David Coverdale never looks any older does he?Apologies for the deliberate typo, I know, Whitesnake did Here I Go Again – I’m just keeping you on your toes, dear Readers.
I’m just waiting for our 15 minute highlights on 403 SkyTVisf**kings**t Football HD against Reading yesterday. It’s not actually on until 9pm, so I’ve an hour and a half to get this blog done. I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t so tight and paid for the SkyQ upgrade with a proper box, I probably wouldn’t have to wait so long and could probably just record it, but I’m from Yorkshire… Plus, even if you have Sky Q and have one of these Ultra HD 4G LED tellys, when you watch the game on the Red Button, is it still the same crappy blurry picture that I get on my ancient Panasonic? How does that work then? The highlights are still in HD. It makes you think that SkyTVisf**kings**t are doing it deliberately just to piss people off as surely it doesn’t matter if they show it in HD or not? I bet if you are used to watching something in Ultra HD, watching the Red Button must be like watching it under water? Just asking for info. I don’t intend getting Sky Q until I have to.
Back to the blog. It’s the end of February. We are in that familiar territory of possible promotion – again. We had a fantastic start to the season – again. We had a blip after Christmas – again. We lost against Wigan – again. The pundits are saying the wheels have fallen off the bus – again. But unlike the last time, we are not plagued by a massive injury list, we have pulled points back against the form team Brentford at Griffin Park (where we have never won or haven’t for 50+ years at any rate) and we have had two consecutive clean sheets against two polar opposite opponents, in two completely different games in the last two weeks.
Bristol and Reading. I haven’t seen the highlights of Reading yet, but despite similar swirling weather conditions pitch level, these two games couldn’t have been any more different. Ok, maybe more missed chances against Bristol.
Last season by Christmas, the dreaded “teams have learnt how to play against Bielsa’s Leeds” phrase crept into the matchday commentary like the flesh eating zombie plagues in the 70s horror movies. About as welcome as a dose of the runs. The cliches about “falling apart again” , “not being able to keep the pace up” and “running out of ideas” became tiresome, especially from that curly haired Keith Andrews and Goodman.
This season however, (fingers crossed) we have had our blip and these two good results against Bristol and Reading have got our hopes up again. We are 5 points clear of 3rd and I don’t care about West Brom. Whether 1st or 2nd, it means promotion without the dreaded play offs. I am content with that. Automatic promotion means an enjoyable start to summer, a well deserved rest before Euro 2020 and looking forward to happy pre season. We have Boro on Weds night and then away to Hull at the weekend.
12 games to go and as Groupon Geoff cheerily said post match yesterday in the Golden Lion, if we win all our next 12 games, we’ll probably get promoted. He was quickly corrected, if we win all our next 12 games, we will get promoted.
In complete contrast to the game against Bristol, despite Bristol being a “better” side on paper, yesterday the air of nervousness was palpable. The first 15 minutes wasn’t so bad, but it did feel like panic was setting in. I don’t know which part of the ground it started, but by the time Kalvin limped off after that initial hefty challenge, it was like the scene from The Fog, where the mist rolled in and engulfed the 35k crowd at Elland Road. After Pablo’s second try from that rebound went in, the mist lifted briefly, but by the time 70 minutes came up, it was well and truly choking the life out of us. The last 10 minutes genuinely felt like an eternity, and I didn’t even have enough spare energy to have a pop at the ones that started leaving before the 85 minute mark came up. The game was on a knife edge, and you still want to leave before the final whistle?
The Bristol game was nail biting but exhilarating. This game was a nail biter, but not for the same reason. That save by Kiko was a defining moment. It showed that we could hold our concentration and nerve right to the end.
I’m really hoping that it is a sign of things to come and we (the team and us supporters) can maintain our concentration, hold our nerve and get that effing promotion.
If the current Leeds United’s Number 9, Patrick Bamford had the looks and charisma of Brad Pitt, together with the magic and mastery of Messi and a sleeve on one arm depicting St George defeating a dragon and the other arm saying “I heart my mum”, he would STILL be facing mass chastisement by a certain element of Leeds United fans.
And it’s not just Patrick either. I’ll take the time, Pop Pickers, to give you a countdown of a few names who make up our last top ten lambasted Number 9s of the decade;
Pierre Michel Lasogga – hero to zero in one game (Millwall) as he ran and scored and ran and scored… but ran out to tired legs before the 90 minutes was up. Chris Wood – couldn’t hit a barn door allegedly but still did 30 goals in his last season with us. Matt Smith – still a “Leeds and you know you are” favourite – pity then so few sang his name when he was with us though and most told him he wasn’t fit to wear the shirt. Brazilian hopeful Adryan- whose playing career didn’t even last as long legendary Roque Jnr. Then, the famous Warnock’s Warchest Quartet of Dexter Blackstock, Connor Wickham, Jerome Thomas, Steve Morison, and…….. Billy Painter, of course. That’s a list and a half to forget, isn’t it?
In fact, it’s really only Jer – maine (remember the date) Beckford who is our last memorable Number 9 of the first decade of the 21st century. Even then, and this is controversial and I know it, even then, poor Beckford used to get a right slating from most, if not all, four stands for being a temperamental, lazy git who couldn’t jump to win a ball and then wouldn’t hit a ball unless it was passed straight to his feet. Jer – maine is now selling his wares as a dapper football pundit and holds the title of full on Leeds legend.
But, he did put the ball in the Man U net …… but then so did David Wetherall…
So, what is it about that Number 9 shirt?
500 mile walk David Healy aside and Brett Ormerod (!) , we did have a reasonable run of favourites in that shirt for a while. The Duke, Jimmy Floyd Piggybank, Ian Rush (??), Yeboah, Deano and my personal favourite, Chappie. They all got the plaudits and accolades they deserved, and remain in a happy place in most fans’ minds. I am sorry to say, it has been a uphill slog for the last lot to try win any praise of late.
Is it because the bar was set so high because of these illustrious legends? Are the Golden Age goal scoring elite boots of Lorimer, Clarke, Gray, Terry Connor and Tony Currie too big to fill?
Given that the median age of the Leeds United fan, certainly in the Cheese wedge and the South Stand is lower than that of the average stalwart in the Revie Stand (and definitely the Captains Corner), it cannot be down to the fact that Bamford and Wood are being harkened to those players of yesteryear. Seeing as most of these younger ones weren’t around when Chappie was at his poaching best, surely none of them can even think about using them as a comparison.
No, I can only conclude the level of criticism aimed at our Number 9 players over the last decade or so is a symptom of far too much expectation of instant glory.
Don’t get me wrong, Chapman used to get a ton of abuse for being a donkey. To be fair, Chappie was far from our most elegant player. What with his gangly legs (similar to a baby goat at times), occasional lack of depth perception and his inability to know where and what his arms and legs were doing at the same time, he would never have made a ballerina. But Chapman knew where the net was and he managed to get the ball in the back of the it by hook or by crook. Or rather by managing to hit the ball with his head, shoulder, knee, foot, eyes closed or eyes open … as long as it went in, I wasn’t bothered how it got in. It got us promoted as Champions!
When Patrick Bamford ended his goal drought at that Blackburn game, he ran to the crowd and gestured to the baying hounds. The fact that he felt he had to do that was bad enough. I felt terrible for him but the naysayers in the crowd deserved that. I preferred the Mark Aizlewood salute myself, but given how upset people are getting nowadays with everything, it probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. Bizarre how in the old days things were so censored, some of the old films that were in the 70s and were given an X certificate are now on TCM without a care in the world. But nowadays even though music videos and songs are streamed with really explicit content (lyrics and violent scenes) etc. people get offended by the odd F word so easily? Go figure that one out then.
I digress, back to Patrick. They are still going on at him, even now. Especially now. When he came on at West Brom his impact was immediate and although the Football League have now taken two goals off him, the one at West Brom and the other one at Luton, he is still up there as our top goal scorer. His work rate during the game is immense. The barren spell he had in front of goal bears no reflection on what he has been doing for the team when he hasn’t scored. Yes, he needs a more consistent service to score. I really wish Kiko would actually hoof the ball up to him when he is actually on the pitch, instead of waiting til Bamford gets subbed before he starts giving the long balls to someone who doesn’t stick a chance in the air. But, Bielsa rates him and that is enough for me. I couldn’t care less about the 25,000+ other football managers at Elland Road.
Maybe I’m being a little too harsh to our current fan base. I remember when Viduka came to us. It took quite a few games for him to find his goal scoring boots too. There was always that element who cursed him when he missed an open net and condemned him for not being able to get more than an inch off the ground for a cross. I suppose it has always been the same for our fickle fans. It perhaps seems worse now with the onset of the social media age, where in August everyone suddenly becomes the greatest football manager and tactician since Cruyff, and don’t we know about it!
The game has changed in the last 20-30 years. The old fashioned Number 9 out and out striker has long departed. The days of the Di Stefano and Cruyff, and in the more recent times, the Shearers and the Fowlers of this world don’t really exist any more. In a way, probably Ronaldo (the fat one rather than the cheating one) was the last of the proper Number 9s to grace the field. Players don’t seem to be bothered with their numbers anymore either. Whether that is just a reflection of the times, as in the demise of the standard 4-4-2 as opposed to the vanity of players wanting to put their own stamp (for however long they stay depending on money!) on the team, I’m not sure about.
The game has definitely changed, all you hear about now is the “high press” and “clever game management” aka cheating. The ball is “rounder” and designed to fly through the air quicker. The players are fitter yet less hardy and tend to fall over at the slightest touch. The pitches (apart from in Scotland and in Histon) tend to be grass as opposed to mud baths. The 4-4-2 traditionalists amongst us are now in the minority and the infamous Mike Bassett Christmas Tree is now actually taken seriously! Even though the changes are massive, the crowd’s expectation for a player to play as a Number 9 hasn’t really lessened at all. In fact, it has become more vociferous if anything. Not content with the fact that goals are coming from all over the pitch, you still hear the phrase “we need a proper striker up front”. Last season this phrase was followed by “like Vydra or Rhodes” – er hmmm. However, we should have learnt by our mistakes last season. We shouldn’t be putting all our eggs in one basket, in case we get injuries like last season, we should be happy that Harrison, Dallas and even Ayling etc. are getting on the scoresheet.
Patrick Bamford WILL score more goals and I hope he gets his 30 goals this season, because he deserves to. Just give the lad a chance and pipe down you miserable lot.
photo courtesy of pinterest, and yes, that is Brad Pitt not Patrick!
Preston was a bit of a dampener then. Chances missed, hit on the break, equalising goal from a header from a guy whose total height was the sum of height difference between their defence and ours, and clear penalty not awarded to us??? Luck isn’t going our way right now, but it isn’t where we are now that matters, it’s where we are at the end of April. The injuries to Cooper and Shackleton have demonstrated our frailties in defence and midfield, but we go again, we keep the faith. Always Leeds Always Loyal.
In honesty, this is where the “Always Loyal” Part 2 bit comes in. We do keep the faith, we do go again. We are loyal. Originally this article was meant to be half homage to Eric and his dedication to Leeds and half sarcastic snowflake sledging, but I fear the irony may well be lost on them. However, I hate wasting opportunities to cast aspersions on the less tolerant, so am just going to barrel on anyway.
Family or friends? In a Chris Tarrant type way, yes, there are people who I have met at football who I could call to ask a £1million question of, should the situation ever arise. There are one or two who win the LUSC Annual quiz, year in year out, who could probably tell me how many eggs were on Clarke’s fried breakfast the day he scored the winner at Wembley. But you know that’s not what I mean.
Family – you can pick your friends, you can’t choose your family. In a way, my Leeds United family (and not in a My Leeds United Peter Ridsdale crap book type way) is something that I am lucky enough to have chosen. Leeds United fans are an eclectic group and I count myself very fortunate to have forged friendships, made mortal enemies of, sealed grudges (for life- not just for Christmas) and just generally had my 15 minutes of banter with the fellow faithful. Such is the way with the Leeds United International fan base over the years, regardless of language barriers, I have had the pleasure of travelling the world, doing what I love doing, drinking and watching Leeds United.
I have been in some of the dingiest s**tholes and some downright palatial mansions in my time. Ok, possibly only a very small number of slighty more discerning establishments and loads of questionable, at best, drinking dives. That could be Dreamscape 3 – the places you’ll never forget! But, all with Leeds fans and all of this was done WAY before the advent of social media. We were brought together because of the Supporters Club. This was down to Eric.
Eric Carlile was instrumental in bringing Leeds fans together. Eric was on the board of Leeds United and until Bates decided he knew better, the Supporters Club was the best place to find the right travelling companions for even the most discerning Leeds United fan. He matched people with branches and when he ran out of options for that, he started a postal LUSC branch. Eric spent hours hand writing – yes writing – by hand – on paper – letters replying to Leeds United fans all over the world. Eric Carlile connected people. He did what the Zedbergs and Gaggles of this New World Order are doing, without secretly harvesting all your personal info and selling it on to the highest bidder for advertising and marketing services(alledgedly). Eric didn’t need noseybook or the titteratti to unite Leeds United fans. He united us.
Family. Like all families there are the good, the bad and the downright ugly. The Leeds United family is no exception. There will always be differences in opinion, unhealable rifts even, but everyone will always be accepted as what they are, whatever they are and you just get on with it, because they are family, we are Leeds United. There’s the clever ones who got a degree and therefore know everything and are right all the time about everything. There’s the thicker ones who may be short on brain power but more often than not make up for it in common sense and/or brawn. There are the airheads who haven’t got the foggiest what day it is and there are the sensible ones who can tell you what minute of the day it is by looking at the sun. The organised and the organisers, and the hapless and the helpless who at times genuinely make you wonder how they make it through the day.
The daft thing is that each one of them can have totally different opinions about Leeds United. The hi tech electronic device devotees who know it’s the truth because it says it on their phone and the low jack luddites who wouldn’t use the paper it was written on to wipe their own backsides. The “It’s my way or the wrong way and that’s that” dependable’s and the constantly shifting sand and stance ones, dependent only on what SkyTVisf**ings**t say. The ones who know a guy, who knows a guy and then those couldn’t care less, they’ll just turn up anyway.
The doom and gloom mongers and the permanently pessimistic aren’t necessarily any more well read than the eternally optimistic – there’s always next season – ones. The annoyingly frank and indefinitely in-denial-ists may well be cut from exactly the same cloth. And, surprisingly enough, even the steadfastly loyal to a heartbeat and the bandwagon jumpers have may have no particular intelligence or discriminating tendencies or mannerisms. Plus depending on how much Leeds United have been jerking people’s respective chains, they all may well be interchangeable at any given point or just plain completely indifferent. One of the longer suffering fans in the pub is still sore after they made him pay £50 up front one season to go in the old “Panini Stand” with his lad in the days of the old Lowfields. He completely fell out with them for at least two seasons, but then returned to the fold.
All different but all loyal. At the last game of the season as everyone is walking past each other, it is always “See you next season then, have a good summer”, no questions asked. It is how it is.
This is what has irked me about Centenary Week.
Leeds United is 100 years old. What makes Leeds United? Not the chairmen, not the owners, not the managers, not the players. They are mere fleeting whispers on the wind for however long they decide to stay with us or how long they last before they get sold off. What makes Leeds United? The supporters make Leeds United. Because ultimately had it not been for the supporters, there would be NO Leeds United. The Supporters Club gave rise to Leeds United from the flames of the fire sale that was Leeds City at the very start. The Supporters Club have always been here, against all odds at times, but we are still here and will be here long after this lot have cleared off.
I know there will be people reading this who think the Supporters Club is a thing of the past and times need to change. I disagree. It is the one constant. My brief history supporting Leeds has seen us go from gates of 39,000 when we were basking in European glory in the 90s, to plummeting down to under 20,000 as we fell deeper into the mire of relegation under Ken’s regime. Then as we hit Division 3, you couldn’t give your ticket away, home or away at times. But even before that, Leeds fans were fickle. In the 73/74 season the official capacity was 48,000 but, for various reasons, it was (according to the trusty Rothmans Football Yearbook) rare for a game to be completely sold out. In the early 80s, home attendances fell right down, dipping occasionally to under 10,000 but then rose back when we started winning. After promotion at the start of the 90s, support again rose, but fell like a sack of spuds the second we got relegated from the top flight, with 10,000 people vanishing in the summer of 2004, and a further 8,000 mysteriously disappeared 3 years later. Who knows where they all went. And now they’re all back. As a simple example Leeds v Millwall on 2/3/2013 attracted 19,002 hardy souls. Leeds v Millwall 30/3/2019 was 34,910. Suddenly the missing 16,000 people have decided they were interested again. How very odd.
I have seen my fair share of consortium after consortium, administrations, winding up notices, CVAs threats, liquidations, amazing share selling deals and then shares being rendered worthless, Premier cards and then 6 max per fax for away tickets (apart from the 750 tickets at Brighton , which were by written invitation only!), Bates In, Bates Out, skint sheikhs, Cellino In, Cellino Out, takeover bids, failed take over bids, RMCs, other fans groups etc.etc.etc (as the great Yul Brynner famously said). The one constant has been the LUSC.
I am disappointed that the Supporters club wasn’t more involved in the Centenary celebrations but I’m more disappointed that it became more and more a split between those who have and those who have not.
The Centenary Dinner at £200 per head. I agree, it was an ensemble of the great and the good of Leeds United, but £200 per ticket? For dinner!
The Centenary shirt, limited edition of 1919 and a snip at just short of £200. Only for them to be snapped up by the anti-fans on T’Internet in order for them to skank the “proper” supporters who just want to stick it in a frame on their wall for 300% face value. By the way, the Yorkshire Rose stands up on it’s own two feet. Get it right.
Only 10,000 Centenary programmes on the day for a sell out 35,000 crowd. The game was always going to sell out. Which of the 22,000 season ticket holders and the 10,000 gold members in their right minds, would NOT have bought a Centenary programme that day?
Matchday celebrations started at 10.30am, brilliant for the locals and people who could afford to stay overnight. Not so good for the people for whom every match is a 12 hour awayday and then had a mile trek because car parking was limited.
That new light blue shirt? Our away strip is YELLOW. Bad enough that the other one is grey and pink. Where’s the hark back to heritage in Centenary year? Probably the one and only time that you would be true to tradition and stick to your original colours would be IN THE CENTENARY YEAR.
But no. Let’s pander to the New World Order, where you’re not allowed be sacred to your roots. Where being tied to your traditions and honouring your history is a bad thing. Where you are being forced to “fit in” with globalisation and shamed for not being all available and inclusive to everyman and his dog. “Football has to change with the changing times”. Why? Football was born out of the need to find something to do in between the factory closing and the pub opening. It’s a game of the masses. The common people. Stop trying to change it. It’s bad enough that we are having Saturday afternoons taken away from us because people want everything at their own convenience. Which equates to the more money you have the more convenience you are entitled to and the less inconvenience you have to put up – kerching! Given that it was a very expensive pre season in Australia as well, how much spare money do the die hard fans have? In the immortal words of Paul Daniels – Not a lot!
But, through it all together, we remain…. Always Leeds Always Loyal
After the steady stream trickle of tempting snippets from Leeds United about what the Centenary would look like and ultimately this last weeks’ worth of actual Centenary events, I am going to add my tuppence ha’penny to the pot.
Unfortunately, having tried to write this since Sunday, there is too much material for one article. So, in true tradition of Hollywood blockbuster film franchises, like the Tolkien Trilogy and the last two Harry Potter books, I’ll have to split it up and hope that you remember enough from the first, for the second one to make sense. Hopefully, unlike that God awful attempt at “Fantastic Beasts”, you won’t be looking at Part 2, thinking “What fantastic beasts?”. I’d rather you were standing back, saying the equivalent of “yeah, that’s how a King returns” (weird tubby dwarf and pointy eared blond barbie look-a-like notwithstanding) . I was going to use the Matrix analogy, but that just got a bit silly frankly, but the one liners and the CGI was excellent. Anyway……
Always Leeds Always Loyal: Part 1
What a great motto. Almost as good as Side Before Self Every Time. The phrase that epitomised the great Don Revie side and King Billy.
It has been a brilliant end to the Centenary Week celebrations. Starting with the unveiling of the commemorative plaque next to the Blue Plaque at Salem Chapel.
Salem Chapel, Leeds, the birthplace of the LUSC and just like Adam giving his spare rib to make Eve (look it up if you never did Christianity in RE), the birthplace of Leeds United. Then, the Centenary Dinner at Elland Road with a host of Leeds royalty, ex players and managers, a mere snip at £200 plus VAT. And then, the matchday events from 10.30am on Saturday, cumulating in a Kalvin Phillips goal, steering us to 3 points and 2nd in the table.
Kalvin Phillips, the LUSC Sponsored Player for many managers now (since 2015 season I think and yes, we used to use managers as a measure of time). Homegrown talent who has made his way up the ranks and, fittingly enough, was presented pitchside pre Birmingham kick off (in more respects than one!) with his 2018-19 LUSC Player Of The Season Award by Honourary LUSC President, Ray Fell. Kalvin scored the winner, in front of the Kop. It’s fairytale magic, the stuff legends are made of. Minstrels will write songs and sing loudly of this glorious day and it will rest in the annals of history. The only way this could have been made any better, would have been if my old friend, and friend to just about every Leeds fan I know, Eric Carlile had been alive to see it. This win on Centenary Day is probably one of the best tributes that could be made to Eric, and to his lifelong dedication to Leeds United. The only way to top this off, would be to seal promotion to Division One in this, our Centenary Year.
Mind you, had got promoted last season and we were playing in the Premiership now, think of the bursting banks of the revenue streams and how much money we could be making in programmes and memorabilia every game against the “Big” clubs in the Premier League. We could be churning out another replica shirt for each “memorable” game against each opponent all season. Although who would buy a ripped shirt for Bournemouth? It would be Christmas Kerching every game, especially for those on T’Internet who are just buying multiple souvenirs to rip off Leeds fans who collect that sort of stuff. Plus, we’d get at least 5 minutes every weekend on Look North to go through our history against these “big” clubs. The Chairman would talk to Tanya more often than his all of his Inner Circle put together. In fact, she could be in his Inner Circle (unlikely though!). Thank Heavens for small mercies as they say, we aren’t in the same division as Port Vale to replay our first league game in Centenary Year! Well, Ken did say that he would get us out of the division, and he did, he got us relegated!
Along with the other LUSC motto “Getting Fans To Games Since 1919” , Always Leeds Always Loyal is what Leeds means to me. If anyone asks me what Always Leeds Always Loyal signifies (apart from poor orthography and lack of punctuation), it means to me, in my relatively short time as a Leeds fan, I would say friendship and family.
Over the last decades, because of the Supporters Club I have made a great many friends, and more than my fair share of enemies. Friendships forged in fire (quite literally – incidents of fire) and bonds made in blood. Blood spilled and blood shed? Affirmative to both, my own and other peoples.
The Chairman once famously said, getting fans to riots since 1919, and in essence that is true. If the Supporters Club did an alternative dreamscape, can you imagine what would be in it? Bournemouth, Bradford, Birmingham, Chelsea in 84 (source of Ken’s bitter pill), West Brom ’82 and on a lighter note the mob of Elvises running down the hill at that end of season trip to Derby. The aforementionned were the all out wars mind, there were a few minor skirmishes, but these would make my dreamscape – and many of the oppositions Nightmarescapes.
Branch specific ones? Maybe that little knock on the door of the Aston Hotel and that pub near Liverpool Street which got really quiet all of a sudden. I am also reminded of the Defence Of Shaw and the Sandbach Standoff. Not to mention multiple traffic management incidents, Luton’s shopping precinct, a random City Centre vehicular adjustment manouvre, and of course, Mr Barraclough being extremely helpful that day at QPR after we crashed that wedding. There’s also been putting up the Christmas decorations at The Whip that year, and taking them down accidentally in Otley one Christmas Eve.
In all, many memories and in all, as they say – Happy days.
Through it all, the people who have shared it with me, have been Always Leeds and I guess, mostly Always Loyal. I’ve never given up supporting The Club, sometimes there’s been occasions when I have fallen out with Leeds United. Mainly because of the behaviour of the some of the right idiots who have been running The Club, but like the Supporters Club, I’m still here. Marching On Together.
The words to that song sum it all up, up and downs at least until the world stops going round.
Proud to say that like the LUSC, there then, here now and will still be here, whatever happens
Thanks to the Stoke fanzine Duck for the picture. Their editorial talks about the loss of another fanzine, one of Stoke’s oldest – The Oatcake. Like our own old Harrogate fanzine “We Are Leeds”, it was something that truly reflected, in their own words, what selected fans thought and have been thinking for the past 30 years. Gone are the days of normal fans typing stuff out on pieces of A4 and sending things off to the printers for next month’s edition to sell outside the ground. Long gone are the days when people were just allowed to write what they wanted to say without fear of repercussion or accusations of offensiveness from anyone else (Club or other fans). The fanzines of old have now been replaced by bigger, better, brighter things with colour photos and adverts from sponsors cluttering up the pages, forced into trying to keep up with modern social media platforms. Anyone who hasn’t seen our old fanzine, please have a look at it in the fanzine archive bit on the website. It will give you a glimpse into what it used to be like in the old days of the Harrogate branch.
Leeds United used to have many fanzines, The Hanging Sheep, To Ell and Back, The Square Ball to name but a few, and the LUSC newsletter – The Elland Road Roar , of course. Like many clubs, fanzines captured the feelings of the fans at the time and more often than not, reflected what the regular match attendees (home and away) were experiencing. When we travelled away, one of the first things we looked for were the oppositions’ fanzines. These fanzines are now in sad decline. In fact any half time reading material is in decline, and now the EFL have decided that (because fans matter) clubs shouldn’t be forced to produce a matchday programme, if they don’t want to. Such is the influence of social media and other media platforms, even though programmes do sell out regularly at clubs, because fans matter so much, they aren’t needed… apparently.
The reason why this excerpt is so important, and so particularly poignant at this moment in time, is those four sentences. Supporters are what makes a football club special: not those it employs. They are fleeting custodians. The club belongs to the supporters. Always will.
My sentiments exactly.
This blog has been my mouthpiece for the last few years and I stand by what I believe in. I have been saying this for ages. The football club belongs to it’s loyal fans.
It is good to know that these same opinions are echoed by other fans in other clubs. We have seen evidence of this, this week at Bury, in some very unfortunate circumstances. I feel for those fans. I have felt the same way once upon a time. In fact, worrying about what would happen to Leeds United is, and has been, an occupational hazard for the long standing Leeds United supporter. I think most people will remember that a decade or two ago, Leeds fans genuinely believed that by buying shares in the Club we would be investing in and securing our long term future. Those who had money at the time showed their loyalty by buying these shares, which were then rendered worthless by the consortium that took us over not long afterwards. Like I said, occupational hazard.
Chairmen and owners will come and go, but we, the loyal fans, will always be here. Big money companies, charlatans who purport to have money and conglomerates who simply want to come in and strip the clubs of their assets to make a quick buck and throw it to the next set of lions, will always be attracted to football. They circle around like vultures, hovering over their prey, waiting for their turn to have a peck at the potentially rich pickings, especially with those clubs (like ours this last year or so) who play attractive football, and attract the advertising revenue.
Long gone are the days of the Jack Walkers and Dave Whelans, the philanthropic ones who were interested only in the football club because of football and nothing else. Jack Walker being one of the few who actually were able to buy the title and (probably) be proud of it. I can’t really ask him , can I? Modern football is about money – yes I have said it again. Money, money, money. In a rich man’s world… as ABBA so profoundly put it.
In a previous blog, I painstakingly talked about what football meant to me, and how it differed with the ones who I am unfortunate to stand next to at away games (when I can get a ticket). The ones who are basically there to chat with their mates, take selfies and jump about until they get bored and then go and chuck beer all over themselves – anything but hold their concentration for 90 minutes and watch what is going on in front of them on the pitch. These would never have the patience to get through a programme, let alone read and take in what the opposition fans think from a fanzine. Half the time I don’t think many of them can actually read what it says on their ticket and follow the simple instructions to their seat, seeing as they just go stand anywhere anyway. Who knew that being able to read the row and seat number and finding the corresponding seat could be so difficult! Literacy! Who needs it right?
So back to Bury and to comments that popped up about not feeling sorry for them. It’s worth noting that the 15 point deduction we got lumped with, was voted on by the Chairmen of the clubs not the fans. I agree some fans rubbed it in, but we all know that every club has that element of loud mouth opinionated part timers who cannot fathom the simple rules of integrity and honesty which constitute the unwritten law of football supporters.
I felt very sorry for the Bury fans. The club has been in existence since 1885, since the beginnings of football in this country. The working class beginnings of most clubs, where factories and industries fielded their own teams, hence Arsenal (Woolwich Arsenal – munitions depot) etc. If you understand the history of a club and are aware of it’s origins, it is difficult to understand why you wouldn’t feel sympathy for an institution which has been let down by unfit and improper owners. Fans don’t matter. Take for example Wimbledon – oh the memories of Plough Lane are flooding back. Wimbledon was ripped apart. Forced to move from their old home to groundshare with Palace initially after the Taylor Report, and then the roots of the Old Crazy Gang were torn up by moving to Milton Keynes of all places, a decade or so later. Thereby causing a massive schism in the fan base.
Divisions aside, going back to what football means can also change perspectives of people. Take Roy Keane for example. Leeds fans will never forget what he did to Alfie but coming out with that “Prawn sandwich brigade” comment, acknowledging the presence of non traditional football fans in a stadium, endeared him even to the most hard nosed Leeds fan. The newcomers and bandwagon jumpers who don’t understand the heritage of the humble beginnings of football, will never understand what it means to loyally follow your team.
Everyone starts as a newcomer, you have to start somewhere, you are not born a Leeds fan – although there may be parents out there who disagree! Something happens to make you a fan of Leeds United and then stay a loyal Leeds fan. It could be that a parent takes you and you get hooked, or it could be (as in many of the International fan base) you watched us on the telly. There are many reasons why we love our club so much. Then, there are certain things that happen, that just cement your faith and loyalty (if it actually needed cementing). Bringing in Bielsa comes to mind straight away. Another highlight for me was the (at the time – very bizarre) stroke of genius signings of two South African players Phil Masinga and Lucas Radebe. I remember that cup game against Walsall when the lights went out and Masinga got a hattrick. It wasn’t so much the hattrick, it was that not many clubs were signing players outside of Europe at that time. Who would know that 25 years later, Lucas would be what he is now.
The thing that unites us is that we are here now, we have been there before and we will still be there. We are the loyal Leeds United and we will never be defeated.
One of the original and best protest songs of its generation, in fact ever. The millenials that are harping on about whatever virtue seeking project they are currently chasing could learn a thing or two about the right way to get their point across by listening to it. I’ll stick the link in, so younger viewers can get an earful of Pete Seeger. I know Malvina Reynolds did it first, but I never liked her voice and she actually went to university – Berkeley – twice!
The song is essentially about the coercion to conform.
Those of you who know me, know that I am definitely NOT a socialist, far from it in fact and I can’t be arsed to bang on about politics today. This is about what we, as football fans, are being forced into doing, by people who can and will, without a second thought, tell us what to do.
All we hear, all the time from the Real Gods of football is that fans matter.
That is one of the biggest lies you will ever hear.
Football fans, as we know them (or think we know them) don’t matter at all.
The FA, EFL, FIFA, UEFA, TV companies, the betting companies, the alcohol and caffeine/sugary drinks industry and even our own beloved club are feeding us, just enough mind, in dribs and drabs, like some sort of weird Pavlovian experiment, because they know that we will keep coming back no matter what they do to us. The daft thing is – it’s true – we will.
Football, as I knew it, was all about going to games. Not just the 90 minutes on the pitch, but as is the tradition with our branch (and probably many other branches), a drink, a laugh with people who you only ever saw at football, a trip out to somewhere new, or to the regular annual pubstop and then a trip home in a drunken state, ending up with a late night kebab stood outside the Grand Theatre waiting for the last bus home or 2 for 1 pizza at Chicos, even if you didn’t want the other one. Great days!
Not now.
Those days are long gone and my generation of football fan barely exists.
Football fans nowadays are comprised of :
1) People , potentially, many thousands of miles away from the actual game who aren’t necessarily interested in the game, just what’s going to happen in it. Armchair fans who are basically waiting to see if and when there are any goals, yellow cards, red cards, corners, free kicks, whatever gets their bet in or their fantasy league points up.
No? Yeah – like you haven’t done this before – you ACCA loving hypocrites.
2) People who have decided that they ought to like some sort of sport but haven’t actually honed in on one. But think they best belong to something, so it might as well be whatever happens to be popular at the time, and then they’ll change their minds when something better trending comes up. But whilst they are supporting sport, they are better sport supporters than anyone else who has ever been a sport supporter, and have the home and away shirts plus the pen, pencil and pencil sharpener to prove it or the mobile device case and ring tone. Oh, and their twitter handle and facebook name have the letters of their sports club in it as well.
3) People who used to go to games but then bigger priorities have forced them out, like children, wives / husbands, jobs, money etc. and now want to come back to watch games but can only watch it on the telly
4) Overseas fans who are desperate to get the opportunity to go watch a live game but realistically have a snowballs chance in hell unless they have won the lottery
5) People who go to watch games when they can, but it’s not the “be all and end all”, and it depends on how many brownie points it can score with the missus if they take the kids off her hands for the day. Plus if the rugby is on, they’ll go there instead because you can drink in the stand
6) People who go to games when they can regardless of how many brownie points they’ll get knocked off for spending the day out drinking with their mates and coming home in a state
7) People who have a season ticket who will go when they want to, but not bother when it’s a crappy lower league team in the second round of the cup on a rainy night in February.
8) People who have a season ticket and will go to a crappy second round cup tie even if it is a 700+ mile round trip and they have to have yet another tooth removed because of root canal surgery according to their manager’s sickness absence record.
9) Season ticket holders, who go to all games bar floods, locust plagues, tornados and the wedding anniversary
10) Season ticket holders and away season ticket holders who have activated their auto cup schemes who go to all games regardless of anything
11) Me and my miserable git mates
10 different types of fan profile that I can write off the top of my head and probably more sub sections available in each grouping. My point is which group of fans benefit the Real Gods of football more? It certainly isn’t the last 3 is it?
Yet we are told that fans matter.
We are no longer fans, we are customers. But we aren’t really customers because if we were true customers, i.e. consumers of a product, we would have a choice, and if we didn’t like what we were getting we could just go somewhere else. But we can’t and we won’t , because we are Leeds. And they know it. Like with SkyTVisf**kings**t. What choice do we have? BT but no SkySportsLeeds? Virgin with BT sport? Not going to happen, is it? We are a captive audience.
The EFL have decided that all 72 teams should sign up and all be part of the EFL Trusts network. The EFL state that all clubs should actively involve a supporters group which should meet up at least twice a year to hear fans views. There are lots of things that the EFL feel that all 72 clubs should be signed up to doing – because fans matter.
In part I can see where they are coming from re input from fans, but who chooses the fans they engage with? The fans or the Club? Plus the last time Leeds United engaged with the fans, the result was that new crest!!! Don’t need reminding about that!
The EFL are putting Leeds United, with it’s massive world wide fan base and a massive away following, in with the likes of purely local fan based groups e.g. Forest Green Rovers, and the likes of Boro, say, who although are in our league, barely take a taxi full to an away game (I’m exaggerating slightly but you know what I mean). The EFL are also assuming that trusts are the way forward for all football fans. Don’t get me wrong, it seemed to work with Swansea (but they aren’t in England??) but how exactly did the EFL and FA help and are helping, the likes of Bury, Blackpool, Bolton, Blackburn (and these are just the B’s) when it comes to reigning in the errant owners by signing up to their grand “because fans matter” plan?
Simple answer, their Grand Plan hasn’t worked at all. They haven’t been able to stop owners / Chairman bringing ordinary match attending fans to their knees. They don’t have that power and even if they did, would they actually pull their finger out and do it? It’s all bobbins. This isn’t a recent thing either, it goes way back to the debacle at Coventry and Charlton (the C’s now) when it was just down to the Football League, before the Premier League broke away, probably even further. Fans don’t matter.
Leeds United are in a unique situation. Not just because we used to be great and now we are (hopefully not for much longer) a bit crap. Look at Forest, not that I think they ever endured Division 3 football as badly as we did though. Not just because we have a load of season ticket holders now (not going to mention the 10,000+ that disappeared after we got relegated from the Premier League and then the other 10,000 when we hit Division 3) because the likes of Newcastle and Man City have always had decent home attendances. It’s because outside of maybe Scum, Citeh and the Scallys, our worldwide TV audience is bigger than anyone else in our league and the Premiership. Our commercial potential alone outstrips the rest of our league put together when it comes to advertising. Yet because of Harvey’s pathetic attempt at getting the EFL a “good” TV rights deal, we get peanuts for our games on the telly compared to the millions that the Southamptons and Burnleys of this world receive for their dull as ditchwater drivel. (It’s also because under Bielsa we play some pretty good football).
Basically, Leeds United deserves to be paid for the entertainment we provide and the revenue streams we attract because of the football we play and the atmosphere created by the people who go to watch the games. Which is what Massimo Cellino was trying to say when he tried to stop SkyTVisf**kings**t that day (and got slated for).
Why is it so important? Because ultimately it boils down to money, FFP and balancing the books and therefore what happens on the pitch, especially in the transfer window.
Back to my original point, little boxes.
I don’t want to be put it a box because I have no need to. I don’t fit anywhere in particular and I don’t care. I just want to be allowed to follow Leeds as I have been doing for half my lifetime. I know some other fans might not feel the same.
We should just be allowed to be what we are. It’s like the dreaded Personal Development Portfolio meeting, where once a year you sit down (with your equally uninterested line manager) to answer your “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” question. Where the “on a beach sipping margueritas – anywhere but here” is not an acceptable answer. You are not allowed to be just what you are good at and leave well alone, you have to develop, you have to be better-er.
They tell us – “We” (the EFL / FA / Leeds United) are doing things this way because fans matter. And how do they know this? Because they have done surveys and from the information they have gathered this is how things should be. Fans have told us this, and we have acted on their wishes, because fans matter.
No, “they” are doing this, putting us into little boxes for their own selfish purposes, because it is easier for them to do it that way. They want us to go on unsocial media and press the “like” button because they will get our email addresses and our details etc. to sell on to advertising and database companies. They can say they are “actively engaging with the fans” to suit their own needs, so they can generate their own little target databases. It’s not all fans, just the ones that can be bothered to fill in their questionnaires and click the “yes, I want to be entered into a free draw for filling in this survey” button. They can say “this is what you have told us you want” so they can justify their actions. So we can be subtlety coerced into believing what they say, until it becomes the acceptable norm, convincing us that what they want is actually what we want, because in the end , that’s all that matters, not fans.
They can say “have your opportunity to have your say” – what they mean is, we will gather your information but if it doesn’t agree with what we want it to say, we’ll just manipulate it anyway to suit. I’m not saying they are doing this in a particularly malicious way either, especially the Club, because somethings have improved in certain areas. It’s just the bestest, easiest way to earn their money. It’s just business after all, but it would be nice if they were honest about it.
Whether it be how Leeds United choose to distribute the away tickets or how many times SkyTVisf**kings**t put us on the telly and f**k up our travel plans or whatever.
