As I write there is still the question of the fate of Garry with two Rs hanging over our heads. Unfortunately this is not the first time that Leeds United fans have come across this phenomenon – der der – der der der. So I thought I would handily summarise at least some of the past events in our history, which I feel (and again I MUST reiterate – my words are my own, read The Disclaimer) have blighted our glorious history. The Imbalance of power that controls the destiny of our beloved Leeds United in summary.

These are a selection of some events which I believe Leeds United have been discriminated against unfairly, and if it were any other club / Chairman / manager / team /players (you get my drift) , the result may well have been different. The list is by no means complete and exhaustive, but I haven’t got enough time to do a  comprehensive one now, nor never really.

The Cup Winners Cup Final in 1973.

Bent as a two bob note referee who never refereed another professional international game in his life. Richard Corbutt (MEP for Yorks and Humber) took a petition to UEFA with thousands of signatures regarding that match. Even the local fans boo-ed the lap of honour in Salonika and some Milan fans are still embarrassed by the sad affair. Even the Daily Telegraph did an article on it ( see link below)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/leeds-united/5159007/Uefa-asked-to-probe-Leeds-Uniteds-1973-Cup-Winners-Cup-defeat-to-AC-Milan.html

The European Final in Paris 1975

Robbed again by dodgy referee and cheating Beckenbauer, who years later admitted that the tackle on Clarke was a blatant foul and we should have had a penalty. In an act of shame, after the ref clearly pointed to the centre spot after giving Lorimer the goal, Beckenbauer “had a word” with the ref about Billy being offside and the rest is history. In an article to the YEP in May 2015, Allan Clarke said that he still hasn’t spoken to any of that Bayern team nor the referee since that game, and hopes he never will. Outstanding! There’s a man who can hold a grudge, the MPO has a long, long way to go!

Playing league title decider two days after the FA Cup final in 1972

48 hours after playing Arsenal at Wembley, we were expected to be fully fit and rested for the league title decider. Nowadays, the Premiership teams are moaning about fixture congestion and wanting a winter break because players are playing too many games. This despite going to the USA and Asia to play in the closed season. Says it all doesn’t it. But lessons have sadly not been learnt and I think the same may well have happened this season too as the Championship play off final is within 48 hours of the FA Cup… lucky that we lost to Sutton then!

The Football Association Fit and Proper Test.

At the end of our 2005/6 season we were in all sorts of a mess with the problems with the court case and Ridsdale spending what he didn’t have, so we were “bailed out” by Bad Papa Smurf in an act of selfless humility. Under Bad Papa Smurfs reign of terror, Shaun Harvey was the chief exec officer and remained so until GFH took over July 2013. He was then appointed by the Football League as the new chief exec whose role it was to address issues with club ownership, governance and compliance with rules. This despite the fact that under his tenure at Bradford City, the club collapsed into administration and almost full liquidation. Whilst he was at Leeds United, in 2007 the club collapsed into administration owing approx £35 million with reported £7 million in taxes due. He told a parliamentary select committee that despite being Chief Exec at Leeds, he had no idea who owned Leeds United. He was also found guilty of harassment using Yorkshire Radio and the Leeds United matchday programme. Something that to this day he has never apologised for. Somehow, the Football League felt that this man was qualified for this job! Hmmm. In March 2014 Carson Yeung ( Birmingham City owner ) was convicted and jailed for 6 years for money laundering. Meanwhile, Owen Oyston (Blackpool owner) served nearly four years after being found guilty of another crime, his son was also found guilty of offensive language and was banned for six weeks from footballing activities. Before anyone does a Donald Trump at me, this is NOT fake news, it is in fact, well, fact. If you don’t believe me you can google it, plus it’s on Wikipedia, so MUST be true. There are others such as the Blackburn, Coventry City and Charlton owners, who aren’t exactly shining lights of propriety either, you can look them up yourselves and make your own minds up, if you think I am being too harsh. Meanwhile, Mr Cellino appears to have some issues with a boat and some cars and was immediately banned by the same Football League who appear to have no problems with any of the above. The initial conviction in an Italian court was appealed and it has now been completely quashed, with Mr Cellino acknowledged as having done nothing wrong. Whatever you think of our Chairman, still not right is it?

The Football League Television Deal

The thing that hardly any of the English Football League Chairman have actually seen , let alone read, that was signed on behalf of them by, you guessed it, Shaun Harvey. Since when do you put your name to something you haven’t read? So Mr Cellino just before Christmas 2015 decides that moving games for the benefit of TV whenever the TV companies dictate it, isn’t really something he signed up for it and would like to see a copy of said contract. For his efforts he gets a rollicking, a lambasting even, by all corners of the media and fans and chairmen alike. Even though, most fans secretly agreed with him. Come December 2016, there is a meeting at Pride Park, where all 72 of the EFL clubs were invited. The meeting was to discuss what the Derby County Chairman, Mel Morris, described as a lack of transparency when it comes to the major dealings with a significant financial impact to the EFL clubs. Cellino was hailed as a madman clutching at straws at the time, it only took a year for the rest of the league to realise what was going on. Their rights signed away by someone who saw two clubs go into administration.

Excessive celebration of a goal.

Pontus got a yellow card for jumping into the crowd after he scored his first goal in Nov 2016. Meanwhile on Sunday, the Hudds Town manager not only leaves his technical area, but runs 50 yards on the pitch to celebrate the goal. The referee and the linesmen do nothing at all, until Garry decides to block him as he is running through our technical area. Me? I would have slyly stuck out a foot to trip him up, in a Roadrunner v Wile E Coyote move, hoping for a classic fall flat on his face. This is because when it boils down to it, I am not a responsible grown up, I am a petty minded child at heart. Sadly, unlike me, Garry with two Rs isn’t, and didn’t, and had to put up with a load of earache until Pep and the rest of the team piled in. Earlier this season Fulham and QPR were fined about £40,000 each for their touchline brawl. We wait with bated breath to see what happens……

Indignity or indignation, or even in dignity –  however you choose to read it.

After the horror show that was Sutton, I expected, nay demanded, a fightback. Blackburn at home and then a trip to the John Smith stadium was on the cards, and I, like many others basically wanted blood.

The Blackburn match was uninspiring and unenthusiastic to say the least, apart from the last 15 minutes of the game. I thought the first half was terrible, and spent most of it fuming about how annoyed I felt at Sutton, and thinking up various expletives to shout at the team if we didn’t get a result after 90 minutes. Luckily enough, up popped Pontus for a fantastic header and the lad saved the day once again. So, I was placated and though still very cross about Sutton, went about my business, and branch business, preparing for the away game at the weekend. This was of course made difficult by Huddersfield deciding to limit the away allocation by segregating the stand behind the goal, rather than giving us the whole end as in previous seasons. To be fair to them, they did fill the ground. Or at least what was left of it after their sponsors decided to maximise advertising space by using huge flags which drastically reduced the number of available seats, rather than the bog standard advertising hoardings. I can’t say I have seen such dedicated sponsorship packages before at a stadium, normally seats are for sitting in, but hey, this is Huddersfield, and this must just be how they roll.

When they came to Elland Road earlier this season, simply put, we could not cope with their midfield. That guy Mooy did all the damage, so this time round I thought Garry with two Rs would have learned from his mistakes, and fielded a stronger and more steadfast midfield. Unfortunately, lessons had not been learnt, and whilst our defence coped admirably in the beginning, our midfield was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. And before anyone starts on me about how brilliant Bridcutt and Vieira are, what we needed on Sunday was Batty and McAllister, not Torvill and Dean. We needed a midfield who could trap the ball and hold it up until the wingers and Wood regrouped, not someone who got the ball but then just gave it straight back, or lost it straight away. There are some games when you need a couple of quick flair players, others when you just need a big brick wall. From where I was standing time and time again, I saw high balls being foisted across to two of our smallest players in the middle, who frankly never stood a chance. As for the substitutions, well, I agree that something had to change, but given Pablo looked like the bunny with the crap batteries in the Duracell ad, I would have taken him off before Dallas, who looked better when he switched to the right side. Apparently Roofe and Sacko weren’t available, so Garry with two Rs had no option but to play his two new players. Two players who had only just signed up and had maybe just two days of trying to fit in to a team. The lad, Pedranza had a chance at goal early on, but poor Mo Barrow may have well have been sat in a barrow. Me, well I would have started with Phillips and Eunan O Kane, and then brought on that bit of pace in the second half, to try and get a winner. It was always going to be hard going, but you have got to learn from your mistakes. As for those free kicks that Pablo pretended to take, I have two words to say, Matt Grimes.

I can’t finish without mentioning what happened at the end. I haven’t seen a copy of the YEP yet, but I am pretty sure words like “disgraceful scenes” and “shameful behaviour” will be up there. The YEP have got their predictive text down to a tee when it comes to Leeds United. I didn’t see very much myself when their winner went in. I remember going, “don’t let him cross” and then the inevitable happened, somehow the ball hit the back of the net. All from our free kick, which we gave away. I didn’t even know the bearded one had run down the pitch to celebrate, so when I saw the melee by the dugouts and the Leeds players, led by Captain Bartley all diving in, I just assumed that we were bad losers and just couldn’t take it. When I got back to the bus, there was talk that Garry with two Rs had shoulder barged him and got a big shaking off the bearded one for doing it. I didn’t realise that this had all happened in our technical area and he shouldn’t have been in there in the first place. Having seen the stuff posted on social media, I thought I had better share it myself, as Garry did walk across him with his hands in his pockets, as I probably would have done myself. The reaction he got from the little bearded man was excessive really, and although it was good to see all our players going in to defend Garry with two Rs honour, there will be repercussions.

Whilst many focussed on the fisticuffs, Garry with two Rs nonchalantly wandered off with his hands in his pockets, sloping away like Paul Kersey in those fabulous Michael Winner films did. One of my all time favourite actors Charles Bronson, the gravitas of the man, the dignity

That is putting it mildly. Disappointment, outrage, disgust, embarrassment, a tumult of feelings, not one of them good. I had my little rant last night after getting home at nearly 11pm following that poor excuse for football match. After getting up at 4.00am, that was nearly as bad as Brighton, we lost there as well.

I wasn’t planning on anymore complaining, as it was plain to see that the keyboard warriors were already out in full force. At least I wasn’t, until I saw the ridiculous number of piteous “meaningless Cup” remarks. In the past I have tried not to get annoyed by these throwaway phrases that people use, and I have tried not to make disparaging comments about those people who say these things who don’t actually go to games. Unfortunately I am rising to this because frankly these people really piss me off.

I am so riled I don’t even know where to start. So, in no particular order:

Garry with two Rs

I can’t even pretend I know or understand how/why you picked your team. I do understand that you wanted to protect your first team players on that pitch, especially those who have just come back from injury like Pablo and Jansson, and those who have played a lot of games this season like Captain Bartley and Chris Wood. I understand promotion is high on the agenda. So why didn’t you field the team that played against Cambridge, or even the team who did so well in the League Cup? It felt like you were running a Sunday morning pub game. You just waited to see who would turn up for the team bus outside Elland Road, picked the ones who didn’t look hung over and then randomly pulled names out of a hat for the rest. What happened to the famous half time talk, and those brilliant substitution decisions? Thanks for not taking into consideration the time and the money that those fans who turned up to stand in the cold and rain wasted.

The Team

I am not bothered how much you get paid a week, because you are probably not bothered about how much I get paid either. All I and other fans ask, is that when you pull on that shirt, you concentrate for 90 minutes whilst you are on that pitch and play the game 100% to the best of your abilities for the whole 90 minutes. It would be great if at some point, you could consider how the fans feel, but that is a bonus really, seeing as some of the fans do nothing but hurl abuse at you anyway especially when you do something wrong. So, because you can’t really reciprocate that and it is difficult to ignore it, walking off in a huff every now and again is fine too. A wonder goal once a month doesn’t excuse you for not bothering to chase a ball down or pass to another Leeds player for the other three or four games you play. Regardless of whether you are in the first team or in the 2nd or 3rd team or under 23s, you should still be able to string a couple of passes together, and more importantly take a free kick and help it towards the goal.

Moaning fickle Leeds United fans

Our branch, like most LUSC branches is a non profit organisation. That means that the reason we do what we do, is not to make any money, it is for the branch members. All the effort that is put in, is purely to do what we do best, and get our members to away games. I know many fans get their own tickets and many fans make their own way to grounds either by bus or train or drive themselves. It is up to you how you do it, and if you have the luxury of the time, the means, the money and patience to sort all of this out on your own, then fair dos, well done. Lucky you! Be happy that you have a job that allows you the time and the money to sit in front of a computer and order your match tickets and organise your travel arrangements. Be happy that you have an understanding family and friends that spare you the time to do this. Most, if not all of our members aren’t so lucky. Most, if not all of our members have jobs or other commitments like caring for relatives and families etc. Most, if not all of our members work hard for the money that they need to go to these games.

So we ( The Secretary and the rest of the branch committee) do it. We negotiate with the coach company in the closed season to make sure we get a decent deal for our members. We make sure we have a coach company who will turn up on time, who will give us a decent bus with decent facilities and a decent driver. We make sure bookings are taken in advance of the tickets going on sale, so any member who wants to go to a game gets as good a chance as possible of a ticket. We sit in front of a computer ordering match tickets on the day, and we pay for them. We sort out our refreshment stops pre match, so we all have a good day out. We make sure everyone knows the departure times and we sit and wait for anyone who is late. We liaise with the Police Liaison Officer to make sure we leave enough time to get the coach to the match complying with the police instructions. We, in short make sure we get our members to games.

So for you to chelp on about not caring because it doesn’t mean anything anyway, just have a think for one minute about how much this game actually did mean. You selfish, insensitive, miserable wasters.

It is not just about the cost in money terms. It is the time spent away from families, doing family stuff. It is the time spent negotiating time off work. Not everyone works 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, sitting on their backsides all day in front of a computer screen. Some people are self employed, that’s a whole day when they could be working, this includes on a Sunday believe it or not. Not everyone has jack all to do at the weekend and spends it slumming it in front of the telly watching Netflix or your box sets. Not everyone has no other responsibilities or commitments in life.

More importantly, its about pride. Pride in the history of Our Club. Pride in our loyalty to Our Club. When you start whingeing about why players, including our Youth players, leave Leeds United to go to another Club that pays more money, or has more opportunities, that’s because it upsets the pride that you have for Leeds United.

When you next sing about “January 3rd, remember the date…” think about how little the FA Cup means to you then. Should we have won on Sunday, we would have got Arsenal at home. How many of you would have been desperate for a ticket to watch the “Mighty” Arsenal? How many of you would be complaining about the crap service at Leeds United’s ticket office for your one home game per season for that “Glory Tie”. Oh sorry, 2nd because you obviously came to watch the Newcastle game, right? How many of you scrambled to get a ticket for that League Cup 4th round Norwich game, when you couldn’t be bothered to shift yourself for the Blackburn 3rd round tie ? How many of you moaned incessantly about “how unfair” it was when you couldn’t get a ticket for the Liverpool game at Anfield, because surprisingly enough, Leeds made it a “loyalty tracker game” in the first instance, and you had only bothered to go to one away game this season? All in your “meaningless Cup” or another Cup that doesn’t really matter until you get a “Big” game?

As the younger generation say, jog on.

(As usual, my thoughts are my own and please read the Disclaimer like it tells you to)

I have decided that the new branch phrase should be Excelsior! Why? I hear you say.

The Branch Secretary reliably tells me that the great Stan Lee uses this frequently. In fact, at the end of the last Avengers film, it was noted that he shouted this word. Loosely translated, it means ever upwards, therefore it’s relevance to both the Harrogate & District LUSC and Leeds United. I know I have used another phrase intermittently, as have noticeably several others in the last few months on social media. I cannot remember who said the phrase “onwards and upwards” first. I thought it was Buzz Lightyear, however I have been corrected, his catchphrase is ” to infinity and beyond” and we aren’t so bothered about going to infinity. The aim for Leeds United really is The Premiership, which technically is upwards, therefore, I declare the new Branch motto – Excelsior!

The game at Barnsley this weekend was a little disappointing to say the least. Apart from the fact we scored two goals, we lost the game, so let’s break down the disappointments.

First, the allocation. The first time I went to Barnsley, Oakwell was, to put it bluntly, a right mess. That was decades ago, when there used to be a ladies toilet, cunningly disguised as a bike shed in front of the goal. The Secretary informs me that back in the day when you could choose between standing and sitting, we used to get tickets not only behind the goal, but also to the side of it, in the main West Stand L5 to L8. Similar to where Leeds United put the away fans now, although the view isn’t fantastic, it is better than being stuck behind the goal. Having gone on the Barnsley website before our allocation was announced, we knew that Barnsley were charging non season ticket holders £37 for tickets, the same as we were being charged, regardless of where they were seated. £37 is a lot of money to watch a Division 2 match. It is what Leeds United charge visiting fans since Bad Papa Smurf moved them out of the Cheese Wedge, so we cannot really complain when other clubs charge us the same. Sadly, every game we play in this division which involves a team in the Yorkshire, is deemed THE “Yorkshire Derby”. Leeds United attracts fans from not just Leeds, but the surrounding areas, we know the fan base is huge in Yorkshire. So given just these factors alone, it was extremely disappointing that the allocation was so low. Barnsley could be forgiven for thinking that their fans could sell out the ground for this fixture because of the connotations of a “local derby”, however, the match was going to be on telly, at 5.30pm, and for non season ticket holders they were going to charge £37. NOT A CHANCE! It turned out that the attendance was a disappointing 17,870, with 5241 Leeds United fans. According to the footballgroundguide.com the capacity is 23,009.

(thanks to Julie Trimble LUSC https://www.facebook.com/groups/leedsunitedsupportersclub/ for the photo by the way)

So given the West Stand was half empty, why not give more tickets to Leeds fans? It would have generated more money for starters, maybe another 1500 at £37 per head = £55,500 and it would have prevented some of the crowd trouble generated by Leeds fans who had acquired tickets in the Barnsley end. Barnsley must be cash rich, seeing as they could afford to turn down the best part of £50,000.

This leads nicely to the second disappointment. Crowd trouble. The media immediately focused on “crowd trouble and arrests”, not football. People were sharing pictures of fans, police and stewards, with our fantastic value for money (72p) local rag the YEP, guilty as charged for their facebook pictures of “horrendous” scenes. Now I am not condoning any violence, and I am certainly not excusing any of the behaviour of the people who were caught on camera shouting and tussling with each other at the front of the pitch in the East corner, but this was a small number in comparison to the 5000+ Leeds fans who attended that game. The only way to know exactly what happened to trigger this event, is to hope that the police had those little body cameras attached to their shoulders and they were recording at the time. The tension had been mounting up after Chris Wood scored, but what actually happened is anyone’s guess really. The only thing that could and should have been done as a preventative measure was to not have the game kick off at 5.30pm in the first place. South Yorkshire police are responsible for our safety outside the environs of the stadium. Exactly the same police force have been responsible for not letting us play Sheffield Wednesday at any other time apart from midday since the 1990s and possibly longer, for what reason you ask? Safety. So, why did they agree to move this game to 5.30pm? Need you ask?

The third disappointment, our fans. Despite the (relatively) large allocation compared with some other clubs this season, many of our branch members missed out. I don’t like the disparaging phrases that have been used of late to describe fellow Leeds United fans. Whilst I have my own feelings towards some Leeds fans, you always have to recognise many Leeds fans simply cannot afford the time or money to go to games. I consider myself very lucky that I can afford my season ticket and am lucky enough to go to away games as often as I do. Since the Internet revolution, and the Television Gods taking over football as we know it, many fans who would not have been able to engage in football banter in the 80s and 90s, are now enabled. So some people who have never been to a live football game, have now the benefit of pause and rewind to be able to comment on the game. Good for them. This leads to some folk thinking that they are superior because they think that they are “proper” fans as opposed to the “armchair army”. Well, I have news for them. Lately I look around at an away game and all I see are people doing anything but watching the game. Some are on their phones looking at other scores, some are taking selfies or videos of themselves at the game, some are just watching / having a pop at the home fans trying to stir something up. I sound like an old git moaning, but I really don’t know why you would want to go to a game and not actually watch what is going on the pitch. £37 plus £1 bates tax to not watch the game. The worse thing is, that we had branch members who wanted to go, but we couldn’t get tickets for them because they had sold out, and they would have wanted to watch the game. This season we have played some of the most exciting football in years, well worth watching, yet some of our so called fans haven’t seen it and may as well have just sat in front of the box instead, just like the people that they moan about.

So, the next issue; social media. Whilst I appreciate the ease of communication that facebook provides, and The Secretary definitely does not miss those phone calls and texts late on a Friday night/ Saturday morning asking what time the bus is leaving, the world wide web sure does have its foibles. The trouble is once you write something on facebook or twitter or whatever else you use, it is there for ever and ever, and you cannot take it back. I thank my lucky stars that they did not have this when I was younger! Take our unlucky old number 19 player, for instance, look at what happened to him. I believe in Freedom Of Speech as much as the next man, but I have to draw the line when it comes to throwing insults at all and sundry, whether it be chairmen, managers or players, or their respective families. This is completely out of order, and this applies to singing and chanting as well. The odd comment can be funny, but when there is a continual barrage, its is neither big, nor clever nor funny. The press have always hated Leeds United, and this goes back to the Revie Era, and not just the team but Don himself. So, when you already have the newspaper conglomerates against you anyway, the TV Gods being awkward with Leeds United, despite them secretly enjoying our success because of the viewing figures, there really is no need to start a war on the rest of the 24 hour social media platforms, even if you are doing it after you have had a few too many. The long and short of it is that however long there appears to be “friction” in between fan groups, “fans” v Chairman, fans v fans etc. etc.  the media will reap in the benefits. “Divide and Conquer” or in its true form “divide et impera” Julius Caesar – divide and rule. Before Bad Papa Smurf the majority of Leeds fans were united. He sparked off the split between fans and to some that split is irreperable. In the last few seasons there have been attempts to “Unite” Leeds United fans, for example the Trust, this LFU thing and so on. None of these have really taken off, the march through Leeds City Centre where a select few were seen to be swearing and abusing shoppers didn’t help, and the “stunts” outside Elland Road left some with an extremely bad taste in their mouths. Personally, I think they should all just let it go. I think all fans groups who are able to engage in dialogue with Leeds United without unnecessary language and publicity stunts, should all have an equal footing.

At the end of the day, all we want to do is support our team. Our branch does it by buying season tickets or memberships and getting tickets and running coaches to away games when we can, thereby being part of that fantastic support that Garry Monk  keeps mentioning. The LUSC does it by sponsoring players and most if not all LUSC members have either season tickets or memberships. The motto of the LUSC: Always Leeds Always Loyal, Getting Members To Games Since 1919.

Excelsior!

Like many branch secretaries and admin folk today, 10.30am was spent watching the Leeds United website slowly tick down until tickets could be ordered for Blackburn Gold members. In the back of my mind was Sutton in the Cup, as well as Huddersfield.

Don’t get me wrong, since the news of the draw broke out many minutes have already been spent looking at the logistics of either Sutton or Wimbledon away. The aa route planner was, as usual, the first website visited, followed swiftly by an email to the coach company. Either ground looked like a long haul to get to and we simply  cannot dodge the parking lot that is the M25, so the only blessing is that it will be on the Sunday and traffic might not be as bad as what it could be. There are already people speculating about how our team will fare on the 3G pitch, but apparently Thorp Arch has the same pitch anyway, like most pitches in Scotland actually, and at least it won’t be as bad as that miserable excuse for a pitch at Histon. Incidentally, a game which should NEVER have been played, and in fact probably was only played because ITV Sport wanted to show it. Which says a lot about why football should not be governed by TV companies.

Going back to Sutton in the Cup, the main problem is the lack of tickets to these small grounds. Whilst in the build up to all of the cup draws, the usual people are wanting “glamour ties” or grounds that they have never been to, so they can tick them off, I much prefer home games all the way to the quarter final. Boring, yes, but at least I can be assured of a ticket and there is less chance that the branch will lose a load of money organising transport to a game where tickets are in short supply. For people who travel independently, or at least don’t have the responsibility for ordering tickets for other people, these little grounds are no problem, especially if they have the luxury of an away season ticket.

I say luxury, and I mean it. Not many of us have the funds to fork out the money for our season tickets and an away season ticket at the same time. I appreciate if you really want to devote your life to Leeds United, these are the lengths that you have to go to, but sadly, not everyone has the opportunity or the means to do so. So, the lucky few can make it to every single game if they can afford it. The rest of us have to rely on our own phones/laptops/devices or some very helpful branch admin person who is willing to devote their time on ticket ordering day to do it for them.

Needless to say, I really don’t like ticket ordering day, as I am the unlucky one who gets to sit in front of the screen watching the little yellow time bar go down from 10.30am onwards, sometimes an hour or more goes past, an hour that I will never get back. The build up to 10.30am consisting of worrying about whether the broadband will go down or not, if I have missed anyone off the list, if I get the tickets ordered in the correct order so people can sit with each other, etc. etc.etc. Before the updated Leeds United website, the added factor was if the ticketing process servers would cope with the strain of the number of tickets being ordered and the number of people trying to order. Thankfully, Leeds United have made improvements and have also very helpfully used their “Away Games Tracker System”. I know many people are against the use of this tracker system, but given it allows the loyal few who go to the majority of the away games through the season to be guaranteed a ticket, most will struggle to hold a valid argument against it.  There continues to be the few who moan that they can’t get tickets to away games, but considering Bristol, Cardiff and Brighton games were still selling on the day and more recently Blackburn ( to press these tickets are still on sale) haven’t sold out yet, I don’t think these people have a leg to stand on really. What they actually mean is that they selfishly want to be able to pick and choose which games they want to go to over and above anyone else, regardless of whether they have made the effort to any other games or not. Harsh but fair. Sadly, this is true for home games as well. I was one of the paltry 8000 who turned up to the 3rd round Blackburn cup tie at home. Although the Club admitted that the pricing could have been better for non season ticket holders,  there were still 14,000 or so tickets were up for grabs for £15. The crowd was disappointing to say the least. The following Cup game (Norwich 2-2 but beat we them on penalties) didn’t really start selling until we beat Wolves the weekend before, despite them being a very reasonable £10 for season ticket holders and £15 for non season ticket holders. On the night of the Norwich game, the queues at the ticket office at Lowfields were horrendous apparently, but anyone who was lucky enough to be there witnessed a cracking game, which unfortunately signalled the start of Norwich’s decline into mid table mediocrity. Had we got a home fixture in the next round instead of Liverpool away, there would be no doubt at all that Elland Road would have sold out. I don’t begrudge anyone who is starting to come back, I am happy that they are. There are many who for their own reasons chose to stay away from Elland Road, some just simply could not afford to come back and some can only make it to a few games because of geography etc. The team and the manager and the owners are keen to reaffirm their commitment to and their appreciation of the fans, so the more the merrier I say.

On Sunday 29th January 2017, the branch will have it’s day out in true Harrogatewhites fashion, and a good day out will be had by all. In previous seasons  it would be at this point where I would add, “before it gets ruined by the 90 minutes on the pitch”, but this is just not the case any more. For too long have those words been a stock phrase when it comes to talking about Leeds United, and I am very glad that I don’t have to churn to them any longer.

Today Massimo Cellino sold Andrea Radrizzani a 50% stake in Leeds United, and Mr Radrizzani has reportedly said that he is excited to work alongside Mr Cellino to make Leeds United as successful as possible. He also said that he is aware of the heritage and traditions and wants to be a fitting custodian on behalf of the Leeds United Supporters who are the lifeblood of The Club.

After the years of misery under Bates, can you believe someone is saying that?

However unbelievable that is, it is even more unbelievable that there are still people who cannot bring themselves to be happy that this is happening, and are choosing to see only the worse possible scenarios of this. Whilst I completely respect that everyone is entitled to their own views, as we do live in a democracy, I am now getting really fed up with all this negativity.

I suppose this situation can be paralleled with the Star Wars franchise in some bizarre way. Whilst the original Star Wars films had their individual moments of epic cinematic history which gave them their greatness. There is no doubt that certain things like those annoying Ewoks (for the benefit of The Branch Secretary) and those other weird creatures in Jabba The Hut’s entourage, seemed a little out of place in the trilogy. However, the original Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi films were THE benchmark. The one thing everyone will hark back to, and now that Carrie Fisher has gone to that galaxy far, far away, she is the icon of a generation.

Then came perhaps THE biggest mistake of all time, the release of the “pre-quel” films. The Phantom Menace, which was ruined by Ewan MacGregors really dodgy accent. The Attack Of The Clones or rather Jar Jar “Chandler Bing” Binks Story, ruined by Hayden Christensen this time around and similar to the next film Revenge Of The Sith, sabotaged by poor CGI. The films were a long time coming, they were filled with promise and came with a massive advertising campaign, but alas failed to live up to the standard of the original films, both in acting prowess and storyline, despite George Lucas doing his level best.

So to The Force Awakens, and many fans were worried that after the last three shoddy attempts, it was going to be another unprecendented disaster, quite honestly, in my opinion, it was pretty darned good. I have now seen Rogue One, and without giving too much of the plot way, that explains that! All credit to JJ Abrams, he took us back to that epic adventure in 1977 within the first 10 minutes of the film, back to what the fans wanted, not the CGI nonsense that we had been served up in the last three films. I agree that you cannot make a film about a galaxy far, far way without CGI, because there are no such things as starships, right?, but when the effects take over the film and the acting despite Samuel L “Mother******** snakes on a plane” Jackson and Liam “I have a very particular set of skills” Neeson, resembles the collective acting talent of Nativity 2: Danger in a Manger, you are already losing the battle.

Are you still keeping up with me? What parallels I hear you say?

I am not saying that Princess Leia is Billy Bremner, but what I am saying is that, most Leeds fans will hark back to our Glory Years. For some that is the Revie Era, for others the Championship side of 1989/90 and 91/92 and for the younger ones, it is the team that got us into the semi finals of the Champions League. These are the standards that we use to compare our current situation with.

After the debacle of Ridsdale and O Leary, Bowyer and Woodgate etc. we fell from grace with a massive thud. Successive failures under Krasner, Crozier and The “Consortium”, left the Club bereft and dangling by a thread to be swept up by Bad Papa Smurf and converted into what became his giant cash register, with lots of money coming in and out but no particular place to go…. definitely NOT in his pockets, given he always said that he never took a wage.. your Honour, and definitely no receipts or invoices. Then came the poorest Arabs on the planet, welcomed in with open arms by Mad Papa Smurf and certain vociferous members of the Leeds United fan base who claim (and still do) that they are the voice of the fans.

The result? Continuing abject failure. Failure to get a decent manager, failure to secure a decent team which didn’t consist of hasbeens and mercenary one season or half season wonders who no one else wanted, failure to beat Rochdale in the Cup, need I go on?

It is now nearly three years since Cellino tried to sack Brian McDermott, and how far have we come? As it stands today, we are third in the league and about to play either Sutton or Wimbledon in the 3rd round in the FA Cup after getting very near to quarter finals in the League Cup.

I say we have come a very long way!