Those of you who are old enough will remember Think For A Minute by The Housemartins from, wait for it, 1986! Yep, 1986. 32 years ago, the Housemartins told us to just think for a minute.
This is the cover of the single off Ebay, as I don’t have a copy of it anywhere
The 80s was an era of Anti. Anti establishment, anti Thatcher, anti war, basically anti everything. Punk had been at the forefront and then the music became a little less angry. Not helped by S.A.W, the trio that bought us such tragic, but undeniably catchy hit songs in the 80s, from the likes of Kylie and Jason Donovan off Neighbours and Rick Astley. Stock, Aitken and Waterman – they’ve got a lot to answer for.
I was never a massive Housemartins fan. They were from Hull for a start and dressed like casuals in tucked in polo shirts, blue stonewashed jeans with loafers and white socks. They even went a bit Sam Fox and did the whole acid wash jeans look when they got famous, but Paul Heaton had a good voice. And this song was a good song.
Think For A Minute, if you listen to the lyrics, seems at first to signify a yearning back to the good old days of community spirit, when you did actually leave your doors open, but then you realise it’s more about apathy and the lack of inertia.
Think for a minute.
We’ve got three crucial games to go, we need to think for a minute. The apathy has to end. But it is a big ask.
I honestly don’t know what the worse thing about Saturday’s game was.
There was so much to be disappointed in. There was so much to be cross about. I’m not just on about the display on the pitch either. It was the (in)decision, the poor choices, the football in general.
From the first 10 minutes, in fact from the word go, we were trying to play the ball out from the keeper. We’ve been doing that all season, and it hasn’t really worked. Initially because most of the defence were out anyway at the start of the season, but then, since Bielsa got sacked and Coops and Phillips got back in the team, it hasn’t really improved. We are at the dogend of the season, against Arsenal who are challenging for Chumpions League places. Eddie was never “Leeds” and had a point to prove on Sunday. Raphinha and Ayling combined to leave young Meslier exposed at the worst possible time for a sucker punch. Then for the second goal Raphinha and Ayling were shrugged off down that wing again, and it was a simple pass.
This was the basis of the frustration that led to Ayling’s rash challenge and the sending off. Which it was, as it was indefensible. The ball was going out, it was never a goal scoring opportunity. But the rush of blood to the head because of the previous mistakes, was borne out with the mistimed, misjudged tackle. The Arsenal player made a meal of it, just to make sure, but it was a red.
At 2 – 0 down, our manager had to make a change. Even though Raphinha was already dangerously close to another yellow, he left him on and took off Joffy. It was Joffy’s first start! Just leave him on! We were already losing, at least with Joffy we had a chance to score a goal. But Joffy was the sacrificial lamb for a defender to, er make sure we didn’t lose any more? Our goal difference is terrible. Was he honestly hoping Burnley would leak another 20 goals in the next 3 games? Apathy. We needed to stay positive and look for goal scoring opportunities. We needed to think for a minute.
When Llorente hung back and waited for everyone to move, before he closed in on the far post to shoot past the keeper, we were in with a chance. The noise was immense, we thought we could peg them back at least to a draw. Or at least we could have done if Joffy had still been on. A bit of hope and belief will never go amiss. Leeds United are always asking for the crowd to be positive to help the team. How about Leeds United have a bit more faith that supporters will always get behind the team anyway, and reciprocate with some footballing alacrity on the pitch?
I have to say, it is the majority of supporters who will pledge undying support. Not those who walked out early at Leicester away after they’d spent most of the game slagging the pro Bielsa fans who were still singing Marcelo’s name. They weren’t fussed. Those who stormed out before the end of the Norwich game at ER and missed Joffy’s goal, they weren’t too confident either.
Even in the dark old days of Division 3 football, we were still all turning up. The memories of singing “We’ll score again, don’t know where, don’t know when” in ironic desperation come flooding back. We’ve never needed gimmicks like a drum or anything, we’ve always had enough zeal. Glass half full not half empty. Like the Dark old days of Division 3, we need to seriously think about hoofing the ball up to the striker up front and hoping that he gets on the end of it. No pissing about playing it out from the keeper. Get the ball, get rid. Either into the top of the East or West Stand or up to the only guy who is in front of the half way line.
Back to Sunday, not content with the on pitch antics hacking me off, there is this:
This from our own fans. This is probably the most disappointing thing.
For those of you who don’t know, before the game, 3,000 shirts were left on the seats in the away end at the Emirates Library. Token gesture. Bit like the big “Yorkshire” sign last weekend, but with T shirts that couldn’t really be rolled into balls and chucked onto the pitch at Raphinha. Incidentally, I wonder what’s on the menu for tomorrow night. Another big sign like “Up North” maybe?
So, on Sunday, it was released on social media that Radrizzani had arranged all these T shirts to be put on the seats for the travelling away support, in support of Stuey, who went in for that challenge and came off worse. For those that got there at “normal” time, they were there, in their resplendent glory, a truly splendid sight to see. For us who arrived at the Arsenal Library in “our” normal time (10 mins before kick off), we were greeted with empty rows. Because our OWN fans, our OWN “All Leeds Are We” fans, felt fit to nick other people’s T shirts.
So much for solidarity then. Some of us are obviously more “Leeds” than others. Not that I was particularly bothered. I’ve never really needed a shirt (or colours for that matter) to show how much of a Leeds fan I am. But a spare T shirt always comes in handy, and I was a bit miffed that there wasn’t one on my seat.
So to see the “stealbay” advert today was a bit of a kick in the teeth to be honest. The T shirts were free, but up to the time of publishing, this one was up to £113 with 19 bids. At least the one underneath it is just going for a tenner (now up at £41 though). The Club will have to do something (again) just like they had to with those yellow flags which were put on the seats at the start of the season for that brilliant display. People were putting them up for £££s within days. The Leeds United superstore will now have to sell these shirts at £10 to stop fans being ripped off by charlatans like this guy.
Just think for a minute, stop being so selfish. I know times are hard, and if it is to pay for your increase in your leccy bill, at least put that in your description to stop other Leeds fans from slagging you off for ripping them off.
All it takes is a minute, just think
