment. A fair few missed the stroll up the park which was the 3rd goal, as they were too busy enjoying themselves in the bar. Thankfully Greenwood coming on made a massive difference. The rest is history as they say.

We won, and after beating the Scousers and smashing Dick Van Dijk’s defensive record, it seems all is forgiven and we are, once again, heading for a place in Europe.

The master-plan is back on track and everyone who was hoping for Dyche before the Liverpool game, has now been convinced that SkinnyJeans is our next big hope again for Premiership glory. This is all good news for the board, and of course, SkinnyJ. He has got his reprieve, and despite the pre Liverpool panic and doom, it is all back to the rose garden. Everyone is smiley, smiley again.

Unfortunately for Harrison, the disassembling and dismantlement of the Bielsa Boys legacy is also back on track. If only Rodrigo would just stop scoring, that would be the next step complete for the transformation. He remains our top goal scorer, so no chance of that anytime soon.

Whilst Gnonto and Summerville ascending is ultimately brilliant for the club, it spells the end for Harrison and Rodrigo. Harrison will go to Newcastle, where Howe will play him as a proper winger. With a proper defence behind him and a target man and a number 10 at Newcastle, Harrison will do well. He may not be as young as Willy and Crysencio, but he has a good footballing head and when he plays in his correct position, as in the Bielsa team, he will be an asset.

Rodrigo is a brilliant player, but he is not a fans favourite. He will hit as many wayward crosses and miss as many shots as the Aaronson / Adams / Rasmus combination will, but Rodrigo will be slated for them, unlike the others. He will be subbed, even when he doesn’t need to be, when others won’t.

Whilst everyone will complain that he is rubbish and the defence is crap, it will continue to deflect from the truth that midfield is our weakest link. Even though Struijk isn’t a left back, he has done a cracking job. Even though our backline has supplied the large majority of our crosses, and even Coops has scored a goal, they are still at fault for our losses. The fact that they are encouraged to go so far forward, therefore resulting in them having to leg it back when we get hit on the break, escapes the attention of most. We have no defensive midfielders. No Phillips, no Batty-esque players, so why are people surprised that we hand goals to the opposition on a plate?

But this is how we play now, and it has worked because we beat Liverpool and Chelsea and Bournemouth. Hasn’t it? Who cares about our defensive line, because we are winning. Correct? Who needs a team with one touch passing and creative midfielders? Who needs a solid back four? Like Bonnie Tyler – we just need a hero.

Unfortunately this means that we will be watching sport how sport in the movies is played. This is when the hero gets the ball and heads towards goal with “Chariots of Fire” being played in the background. The scorer has to the goal in sight, his team mates around him throwing themselves at the opponents to stop them getting to him, and finally after the epic run, he shoots – he scores. Everyone runs to the hero. Glory Glory Hallelujah! Limbs all round.

It is formulaic and it fits the narrative.

Give me Lee Chapman any day of the week.

The branch will be holding a 40th anniversary event on Saturday 19th November 2022 at the Bilton Club (see flyer below).

It was against Grimsby Town on Saturday 28th August 1982 that the current Harrogate branch was believed to be formed. Further details, should anyone want the whole history, will be available from ex Chairman Dave Rowson or The Chairman, if you want to ask them directly.

I believe it was South Kirkby’s Mick Hewitt who suggested to Rousey that a proper LUSC branch should be formed. Something to do with Pynes getting fed up of having their windows put through all the time at aways? Further info probably best coming from someone who was there and sober enough to remember it in it’s entirety. I say sober in it’s loosest form. It’s probably better to describe it as not as inebriated as the next man.

That fateful day that the stand at Grimsby got “reconfigured” as there was a bit of a rumpus. In reality, the terracing got a few lumps kicked out of it, and according to The Fishy, some seats got ripped up and it all got a bit fractious because a few Leeds fans had got into the home end. I’ll put the link in for you to read for yourself. If you scroll down the link, you’ll see that one of the people on the forum has his profile picture as four cans of Special Brew. You don’t see that very often and frankly I’m impressed. It almost puts our picture of a schooner of port (how port should be served) to shame.

https://forum.thefishy.co.uk/Blah.pl?m-1362945262/

The Sunday Mirror reported it as a 2 – 1 win to Grimsby, not realising that the Grimsby winner had been ruled out at the death. Oh, the good old days of newspaper deadlines and rushing to get the news in before going to print the for next day. You young ones don’t know how good you have got it now! It caused quite a bit of consternation to one of the branch members who, on rolling up at work at The Majestic at 6.30am was told by his work colleagues that Leeds had lost. Which raised questions about his sanity….. or sobriety, or lack of both, the day before, as he was sure it was 1 -1 draw. And he hadn’t been drinking Special Brew either. 

The 40th anniversary actually marks the formation of the current incarnation of a formal LUSC branch in Harrogate.

Before this there were various manifestations of organised transport to home and away games. Remember these were the days when tickets were never an issue. Not like nowadays. In the old days, (and up until Villa away in April 2018), all you had to do was rock up at the turnstiles and pay to get in. In cash! Lawks a luvvy. Cash! Think of all those virus germs that we were spreading back then actually handing over money!

I am told there used to be a Pynes office at the bottom of Montpelier where you would just pay for your bus ticket in advance and then turn up on the day ready to travel. There was none of this pre match pub stop business. People used to regularly complain that the bus used leave far too early and get to the ground with far much time before kick off, allowing ample opportunity to get attacked by the home fans. 

The former Harrogate branch was run by a lovely couple, Malcolm Midson and his wife, June for a time. They ran buses to the home games as Pynes did the all away travel. Apart from a trip to Bolton in October 1978 where the bus went to the game and then went on to the Blackpool Illuminations afterwards, minus one member who spent the evening in Bolton Royal Infirmary. A suspected friendly fire incident from a bit of wall that had been demolished and was being chucked backwards and forwards. The Battle of Burnden Park as it was called by the Sunday People.

Dave Rowson started as Secretary, then Pete Gartside took over for a season, before Graham Ives did his stint. In 2000, the current branch Secretary took over and this will now be 22 seasons under his belt. The branch name changed to Harrogate and District in 1996. You will have to ask Dave and The Chairman about the old Knaresborough branch specifics. Or Dave can do a write up about it.

As a few of the oldies will remember, the branch used to have it’s own fanzine called We Are Leeds. These have all been uploaded onto the website and can be read. Thanks to Steve Abbott and all the other contributors for all their hard work.

Whilst the song goes, “We’re The Wrays bus, We’re the Wrays bus, We’re the Wrays bus, Harrogate”, the branch have used many coach companies over the years. Pynes and Murgys were pre 1996, Wrays is the one which is synonymous with Harrogate, after all they did sponsor our 5 a side team. But  after Malcolm Wray retired, we moved to Eddie Browns. Then onto K and J Travel, who with are still with to this day with Tom and the fantastic team from York Pullman. Jason “you can’t park that here, Sir” and Tim H have all been perfect personifications of Reg Varney / Sandra Bullock / Melvyn Hayes *delete as appropriate. Nothing can compare though, to the original, the one and only, Fast & Furious , Dave Addyman. Vin Diesel has nothing on Dave Addyman. Nothing.

The 40th anniversary event is open to ALL branch members, old and new and we welcome anyone who regularly travelled with us, including the old Otley Branch. We will be raising funds for the branch on the day to help pay for the event and also to help towards the costs of our sponsorship of our sponsored player, Joe Gelhardt, as well as St Michaels Hospice, our main charity.

Tickets are available from Dave Rowson or Andy Yates or via link below:

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.eventbrite.co.uk%2Fe%2Fharrogate-district-leeds-united-supporters-club-40th-anniversary-tickets-441351703827%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0eGE6SpeLkRHaQmzFi3ZAPZmU3gEfzzYdemf_rVGh0QLcBVn_2wkzpwtc&h=AT07MY0c_7szRltB1RtMuRIW86oQG16dLtTz20uRbQ96lvh2sUviFSq9R3p2RJHnNmgHwB5vGERqtvQcGAqrqc5y7c9XxjxWQOUDaXpvKMEt_dV4ZxUW1Kwvpaa69C0Rir-T&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2p2mHf7tbqfrlsTpZTo5lq4CqucmJ46pNHMvoaGIBRYlcczyXOTconVBF6VBhbD_TgvlPaIm1CUx4RUx51lFnc5uVHrbaH0jkRkd4KORrku1Lnvr1t9oN6U4sJRPaCQhQX7QTGdU16GLMbID6deRmPyhljM3WVQT2P3PApHMElRtpJtTPbFXLXa8vCX_E6LAXZU5e4dXwZGRHTRQe-STo

Further updates will be posted nearer the date

Cheers

MPO

 

It’s been 7 months and 15 days, since they stole you away from me aah aah aah aaah. I know, I am waxing lyrical, with an awful lot of artistic licence, with the 1991 Sinead O Connor hit, but the fact is, nothing compares to….. guess who?

For those too young to remember Sinead, look it up. 

I could really write the whole blog bastardising the entire lyrics from the song, but I would probably be breaching some sort of copyright law or something. I’ve also vehemently vocalised how much I hate it when people lazily “borrow” bits of my blog to make them sound good, so there’s no way I would do it, however tempting. But the opportunity is there in “Nothing Compares 2 U” – to give it it’s full proper title, to draw all sorts of parallels to the suffering that we are enduring, with the angst Prince (or weird squiggle) penned of back in the 90s.

Quick reminder, as if anyone needed any, unlike Elsa in the film Frozen, I cannot let it go. The last 8 months or so hasn’t really changed my mind at all. In fact, since the start of the season, events have unfolded which have only served to reinforce, if not completely re-affirm, that I was right at the time, and still am. Short of a massive win tomorrow against the league leaders, Arsenal, three points on Thursday at the Foxes, a walloping win in the Cup at Wolves and then a full on assault of, er, mid table, I can’t see me being proven wrong.

If we achieve the high teens before the Slavery World Cup, I am old and ugly enough to take the backlash. If we get to 30 points before April, I will be ecstatic as the next man. And if we get to the heady heights above the relegation drop zone, and my massive target of 16th in the table is attained, I will be partying like it’s 1999!

Shall I hold my breath?

Nothing compares to Bielsa. It was always going to be a big ask. The task was made much harder by the way my Club treated him. “Dismissed?” “Parted on mutual terms?” More like sh*t on from a great height and completely shafted by the Board. But it’s their money, they can do what they want, how they want. Right?

The fans? Realistically, once we started not winning, the keyboard warrior crowd and those who had only recently started following (as opposed to supporting) Leeds United, had their knives sharpened and out. The rapturous applause and congratulations of achieving the highest placed position of a newly promoted side, and triumph and plaudits of the Amazon “Take Me Home” series lasted only a bit longer than my Prime subscription in that second season.

Once we started playing to a live crowd again, it all petered out. It is all well and good when we are winning, but once we aren’t doing so well, the crowd jump on the tiniest mistake, and well, it all starts going downhill from there. I’ve been (un)lucky enough to have watched us for three decades now. It’s true, sometimes when the chips are down, like Norwich away in 2016 or Birmingham away 2019, the crowd are the 12th man. But it is also true that some of our fans are very fickle and some of the abuse dished out to our players, by our own fans, may be as good as a 12th man for the opposition. Notably, not so long since, at Leicester away when people were actually cheering when Tyler got injured. Who honestly cheers when one of your own players gets injured? At least five of the fourth row in the away corner at Filbert Street – that’s who. Disgraceful!

Since the day we “found out” they sacked him, everything has followed a similar path. I think I saw on noseybook something from Phil Hay at the start of the day and from then on, social media lit up like a Christmas tree. There were all sorts of stories that it was “always going to happen” etc. etc. etc. Then of course, our new manager revealed that he had been in talks for ages anyway, and this was the soundbyte

Mint! Not really. It’s like cheating on your missus and then the new girlfriend saying that she needed to move in sooner, because it was always going to happen anyway, and it was too painful to drag it out any longer. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The way in which it was done, and the way things have continued to be done, just smacks of this horrible fake, forced, manufactured manipulation of events. And not just off the pitch, it’s on it as well! And I don’t like it! 

What do I mean?

From the off, the very recruitment of Marsch (see I said his name!) seemed like a set up. It was as if they deliberately picked someone with a name which would conveniently and perfectly fit into the meme / media tenor gif generator thing of social media. If things work out and we get into Europe / Champions League, the song, and the T shirt, is already there – Marsching On Together. Brilliant – right? Seriously – am I the only one who thought that?

American owners or at least major American stakeholders, and the Club canvas for a Bielsa replacement (which was always going to happen allegedly) with an American manager. The U-S-A chant from parts of the Kop was embarrassingly akin to a Trump rally and rightly shouted down by the more discerning members of the stand. There is a time and a place for that, and this wasn’t it.

Incidentally, there was a quote from Bielsa (allegedly) saying he wanted to stay here forever. Myself –  if anyone were to replace Bielsa should he choose to abandon us, I would have gone for Ranieri. I thought Bielsa would stay to at least get us into Europe. I think he had a point to prove, and without our crippling (no pun intended) injury list, I think he would have got us there.

Once the new manager was installed, all of a sudden, every player and his dog did an interview saying how brilliant it was under the new boss and how terrible it had been under Bielsa. Jointly, they slated the punishing training regime and the lack of touchy feelyness which they were so relieved to be released from with the new gaffer. They described Bielsa’s aloofness and how awful it had been to train ALL THE TIME to be fit for the whole 90 minutes. It was starting to sound like they actually thought there was more to football than lasting two halves of 45 minutes on the pitch (plus fergietime) and trying to stop goals going into our net and score in the oppositions net. Bizarre that. 

Thankfully all that has stopped now, as I am afraid none of them were as good at interviews as what they thought. Lord Bamford continues to pop up occasionally but he really needs to enunciate a bit more, and stop reducing his volume to a slow drawl towards the end of his sentences as if he is running out of air. I’m not sure if that is how the younger generation actually talk now, along with their West Coast upspeak, but honestly, for anyone who is hard of hearing and trying to lip read, Patrick is the equivalent of Wallace – without Gromit for the comedy factor. 

Then there were the displays on the East Stand to make us look good on the telly. I admit, the first “We are Leeds” thing they did at the start of the season was good. When they gave out free scarves when we were in with a chance for promotion the other season, that was ok and those yellow flags which then appeared on eBay a week later for a fiver, were ok.

But then it just kept going, it just seemed excessive. It was like they felt they had to carry on  doing something / anything, because, like a tube of Pringles, once you pop, you just can’t  stop. Until, of course, when the East Stand Underage Ultras couldn’t maintain their concentration and support for the team. That fateful day when they just got bored and (with the help of their equally uninterested parents) chucked stuff at Raphinha and anyone else who dared stray towards the Family Stand.

The minor miscalculation of only getting 2000 Stuey Dallas T shirts for 3000 Arsenal away allocation didn’t help either. FOMO resulted in some of the remaining 1000 away support squabbling with other Leeds fans for taking T shirts that either didn’t belong to them, or liberating more than one (also resulting in them being up on ebay for £100 this time!). So much for All Leeds Aren’t We. As in Animal Farm, we are all Leeds, it’s just that some are more Leeds than others.

The next bone of contention was digital tickets. EVERYONE wants digital tickets apparently. It’s safer, more secure and easier than those pesky cards. Oh and greener! Let’s not forget the Green agenda. After all, we must all do our part. Even if the rest of the world is building coal fired power stations at a rate of knots, dumping all their rubbish into the ocean and deforesting the Amazon quicker than The Chairman can get through a KFC at LFE.

Sorry, lost it there. Couldn’t help it. The thought of wasting a tin of soup by chucking it at a painting during a cost of living crisis is doing my head in! 

Digital tickets. If you are near the fan zone at the North East Corner ten minutes before kick off, try telling anyone queueing from there to the Captains Corner, that it is faster to get in on your phone. Try telling anyone who is stood in the queue at the ticket office, missing kick off, because their digital ticket isn’t working, that it is better on their phone. Try telling some of the loyalest long standing season ticket holders, who don’t and have never had a email address, let alone a electronic wallet on a phone, that they can’t fill in a form and pay by cash like they used to. If people want to use their phones, let them. But there should always have been a choice. It should have been made clear at the outset that the cash option +/- a plastic card was still available, rather than leaving it to a fortnight before deadline day. I would go back to my plastic season ticket card next season if I could.

It’s a new way of doing things, bringing Leeds United, kicking and screaming into the shiny new PL fold. New shiny turnstiles. Quick and easy on your phone, they said. How about just  getting someone to clean the stands once in a while and get better facilities in?

So far, this is off the pitch, what about on it? I could do an entire blog with three chapters about this! If things don’t improve, I may well do so. I will just do a summary for the purposes of tonight’s effort.

As is the norm with any new manager, they want to bring their own players in and their own style. Let’s start on style.

Bielsa was berated for not having a Plan B. He was slated for playing the same team formation for every game regardless of opponent, injuries notwithstanding, and not using his subs when we were losing and needed a change. Has anything changed? Honestly – has it? Dan James was still being played up front on his own before he got sideways shoved to Fulham. Rodrigo is still being played not up front and we are still using our full backs as extra wingers, leaving the likes of Coops, with Llorente or Koch to defend, this time without the benefit of Kalv, who is now happily warming the bench at £100k+ at Citeh. Nothing has changed.

During the Warnock era, let me pause to just get that shiver in my spine sorted, we had the whole Peltier thing. Lee played every game. Or at least it seemed like he did, even if he didn’t. Every week our midfield read like a Tarantino film. Green, Brown and White, not forgetting Sky pundit extraordinaire Stephen Warnock. Frankly, it would have been better if we had had the moves of Samuel L MFsnake Jackson and Travolta in the middle, but the Warchest would have imploded on itself. And it was shocking, but he still played them. (Don’t get me started on El Hadj!) It was as if Lee and his mates were the teachers pets. (Is that term even allowed anymore?)

Ten years on and it’s Groundhog Day. Whatever Aaronson, Adams, Roca, and Kristensen do, they are going to start. It doesn’t matter that they are run ragged by some teams, get kicked to death by others, look knackered after 60 minutes, play more narrow than Persians were forced into at the Hot Gates in 300 ,and how good we look after he eventually lets Klich on, they are going to start.

I swear that the tactics are, when Aaronson gets taken off, no one else is allowed to have a shot on goal. 

I’m biased, but it looks like that any shadowy semblance of that Bielsa squad is being whittled away, and we will, oh yes we WILL cheer on the American Boi.

As I said at the weekend, through the years we have sung many songs about many players. Some in celebration and some, not. From Imre Varadi to spontaneity of Pontus Jansson’s Last Christmas. Most related to on the pitch antics, for example – It Could Be…. and Ooh ooh ooh ooh ohh Rodrigo Moreno. Some completely unrelated to football – Enoch Showunmi –  a great big example of an entirely football free song. But mostly once the chant has started, the rest of the crowd will agree and sing along with it.

Once again on Sunday, despite trying their hardest, American Boy, like the U-S-A song lasted seconds. Until we actually start scoring and doing well or one of our new midfield acquires a reputation for having a very big appendage, please stop with the contrived forced fakeness. Just stick with the All Leeds are We, until we score more than two goals in a game.

It took a while for Bielsa to get his well deserved anthems – ask Paul Wilson. Nothing compares to him. His self effacing humility and love for the game are unsurpassed. 

As the Sex pistols said Nevermind The Bollocks – unless you are Enoch Showunmi