Karma Karma Karma Chameleon

Posted by on Feb 20, 2024 in Blog | 0 comments

Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma, Karma Chameleon, you come and go, you come and go.

I always thought the song Karma Chameleon was about the proverbial, “what comes around, goes around”. As in, someone screws you over and eventually all that s**t will come back and smack them in the face. Karma.

Not so, according to Boy George in some interview he did decades ago. It’s about the feeling of alienation. About being fearful of standing up for what you believe in. The changing colours signifying the desperation for some to fit with the vox populi.

So it’s nearly two years since the Deed was done. And, yes, I’m still fuming. My last years blog spells most of it out. My blog remains my own unpopular opinion and my feelings have not changed. But there’s been some revelations since Orta, the fall guy, got ditched and a bit more since Leeds United’s equivalent of Silas Greenback – “Si, Barone”, has departed.

Am I actually bothered about any of these revelations? Not really. Nothing any of them can ever say will make any difference in my mind. I won’t sit through any interviews or podcasts or whatever youtube things come up. SkinnyJeans was on SkyTVisf**kings**t the other day. Purporting / pretending to be doing a bit of punditry apparently. Not bothered.

If they ever want to piss Leeds fans off even more, they WILL resort to sticking him into the hasbeen pundit line up that does the commentary. Although which one of the acceptable categories of punditry personnel classification he will fit into is anyone’s guess. He’s never played football in the English leagues. I wouldn’t call his Leeds United tenure as a situation where he acquired any knowledge of the English leagues. On account of the fact I don’t think he knew what he was doing through any of it. He certainly isn’t female or non white. I suppose the only criteria he fulfils is that his is middle aged and wears ill fitting trousers?

However, back to Karma Chameleon.

Many moons ago, I wrote in the blog about how much the World in general, not just Leeds United, likes to put us into little boxes. To Leeds United, we are customers or rather “consumers”. They like to know what we consume. So luckily, AI and the Gen Z / 21st Century propensity for “wanting to do everything on your phone” means that tracking cookies and buying history gives them all that info. Armed with that info, they aim to give us our “best experience” in order for us to consume more product. Their own product and the products of their associated partners.

The more info they have, the more of a little box they can steer us to. Eventually they want all Leeds fans to fit into one box. One box which will subject us to everything they want us to see, hear, read about and ultimately, copy and buy. If we all think the same because we are Leeds fans, we will all behave the same, and more importantly buy the same. Consumerism – what’s wrong with that?

What is wrong, is that humans are all individuals and all think differently. Leeds United fans are NOT all the same. We aren’t all lucky enough to be born in Leeds. We don’t all live in Leeds, and we are not all from Yorkshire. This has peeved a few people lately with the whole distance travelled to away games “facts”.

Some clever Richard has added up his little trip computer and put the results on social media to brag about what he has completed. Not realising that some people at Cardiff, Bristol, Plymouth x 2 and Swansea travelled from elsewhere. Some (like us) travelled further, some less. Lots of Leeds fans live elsewhere, that is what is so good about supporting Leeds. You don’t have to be from Leeds, to be Leeds. In fact, we pride ourselves that we can go almost anywhere in the world, and we can find a fellow Leeds fan.

Yes, many people on those long distance games travelled from Leeds, but not all. Leeds fans are NOT all the same. Looking at the photos of the crowds, one could think that we are all either 50+ something, follically challenged males or 20 something Stone Island wearing alcoholics. Luckily, we are not all like that. But sadly, pictures don’t lie. There weren’t many young ones at Plymouth on that rainy Tuesday night, I can tell you.

Leeds supporters are all Leeds. ALAW, or so the saying goes. But we all have different origins and addresses and different lives outside of football. So ultimately, we all see things differently and have different opinions. And, as I have said so many times before, each opinion is valid, and no one has a right to shout it down.

Karma Chameleon and Alienation

The clever skill of a chameleon is that it changes to fit in with its background. In the main, to hide from predators, but also to sneak up on prey before going in for the kill. So, not just one reason why it wants to fit in.

Leeds United want all fans to be the same. They want us all to fit it. Not just because of the reasons above, but also because it can give people with little direction in their lives, a purpose. Some good can come of being in a group of similar people. Friendship, company and all of that sort of stuff. Football gives us freedom from our normal lives, a bit of an escape if your job is particularly taxing or boring. Football is a chance to be with like minded people, enjoying the 90 minutes on the pitch and all the pre / post match stuff. But it can go the other way.

Like we saw with the removal of Bielsa, there was massive fan base polarisation. Similarly SkinnyJeans’s bizarre narrowness of play and (lack of ) tactics was steadfastly defended just because we stayed up that season. The season after, he still had his supporters clinging onto his ankles in an effort to keep him here. It took mass defections and departures on loan to acknowledge that Aaronson, Adams, Roca and Kristensen probably weren’t that good. Some still think that SkinnyJeans did a good job. Oh dear. Oh well. How sad. Never mind.

Much of this though, I’m afraid, was down to social media and shouting down from the shouty people.

Leeds fans have been known to be fickle. Fickle, fickle, fickle. For decades. I remember Paul Hart saying that even Billy was scared to come out at ER some times because he was worried about fans turning on him.

Forums, podcasts, whatever people use nowadays to influence opinions have taken centre stage these last two years. The indecisive have been flip flopping like a fish on the deck, not able to make their own minds up. Some have been going from one extreme to another within the space of weeks. Some because they can’t make their minds up, but some out of fear for being alienated. Those just go along with the shouty vox populi, like a chameleon, so they fit in.

For example, take that barren spell we had Christmas / New Year. There were people calling for Farke’s head and already putting polls up on who our next manager would be. A loss at Preston away, which should have been an easy win, sparked off massive debate. Losing to West Brom saw every jobless manager was seemingly touted as a replacement. Even Warnock was mentioned at one point, God help us.

Good job we didn’t sack him eh? Or we wouldn’t be 2nd in the league right now.

From feast to famine. The inconsistencies of opinion have now reached the dizzy heights of drawing a comparison to Don Revie. Seriously you say? Nope. Truth. He’s barely done a full season and already he’s being compared to The Don. People need to put some perspectables on. As sure as eggs are eggs, this is down to Karma Chameleon. Because the loudest people are saying it, the indecisive feel the need to fit in.

Honestly, the fickleness of fans is impulsively temperamental at times. Mercurial and Quixotic fantastical at others. Don Quixote thinks the windmills are dragons, Leeds fans think the guy who made us have a cup replay at Plymouth because he didn’t sub quicker is the New Messiah.

The team is playing brilliantly, don’t get me wrong. But I think it is due to Georgi’s childish exuberance and infectious confident camaraderie to his fellow youngsters that is making the difference. Especially when we are winning. I think Rodon has been exceptional of late, and the move to a defensive back four to secure the points late in the game helps Meslier hold his nerve. Bamford intermittently coming back from injury helps because there is now a fight for the number 9 and 10 positions up front.  Four at the back and two up front. Fancy that in the modern game?

The healthy competition for places in the starting line up is something we haven’t seen for a while. We have been lucky with injuries and this season other teams haven’t kicked us to death as much at all. Things are going our way up to press.

Because we are doing well, there aren’t as many shouty people telling us how to think. Most are happy clapping along with everyone else and it is all good. So good that when the White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army came blasting out at pre match at Plymouth on that rainy Tuesday night, guess what we all sang?

I am not saying it is right or wrong to sing Bielsa’s name. He was Farke’s adversary not long since. What I’m saying is, there wasn’t the usual shouty people whingeing that we were singing it. Refreshing to say the least, considering how much bickering consternation there was last time.

Karma Karma Karma Karma Karma Chameleon. You come and go, you come and go.

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Fools Rush In

Posted by on Jul 17, 2023 in Blog | 0 comments

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

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No Quarter

Posted by on May 6, 2023 in Blog | 0 comments

Yep, this blog will give no quarter to those who have inflicted the same to my beloved club.

No quarter.

This term was derived I think from military combat, where enemies of war would be treated harshly, with no mercy, no pity, no clemency. Killed rather than being taken prisoner.

Coincidentally, it was two of the 380 words spoken by Keanu Reeves in the latest John Wick film, John Wick Chapter 4. 2 hours 49 minutes of classic  John Wick – go and see it if you haven’t already!

https://www.insider.com/keanu-reeves-john-wick-chapter-4-dialogue-380-words-2023-3

No quarter.

Part of the appeal of the John Wick films is that there is so little dialogue. The mainstay of the John Wick films, is that actions speak louder than words and all actions have consequences. Keanu Reeves’ character is strongly resolute. He is accountable for all his actions. Whether purposeful, misguided or unintentional, he takes full responsibility for what he has done. In the context of John Wick 4, the scene is where they select the way that they choose to fight the final duel. Pistols – no quarter. 

This weekend was, unfortunately, one of no quarter.

Bournemouth

Once upon a time, a long long time ago – ok – 33 years ago, Leeds went to Bournemouth, and  our fans showed them no quarter.

This weekend, we went to Bournemouth and Bournemouth showed Leeds United no quarter. With two right backs, no left back and Lord Bamford on his own up front, it looked like we were just hoping for a lucky draw. As in the home tie, our team of lightweight midgets (McKennie not included) just could not compete with the giants in the Bournemouth team. Out jumped, out tackled, out challenged and out cheated by the ridiculous diving and biased refereeing. We didn’t stick a chance. Even with Gnonto starting, our back 7 just could not cope with a Bournemouth team playing for the 3 points which would basically guarantee them PL survival.  Ultimately, Bournemouth, players and fans, wanted it more.

After the game, some of our fans showed no mercy. Booing and hurling insults at our players who hesitantly came towards us in the corner. Those of us who were still there, that is. The ones who hadn’t stormed off in disgust, not willing to stay for the full 90. Some of the players were wishing that they hadn’t stayed for the full 90 either.

Some of our fans were livid. Quite rightly so. The display was shocking. No fight, no passion, no commitment. Some of them just gave up. They didn’t chase the ball down, they didn’t challenge for the headers, some didn’t even look that interested in passing to each other. At times, the ball was in the air so much, you could have mistaken it for Sunday morning five a side.

As you would expect there was lots of booing. Lots of shouts of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” and “sack the board” , “Orta out”. The usual then. Granted, it was a little more fervent, fuelled by a Bank Holiday weekend of drinking , no doubt. No one can blame the fans for shouting and screaming. We have paid our money for the ticket and travel, we deserved to see a bit better than what we did.

I was just despondent. It looked like we had surrendered. Surrendered without a fight. Not like the Leeds of old. No surrender, remember?

Whereas I wouldn’t boo the team, I wouldn’t tell them they weren’t fit to wear the shirt, and I certainly wouldn’t sing “sack the board”, I wouldn’t begrudge anyone else. I did get very near to it once though, at Rochdale away in the Cup in 2014. The only time I can remember really going against my Club was when it was at the mercy of Bates. Get out of our Club, get out of our Club. You Chelsea Bast**d, get out of our Club. Bates Out! I think it went.

Oh don’t worry, at the time, I certainly complained about the pitiful passing and failure to hold the ball up. Sh*t corners and wasted free kicks. At the time, I was unremitting in the “f**king useless” , “what the hell was that?” , “who the f*ck was that to?”, “f**cks sake”, as I always am. But that is pure emotion and passion. It passes and We All Love Leeds again. Never have I been moved to run down to the hoardings and hurl abuse at the players at the end of the game. Never. 

When they sacked Bielsa, I was fuming, but even then I still never sang “sack the board”. I said the Board were clueless and they’d regret it (and they were and they have), but at the end of the day, this is MY club, not theirs. They are temporary custodians, I am Leeds for life. Luckily, we live in a country where we are allowed to express our views still, and luckily Leeds United haven’t seen it fit yet to punish me for mine! Woo hoo!

Every game a Leeds fan travels to, is a game where we are the ambassadors of the club. The fans represent what it is to be Leeds. Granted in the 80s and 90s, we weren’t the best ambassadors, but that was then, this is now. Some of our fans are less than models of perfect football etiquette, but that is just how it is. As much as Leeds United has put me through some of the worse times in my life, ultimately, I will never give up on it and I certainly wouldn’t deliberately besmirch it.

To find out on the way back home from Bournemouth that a group “representing” Leeds supporters had written a letter to the Club telling them the fans wanted the whole lot of them out was pretty unbelievable. Who they hell are these people? They aren’t representing me. They might be representing someone, but unless they have had a season ticket for 30+ years, watched Leeds home and away for decades, watched the total dross that was division 3 football (and the rest), they don’t represent me. If they turned up at Cardiff away that freezing cold night in 2018, or that night game at Villa 17/18 where you couldn’t give a ticket away, I would grant them some concession, but otherwise  – no.

No one has the right to tell the Chairman / the owners what to do with their money. Apart from the B*tes era of course, but that was a long time ago, football was different then and B*tes screwed the fans over. Radrizzani however, has pumped so much money into this Club, frankly he can do what he wants. He can sack who he wants and hire who he wants. It is his money. As it was with Cellino, he who stumps up the money, does what he pleases. It doesn’t mean we can’t criticise him, but there’s criticism and then there is conceited, egotistical, self serving, narcissistic petulance.

“Orta Out”.

A far cry from when Victor was the fans best mate after the whole Derby debacle and Fat Frank. The picture of Orta doing the spying thing was made into T shirts, everyone shared it on social media. People had that as their profile picture. Everyone loved him. Without Orta there would have been no Bielsa. No Bielsa – no return to the PL after 16 years in the wilderness. Some folk have very very short memories. I’m not saying Orta has never done anything wrong, but he has done quite a bit right. 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9083384/leeds-victor-orta-scarves-elland-road-derby/

Remember that Jack Priestley4?

How about this one after the Spygate scandal and those infamous binoculars?

https://twitter.com/SkyFootball/status/1284891571104735232

Orta was everyone’s favourite mad uncle not so long since, wasn’t he?

Stop crying Frank Lampard.

Orta – once with the highest accolade of the master of sh*thousery (this is some millenial thing – yes?) has fallen in the graces of the social media class of Leeds fans.

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/6-times-leeds-united-director-victor-orta-has-been-a-superb-shthouse/

How quick we are to forget. For Victor has gone. No quarter.

This falling from grace thing isn’t a new thing. Older fans will remember when Wilko went bonkers and bought Thomas Brolin. Sgt Wilko, won us promotion and then we won the league and then he just lost it.

The trouble with 21st century football is that it is played out on social media as well as on the pitch. Social media has the ability to blow everything out of proportion, and the discussions that 30 years ago were had in the relatively private confines of the pub, now go global. In my opinion for the worse. 

Exaggeration and character assassination.

You know what I am going on about. I’m not going to put that little boy and his family through any more shenanigans. It must have been bad enough being forced onto ITV to tell the truth regarding those Tw*tter posts from Piers Morgan and Jeff Stelling. The initial accusers were quick to condemn a video without the customary 21st Century “fact check”. Then, social media took over and the usual suspects who take offence on behalf of someone else blew everything out of proportion. Quick to slam the team and pile more manure on the sh*t pile. No quarter.

Back to John Wick. Every action has it’s consequences. The consequences of this viral video were that some of our players were subject to abuse and Leeds United were slated on social media and mainstream media. In the end, it was a load of bollocks. Yes some of the younger players did walk past, but realistically this is what the younger generation do anyway. Swagger past, headphones on, ignoring everyone. Grunting replies and casting disdain on anyone older than 25 because they are irrelevant. Gen Z. The most self important generation ever. I’m not defending their behaviour, but ALL footballers do this, not just Leeds.

Realistically, these players are just young adults with massive wages. Some with so much money, they don’t know what to do with it. Bear in mind, they probably haven’t actually paid for these headphones. Their agents have probably been given them as a freebie in order to promote the brand. What better than a walking talking advert for your products? Look what those quaver shoes did for Kalv. Agents are not stupid people, where they can see a way of making more money, they will do. Brand ambassadors. That’s what these influencers do on social media isn’t it? They don’t have proper jobs. They just make money by going on social media and using products that companies send them. And they do make money.

What the accusers didn’t know was what happened before the video was taken. But once they found out, where was the apology? I hope there were immediate retractions and cringing, embarrassing hand wringing apologies all round? I’m not sure there were though. Where is the responsibility and accountability?

What happened to all that hashtag bekind stuff? How do they know if the players had just received a bollocking of the manager? Maybe they’d just had some bad news. Maybe they were listening to a self confidence tape. Who knows? Whatever it was, the footage should never have been used by Leeds fans to damage the Club. What sort of supporters would deliberately do something to harm the Club? Not people who represent me.

I’ve said in an earlier blog, the fan base has been polarized. Some of it is quite, quite poisonous at times. Thank God we don’t have fans on the board. Can you imagine if one of them has a hissy fit? Fan representation on the board isn’t good, unless that fan has injected 100s of millions of pounds into the club of course. He can have as many hissy fits as he wants then.

I think the owners should engage with the fans, don’t get me wrong. On certain things and not others. As a matchgoing fan, I’d like better, cleaner facilities, maybe the Pavilion back? I’d like reasonably priced refreshments and more than one cash till at the bar. I’d like my season ticket card back please, and the YELLOW away strip, with a blue / white / yellow combo for the third strip please. Oh and the massive puddle at the NE corner to get another layer of tarmac on it. I’d like fan input into the development of ER, seeing as I will hopefully be going when it gets done. I’d like considered investment in the team not knee jerk panic buying.

I don’t want another 10% hike in my season ticket again. I don’t want the Club to waste money at the expense of lack of player investment. I don’t want any say into how the owner chooses who buy in the transfer market. It is their money, not mine. As a matchgoing fan, I will stick to what I know, and leave the rest up to them.

Whoever the Club chooses to engage with next, let’s hope they make a better choice than the Entitled lot who wanted everyone sacked and publicly slagged our own players off for something that never happened. We’ve four games to go, the last thing we want is so much unwarranted negativity.

Leeds and proud of it

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Harsh Words Have Been Spoken

Posted by on Apr 27, 2023 in Blog | 0 comments

It’s been over a year since Bielsa was “discharged of his duties” and more than enough harsh words have been spoken in the last 12 months.  In fact, many harsh words have been spoken in the last few years, too many for my liking.

Someone told me that since the pandemic, people seemed to have got a lot more selfish and less tolerant. Another unseen consequence of lockdown? Perhaps.

Too much time spent locked away from friends and family, and other people full stop. We humans are social creatures. Hence the creation of  “social” media. The trouble is, “social” media is actually far from it. Especially if you subscribe to and read noseybook / tw*tter / CCP run T*kt*k etc.

If you have been unfortunate to have been engaged in posts with other Leeds fans, particularly those who have a different opinion to yourself, it wouldn’t be too harsh to believe the term should be reclassified as “unsocial” media.

Shakespeare said “many a true word hath been spoken in jest” (King Lear), so does that mean many a harsh word has been spoken in derision? Perhaps.

I think I can safely say that many Leeds fans have been unhappy with the way that the Club has been run lately. It hasn’t helped that we are languishing at the bottom of the table at present. But, from the second 10% hike to season ticket prices in the last two seasons, continued long queues at the turnstiles, problems with the digital tickets not working, high prices for refreshments, lack of stadium cleanliness, difficulty with buying tickets, high prices of the corporate packages in order to get a guaranteed seat etc. etc things aren’t so good for Leeds fans at present. It is clear by the social media posts that fans have not been happy.

It was clear by the “sack the board” / “what the f**k is going on” chants of late, that the match going fan base was not happy. 

Admittedly, we hadn’t been doing so bad. Things have perked up somewhat, but now after seven or so leaked goals, it’s taken a downward turn again. When there was a reported bomb scare at ER a few weeks back, some of the comments on facebook were unnecessarily  atrocious. Comments saying that the staff at ER deserved something bad to happen to them were completely out of order. Some comments about Orta and the board were quite uncalled for, quite a damning testament for the state of club and fan relations at the moment.

It probably didn’t help that the person responsible for the wording regarding the season ticket renewals, was less than sympathetic towards renewing fans who might be struggling in this current cost of living crisis, to renew on time. 

Effectively saying that if you don’t get your renewal in, tough s**t, there’s 21,000 people after your seat, is poor form. There used to be a day when loyal fans were lauded for their staying power. Not now though. Loyalty is a dirty word when your are sitting safe in the Premier League. Not so when you are staring at Championship football on an annual basis.

A far cry from this in April 2021.

This is the link, in case you think this was fake news. https://www.leedsunited.com/news/club/27928/leeds-united-receive-positive-feedback-from-fan-survey

Oh the days!

And this is where we are now.

https://www.leedsunited.com/news/club/31090/supporters-advisory-board-february-meeting

Try to read the pdf, but if you can’t , just look carefully at this bit sitting front and centre. It says it all when the phrase used is, “a voting mechanism will be used to push through decisions”. Does this suggest that not all decisions made in this “group” are actually agreed by everyone in the group? Surely not?

11 “representatives” of our fan base have been meeting the Club for the last year in an “advisory” role to help the Club communicate the fans. Do Leeds fans feel as positive are they felt in April 2021 (position in the table notwithstanding of course)?

Yes, we are in the relegation zone, but as fans, do we feel that the Club are listening to us? After all, as in 2021, the Club have spent big money on players. It doesn’t matter where we are in the table though, does it? After all, the song goes “stay with you forever, at least until the world stops going round”. We are Leeds and proud of it, win, lose or draw.

I’m being silly of course, you know the answer as well as I do. I don’t think we are being listened to. At least, as a matchgoing fan, I don’t believe that I am being listened to. The Club are obviously listening to someone though.

But, Leeds fans are fickle, fickle creatures. Am I surprised that the Club aren’t listening to us? Fans moan that we don’t spend enough on players, then moan that the players (including a £35 million forward) aren’t good enough. They moan that they can never get an away ticket, then embarrassingly don’t sell out the Fulham allocation. They moan that they can never get a home ticket, but then don’t snap up the ones that people sent back for the Brighton game.

It’s not just this season. Remember the other season when people thought we were going to get promoted at Ipswich, so booked hotels etc for the last game? Then when we lost the last two penultimate games, they all sent their tickets back. Lucky for some, cos those ones were snapped up by people who did actually want to watch us then. Win, lose or draw.

I, along with many others, have been scathing to the Ipswich returnees and their like. Either you want to go to all the games, prioritise Leeds United and sacrifice everything to make sure you go. Or you admit you only want to go to selected games, can’t be arsed to go to the less glamorous ones, and accept that this is where you are.

Should the ones who bicker on social media, with no justifiable clarification for their comments, just accept that some people know a bit more about football than others? Can we just accept that some have watched them in the flesh for 40 years and have seen it, and got the T shirt and probably a bit wiser than most?

Some have only ever watched on the telly, but still have opinions as equal as those who are lucky enough to go to games. There’s some people who just study the form books, watch every interview and analyse everything the manager says and watch all the highlights. Some folk have no interest in anything but the 90 minutes on the pitch. We are all different. But we are all entitled to our opinion. Until the name calling starts of course, escalating to something uncalled for when the bickering gets nasty.

My feeling is that, we just need to draw the line under this.

We, as fans, just need to accept that not all Leeds fans are going to agree with each other. Fact. Accept it and move on.

When the words change from disagreement to harsh words to swearing and name calling, the argument is lost. It is awful to read some of the vitriol, so much so that I don’t bother much. I don’t bother with Tw*tter at all, as I have heard that this is worse than noseybook. It’s fine to have a vent every now and again. We all condemn players, managers etc. when something goes wrong. But when people start wishing eternal damnation, brimstone and fire, death, destruction and total annihilation, it has to stop there.  

I am guessing that the more inflammatory the comments, the more likes/dislikes/retw**ts happen and then the higher the “global presence” and subsequently the more publicity for the  global brand. So, is the division and polarisation actually a good marketing technique? Maybe someone should ask the PR department at Leeds. Is there any such thing as bad publicity?

Certainly the polarisation of the Marsh in / Marsh out was most prominent before (and even after) SkinnyJ got the boot. It didn’t help that after SkinnyJ got his harsh words, no one wanted to come to fill his shoes. Poor planning or just simply misjudging the managerial  marketplace?

The conversation eventually descended into a mini culture war of Pro and Anti US sentiments. NOTHING to do with football. NOTHING to do with the tactics, team shape / formation (or lack of it). NOTHING to do with individuals contributions and constantly playing players out of position. NOTHING to do with bizarre press conferences, pre and post match interviews and motivational speaking. NOTHING to do with our position in the league.

The blame for SkinnyJ’s demise was laid at the feet of the xenophobic Leeds fans. At least, that was what social media wanted us to believe. It was us versus the US. Recent results have said otherwise since the arrival of Gracia.

Gracia had a few good games (or at least a couple of good 1st 45 minutes) but again, it has all turned sour. I have to say though, it isn’t over til the fat lady sings though. For however long our place in the PL is still in our hands, we still have a chance. Once it is out of our hands, and dependent on others, that my friends is when we need to panic!

Last night’s game against Leicester at first seemed like a turning point. There was the acknowledgement that we probably should play with two up front. FINALLY. When Patrick and Rodrigo rocked up, looming large and menacing, we looked ok. Both chasing down the ball and both pressuring the Leicester defence. It looked like he was going for a flat back four, and at times, it did look as if we had four across midfield too. I have never been a fan of new fashion of two midfielders playing just in front of defence. Under Bielsa, Kalvin was THAT midfielder just in front of the back four. No one else can, or even should do that that.

So for 60 odd minutes, we looked ok.  A goal up and looking like a clean sheet for Meslier. Despite one of the worse refereeing displays, lots of cheating from Maddison and others, and 3 yellow cards, we were holding on. Sini had been taken off with an injury already, but all that was needed was the right substitutions. Several of our lot were already on a yellow, and Rodrigo had run his socks off.

The right substitutions would have saved us. Forshaw and Gnonto were chomping at the bit to come on. But we needed to shore up and keep that clean sheet. As much as I wanted Gnonto to come on, slot another goal in to put the game to bed, I was ready for Forshaw to come on before Rodders got sent off for a second yellow.

What did he do? Neither of the above.

Despite harsh words from the crowd, certainly the Kop end at least, no aggressive attacking  Gnonto. But no consolidation in midfield either. He put on Aaronson. 

As I said earlier, I don’t do Tw*tter. The idle gossip about fighting at half time against Palace, and this latest spat about McKennie is – just idle gossip on unsocial media. But it looked like McKennie and Roca were being professional for 65 minutes on Tuesday night. You don’t have to like each other on the pitch, as long as you are professional for 90 minutes. McKennie and Roca were doing ok. Then Aaronson came on, and it just went all wrong. Then it descended into us V the USA again. Right into the hands of the “us v them” brigade.

The question should have been why didn’t he put young Gnonto on though. Young Willy was seemingly desperate to come on. What was going on? I can only conclude that Aaronson is in Gracia’s fantasy league team and he needed the points? But coming on at 70 minutes wouldn’t even have got two points, unless he was going to stick 3 goals in the back of the net. Which he is never going to do. The only other option is that whoever has bought Gnonto doesn’t want him injured? Woo…. speculation.

Instead of consolidating our victory, the effect of Aaronson, whether intended or not, was just to upset the applecart.

Unfortunately what is lacking from our team is concentration on the task at hand. We need to be focused, diligent and 100% committed to a result. Like the Palace game, we were the better team for 45 minutes. Same with Bournemouth and to some extent Spurs. But the last 45 minutes, 20 minutes against Leicester, we’ve just bottled it.

Where the defence was holding the line for the offside trap reasonably well in the first half, it just fell apart. Whilst Lord Bamford and Rodrigo were chasing down the ball and putting the pressure on the keeper, they couldn’t maintain the pace for the last 25 minutes. The ref had brandished cards to most of our players. Thanks to the cheating and diving, we were at risk of going a player down just about every other challenge. We had started to play narrow again, players tripping over each other and getting in each others way. 

Our team lack the discipline, the concentration, the stamina and fitness in general to play for the full 90 minutes. The determination to win every tackle, close down every player and win every ball, just isn’t there anymore. Harsh words, but true nonetheless. We have potential, you can see glimpses of it, like the first half against Palace. But the team either can’t, or won’t maximise on it. The manager needs to harness it, the way Bielsa did.

The Bielsa way was hard work, there is no denying it. But it got us promoted and 9th in the league that first season. There is no denying it. He took a bunch of ordinary Championship players and basically made them do their job. And they did it, because he gave them belief.

Whilst people go on about footballers being role models, and being voices / representatives for good causes etc. that’s all well and good when you are top of the league and guaranteed PL football year on year. Rashford can do what he wants to help school dinners. The likes of Milner and Sterling can be Nivea and shaving product mannekins, that is fine. But we don’t have that luxury. Kalv can be the face of JD sports from his cosy spot on the bench, but our team and squad need to concentrate on football, and football alone.

Gnonto will undoubtedly shine at Arsenal with the likes of Odegaard distributing the ball where he wants it. If he passes his driving test, he could be the face of Bill Plant in the latest shiny green stickered 2 tonne EV, tearing up the streets around the Emirates. Eats spaghetti, drinks moretti, drives 4 Pirellis, one two three four.  

The thing that has scuppered us, and by us, I mean the Board, the manager (ALL of them temporary included – 3 amigos!) , the team and the fans is our arrogance.

Arrogance.

The arrogance of the Board who felt once we got promoted, we deserved to stay in the PL. The arrogance that saw them happy to sack Bielsa and install an Unknown to English football, and allow him to bring in players, also unknown to English football.

The arrogance of that manager who thought he could just play anyone anywhere, regardless of them being out of position or not. His arrogance in ruthlessly culling the old Bielsa players to install his own unproven (in this league) old boys. Without Harrison, we’d be with Southampton at the bottom of the league right now. If we’d have kept Klichy, Cresswell, James, Drameh and maybe even Joffy, who knows where we would be. 

The arrogance of our players who thought they didn’t need to train as hard as they did under Bielsa. The ones who thought all they needed to do was turn up. The ones who just assumed that they were good enough to be in the PL. No one should be taking their place in the PL for granted. Ok, apart from Haaland, he can do what he wants.

The arrogance of our fans who STILL think we are a massive club and deserve to be in the PL without fighting for the full 90 minutes. The arrogance which sees every fault laid firmly at the feet of Orta, Meslier or whoever, rather than accepting that we have been punching above our weight for the last 18 months.

The arrogance that still sees some thinking that it was SkinnyJ who kept us up, rather than Wolves going down to 10 men, Brentford going down to 9 and Newcastle having the decency to field a proper side in that final game against Burnley. The same arrogance that gave SkinnyJ a stay of execution at Anfield when he should have been turfed out. Ultimately, the delay in sacking SkinnyJ cost us a decent manager. Who would want to be a manager at Leeds with such an indecisive board? 

Harsh words?

Yep, but it needs saying. 

Sometimes harsh words need to be said out loud. Whether or not it makes any difference in the long run depends on the listener. You can listen and learn or just refuse, get angry like the little red creature from Inside Out, and go ahead and push the red button. Up to you.

Me? It makes no difference to me what you think. Unless you get so worked up that you send someone round to try beat me into submission and get me to think your way. 

It’ll never happen though. But at least I will never try force you into thinking the same way as me. Each to their own. 

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From Holy Grail to Poisoned Chalice

Posted by on Feb 14, 2023 in Blog | 0 comments

As embarrassing as our embattled search for a new manager is, it gives me a great opportunity to quote yet more Shakespeare, and draw a parody / parallel from one of my favourite film franchises, Indiana Jones. This time, the film is Indiana Jones – The Last Crusade – i.e. the search for the Holy Grail and the scene where he drinks from what turns out to be, the Poisoned Chalice. His poor choice as the ancient Crusader says. Two of my favourite actors Harrison Ford and Sean Connery

Or if you prefer the full clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVGGo7T5oFo

Cinema magic. I seriously want to put something in from Monty Python and The Holy Grail, but it is completely irrelevant to my piece today. I’m doing it anyway, because am so obsessed with this part in Life Of Brian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lc86JUAwwg

It’s the first thing I think of when our number 39 runs on the pitch. How very childish, I know.

Back to it now. How did we ever get from Holy Grail to Poisoned Chalice? This is the quote from The Great Bard

https://www.enotes.com/topics/macbeth/questions/this-even-handed-justice-commends-the-ingredients-2432902

We got to the Promised Land and The Holy Grail of the PL under Bielsa. The rest is history. Once again, we find ourselves just above the relegation zone and managerless. Or Head Coach-less as they say nowadays. This time, there is no one waiting in the wings. There was no pre-planned head honcho to come and take the hot seat this time. Worse still, it appears that no one actually wants the job. The role that was so vaunted, is now just a poisoned chalice, it seems. I don’t think the Board expected this, did they?

How has this happened?

Why is this the Poisoned Chalice? I bet The Club are asking the same question.

To me, the answer is simple. There is an obvious internal struggle at our Club. An infernal, internal struggle over who is actually in control. It seems it is a fight to the death between Radrizzani v Orta v The 49ers v The Fans who the Club listen to. I added the last one for fun, they just want the bragging rights…

To me, there are a few reasons to why no one wants to come and manager the Club.

1) Why would anyone want to come to a Club that treated Bielsa with so little respect? I am biased, obviously, but given the way that Bielsa was dismissed, is there any self respecting manager who would be willing to take the risk of being sacked which such disregard? There were probably managers who would have taken this job, maybe because they didn’t like Bielsa. Dyche probably would have come, but that horse has bolted. The chance of Pochettino coming here is about as likely as me winning the Eurosquillions. But there’s always hope!

2) The noises from the Club were that they were fully behind SkinnyJ and he was never going to move on. Whether intentional or not, it looked like the investment into his style of play, his former RB players and his USA connections were going to keep him here and keep him safe. The massive investment into this squad showed a statement of intent. The songs for the players even though they hadn’t necessarily demonstrated their worth, the PR stuff, the planned pre season tours etc. All of this a show of common purpose, a full on commitment. So something pretty serious must have happened to turn the tide.

What message does that send to any prospective manager? It says that despite the millions of investment and vocal support, we will drop you like a stone if it comes to it.

3) Our fickle, fickle fans and the toxicity that is on social media. Some of the stuff I have seen is palpably poisonous. The most bizarre thing about it is that, as I was reminded early this week, we have always had fickle fans. Even back in the 70s and 80s. However, (un) social media has got a lot to answer for. As someone said a few days ago, there is no healthy debate anymore, just lots and lots of endless abuse dealt out to people who disagree. Much of this is down to managing expectations. Many many people were caught in the euphoria of getting promoted and then that fine 1st season up. The trouble was, once it looked like we were going to struggle, the exhilarating exuberance turned to melancholic misery. Those who were faint of heart and not necessarily used to the obligatory ups and downs of being a Leeds fan have struggled. In their struggle, harsh words have been spoken. Every day almost. Plus, it’s not even the newer Global audience fans who have been so outspoken, some have been longstanding fans who have just exhausted their tolerance. Who would want to be the manager of a Club with fans with such bitterness towards each other?

Me, if I was asked, I would baulk at it. 

The Answer

My choice would be someone with PL experience, either playing or coaching. Given serious lack of investment by the PL / FA over the last 30 years into getting ex PL players involved into the coaching side, there is little chance of that.

This week the FA / EPL have done a massive press release promoting inclusivity and diversity. Which is great, but what has been going on for the last 20 years? Given the breadth of talent in the last 30 years, why haven’t masses of the old PL players made it into coaching full stop, let alone any of an ethnic minority? If you think about how many of the formers stars (of colour or not) have made their money in the punditry business, why hasn’t anyone really  succeeded as a manager? If they have so much technical nous, why are they just sat spouting drivel on the box?

Is it money? Probably. The True Gods of Football at SkyTVisf**kings**t and BT are loaded. Most of the time the pundits are sat indoors, warm in the cold weather and airconned in the summer. They are shielded from the verbals unless they dare go pitchside. Travel and expenses paid for by the puppet masters.

Is it that the richest, most exciting league in the world isn’t really bothered about future  development in coaching skills? Are any players encouraged to go down the coaching route at all towards the latter stages of their careers?

I think it is all about money. The FA and the PL earn it. Players earn it. Greedy agents earn it. The Clubs earn it, but then end up splashing it all on players wages and agents fees, and the massive transfer fees of course. How much of the money goes back into grass roots football and investment into the community?

Here is an example of a PL club investing in it’s money in it’s community

https://www.charitytoday.co.uk/how-manchester-city-supported-its-community-during-a-record-breaking-season/

Strange then that Citeh is being pilloried by PL and the FA. The facilities for match going fans at Citeh rank amongst the best in my experience (almost on a par with Accrington – they took cash!). If you think about New White Hart Lane and how unfriendly that ground is with regards to parking and facilities for less abled fans. There’s no need to comment on Chelski’s ground after last season. Old Trafford looks like a crumbling relic from the 70s (not as bad as our West stand though) and Livarpool probably spend a lot of their funds on VAR and referees / linesmen. As Pep said, it’s mostly because they are jealous. I hope Citeh’s lawyers take the PL to the cleaners.

Back to the Holy Grail and Poisoned Chalice. 

We are no longer a “big” club, despite what our PR says. We are relegation fodder. It’s my belief that this stems from the infernal internal disputes at our club. At least under Cellino we knew who was in charge. Who the Big Kahuna is now, is anybody’s guess. Until this gets sorted, who will come to Leeds?

The new manager, or any new manager worth his salt will want to be in charge of who he picks. Any new manager should be able to pick the best 11 men and subs for the game. This is essential. For however long he feels he is unable to do that because either the Board or the fans are whingeing, no one would want to come.

No players should automatically assume they will be picked. Regardless of how much they cost the Club, which country or previous club they played for, or if they have a good song or not. There is not one player who deserves to be played because it’s good for the Global brand. If a player isn’t fit, he shouldn’t even be in the dugout. If he can’t last 90 minutes, unless he is the next Solskjaer or Tore Andre Flo, no player should be on the teamsheet.

The facts

We have 16 games left. Our team need to be fit to last 90 minutes, or at least know that they need to be attacking and winning every ball if they get on for the last 20 minutes. Our new manager needs to be scrutinising every opponent so we can exploit their weaknesses and capitalise on our strengths. There does need to be a Plan A, B, C, D and E – whatever it takes. Social media critique needs to pipe down. Just say your piece and be done with it. When people start swearing and abusing each other, the argument is lost. Each to their own opinion, it is all valid. We are all individuals not sheep. No one needs to be told what to think. It is not 1984.  

The facts are:

1) We give the ball away far too much.

2) We cannot hold the ball up, especially under pressure

3) We pass sideways and backwards too much, especially in the 2nd half when we are losing.

Fans whinge that the defence is the problem. If we only ever conceded goals from corners or set pieces, I would accept that. But how many goals have been handed to our opponents, on a plate, in the middle of the pitch from a lazy casual flick or a panic pass? Too many. It is part of a bigger problem. We don’t play measured football anymore.

Under Bielsa we played a fast flowing, slick passing game when it worked. The last 12 months has seen what can only be described as panic passing. It’s fast, but it is uncontrolled, frantic and frenetic. Everyone clumps together like cold porridge. It’s like watching a pinball game with the ball pinging all over the place and everyone tripping over each other with their heads on fire.

Like all teams we have strengths, like Gnonto’s speed and drive and weaknesses. But with a resurgent Firpo and Wober looking better and better each game, our defence is starting to take shape. As seen in the last two games, Harrison and Bamford work hard and cause trouble, which aids the running of Willy and whoever else is out on the wing. Our central midfield needs work to link it all up.

For me Rodrigo’s absence is a key factor. If he had been there for Forest and the last two games against Sc*m, we would have won 2 and possibly just drawn the last one. He shouldn’t even have travelled given we had Rutter, Perkins and Greenwood available to support Patrick up front. Coming on at Accrington is the thing that has hurt us the most and possibly was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Ultimately, I think the ridiculous decision to bring him on at 3 -0 up cost SkinnyJ his job, let’s hope it doesn’t end up costing us a PL spot next season. 

Let’s hope we can find someone who will take on the poisoned chalice and turn the tables on it, and see us back to the Holy Grail. 

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Dogma

Posted by on Feb 8, 2023 in Blog | 0 comments

Dogma. If you have never seen this film from 1999, I suggest you get yourself to Blockbuster and rent it, or download / stream it. It is a highly entertaining film. One of it’s key messages from the great Alan Rickman himself,

And then this excerpt. If you have never seen Dogma, yes that is Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Matt is the fallen Angel of Death, Loki and Ben is his best mate Bartleby. Watch til the end. It makes sense and is may be what poor Jesse is thinking right now. The soccer reference not the genocide.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mass+genocide+is+the+most+exhausting&source=lmns&bih=757&biw=1600&hl=en-GB&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZpP-B-IP9AhV7hCcCHbnAAW8Q_AUoAHoECAEQAA#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:997367f1,vid:pIelWTguBzA

Dogma – a principle or set of principles, laid down by an authority, as incontrovertibly true. We will get back to this later.

The Blame Game.

Contrary to popular opinion, I do feel sorry for SkinnyJ. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t like him or his jeans, but he moved his family over here on some wild premise that he was the best man for the job. He is now out of a job, and I will not kick a man when he is down.

The person(s) to blame are the ones who convinced him that despite having had no previous experience of playing, let alone managing any English football team, he was the right man to take Leeds United to European Glory. The blame lies with the person(s) who told him that he could quickstep into the shoes of a man who brought Leeds United back to the Promised Land in 3 seasons. The person(s) who told him that Leeds fans would take to him without any dissent at all, regardless of what happened, is the one at fault.

The board had gambled with Bielsa. The gamble with the Maverick had paid off.  He got us promoted, and as a bonus propelled Leeds onto the Global stage with the “high press” and Bielsaball. Bielsa just got too big for the board in the end, and luckily for them, the results gave them the excuse to get rid of him.

The board gambled with SkinnyJ. We didn’t get relegated. But, that was mostly down to the fact that a) our opponents weren’t that good, b) teams thankfully went down to 10 men (Brentford down to 9) and c) Newcastle didn’t go on holiday early and they beat Burnley on the final day.

The PR staff did a brilliant job selling Bielsa down the river at the end. Leaks were rife about “over -training” and injuries caused by murderball. Players came out and said that they weren’t happy because of the intensiveness of the gruelling training schedule. Every other post from the influencers on social media said that Bielsa was going to take us down.

The fact that so many of our players were injured was dismissed as a lame excuse, and anyway, the injuries were blamed on Bielsa, and Bielsa alone. Nothing to do with teams hacking us down at every opportunity because they couldn’t deal with our skill on the pitch. Everyone forgets the horrible tackles inflicted on our players at the start of the 2nd season up. The phrase “Bielsa got found out” roughly translated into, the other teams couldn’t match us, so they man marked up and kicked us to death.

Everyone forgets that Phillips came back from the Euros injured, and basically never got back to fitness again. He went to Citeh ages ago and still hasn’t played a full 90 minutes yet (still Bielsa’s fault?) . Everyone forgets that Rodrigo got injured early doors and poor Dallas played in every game as Mr Utility because he had to fill in every gap.

The PR team and the influencers did a brilliant job in dismissing and shouting down the minor detail of our obscene injury list. This despite so many pundits bemoaning and PL managers maximising on the loss of the “Leeds United spine” of Cooper, Phillips and Bamford. Yes – that was a thing.

Dogma? Or just well orchestrated diversion?

In these last few weeks when it became clear that more people were pointing out we hadn’t won a game since November, and 2 wins out of 17 was relegation form, it was like deja vu.

This time however, rather than the anti Bielsa noise we had last year, this time it was “blame everyone but the manager”. Poor Pascal has been the main target for the last 6 weeks. It’s been a wonder he’s still got his head on straight. Even though Struijk is not a left back and has never said he is, he has been continually played out of position. Even when we signed Wober, who played on the left for Salzburg, Pascal still didn’t move back to his favoured central role.

Who knows what would have happened if Pascal had partnered Llorente in the middle? Llorente might have not been moved on (after signing a massive contract extension) if that partnership had been successful? Especially if a left footed player was on the left and a right footed player on the right on the wing? Similarly let Harrison play in his natural position on the wing? Give Klichy a start seeing as he made a difference when he came on as a sub? Or is that making too much sense?

But there’s no place for sensible thinking in football, is there? You get told what to believe. Dogma.

Keep the faith. That’s what we’ve been fed since Christmas. Keep the faith with 2 wins out of 17? No one wanted to keep the faith with Bielsa. Or at least no one was told to keep the faith with Bielsa, even with a massive injury list.

We’ve been subjected to “it’s not down to the manager that we can’t finish / defend from a corner” for the last month or so. Yet, it was all down to Bielsa last season that we were leaking goals and we couldn’t score.

At Accrington Stanley, we were 3-0 up. We’d won. It was cold. Accrington are in Division 3. We had the prospect of facing Sc*m twice in the space of a week and our next opponents were one of our relegation rivals. Why was Rodrigo risked? Who knows? He was risked though, and now he is out for 2 months.

Once again, we were fed that “all you Leeds fans moan if we don’t play a proper side and moan if we do” from the influencers. We were 3-0 up. There was no need to bring him on unless Accrington scored 3 goals in 10 minutes. Common sense at some point should have prevailed. Nope. Again, shouted down by ? Who? Who are these people? Are these the ones that the Club listen to?

Are these the ones who the Club rely on to communicate with as “the proper fans of Leeds United”? Are these the ones responsible for advising the board on their decision making process? Are these the people who, when asked if bringing in a manager who had no previous experience in English football was a good idea, said yes? Are these the ones who said that everyone wants their season ticket on their phone, and yes, that crest looks awesome? Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

So was it SkinnyJ’s decision to play so narrow? Was it his decision to play us so close together that players are effectively tripping up over themselves? Is it his decision to play a man in a guarding role around the centre circle? Was it his decision to play Rodrigo up front on his own most of the game and only let  Gelhardt on for the last 5 minutes? Was it his decision to make Struijk and Rasmus push so far forward and attack the goal, so as to leave Meslier unprotected on the counterattack?

Like the conundrum of whether Bielsa would have got us relegated or not, no one knows. And, the same will be for SkinnyJ. Would he have beaten Sc*m on Weds, seeing as most of them are injured? Would he have kept us up? No one knows.

What about the decision to sign up £150+ million of new players. More money has been spent in the last year than we have spent in decades. And not just because Ken was a tight ar*e either. Surely, the fact that most of them are either American and / or played for Red Bull teams cannot be a coincidence? Surely, the endless moaning on social media complaining we never sign BIG names affected that? As Sherlock Holmes said “when you have eliminated all the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth”.

Truth or Dogma?

Xenophobia

The latest crime Leeds fans are being accused of is xenophobia and anti-Americanism. Why? Is it just a cheap dig and an easy win? No one said that the anti Bielsa movement was anti Argentinian. Or the pro Bielsa mob were pro Argentinian. Why should it make a difference what nationality he is? I objected to his “Californian Upspeak”, but I object to anyone who finishes their sentences with an inflection when it is not necessary. Which is basically everyone under the age of 21. What is the need to make everything sound like a question, even when it isn’t? What is irrefutable is that 2 wins in 17 games is relegation form and we are in the bottom four of the table. Being American or not, cannot change this.

What do I want?

I would like players to play in their normal positions. Centre halfs, full backs, attacking midfielders, defensive midfielders, wingers and centre forwards. I would like us to practice set pieces until we get it right. If this means that we get in a load of 6 foot basketball players in and lined up in the box, to replicate most if not all PL teams at corners, then so be it. The thing we are lacking is height in the box. When defending corners and attacking corners. Short of some sort of medical intervention which allows players to grow another 6 inches, we need a tactic of defending from corners that actually works. I would stop all that whispering when we are taking corners too and that draught excluder business for free kicks.

I’d also like to see players last 90 full minutes of football without a load of huffing and puffing. The fitness that players had under Bielsa seems a million miles away. Our players need to be able to trap a ball and run into space with it. They need to be able to turn without losing the ball. If the baby giraffe that is Haaland, can bring a ball down and turn on a 20p piece without needing the turning circle of the Titanic to do it in, then surely at least half of our team can do it.

Maybe this is exacerbated by wearing the equivalent of a pair of those sock slippers. I remember my first pair of football boots. Sturdy and supportive. Able to protect from those horrible two footed lunges. These things that they wear nowadays are about as effective as a lettuce, or what Kalv was wearing in his fashion heyday, those quaver shoes.

I would go as far as to say that part of the coaching staff should be made up of ex players who know the English game. I know some players aren’t exactly the most eloquent, but Sammy Lee, Gary Mac are still on the coaching staff for a reason. Maybe Pablo and Beradi could have made a difference? At the very least someone who knows that Villa are a bunch of cheating, time wasting gits, as are Brentford, that Maguire can’t turn left and a Ward Prowse will always go over or around the wall, never under.

The fact is that football as I know it has changed massively. The commercialisation of the “Beautiful game” is driven by money. It’s come a long way from the lower class game it was and “jumpers for goalposts”. I still want it to be about the 90 minutes on the pitch, but it isn’t. it is about the sponsorship deals, the advertising opportunities, the stats that create the betting opportunities and the accas.

It’s not just football, it’s happened at cricket too. Progress, they call it. The County game is belittled and the creation of the Twenty20 and now the Live The Hundred, has opened the game up to a whole new audience, with limited staying power and attention span for the test game. The IPL is all about the flashy colours, big hitters, 4s and 6s and each shot is celebrated with loud music and fireworks. The English game, which was separated by counties is now being watered down and the county identity is waning.

The 90 minutes of football (and 20 overs of cricket) is punctuated with music and it’s basically theatre and spectacle. There are fewer and fewer of us that are just bothered about the game on the pitch. The wider global (TV) audience want more. Gone are the days of the commentators just talking about who has kicked or passed the ball and how far. Its ENTERTAINMENT.

The PL, FA, UEFA and FIFA are ultimately wanting to make money on the captive audience sat in front of their screens. There are two sorts of fans, the ones that just want to watch the game, and the ones who get bored quickly and want something else to do. They’re ones who start looking at their phone to see what the other scores are. The ones who start talking about what they did at the weekend.

These two groups have different needs but there’s no doubt which group will be the highest commercial revenue pot. Is it any wonder that matchgoing fans are increasingly marginalised? But even matchgoing fans will be subjected to “entertainment” in the future. If you look at the American sports, there are cheerleaders, half time music spectacles, camera close ups on the crowd, opportunistic “themes” to encourage spectators to be part of the crowd and things to do to make it an “immersive” experiences.

All this will be magnified 1,000 fold for the TV audience, but soon it won’t be enough. Soon, it will be “Here is The News” but only a snippet and then you have to pay extra for the rest. “Here is the game” but only some highlights, you have to pay for the rest. “Here is the whole game” but if you want the build up, you’ll have to pay extra… and so it will continue.

Guaranteed, there will be a PL dedicated channel soon. Then, even if you get SkyTVisf**kings**t or daft enough to pay for Ferdinand and BT, you probably won’t get to see any of the other games unless you pay extra. It is all about money and the cookies and the clickbait you get on the streaming channels.

Dogma

In the PL and even when it was the old first division really, the big clubs have always had everything their way. When the smaller clubs like Blackburn and Leicester won the League, it was a rarity and it didn’t last long. For the time they were at the top, or getting to the top, these smaller clubs and their players were ridiculed. Who can forget the running Shearer “beans” joke.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aunrSUTxTY

This is the trap. When Leicester won the league out of the blue, look what happened to Vardy when he was catapulted to fame. Or rather look what happened to Mrs Vardy, that hasn’t ended well has it? WAGS at war – or something like that.

The “Glamour” clubs have always been like this. The London clubs with all their “metropolitan” lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, have always had that Capitalism, glitzy down South-ness. Not just about the football, but the booze and the women and the gambling a la George Best.

But with the fame and fortune came the sleaze and back handers and dodgy dealings. ‘Arry Redknapp and brown envelopes etc. etc. And this is where (I am reliably informed) the whole “Chelsea R*nt Boy” thing started. The story was that the rozzers were doing dawn raids for money laundering scams / betting rings etc. and they busted in early doors on some high profile footballing scouts and money men. Only to find that it wasn’t money they were hiding, alledgedly, but rather some young impressionable players / potential players in rather compromising positions. There were murmurings that there were perhaps other ways of getting into teams that didn’t require the necessary football skills. All hearsay and gossip off course, but , as they say, there’s no smoke without fire.

This is what the lesser / Northern clubs are up against. BIG money, BIG signings. Fame and fortune favour the brave. So, to help out, the marketing and PR teams go all out to make up for this with campaigns to up the ante to bring the smaller clubs to the fore. Corporate packages are the must, just look at the huge corporate tiers at Arsenal, Chelski and Spurs but what about the terraces? That’s easy, just get people to manufacture songs for players, even though they haven’t been proven on the pitch. It’s better than letting the fans make up songs themselves, which may (or may not be) offensive and not in the spirit of the PL.

The difficulty with the PL is that it isn’t a “one size fits all”. Each club is different. The one size fits all thing works with the European Super League though. So it was no surprise when all that came out. It is still hiding in the shadows there though. Waiting…

In the meantime, who chooses the new manager? The fans? The money? The Board?

Who knows

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