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

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. 

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. 

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

It began in February 2022, or at least that was the starting point of our story. It could be said that perhaps the ideas were set in motion sooner, but for us, it began in Feb 2022.

I’ll start the story with the classic Star Wars rip off…

A long time ago, in a League far, far away…

It began with Leeds United, a footballing side with lots of history but in recent times, had fallen on hard times. Owners, managers, skint Arabs, liquidations, you name it , Leeds had done it. The scale of the tumultuous fall from Grace, was forever known as “Doing A  Leeds”.

Then a little known manager arrived on the banks of the River Aire from, of all places, Argentina. Not the massive footballing nation of the U S of A, from the smaller, less significant continent of South America.

The football was different and  like a breath of fresh air, Leeds United  breathed life into a stagnant EPL. Soon, both players and pundits, managers and fans and the all important True Gods of Football, became transfixed in what later came known as Bielsaball. Leeds United once again, rose from the devastation of 17 long years away from Top Flight football, and were reborn.

But, despite the awakening of the Forgotten Giant with fancy footwork and quality football, it was just not good enough to increase the Global brand of the “magnificient new” Leeds United. The football on the pitch was good, but it’s global presence was still in it’s infancy. The potential was there, but it was hampered by it’s marketability.

The new American investment in Leeds United, by the 49ers, was part of a second attempt at a USA foray into the EPL. This time, it’s mission was to build back better. After the last couple of minor incursions by the Glazers of Man Utd and the Hicks and Gillet double act at Livarpool hadn’t really scored them many points, The Americans dabbling in the English football game had to get better. When the Henry dynasty of FSG, along with Lebron James, managed to finally get a better footing on Merseyside, with the help of Gurning Klopp, Uncle Sam’s foot was firmly wedge in the door.

With the Kroenke family at Arsenal, the Edens at Villa, Clearlake at Chelski, the two part owners at Fulham and Palace and lastly the guy who bought Bournemouth, there were now 9 PL clubs owned / part owned by USA groups or sporting partnerships. Cue the Welsh assault, by the albeit Canadian born, but now dual registered, Ryan Reynolds and lo and behold, in Feb 2022, the English football league was well within the bounds of the “Special Relationship”.

Back to Leeds United in February 2022.

The global brand seriously needed a kick start at this club. Luckily, despite having a decent first season in the PL, Leeds United were mightily suffering with injuries, and a change of manager could be the catalyst for change. Bielsa had good footballing knowledge on the pitch, but knew very little about the corporate side of things, off the pitch. He didn’t like doing interviews, and the only social media presence was just of him with fans taking selfies. He didn’t really like the players to be distracted by off field activities, so promotion of the “Global brand” was not his forte.

Perfect. Dispose of Bielsa and install someone who really knew how to market the brand. The Bielsa audience was dull. Realistically, he could only engage with the South American continent. Hardly a massive football history there then! Inconsequential, as there would be no market there to engage with. Saturation point was selfishly with their own teams, River plate – what sort of a name is that?

In February 2022, Leeds United were in midtable with 12 games to go. With all their injured players imminently due to return, and with a reasonably easy run in to the end of the season, European football was easily within their grasp. The ideal time to bring in a Champions League manager to guide them into European Glory? Cue the contenders from the Champions League managers list. Javi Munoz from Lincoln Imps FC? David Healy from Linfield FC? Stephen Bradley at Shamrock Rovers. The guy from Rangers FC? Jaissle from Salzburg?

How incredibly lucky that Jessie wanted out of RB Leipzig. And how lucky for Leipzig he did as they are 4th in the Bundesliga at Feb 2023. He was a much better fit and happy in front of the camera, with soundbytes a plenty. Plus the players all loved him at Leeds, who could forget his quote:

Nobody would care that Bielsa was unceremoniously ditched, because the rumours about him losing the dressing room were rife, and plenty of senior players were complaining about him already. The last game of the season came and went, with a thrilling end with Leeds United avoiding relegation and it made great TV on the day. Yes, Phillips and Raphinha were obviously never going to play in a Leeds shirt again, but the money they brought in meant a bumper BIG money signing session was imminent.

The dissenting Bielsa lovers would be shouted down by the fans who got the big money signings that they craved in the summer. The added bonus was that the Bielsa legacy players would be replaced by American players. Cementing further the influence of Stars and Stripes Soccer in the English game.

The start of the 2022-23 season was as good as it could have been, with results against Wolves and Chelsea ensuring that American Boi was sung from the stands. The American dream was complete. The next bonus was the success of the USMNT – cowabunga!

(no, not them!) in the Slavery world Cup.

The USMNT fared considerably better than the silenced German team and most of the other big National sides like Belgium and Uruguay.

The plan that started Feb 2022, was making headway and everything was going to plan. The global brand of Leeds United was growing and more and more high profile Americans were making their way across the pond.

The success of the USMNT ensured that promotion of Stars and Stripes Soccer was kept relevant, and with the return of the likes of Pusilic and the Leeds United midfield mastery, there was no fear that the American dream would be fading.

February 2022, was the beginning.

Now, in February 2032, it is all going swell.

The influence of our American owners and managers have meant that all that relegation rubbish that used to happen in the old EPL disappeared by 2027. We never understood the need for all that promotion and relegation business. There wasn’t the need for it in NFL, NBA, MLS and MLB. As we proved, if we didn’t have a need for it in the US, why did anywhere else need it?

And we established the ESL by 2025 easily. All the other big clubs in Europe were more than happy to just play each other all the time and not bother with home country Cup competitions. The Copa Del Rey and FA Cup in England were small fry and not necessary for our global success. Who needs the likes of Brentford, Nottingham and Sheffield.

Barca and Real were in it from Day One and these legacy fans of the “old leagues” were quickly removed from the scene by digital ticketing and dynamic pricing. Pricing out these match attending fans was easy, they were never necessary once we got the stadiums all rebuilt by the guys that did so well in Qatar. The acoustics in them meant that the sound could be artificially generated so it sounder great on TV. The TV money was the plentiful with everyone made to pay per view each game using the special ESL World Wide Channel.

The money from corporate packages alone at the start of the ESL made billions, and the smaller clubs were easily pushed out by the larger franchises. The national leagues in Europe have been whittled down to 10 teams per Red Bull League in each of the Eastern and Western conferences. Luckily all the EPL franchises in the UK are now based in London, which makes it easier to travel to and from the games in the 3 games per week corporate packages.

By 2027, the World League was formed with the Galaxy and DC United being the inaugural members of the League. And with all the major franchises agreeing to play on the the countries capital cities, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich etc. the travelling carbon offsets are easily manipulated to ensure our zero carbon footprint is maintained.

The fans just all watch in the fan parks now, where we can charge them overpriced food and drink, on top of their ticket price. We control every match attending fan ensuring that only the “right” fans get into these games.

Leeds United? Now Red Bull United. It amalgamated with Manchester United in 2025 and with all their London based followers, it seemed the best thing to do was franchise the Manchester United, Leeds United and West Ham United teams together. They play at the London United stadium now.

And to think, it all began in February 2022

There’s many of you who have no idea where the phrase, “Dad, I fink I got it wrong again” comes from. The picture above comes from 70s time machine, and is of the late, great Dick Emery in one of his many guises, this time of Gaylord, the Bovver Boy. Yes – that was his name and yes Bovver Boys were, well, Bovver Boys. Bad lads +/- knuckledusters.

https://www.facebook.com/sixties.timemachine/posts/dad-i-fink-i-got-it-wrong-again/2177418865645743/

Ah, the 70s, those were the days. When hardly anyone ever took offence to anything that was said in jest, especially things that were said on the telly or in magazines. When there were more important things in life to worry about. Like having a job and earning a wage.

If you think inflation is bad now, just imagine how bad it was in the 70s, when it got to 20%+ at one point. Mind you, not everyone had a telly, let alone 3 tellys, 2 laptops and 5 mobile devices in the house. So you weren’t reminded how bad it actually was 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

There were 3 day weeks, power cuts, miners strikes and a proper winter of discontent. We had freezing winters – also known as winter weather, and boiling hot summers – also known as summer weather. At school, we were taught that it was the dawn of the New Ice Age too. So there! Science eh?

We had the Troubles in NI, Mrs Thatch, unemployment and the threat of bombs, spies with  poisoned umbrellas and nuclear war hanging over us from behind the Iron Curtain. But we also had flares, Mr Benn, the Clangers and Bob Marley.

The 70s, when football was still the working class game and hooliganism was in it’s infancy. The 70’s, when we needed that two hours of escapism from real life, because real life was frankly, quite depressing. Football was two hours of just being normal, with normal people. Two hours of everyone around you being on an equal par with you. Rich or poor. You were just a football fan, that was it.

Racism? Well, if you were going to football in those days, you will have been well aware of the 90 minutes of racism, sexism and Sectarianism and all the other -isms which were rife on the terraces in those days. The PC crowd that are having the vapours now, would be spontaneously combusting within seconds, if they ever went to a game then. Football was a route of release of anger and frustration of the world as it was. But most of it was said on the terraces, and stayed on the terraces. That was, unless of course, people did carry it in the organised marches etc. There was a lot disaffected youth in those days. There are always bad apples in any barrel.

As racist, fascist, sexist and Sectarianist (yeah – probably not a word, Mrs Barrett my old English teacher would be appalled) people were in those days, at least people didn’t go around burning books written by children’s authors and publicly encouraging violence and death threats. At least Mrs Thatch, Lawson and their MPs weren’t photographed at public demos, in front of signs inciting hatred and decapitation of a group of people whose beliefs have been reduced to a mere derogatory  abbreviation. At least in the 70s people were allowed to live and let live on the whole.

It says it all about today’s society when people can throw paint on works of art or sit on the road for hours with the rozzers bringing them cups of tea, even though they are causing a nuisance, but football fans can be Section 14ed within seconds of arrival outside a stadium. The same society and media channels which stood by, watched and filmed flag burning on Cenotaphs and peaceful looting, are quite happy to see football fans coralled and treated like second class citizens, purely because they are following their football team. 

I digress, sorry, back to football.

“Dad, I fink I got it wrong again” was one of those stereotypical, comedic character assassination catchphrases on the telly at the time. 70’s observation comedians just accepted that some people in life just couldn’t get things right. Some people just said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing all the time. Some people misread the situation, or just simply had no clue that they were doing anything wrong, at all.

It wasn’t just Dick Emery, take the Michael Crawford character Frank Spencer. “Ooh Betty”, he used to say.

Hapless and blissfully happy in his lack of understanding. A life of  innocent ignorance of what was blindingly obvious, to everyone else. My – that’s a fine jumper and shirt combo. I think I have seen that before!

I fink I got it wrong again?

Hands up if you know what I am going to say next. 

How long is this going to carry on? How long are we going to continue sleepwalking with this grand plan? Are we really going to be one of those PL teams consigned to relegation fodder season after season?

I had a bit of a disagreement post match, after the thrilling 0-0 on Sunday against Brentford. A Brentford side, that Brentford fans freely admitted, were only there to not lose the game. A side that were happy to time waste, dive and cheat,and basically go through the motions for 90 minutes just to avoid losing. Shades of Villa? It’s awful to think that we have become THAT side. A side that teams will visit, knowing that an adequate draw will be ready and waiting. Have WE and Elland Road become that 1 pointer? Dear oh dear. 4 wins all season? The table doesn’t lie.

How has it come to this?

Since Bielsa left, the Club have basically done what the fans (some fans – not me) have wanted. The fans who once we got promoted, just expected us to be immediately challenging for Europe and spending like Everton – cos that’s worked out well, hasn’t it?  Nevermind this develop and play the youth nonsense, the fans deserve better than the Youth team.

So, the Club have done what the fans want, and finally spent BIG. They’ve given in and splashed the cash for SkinnyJ and let him buy all his former players up. It’s not even the end of January, and we have EVEN more time to buy more players in. There’s probably more coming in as I type this up. I won’t know any of them, but the Superfans will. They’ll all undoubtedly have masses of Champions league experience and be fit as a fiddle, ready to start on Saturday against the Mighty Accrington Stanley.

Accrington Stanley? Who are they?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pieK7b4KLL4

Remember that one? Classic.

My heated discussion? I dared to say that we were probably playing better joined up, team football under Warnock.

Warnock, with his team of skill lacking hasbeens and mercenaries bought with miniscule funds from the the tiny B*tes “warchest” were playing better than we have been playing so far. After all, football is a team sport. It isn’t just all about one (or three) player (s), is it? Under Warnock we had a poor side, Steve Morison, Michael Tonge, Michael Brown, Stephen Warnock, and Diouf. It genuinely hurts to say these names again. But we had a side that tried their level best, and played and partied as a team – with Paddy Kenny.

At the moment we just don’t play like a team. There is no cohesion, apart from that imaginary piece of string that keeps us all tied together, so narrow all the time. At times, it reminds me of that term, “trying to push square pegs into round holes”. It’s like watching a toddler smashing that square chunk into the triangle hole, without thinking about looking first to see where the triangle hole is. It is painful. Very painful.

We have an embarrassment of talent in that team – or “group” as SkinnyJ calls them. Seriously, what is wrong with calling them the TEAM? Yes, Bielsa bought Raphinha and Dan James, but since he left, I think we have spent more money than Top 5 in the table, Champions League / Cup semifinalists, Newcastle. They only bought a couple of new players in. We’ve bought 5 or 6 now at least. It could be more, I have lost count.

The last guy cost £30 million? And, as a bonus, most of them are fit! Even Lord Bamford is getting there after he injured himself scoring against Brentford last season. This time last year, most of the team were still out to injury and we hadn’t fielded a full strength side since the season before.

So with all this talent, internationals, Champions League veterans, blah, blah, blah, how come we can’t string 3 passes together and have a decent holding midfield? How is it that Pascal is still playing out of position and him and Ayling / Rasmus are having to put the majority of crosses in? Why is it that our defence are so far forward when we are attacking, that they get caught on the break, time and time again, when we fail to score? We are so vulnerable to the counter attack after our set pieces fail to come to fruition. The defence leave poor Meslier abandoned like an unwanted kitten so often, it’s a wonder that he doesn’t think of giving up on his Lynx Africa.

Why are we STILL so narrow? Everyone blames the defence, or Rodrigo. But our problem lies  not solely at the feet of Coops, Koch, Llorente and Struijck or indeed, up front. It is the inbetweeners who are guarding the centre circle that need a stern talking to. 

Pascal has stepped up all season playing out of position. He was made Captain at Cardiff. Why? Was there really no one else? The pressure on him must have been immense at such a young age. The constant criticism of him, even though he is out of position, as part of our back four, must now be affecting him. His confidence must be shot. Yet, he goes forward constantly, given the chance and is our main attacking force at corners.

Poor Rodrigo is playing up front on his own, but more often than not has to retrieve the ball for himself. Then when he gets free and runs towards the goal, he finds himself with no target man for the final ball. And don’t even talk to me about “seconds” and following the ball into the net.

Frankly, had that guy Bamba Dieng agreed to come here from Marseille, or Cody Gakpo from PSV, or even that Wolves player Hwan Hee Chan, in September, where would we be?

Without Willy Gnonto, that’s where we would be.

Realistically, we only got the Moretti swilling, spaghetti munching winger because we didn’t get any of the others in September. Thank goodness for Victor “making do” with this relatively unknown Italian international, who in SkinnyJ’s own words, wasn’t ready to play in the PL til at least January. If any of you are still in denial, go back to the transfer news from September yourselves and look at our headline targets. I fink I got it wrong again? 

But Willy certainly has spared the blushes of SkinnyJ.

Without Gnonto, we probably wouldn’t be in the 4th round of the Cup and we would probably be 2 points off relegation. Oh wait, we are a point off relegation. But we are 15th! 3 points off 13th and with a better goal difference than Forest. Forest, look how much they’ve spent.

But we are at least in the 4th round after Sonny Perkins bagged the equaliser against a Cardiff side that hadn’t won a game since November and were down to 10 men. One of their players hadn’t kicked a competitive ball in 2 months I think. But we managed to get a result and force a replay, which we easily won in a fantastic 5-2 do or die display at home against managerless Cardiff. Willy and Lord Bamford showing us what we can do when we get into space, use our wingers and more importantly, play Harrison in his rightful position. For however long he stays at The Club, that is.

After all, we are spending money like it’s going out of fashion, a la Viv Nicholson, and you mustn’t go to bed just yet… Especially if you are Joffy, Harrison or any of the old Bielsa players who may have been in the youth team, like Drameh. Because you may find that you have been moved on in the morning.

Drameh who had a fantastic spell at Cardiff, and was their Player of the Season, despite only going there on loan in January. Drameh, who along with many of the other players sent out on loan during 21-22, was welcomed back at the end of the season with the promise of a “clean sheet”. Players who we probably will never see in a Leeds shirt again, because the fans want BIG MONEY signings. We are a PL team after all. It is what is expected.

One in, one out. The dismantlement of the Bielsa Legacy continues. As I have said before, what message does this give to the youth team players? The Club are willing to splash the cash on a big squad of German / Austrian / French players, so the chance of getting a first team place is dwindling by the second. But surely, Bielsa was the one who didn’t value the Youth teams, wasn’t he? 

But this is what the fans want. And the fans know better, don’t they?

I fink I got it wrong again? We will just have to see how it goes for the rest of the season on the pitch.

Off the pitch? I could just copy and paste the wrongness that I have written of all season about poor decisions regarding matchday facilities and mobile ticketing etc. I’ve said it time and time again, the Club are not really bothered about matchgoing fans. The Club’s efforts are based on the larger population of non match going fans. This is the market and the money that the Club needs to tap into. It is a global enterprise after all.

What I will say is that at a time where people are choosing between heating and eating, where money is being stretched, the decision to stop print at home tickets is poor. Not everyone can afford a smartphone. People rely on work phones which they shouldn’t really use for football. Forcing people to get a smartphone just so they can go to watch football is poor form.

Is it really to stamp down on touting? Given it is so hard to get a ticket to watch us, I wonder how many people are selling their ticket on? Can it really be that many? 37,000 or so capacity. 22,000 season ticket holders and 2500 or so away fans. God knows how many corporate fans there are. There’s enough of them to fill up the East Stand lower upper tier though on a matchday. Taking all that into consideration, there can only be 6,000 normal tickets on any given matchday in the stands. Are there that many Leeds fans willing to skank fellow Leeds fans and sell on their tickets? You’d have thought that anyone lucky enough to get a ticket would actually be going to the game? Surely.

Which nicely brings me to the end of this latest rant. Who are the Club listening to? 

The fans who want the Club to spend big obviously. Even though, as we have seen from the likes of Everton, spending big does not necessarily translate into results. Newcastle, as previously mentioned, did not splash the spondoolies, yet are sitting pretty in 4th.

What is interesting is that the fan base over the last year have been split and are at risk of being further polarised. The division? Our manager. Even the players seem a bit put out. The news of the “senior players mutiny” couldn’t have been handled any less tactlessly than on the TV coverage of the Cardiff game. The cameras carelessly drifting over the faces of Dallas and Coops in the stands, as the commentators spoke of some dissent in the changing rooms. Was that a hint or what?  

Under Bielsa, Leeds players and fans alike, united together. In fact under Bielsa, not just the team united, the City of Leeds united. Yes, it helped that the football was good and something we hadn’t seen for ages, but, for a few seasons at least, we were united.

But that was the past, and the here and now is much much different.

The pity is that we have gone from being united under one manager; one belief, one entity, to being divided into those who like and those who don’t like old SkinnyJ. The ones who trust him and the ones who do not. And, as the saying goes, “never the twain will meet”. That’s Kipling for those of you who never did English Lit.

Everyone is allowed to have an opinion. The trouble is that in this brave New World 21st Century, if you don’t agree with someone, you get shouted down for daring to express your opinion. Especially if it goes against the “accepted” norm. You get lambasted as being an awful human being and, in terms of Leeds United, not a proper fan.

The sense of belonging that we had from 2018-2021 has dissipated into the ether. There is no sense of kinship, affinity and loyalty anymore. It’s Leeds, but not as we know it, Jim.

Instead we have division, because people just cannot accept that other people have their own views, and we agree to disagree like proper adults. No one is wrong or right, we are all just entitled to see things differently. It doesn’t make me a worse or better fan if I can’t get behind the manager. I don’t have to justify my thoughts to anyone. It is just what I think.

After all, who loyally stood behind the likes of Gary Monk, Darko Milanic, Uwe Rosler, Neil Redfearn (6 times), Brian McDermott, Steve Evans, Neil Warnock, Peter Reid, Dennis Wise (eek) EVERY time? Anyone? I don’t think so either.

Divide and conquer? Where have I heard that before? Hmmm. 2005?

Is this B*tes all over again, but bigger and on an international global scale? You heard it here first folks!  

If it is 21st Century B*tes all over again, what I will say is – bring it on, casinos and hotels and all. When Sad Santa came and tried to take Leeds away from me, I said this at the time. I was here before you, I am here now and I will be here long after you have gone. 

However long it takes, I will prevail, this is my team – not yours.