In the immortal words of The King in Blue Hawaii “wise men say, only fools rush in”.
These words however, we conceived by another goliath of art, Alexander Pope. The saying was coined in 1711 and is also the origin of the term “Where Angels Fear To Tread”.
thanks to Grammarist for the pic: https://grammarist.com/proverb/fools-rush-in-where-angels-fear-to-tread/
Elvis however, is The King and he did it better! He knew that “wise men say, only fools rush in, but I can’t help falling in love with you” is the mantra of most , if not all, Leeds United fans.
Edict, belief, faith, religion.
Call it what you will. Whichever word you use to describe it, it is the same. It is the thing that drives us to do what we do, and ultimately drives us mad. The phenomenon that is Leeds United.
Not only are the fans affected, the madness also afflicts our owners and managers alike. Like Sergeant Wilko, we start off as sane as the next man, often achieving greatness at times. Then it all goes downhill. Nay, plummets. Like a sack of spuds. The affliction subsequently transfers from our leaders to the team on the pitch. Resulting, ultimately, like in 2004, to a dramatic descent down the leagues.
Reliably, the affliction got to our most recent owner, Mr Radrizzani. No one is spared. No Quarter, as the phrase goes! To be fair to the guy before him, he was already as mad as a box of frogs anyway. Cellino was an entity in himself. The ones before Massimo? I won’t even go there.
In Star Trek terms, Cellino was the epitome of that cloud of mysterious, mischievous dust that flummoxed James T Kirk. He’d be voiced of course, by Roddy McDowell, should Massimo have been there in the 60s and Marcello Mastroianni not been available. The perfect misunderstood bad guy, Roddy McDowell. They don’t make actors like him anymore. There will never be another Cornelius. Truly, the Golden Age of acting. (Planet of The Apes, in case you don’t know what I am on about).
I digress, Radrizzani, like Ridsdale started off ok. Both experienced good times at Leeds United, although, only Peter “My Leeds United” Ridsdale got us into Europe. I cannot fault him for what he did in that very challenging time in Istanbul. Radrizzani never had anything like that Turkey moment, but, as sure as eggs are eggs, there is the potential for a goldfish tank moment. Who knows what the 49ers might find when the finally get into the offices are ER? There might even be a racing car garaged under the East Stand.
The Madness of Leeds United
Like many before him, Radrizzani just went a bit cuckoo. He got caught on the crest of a wave of success and got carried away, along with the rest of us.
Well, some of us.
Not me. Too long in the tooth for all of that nonsense now. To be frank, I expected more of us to be just as cynical as myself. Don’t get me wrong, I was enjoying being enthralled by Bielsa. That period in our history, was some of THE best football I have ever had the displeasure of not seeing live. We were lucky to see what we did until the world went mad and our global elite locked us away. That 1st season back, when we were deprived of our liberty and humanity, was one of the few things to look forward to. Albeit sometimes via dodgy firesticks and bein sports!
The Brolin
The 7 deadly sins; pride, avarice (greed in 20th centuryspeak), gluttony, lust, envy, wrath, sloth (not Casper). That list sounds like the pre requisite skills for any job in the Premier League and FA, doesn’t it? Pride and greed are the ones which are most to blame for terrible decisions at Leeds United. Pride comes before a fall, is how the saying goes. The pattern is that the Club start doing well on the pitch, and then someone takes their eye off the ball. Football for 90 minutes once or twice a week, becomes less important and fame or publicity takes priority.
Random signings once the Club start doing well, also known as the Brolin Phenomenon. Wilko (and Silver) had the inaugural Brolin moment. After Euro 1992 success and a storming World Cup in 1994, Tomas Brolin came to Leeds to join Yeboah up front. Those of you too young to remember, or those who have conveniently forgot, 1996 Coca Cola Cup Final. That is all I need to say. Coca Cola Cup Final. Oh, and Ian Rush. Tomas is now the leading vacuum cleaner salesman in Scandinavia.
Ridsdale and O Leary had their “Brolin” phase with Seth Johnson. Seriously, we could have bought John Arne Riise. But we didn’t. Because, Seth Johnson was the better choice. Seth Johnson. £7 million quid for Seth Johnson to Derby and we paid him upwards of £35 grand a week. After all, what could Riise do? Did he ever amount to anything at , er, Liverpool? Enough said. Oops, nearly forgot, Robbie Fowler.
Radrizzani? Well, under Bielsa – we had such a small squad, history would have us believe we never bought anyone. Of course, he got rid of Bielsa and all of a sudden, Leeds were free to buy all the players that they wanted. Because Bielsa held the purse strings and refused to buy anyone remember? Just think, without Bielsa, we could have got Aaronson, Roca, and McKennie so much sooner. Oh sorry, that’s not correct is it? It was Orta who stopped us buying “quality players” sooner.
If only Radrizzani listened to the real fans on social media in the first place. Had Radrizzani bowed to the pressure from the proper football managers, tippy tappying on their keyboards sooner, we wouldn’t be in the EFL now. That’s for sure. If only Radrizzani had listened to the “real” fans he would have known that all our players ignore fans all the time, especially children. The “real” fans should never have been forced to go on social media and the press to tell the board that Leeds fans had lost faith in them. Because fans would be able to do the job better.
A bit like in the Bates era where the “real” fans engaged (allegedly – I think I have to say that) with potential buyers to get Bates Out. Well that worked out really well didn’t it? The most skint people of middle eastern background ever. I think that is how I have to say it now, in case I am accused of breaking some sort of protected characteristic law.
Football by keyboard
Ridsdale, thankfully didn’t have to deal with social media. In the early 2000s, football was mostly played out on the telly or on the pitch. Football discussion was done in the pub after the game or at the ground. Agreements (and disagreements) were dealt with by talking face to face with people, or phone ins on the radio. Fools did not rush in to any of those conversations in the pub, I can tell you. If you ever said anything really stupid, people would just point and laugh at you. If any one of these keyboard warriors who chuck out death threats to our players did that in a pub, they wouldn’t be saying it twice, I can tell you. They’d have had a bunch of fives in their face.
22 and a half hours
Nowadays football is played out on social media. Actually, football is played on the pitch, but the 90 minutes of getting a ball into the back of the net comes second fiddle to other 22 and a half hours in the day. What actually happens on the 76,000 square feet of green stuff, is at times, completely irrelevant to the volumes of discussion on social media. Where angels fear to tread? Nope. Social media is where no one but fools rush in. Quick to accuse. Quick to confuse. Those tippy tappy fingers are responsible for some of the most hateful, intolerant abuse that footballers, managers, Chairmen and football fans alike, are subject to nowadays.
Why are we waiting?
As it stands today (Monday 17th July) we still do not have any official owners. They are still yet to be ratified by the EFL, apparently. It is a bizarre set of circumstances, isn’t it? The 49ers, as I understand, were already part owners when we were in the Premier League. Now we are in the EFL and the 49ers want to buy out Radrizzani (seeing as he is in Sampdoria – allegedly), they aren’t fit and proper? Do the EFL have a higher standard than the PL? Do the 49ers know what they are letting themselves in for? Have they researched this through properly? Surely they did their due diligence? Wise men say, only fools rush in … yikes.
I think it is something to do with the number of new investors into the 49ers group. Don’t quote me on that though. I suppose it is there to stop anyone of any disrepute being able to use their ill gotten gains to influence football. After all, it’s not like Sepp Blatter and Platini did anything wrong with £2 million quid. It’s not like big tournaments have ever been handed to random countries without thought for fans, is it?
What is going on? If only the “real” fans could be contacted to see if they could broker a deal with the new foreign owners. Oh wait, that has already happened once upon a time, a long time ago, allegedly. Lightning surely cannot strike twice.
Nearly there.
Nevertheless, the season is starting, new owners or not. The fixtures are here, and if the news is correct, it may be good news for the travelling fans. With the PL cap set at £30 for away tickets now a distant memory, our travelling support were fearing the worse. Namely £49 quid for Hillsborough and the rest. But if the gossip is correct, the Club have agreed a reciprocal ticketing policy for away fans. They have listened to the fans. The Twentys Plenty thing was never realistic, but £50 for a ticket for 90 minutes is just absurd.
Having sat through the Wimbledon Men’s Single final at the weekend watching two blokes compete for the best part of 4 hours (apart from that toilet break), you can understand getting what you pay for. Don’t ask me about the ladies final. The classic 11 hour game between Isner and Mahut was epic.
But realistically, some games of football are utter dross of two teams going through the motions for 90 minutes. Some are 90+ minutes of cheating, diving, fouling aka game management in 21st Century speak. There are some games where most of the entertainment is found in the concourse, or, if you are that way inclined smoking in the bogs.
We cannot help that at ER the away fans are sat in the West Stand. That is the legacy of money grabbing Bates. He moved them from the South Stand because at the time the rules were that you couldn’t charge away fans more than the price that home fans pay in the equivalent stand. For me, they should stay there. Separated from the South Stand by the scoreboard, with little if any, interference from the corporate West Stand. No fools rushing in from the posh seats.
With bated breath, we await confirmation that we have new owners. Without a sign of fools rushing in
