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The Case for the Defence...

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:58:40 +0100

An exclusive interview with Peter Haddock

At every football club you will find underrated or under appreciated players and between 1986 & 1991, one such player played his part in the revival of Leeds United AFC. The fans' choice of the 100 greatest players to wear the shirt has him in at 96 and fans who were privileged to witness him play always speak highly of him. He even managed to upstage both a young David Batty and new boy Bobby Davison on their home debuts. Peter Haddock, or “Fish” as he was predictably tabbed was entering the best years of his career when it was sadly cut short. As the new season dawned I was lucky enough to be granted an interview with the man himself in a bid to try to dig a little bit deeper into the memories of that unassuming Geordie lad with a moustache who simply played himself into Leeds United AFC folklore...

Peter, did you ever play against Leeds for Newcastle? "I played twice at Elland Road for Newcastle. One of the games was abandoned due to coins thrown onto the pitch at Kevin Keegan and crowd trouble. The other time was in the Cup at St James’ Park, Leeds won that day."

Opposition players seem to raise their games when coming to Elland Road nowadays, what was it like as an opposing player back then? " Elland Road was very intimidating, especially in those days when Leeds fans had a bit of a bad reputation. You always knew when you went to Leeds it’s not only the 11 players on the pitch but they certainly have a 12th man at Elland Road"

So, Newcastle were in the First Division, Leeds were in the Second Division and struggling so how did the move to Leeds come about? “I was planning to join Leeds on loan mid season, however I picked up a back injury and the move collapsed. The end of the season came and I was nearly out of contract with Newcastle, that’s when Leeds came in again for a permanent move.”

How did then manager Billy Bremner convince you to drop a Division? "I met up with Billy Bremner and my decision was made within two minutes of meeting him. He was a fantastic man and manager. He didn’t need to sell the club to me, I was being asked to play for one of the biggest clubs in English football, it just felt right."

Can you recall much of your debut? "It was away at Blackburn Rovers, however it ended up in a disappointing 1-2 defeat."

You then only went on to play a handful of games in 1986-1987 - was that due to injury or the fact that Billy simply preferred the Ashurst / Ormsby centre back pairing? "I picked up a Achilles tendon injury that season and missed 3 to 4 months which again was very disappointing."

Midway through the season, the club sold Ian Snodin, a real fans favourite, how did that effect the dressing room? "I think the offer from Everton for Ian Snodin was too good for the club to turn down. People come and go in football teams you just have to get on with your job."

Against Coventry in the FA cup Semi final, you came on as sub - what was that like? "Both Keith Edwards and myself came on together in the FA Cup semi at Hillsbourgh. It was very disappointing to lose the game as you can imagine, but I have to say the Leeds fans were absolutely brilliant. It is probably the best atmosphere I had witnessed as a Leeds player."

My memories from the day are mixed, I was in the seats and went mad when Edwards scored to level at 2-2 but clearly it ended in tears! What did Billy say and do to try pick up the team? "The dressing room was left devastated after the game, players were in tears but Billy just said he was proud of us and we should not feel down after our performance."

As were we fans! Moving on, you played no part in the Play Offs teams that season - how gutted were you to miss out? "I was in the squad for the Play Off games but due to my injury earlier that season, Billy kept faith with players who had been playing, which is fair enough."

After the disappointment at Hillsborough, I was heartbroken to miss out on promotion, how did the boys react to defeat against Charlton at Birmingham after getting so near? "We were so close to getting to the FA Cup Final and Division One that season so we were left feeling rather gutted at coming away empty handed."

So what then changed for you at Elland Road, as in season 1987/1988 you played around 38 games? "The next season was much better personally for me. I pushed my way into the team and held a regular place, playing in various positions. It was a injury free season for me and I picked up Player Of The Year which I was delighted with."

What do you remember about that goal you hammered in against Swindon? A lot of players say moments like this are like a blur, but are you able to re:live it? "I will always remember that goal. Running from the halfway line into the box, beating two players and then Tim Flowers in goal with a left foot shot. It was a fantastic feeling scoring at Elland Road, unfortunately it did not happen again, but it wasn’t my job to score the goals!"

My boyhood heroes that time were John Sheridan and Ian Baird. Who were your heroes in the game and did you ever get to line up with or play against them? "My hero as a youngster was Malcolm McDonald. I used to go see him play at Newcastle and was fortunate enough to play against him in a testimonial match."

Leeds finished 7th and missed out on the Play Offs that season, then the 1988 - 1989 season again seemed to be a tough one for you personally after doing so well only 8 games or so? "1988-1989 was another season I fell victim of injury. I had a knee problem and never got a run in the team."

You still ended up with the Player of the Year award in 1988, it must have given you immense satisfaction? "Winning Player of the Year for Leeds was the proudest moment in my career, especially as the fans voted for it. It gives you great satisfaction to see people notice you for being good at your profession."

So the team were not pulling up any trees including a 0-4 hammering at Portsmouth then Billy was sacked in the September of 1988. What was it like inside the camp at that time? "When Billy was sacked all the players were disappointed. I personally feel he was never given enough money to strengthen the squad, but he was undoubtedly the best manager I played for in my career."

Next up was Sgt Wilko. Did you know much of Howard before he arrived and how was his style different to Billy’s? "I didn’t know much about Howard Wilkinson before he came to Leeds. His style was much more direct to Billy’s, but it worked. The results we got proved that."

Were the players as scared of mad Mick Hennigan as we fans were? "Mick Hennigan was ‘mad’ I have to say I agree, but he was straight to the point and never minced his words, hard but fair."

The preseason of 1989-1990 always stands out for many fans as that really was the start of "A Happening" at the club. Over the summer, in came a host of players that really upped the ante, the likes of Sterland, Hendrie, and of course, Vinnie Jones. You went on to play 40 games or so that season, would you agree that this was your best season for Leeds ? "In 1989-1990 it all seemed to click into place. There was like you say a buzz around Elland Road and the players felt this as well. Howard bought a lot of quality players including Vinnie Jones. We were well organised and hard to beat and it was probably the most rewarding season of my career."

So with the incomings and the buzz, we had this massive build up and then first game, away to your old club Newcastle, we are 2-1 up at half time and you boys go let that Big lump Quinn notch 4 goals - erm, what happened? "It got off to a bad start at Newcastle unfortunately due to a couple of bad goals one of which was offside and the other a dodgy penalty! Wasn’t a nice feeling going back to your old club and being beat in that way."

That was just a blip though and whilst it was the midfielders and strikers taking all the plaudits, we only conceded 52 goals all season! How would you describe yur partnership with Chris Fairclough? "We had a solid defence that season, Chris Fairclough and myself formed a great partnership. We were good mates both on and off the pitch, which I think helped as well. He was fantastic in the air and solid tackler, while I read the game, was quick I must say and a good tackler. Anything he missed I mopped up."

As the season hurtled to a frantic finale, what are your memories of Bournemouth and all the things that surrounded that weekend? "The final game at Bournemouth was a blur! We went down early on Thursday and the players were feeling relaxed and confident we could get the job done. The night before the game we all went for a meal and a couple of glasses of wine, Howard made us feel relaxed. The game itself was over so quick, the conditions were very hot, but we knew what we had to do and were prepared to give every last bit of energy for the club. I was chosen as Man of the Match that day, so it could not have gone any better! In the dressing room after the match it was unbelievable and the celebrations went on back in Leeds. Everyone was delighted, we had got the club back up to its rightful place."

Out of all the squad in that promotion season, Wilko singled you out and claimed you were his player of the season, but promptly went out and bought Chris Whyte! How did that feel? "I felt really proud when Howard picked me as his Player Of The Year, however I was left feeling quite gutted when he went on to buy Chris Whyte the season after and I didn’t start the game at Everton."

Yeah, you were on the bench, but played in the first home game back in the Big League in the 0-0 draw against the Man Utd. You were drafted in to replace Glynn Snodin for the game? "We played three at the back, I played well but again was left feeling very disappointed at being left out for the following game at Norwich City."

You were making a few starts and the club was really doing well, then it sadly all went wrong for you. Do you recall the moment during the game with the Man Utd in which you got injured? "As the season went on I was in and out really, then the injury came. I went to challenge a ball in the air with Paul Ince, as I came down my leg landed in a hole in the pitch and my body twisted with the leg locked in the hole. I knew straight away I had done something serious. I was stretchered off and taken to hospital. My knee was totally rebuilt and obviously technology wasn’t as advanced as it is these days."

Injuries are part and parcel of the game and you have had plenty, so when did it hit you that you may never play again? "It took 18 months to get fit, but after one reserve game I knew the knee still wasn’t right. I went to see a specialist in London and that was when he advised me to retire."

You must have been gutted? "It was so disappointing how my career had ended, I was playing, I felt, the best football of my career. It was a decision I had to make for my future and family."

Looking back over your time with Leeds, what would you say was your fondest memory? "My fondest memory has to be winning Player of The Year and winning promotion in 1990 is up there too."

Who would you pinpoint as the best player you have lined up with in a Leeds shirt? "The best player I played with at Leeds was Gordon Strachan. He did so much as skipper for the club and is also a good friend."

As fans, we like to assume that after playing for a club it gives you players some sort of bond with the club and ourselves. We know that there is an element of you doing a "job", but how do you look back on your time with Leeds? "I feel very proud to have represented Leeds United around the country. It is such a great club, everyone knows it is, even people who have no connection with Leeds can see that. The fans are the best in the country by a mile!"

The club and fans have been though the mill over the last few years in the aftermath of Champions League, the melt down, the debt, the relegations and the now infamous 15 points! Have you any thoughts on current matters? "The way things are at Leeds at the moment is obviously not good, you have to feel for the fans as they have seen the club slowly fall, and could not do anything about it. My two sons are both massive Leeds fans and I can see how much it hurts. They have come home many a time disappointed, most noticeably at both the recent Play Off Finals in Cardiff and Wembley. However I feel Leeds have turned the corner now and that part is part of history. Without the 15 points last season they would have been promoted, which shows they have the strength in the squad to get out of League 1. I’m sure it wont be too long before we see Leeds United back there challenging in the Premier League."

As Peter mentions in the interview, both his sons Peter Jnr and Carl are massive Leeds fans and it would have been easy in many respects to join the Black and White army, Peter jnr picked up the story "We moved back up to Newcastle and I suppose I could of chosen to support them as all of my schoolmates do. However, Leeds just always stuck. Dad still took us to matches a few times a season and from then on we were set on this club. We do still get so much stick from mates and even family, especially in recent times. Our uncle, John Carver, was at Leeds not so long ago and he used to have his little niggles and say come support a proper team as he was the coach at Newcastle at the time. He has however changed his opinion since being at the club!"

The final words then to Peter Haddock Snr. Is there anything you would like to say directly to the Leeds fans reading this regarding the time you spent at the club? "I’d just like to say my time at Leeds was fantastic. I met some great people and the fans made me feel very welcome there. We are even thinking about moving back down to Leeds in the future as we enjoyed it so much. Keep supporting the club like I know you will, you are very loyal. Lets hope next season is the season we see Leeds bounce back!"

Leeds United AFC..."A Good Catch"... Keep Fighting...

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Doncaster Rovers 1 Leeds United AFC 0

Mon, 26 May 2008 08:44:40 +0200

Division Three Play Off Final
New Wembley Stadium
Sunday 25th May 2008

Trying to come down from the serious high of Howson's winner at Carlisle seemed mission impossible. Watching over and over, the beauty, the craft, the artistry of the whole move and the finish from the boot of the fresh faced player who knows what we have been through all too well. His reaction after the goal matched the madness on the crumbling terrace beneath our feet. We accepted it wasn't "Job Done" but the very fact that we had put in a shift when it mattered gave us reasons to be hopeful. It was only after settling down to witness Southend ravaged by Doncaster that finally brought one crashing to reality and bring into sharp focus the magnitude of the task in hand. Tickets were now the main priority and it wouldn't be Leeds United without a fiasco. The floodgates opened for the ticket hungry White army and with Season ticket holders and Members all guaranteed one ticket if they applied within the time frames, it was left to those who wanted to take friends, family or those fans who for whatever reason didn't qualify for the above to scramble on the Wednesday morning. Memories of 1987 flooded back as the queuing madness began at 10.30am the Tuesday morning and by 9am on the Wednesday, almost 6,000 Leeds fans were snaking around Fullerton car park and beyond after partying all night...

The midnight parties soon became distant memories as stories of people pushing in the queue during the morning and no structured crowd control filtered through. With the Police called in to control a situation that was getting out of hand, stories of how badly the waiting fans were treated hit the headlines:

Despite selling out our allocation of around 40,000, thousands of fans missed out and quickly headed to Donny to try get tickets there. Rovers had asked for 30,000 tickets with the option for another 5,000 but had only sold around 22,000. Chairman Ryan had offered to let Leeds have the remainder but the league denied this due to segregation issues. Whilst it is fair that the two clubs split the ticket allocation, one is left to wonder why a club with an average gate of around 8,000 thought that they could sell so many. It is also farcical that upon not selling them, these tickets were not allowed to be sold by Leeds, however this was mainly due to the way the tickets were sold. Rather than selling tickets block by block, a scatter gun approach was taken which ensured no feasible way of crowd segregation if the remaining tickets were sold to Leeds. In the midst of the ticket fiasco, we were given some good news on the playing front. In a clear case of "Should I be Swansea, should I be Leeds", the club announced that Swansea favourite Andy Robinson would be joining the club on a free transfer...

Rumours of the lad being spotted at Thorpe Arch earlier in the week were dismissed as fiction, but much to the dismay of the Swansea faithful, they came true. Those of us present in the away end at the Liberty stadium over Christmas were thrilled to bits that the lad has chosen to come to Leeds, as he fair ripped us apart that day. Even more surprising was that he was joining before knowing what league he would be in next season. Swansea refusing to let the player wait until after the game was over and forced the player into a decision. Robinson chose Leeds and if reports are to be true, it is claimed that we did not even match the record busting money offer from Swansea to retain his services. With tickets received via special delivery and an exciting player on the books for next season, we began looking for Omen’s and really there was only one place to start. There can't have been too many of the White army wanting a winner in Moscow as Manu took on Romans fantasy team. The fact remained however that many of us had one eye on 1999. For Leeds to have any hope of a Wembley "Man City" style win, the gods would have to favour the team in Red. It wasn't that we were willing them on you understand, nothing could have given us more pleasure for the game to be abandoned and the competition become null and void this season for due to the white shell suited Fergie's horrendous fashion sense...

However, there had to be one winner so we had to make the best of it and when Terry stepped up to "Miss it like Beckham", the writing was on the wall. Manu took the trophy, we were left to take the gloating armchair Manu fans taunts on the chin as surely we had a fair chance of history repeating itself:

By the time we had watched Hull City reach the Premiership the big day was upon us and the Leeds United AFC Invasion of London 2008 began in earnest. The plan was set and executed to perfection with a 7am departure down the Rovers infested A1 to Cockfosters, park up and get the tube into London town. Time to savour the sights, sounds and the atmosphere of the capital, before a tube to Wembley park. The trip down was one of anticipation and butterflies. We reminisced about the season we had witnessed, the long travels we had made the best of and what high spots remained lodged in our memories:

Of course whilst these memories bring a smile, it should not be forgotten that this season has brought its fair share of low points as well. Anyone claiming that its been all sweetness and light clearly has a selective memory, and whilst the novelty factor has been evident in a lot of our travels this season, we wondered just what lay ahead of us should things go pear shaped today. We rolled up in Leicester Square along with many of the White army leaving the tourists open mouthed, not sure what to think of all the good natured singing and chanting. Others headed to the ground early:

Onwards we went to the packed tube towards Wembley as thousands of Leeds fans crammed into the tiny compartments. Carriage after Carriage full of singing Whites and when Wembley was finally in view, a roar went up and a little lump in the back of the throat at the feeling of pride that we had got this far. Wembley park was full of singing Whites fans along with a smattering of Rovers supporters, desperately out numbered but not afraid to join in the good natured banter. Wembley way was a sea of Blue, Yellow and White, all smiling, all hopeful and all singing their hearts out:

It was the stuff of school boy dreams as we savoured the moment walking down the famous walkway towards the impressive new ground. As we approached the end of Wembley way, it was Leeds fans to the left, Rovers to the right and the difference between the volume of traffic was stark. A mere dribble of Rovers fans compared to an ocean of Leeds fans all in carnival mood as we made the last steps up the ramp to the ground. This was feeling good, too good, we had almost got ourselves to a point of forgetting the tendancy of the White knights to freeze in front of big crowds and not turn up to Yorkshire derbies. If fact we were on the verge of believing that it was indeed going to be third time lucky. Once inside, it was up the escalators and into the gods to find our seats. My last memories of the old Wembley were the 1996 League cup final, stuck a mile away from the pitch and behind the goal in a seat that a 5 year old would have struggled for leg room. Today we were high up, but there was no problem view wise or seat wise, it was simply fantastic. After feeling obliged to join in some of the pre: match entertainment:

The teams were announced and all of a sudden, there was a bad feeling about the place. The head screamed there is no place for sentiment in football, however the heart wanted to believe in McAllister because he had proved the doubters, including yours truly, wrong at Carlisle. So with Casper in goal, the back four was again Lubo, Huntingdon, Johnson and Fraser. Midfield was made up of Kilkenny, Prutton, Howson and Douglas with Freedman and Beckford leading the line. The teams were met by a stunning roar, that made the hairs on the back of the neck stand on edge, along with a firework display. The teams were then introduced to Lord Mawhinney and despite the loud music blaring out as he did so, I am sure he heard the White armies voice loud and clear:

We knew in the opening stages against Watford in 2006 that the team had simply not turned up. As the game got under way we felt a horrible feeling of deja vu. During the opening 15 minute spell Rovers almost dominated and really should have scored. Other than a Johnson speculative shot over the bar almost from kick off, it was one way traffic as Rovers came out of the blocks quickest...

First to every ball, they were fighting for everything and breaking with pace as runners from midfield left the White knights bamboozled. Huntingdon had to block a shot from Price before Wellena took the piss but found the side netting. It was once again to be Casper who was the Whites hero as he firstly came out to deny Coppinger on a one on one situation. Next up it was Hayter who broke through and again, Casper had to come out to rescue the Whites. Many claimed offside on both attacks, but they looked level from where we were. As many Leeds fans in the Donny end began to utilise the thousands of empty seats and gather together, we prayed that we could get a foothold in the game. As feared, we were once again too narrow and had no outlet on the wings for the ball. Our only source of width was coming from Fraser bursting forward, but each time he did, it was a gamble due to swift counter attacks. Beckford tried one from distance that Sully easily gathered and it was not looking good. We did however rally and manage to stop the Red tide, beginning to have sustained periods of possession. Alas, our attacks were slow, laboured and lacked a cutting edge. Rovers were the opposite and looked dangerous every time they got the ball. Beckford had a couple of half chances from long range, only one of which reaching Sully. Up the other end, it was again left to Casper to the rescue as he came out to tackle Hayter. Just before halftime we had our best move of the game, a fine build up saw the ball fed to Howson whose shot flew inches over the bar...

It was a relief to get to halftime level and all the armchair managers were of the same opinion. Kilkenny, who had been ineffective off for Sheehan, push up Johnson on the left wing and move Prutton onto the right of midfield. Simple this football lark isn’t it, but the opinion of the man in charge differed and his was the only one that mattered. Out came the boys and we started as we had the first, on the back foot. Rovers had won a free kick on the edge of the area and whilst the wall did its job, the follow up was put out for a corner. Stock swung it into the centre of the box and Hayter was left with a free header to notch a simple goal and send the Rovers lot mental:

We looked on with envious eyes as we screamed at the boys to Keep Fighting. The only good thing about conceding a goal just after half time is that you have plenty of time to get back into it. We huffed and puffed and there was no lack of effort, just once again a lack of a final ball or, when the chance presented itself, a cool finish. Freedman was, by his standards, having a poor game and the link up play between the front two was almost none existent. Beckford had another poor effort saved and Rovers were keen to show they were not yet prepared to rest on the one goal lead by breaking swiftly. Coppingers shot was deflected for a corner and again, Rovers looked the more likely to score. With time now passing faster than light, the urgency levels in the stands began to rise...

Screaming for more from the players, we watched them dig in and again enjoy spells of good possession but simply not penetrate. Macca decided it was time for a change and threw on Kandol for Prutton. With three up front we tried a more direct route, but Rovers were holding firm. Beckford had another weak effort saved before Johnson had a shot over the bar when he would have been better to look for a pass. On 71 minutes it was almost game over as Rovers broke again, Coppinger was in on goal and only a tremendous last ditch tackle from Dougie prevented a second. With that lucky escape we poured forward again with Howson and Freedman firing wide with half chances. Freedman was then taken off for Hughes who added a bit of bite and more urgency to proceedings, but even he was unable to beat the first man or miss Sully’s arms with crosses. In the last few minutes our big chance of taking the game to extra time fell to Dougie who smashed the ball just wide of the right hand upright. He held his head in his hands and we knew that the game was nearly up. In injury time we dared to dream of another late goal, but just as we began to look threatening, once again the final ball let us down as it had done so all game. The final whistle was greeted with delirium in the other half of the stadium, whilst we were left to stand with our hands on our heads, gutted that once again a Leeds side had failed to rise to the final occasion...

Whilst many departed, we watched through depressed eyes as Rovers fans celebrated and their players walked up to take the trophy. We applauded the shattered and deflated Leeds players and we defiantly sang. The players didn't seem to know what to do, so they just stood grimly watching the Rovers party and must have thought like us about what could have been. After the last Leeds player had trudged off the park, we took our leave and left the Rovers fans to it. What had been a sea of joy down Wembley Way earlier was now a defiant and proud funeral march. The Leeds fans once again taking defeat on the chin and singing for all we were worth. So, after an enthralling season of high drama, twists, turns and excitement, it was all over in a blur. In surroundings somewhat out of context given the places we have visited this season, the final hurdle was faced and failed. With no injustice, no controversy, no high drama, no bent ref, no dodgy decisions and nowhere for the conspiracy theorists to even begin. Its once again the White army left to endure the numbness of defeat and ponder just when fate will begin to deal cards in our favour. Once we pick ourselves up, we can reflect with pride as to what has been achieved this season. As the summer unfolds, the players will come and go and no doubt the obligatory takeover talk will begin. With new hope we will resume in August for "Escape from Division Three" part two...

Leeds United AFC... "The Beaten and the Damned"...Keep Fighting...

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Carlisle United 0 Leeds United AFC 2

Fri, 16 May 2008 21:54:21 +0200

Division Three Play Off: Semi Final - Second Leg.

Leeds United AFC Win 3-2 on Aggregate

It’s hard to imagine now, but it was it was around this time in 2001 that we were stood on a beach in Valencia, bathing in the warm sunshine and dreaming of glory. It had all gone so well, even the fight to get away from the missus was won with consummate ease, even though it meant leaving her to attend our first anti natal class alone. The locals were warm and friendly and the old town was stunning, as was the sight of hoards of the White army everywhere you looked. Our route to the Estadio Mestalla was pleasant and hopes of a Champions League final were in the air. This despite learning the day before that Lee Bowyer had been banned from the game due to an off the ball incident caught by the TV cameras. As match time approached, the 3,000 strong Whites gathered in the top tier looking out at what lay before them. The Leeds team, who had shaved their heads in a show of unity, had done us proud to even reach this point. The teams were greeted by a tremendous noise from both sets of fans and the game past by in a blur. After we were left reeling by yet another injustice as Sanchez used his arm "Raul like" to score the opener, from there on in & no matter how loud we sang, Valencia put on a master class. In the middle of it all, conducting as if in charge of an orchestra was the unbelievable Mendieta...

The game wore on and we tried to find a foot hold and though Batty and Dacourt were trying to galvanise the team, too many players had disappeared. We were grateful to be clinging on at halftime however it was soon all over. Just after the re: start, 2 goals in 10 minutes from Sanchez and Mendieta had 50,000 Valencia fans in great voice and left us realising the gulf between the sides was not limited to the volume in the ground or the use of arm to score goals. The football poetry that followed was a piss take and we prayed to the gods to go out with dignity and leave the score at 3. We almost managed that feat, but in the dying seconds, Smith’s stupid challenge earned him a deserved Red as heads went down. Heartbroken we watched the home fans party and got our chins up to give the Leeds team the praise they deserved. It was the end of the dream, we had floated through Europe with the grace of a hot air balloon with no quarter asked nor given. The European nights were special, no matter how the passing of time and the revelations that followed have soured our feelings and opinions. Memories are now all that linger, nights of wonder, nights of amazement, nights of Passion, Pride, Commitment and Desire...

It was the latter traits we were hoping for tonight as we got to grips with the reality of the current situation. After the initial warmth of the last gasp Freedman goal, the cold reality of what lay ahead struck over the next couple of days. We looked for Omens in the other Play Off games, firstly, Palace away at Bristol. Palace played superbly, scored early, but could not turn the deficit from the first leg around. Watford next at Hull, trailing 0-2 they too took an early lead and still succumbed as Hull ran riot and progressed. During the day tiny barbs from those around were met with a defiant face. These were the same people who laughed in your face when you arrived at work on the back of a 1-2 home defeat just a few days earlier. The same people who never reach further than a remote control for their football and the same people who never seem to follow a beaten team. The trip to the ground was quiet, bathed in sunshine as memories of the trip to "Job Done" Preston flooded the mind and triggered tiny sparks of hope. Inside the ground, the 1,600 White army assembled, stunned at what lay before us. Far from a packed house, the amount of empty seats and empty terraces that lay in front of us was a disgrace and must have made grim viewing for the unlucky ticketless whites...

We began as we meant to go on, if we were going to go down then the White army would go down singing to the end and despite no roof on the stand, we created a defiant atmosphere. McAllister gambled on team selection, frankly he could have changed up to 6 players after Monday night, however, much to the surprise of the fans he kept the faith. So with Casper in goal, the back four of Lubo, Fraser, Huntingdon and Johnson remained. As did the midfield of Kilkenny, Howson, Douglas and Prutton. Beckford and Freedman again up top. It looked like Dougie won the toss and we turned the teams around, so the lads were playing towards us in the first half. Just as in the first leg however, it was Carlisle who settled the quicker as they again used the wide men to cause us problems. The first real chance fell to Grant Smith, but his effort flew over. What was noticeable in the early exchanges was Carlisle’s decision to attack Fraser as if he was the weak link. It’s perhaps fair to say that Fraser has had a mixed season, however, Carlisle were about to be shown the side to Fraser we would like to see more of. Going forward, Beckford had a half chance, but it was 10 minutes in and our first real attack that gave the travelling army hope and notched us up a few more gears...

A clearance from Casper was headed on from the left by Prutton, Beckford reacted quickest and flicked a header on to Howson who instinctively sprayed the ball out left to Freedman. Freedman dinked it back into the box to Howson who found time and space to control the ball and lash home with his left foot and send us fucking ballistic. With scores level and all to play for the nature of the game changed. Still, Carlisle only needed a goal but it was looking more like we would grab the next one. Beckford guilty of wasting a great chance a few minutes later when he headed wide after a superb ball in from Johnson. The hopes in the away end were slowly growing, but every time we thought positive thoughts, the team responded by trying to make life difficult for themselves. In one breath defending superbly, but then, as we have seemed to do most of the season, pass the ball straight back to an opposition player. Fortunately, despite having the width and unlike the first leg, a combination of our determined full backs and no final ball by the home side meant they were not making us pay for our lapses. It was not all due to this however, one man was having a magnificent game in the middle of the park. Dougie who was sat just in front of the back four, was quietly and effectively mopping up as Prutton and Howson tried to find a way forward...

After wasting a couple of corners, Kilkenny tried to make up for it with a 20 yarder, but it was blocked. He then played a great ball through to Beckford, who was flagged offside. It was a good period of the game, but we feared that failure to find a second goal would be costly. When that bastard goalie Westwood denied Freedman on 38 mins we looked to the heavens and just wondered if it was going to be one of those horrid nights. Carlisle then tired to bring the game to us and had a great spell just before halftime. Our defiant back line continued to stay strong, but we were in danger of getting penned in as again we kept giving them back the ball and inviting them on. It was heart in mouth time as firstly a great ball was whipped in by Smith. Casper appeared to get something on it to divert it away from Graham, before the ball eventually fell to Dobie who twatted wide. Carlisle were to have the final say in the dying moments as Bridge - Wilkinson found himself in acres of space on the edge of the area. His low shot was well saved by Casper’s legs. Halftime was a relief and we couldn’t have asked for more from the boys. Well, some of us did ask for more and sub Hughes obliged by giving us a ball, however some silly twat threw it over the back of the stand leaving Hughes somewhat bemused...

Out came the boys for the second half and we again began in great voice. Freedman was first to try his luck, but his deflected shot was easy for Westwood. Beckford quickly followed that with two efforts on goal, neither really troubling the keeper. Carlisle’s players had again decided to keep trying to go at Frazer and he began what was possibly his best 45 minutes of the season as he meant to go on. On the other flank, Bradley Johnson was looking composed at left back, but Carlisle were growing and beginning to cause us problems. Lubo did really well to block from Bridge-Wilkinson before Graham headed weakly into Casper’s arms when he really should have done better. The best move of the game came our way however after a brilliant passing movement including Kilkenny, Richardson and Howson, the ball was fed to Prutton, but Jesus's shot was well saved by Westwood. It was a turning point in the game however as from there, Kilkenny stood up to the plate to try and get the Leeds attacks going. With Fraser overlapping quite brilliantly we had width on the right side and we utilised to good effect. Dangerous crosses were being flung into the box and it was Carlisle’s turn to give away defensive possession easily and we were able to keep up sustained pressure...

Howson saw a great shot pushed away for a corner. 3 corners in quick succession later saw Johnson’s brave header hit the fucking post with the keeper beaten. We stood with hearts in mouths and head in hands, was that the chance to take us to Wembley gone. Carlisle tried to rally, but although their fans were screaming they were going to Wembley, the longer the game went on, the players seemed to lose a bit of heart and run out of steam. Huntingdon was now having a great game but he managed to give away a free kick on the edge of the area. It seemed soft, but the benefit went to Ref Alan Wiley who, in my opinion, was having a faultless game. The script seemed to be written for a stunning home goal, but it was not to be. The wall stood tall and firm and away we went again, looking for something, one last effort to finish the game in normal time. Dougie tried one from distance for yet another corner but just as so many corners over the course of the season, we failed to make anything from it. After Johnson had got forward well and fired wide, we were resigning ourselves to extra time. Given how the game was going, this was by no means a disaster, Carlisle’s players looked heavy footed. As the board went up for 1 minute injury time, we stood and watched, as on halfway Dougie found Kilkenny...

Kilkenny's swift ball forward found Freedman on the edge of the area and his instinctive lay off found Howson in space. Young Howson took collected the ball, took one touch, looked up and swung his left boot at it from the edge of the area and drove a fucking beauty past the despairing Westwood for a late late winner. The away end was carnage as bodies flew everywhere in utter delight, it was a case of just grabbing hold of the person next to you to and clinging on for dear life as we were flung around like rag dolls. The celebrations were ongoing as the whistle went and we went fucking mental. With pissed off Carlisle fans on the pitch blocked by lines of Police and Stewards, the Leeds players went off. We were being held back by the Police but we sang ourselves hoarse until the pitch was cleared and out came the Macca and the boys a while later to soak up the celebrations...

So the result leaves us planning for one last trip down south to the New Wembley. Its these moments that make football so special, the feeling of a mixture of pride & delight was and is immense and not something we had felt since that night in Preston in 2006. Preston was an amazing night, but this win was much sweeter given the position we found ourselves in after the first leg. These feelings are however tempered somewhat by the knowledge that we have still achieved nothing yet. We don’t need reminding that no matter how good this night was, the experience down at Cardiff in 2006 taught us to simply savour the moment, but keep our feet firmly on the ground and not get carried away. The final chapter of this amazing season in Leeds United AFC’s history is about to be written. Wembley braces itself for an invasion of around 40,000 of the proud White army as we begin the countdown to what we pray to the gods will culminate in our escape from Division Three...

Leeds United AFC... "We're the famous Leeds United and we're off to Wemberrrrllllllleeee"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 1 Carlisle United 2

Tue, 13 May 2008 00:37:08 +0200

Division Three Play Off: Semi Final - First Leg.

Love 'em or loathe 'em, the league Play Offs are now part and parcel of the English game. The two legged Semi final has become a cup tie lottery where form books are discarded and even the most hardy supporter is left with nervous exhaustion. For the eventual winners of the Play Offs, the prize on offer is immense. For the losers however, it could mean so much more than heartbreak. Those of us who have followed the fortunes of Leeds United AFC know that it has been a magnificent achievement to get to this point. When Wise abandoned a bandwagon with 3 flat tyres mid season, the prospects of even getting to the Play Offs were fading fast and with them the chance of a period of much needed stability at the club should we get promoted. For the last few years, stability has been lacking in so many areas at the club & not only off the pitch. Due mainly to two relegations in the space of four years, the picture on the pitch has been anything other than stable. With Macca and co performing a remarkable "pit stop", the club has not only stopped the freefall, but both galvanised and progressed, underlining why Bates moved to extend their contracts. So on the managerial front, we have some kind of stability at least for another season. However one fears yet another exodus of players should the fickle finger of fate decide that once again, Leeds United AFC are doomed to failure...

Many suggest that the squad, as it stands, would not be far off cannon fodder in the Championship. However, there's a good nucleus of players in place if we can keep the talented ones together. This combinded with attracting a smattering of new faces, a feat we would surely manage upon promotion, would give us a good chance of staying up. As it stands that is all "stuff and nonsense" and as Bates always plans for the "Worst case", its the fear of what another season in League One would bring that linger. Many are already talking about the prospect of another turn over of first team players and that would make next season look like a mountain to climb and thats even though we would be starting off at Zero points. The stakes for the club seem once again high and with these happy thoughts going through the back of the mind we prepared to face Carlisle. It was more than ironic that as Kandol hit the back of the net as opposed to Row Z against Gillingham, his goal scoring act unwittingly changed the Play Off picture completely. Had we finished 6th, we would have drawn Doncaster Rovers. Whilst they beat Leeds at Elland Road this season, they may have been more preferable over two legs than Carlisle. Despite recent form, they have given us two magnificent games this season. Beating Wise & Bassett's side 3-1 at Brunton Park and narrowly losing to Macca's side 3-2 at Elland Road. Before tonight's game, Leeds United had only ever played twice on May 12th. In 1984 we drew 3-3 with Birmingham City and in 1984, we beat Charlton Athletic 1-0...

If we were looking for omens, as we football fans tend to do, then this wasn't the best. Lest we forget, back in 1987 and after beating Oldham on the away goals rule in the Play Off Semis, the two legged final against Division One Charlton Athletic had ended in stalemate. With no plans in place for how the tie should be decided, the FA hastily got their heads together and decreed that the replay would be held at Birmingham City's ground on the Friday night. 15,000 of the White Army, along with 3,000 Charlton fans made the trip. It was a tight and nervy affair and when Whites skipper Ormsby was stretchered off, it was looking like going pear shaped for a set of supporters still reeling from the FA Cup Semi final disappointment. As the game entered extra time however, things took an upturn. A free kick for handball was awarded on the edge of the Charlton area and John Sheridan sized up the opportunity. With "Bob Boulder like a cat on hot bricks" Shez sent the ball over the wall and screaming into the net. With one foot in Division One, the Whites looked to try and hold on to the lead whilst the fans tried to roar them to glory. However, Leeds hearts were broken by a Yorkshire born defender called Peter Shirtliff. Shirtliff popped up to score 2 goals in 4 minutes during the second half of extra time to keep Charlton up and cap off yet another glorious defeat for the Whites...

That was the first time Leeds United had taken part in the Play Off's and after a historical, but draining season, tonight we embarked on number three. "Third time lucky" was the defiant mantra as we arrived at the ground and yet another sell out crowd assembled for what we hoped would see the Whites take some sort of advantage into the second leg. Macca decided to change the shape of the team and sprung a couple of surprises in his team selection. Johnson was suprisingly kept at left back and Prutton drafted onto the left wing. So with Casper in goal, he was protected by a back four of Lubo, Huntingdon, Johnson and Fraser. Prutton, Kilkenny, Douglas and Howson made up the midfield and the returning Beckford joined Freedman up front. It was loud, it was proud, it was Elland Road at its howling best. However, the first bad omen of the night struck immediately, losing the toss and the boys forced to play towards the Revie stand in the first half. Still, the noise levels went louder and we got underway. Once again, Carlisle had stuck to the trusty 451 formation and as the game began at a frenetic pace, they should have been 1-0 up after just 8 minutes. Graham's ball into the box was fired onto the post by Bridge-Wilkinson who was unmarked and just 8-yards out...

A few minutes later and up the other end, a terrific curling 25 yarder from Freedman had Westwood diving to his left to tip round the post. It was turning into a terrific open game for the neutral, but too open for the White Army's liking. Carlisle were breaking swiftly as Leeds moves broke down far too easily. It was looking like some of the Leeds players were already freezing under the pressure. Carlisle players on the other hand were more than rising to the occasion, they were first to every second ball and crunching into hard tackles all over the park. Casper made a brave stop from a Graham header and straight up the other end for Freedman again to lob just wide. It was breathless stuff and no bloody good for the heart. In the centre, the extra Carlisle man was telling, they had men over and Douglas and Howson were struggling. 30 breathless minutes on the clock and the ball is at Beckford's feet, he is 25 yards out and he shapes to shoot and in slow motion, Beckford fires a brilliant curling shot towards the far post with goal written all over it. Once again, Westwood dives left and manages to just get a finger tip to divert it for a corner...

It was a pivotal moment in the game as two minutes later, disaster. Johnson's cross field ball to Fraser was ill advised and Fraser made a hash of things, conceding a corner. As the corner came it, it was headed out to Hackney, who volleyed it goalwards and with the aid of a defection, it was 0-1. Though Carlisle had played well, the goal was fucking jammy. Casper had the ball covered until the deflection and he was left stranded as the ball flew past him. The crowd was deflated for only a moment, then the roar of defiance as we looked to pick the boys up. The game continued to flow and the Whites had two chances to level before halftime. Firstly Douggie has a rasping shot well held, and secondly, after Carlisle had got away with what looked like blatant back pass the keeper picked up, a brilliant move saw Kilkenny slip in Beckford, through on the left hand side of goal, he was thwarted by yet another great save by Westwood. A fully fit and sharp Beckford would have snapped up the chance, as it was, the ball went for a corner. Halftime was met with an air of nervous chatter, for the neutral it was great entertainment, for the fans, it was fucking murder. With the noise levels raised to the sound of Champions of Europe, the teams came back out and we prayed for a second half revival...

It was not forthcoming as Carlisle were again quicker out of the blocks and scenting blood. With our defence again all at sea, we were managing to give the visitors the freedom of the park and it was young Howson who got caught in possession just minutes in. The ever dangerous Bridge - Wilkinson robbed him of the ball and ran free on goal, only a brilliant stop by Casper prevented a goal. The visitors were not to be denied moments later as once again, they strode though the midfield and defence like we were not there. Fraser got stranded as two players attacked him, Horwood was slipped into the box and he had the presence of mind to square the ball to Bridge - Wilkinson for 0-2 and what looked like a knock out blow. The heads dropped on the park, the heads dropped off it. Elland Road deflated as the Carlisle fans went mental. The boys tried to rally, but everything was laboured and becoming predictable. With Johnson marooned at left back, we had no natural left hand width and no outlet. The only width we had at all was provided by Fraser and though he made some good runs, all the time a break for the visitors was on the cards. Before being taken off for Kandol, Beckford had a long range effort easily dealt with and Douggie had a shot on the hour that caused problems...

Carlisle were fighting for everything and more importantly, they looked like they still had another goal in them. However, with 20 minutes left, Carlisle, rather than go for the throat and kill off the tie dropped deep and decided to try shut up shop. With Kandol on we looked to try a more direct route and almost got back into the game when a ball to the back stick was headed back across by a mixture of Kandol, Dougie and a defender, keeper Westwood continued his fine form by touching it over the bar. It was the signal for the Whites to keep up a period of sustained pressure for the first time in the game. The noise levels went back up and all of a sudden, there seemed a glint of hope. We looked to have a good shout for a penalty as the ball hit a Carlisle arm in the box, but the ref had none of it and as time ticked down, Macca decided to make a change. The unlucky Prutton made way for Seb Carole and we finally had some sort of wide man on the park. If nothing else his presence gave more hope to the crowd and he responded by running at players and getting the ball into the box. Kilkenny tried one from 25 yards that flew over the bar, before in a final mad push, we had a couple of corners and half chances...

The best falling to the feet of Johnson as a free kick was awarded on the edge of the area. Johnson's tremendous shot was met by a Carlisle head at full stretch to head away for another corner. It was looking like simply not being our day when the assistant put up 4 minutes injury time. From the resultant corner, Huntingdon saw a snap shot charged down by Murphy and it seemed that the last chance had gone. However with nearly 6 minutes stoppage time on the clock, Huntingdon launched one into the box, Kandol and sub Hughes challenged for it and it bounced to Freedman who hit it first time through the keepers legs and in. Elland Road exploded as we had just been handed the most unexpected lifeline in a game where we appeared to be dead and buried. There was just enough time for the kick off when the ref blew his whistle for what was, over all, a deserved win for the visitors. It could have been so different had keeper Westwood not decided that tonight was the night he would play out of his skin but such is life. From our perspective, too many players under performed on the night. It was reminiscent of the home leg against Preston in 2006 and whether due to complacency or freezing in front of an intense home crowd, we have to be thankful that we are down, but not yet out...

So we head to Carlisle on Thursday night with small hope in our hearts. We know the statistics, we know that Carlisle have a great home record and we know that team's seldom overturn a deficit after being beaten at home in the Play Off first leg. However, in many respects, this has been the most bizarre season for Leeds United AFC in living memory, just don't rule out another twist...

Leeds United AFC... "To climb steep hills requires a slow pace at first"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 2 Gillingham FC 1

Sun, 04 May 2008 20:17:54 +0200

It was a nail biting week unlike any other and as with all good drama's, the plot kept people in suspense right until the last minute. We had endured a rollercoaster of emotions as rumour's engulfed the White support. We began the week with a wave of optimism, but it ended with the feeling of a swatted housefly. By the time Thursday morning had arrived, the whole episode had mentally taken its toll and many just wanted this saga over and done with. We had been through the argument presented as we understood it a thousand times and it appeared to be a Black and White case. Either Leeds broke a rule thus deserving of a "Penalty" or we didn't and the League acted in an "Unfair and Unjust" way. The time it had taken to wade through the case by the Arbitration panel had given glint's of hope. By Thursday morning these glint's began to look like "Fools Gold" and alarm bells had started to ring upon reading somewhat defeatist sounding words from the normally bullish Bates early on in the day...

At 5pm, with no sign of Leeds representation in London, the news was announced. The Arbitration panel's decision was damning and blew Leeds United's appeal out of the water. The appeal by Leeds was thrown out simply by virtue of the fact that the club signed a legal document agreeing to start the season in League One at -15 points, subject to an appeal heard by the members of the League. We were all well aware that the club had signed this agreement, but were led to believe this was a "Penalty" or a sanction for not coming out of Administration with a CVA in place. However, it emerged that far from this being a "Penalty", it appears it was, in the end, a negotiated agreement between the Football League and Leeds NewCo to remain in League One rather than starting the season in League Two or worse. The Leeds board have always claimed that this document was signed "Under Duress" however, the independent panel were having none of it:

36. We are satisfied that the Claimants case begins and ends with the Compromise Agreement which clearly embodied the intention of both parties. Taking the Agreement as a whole and in particular Clause 4 Leeds NewCo agreed to the imposition of the 15 points and to release the League from the claims which have now been advanced and to waive any rights to do so. Leeds NewCo specifically covenanted not to bring the claims it has now sought to assert and there is no basis to allow it not to honour that covenant.

The Tribunal dismisses the Claim on this ground alone.

Full report here:

-15

Further reading of the full document makes it clear that even without this document in place, the League were well within their rights to take this action regardless and therefore dismissed any right of Bates and co to appeal. Debates over the Leagues initial motives for the idea of a points deduction continue to be held, however, just as many debates are raging over the antics described in the report of a Leeds board, who it appears have not exactly covered themselves in glory over this whole affair. Many are questioning the merits of chasing what appeared to be a lost cause and no doubt spending money on legal fee's in the process. However with Bates being the "clever business man", you just wonder if we are missing the bigger picture in all of this. With the verdict delivered and a statement on the club's website claiming that the club had drawn a line under the matter, we appeared to at least be walking away from this matter with dignity...

However as a smug Lord Mawhinney once again claimed that Leeds were a "valued member of the Football League family", not to be outdone in anyway, an ashen looking Bates came out fighting and demanded Mawhinney resign based on the reports "Postscript". In this the Arbitration panel appear to criticise the way the League has handled this matter and made suggestions for how to treat similar cases going forward. Overall, despite not winning the points back, Bates went on to claim a "Moral victory". It appears that Bates was justified in pleading that the club had done nothing legally wrong in this matter. Bates was also vindicated in claiming the way the appeal process was handled was unfair and that the Leagues policy's for future football administration cases were in need of amending. Once the League takes these on board and changes the way it handles matters, it would appear that the next club that happens to find itself in the position we did will not have to follow precedent, but each case will be judged on its own merit...

As we move forward from this episode in the clubs history, whilst
many fans debate the rights and wrongs of the matter and a sense of injustice still lingers, most now appreciate that it could have been worse. With this rumbling on in the background, Macca still had to prepare a team for the final home game of the season today. Fortunately with the players doing the business at Yeovil and being assured of the Play Off's either way, you assume that this made things a heck of a lot easier than if we had needed the points. Today's visitors were of course Gillingham. The last time they visited Elland Road was March 2005. 27,995 saw on loan striker Marlon King come off the bench to cross for Hulse to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw. Earlier this season of course, we had the same result at Gillingham where referee Danny McDermid made a name for himself and sent off both Beckford and Kandol in a controversial game...

In case you are wondering, up until 19 April, McDermid had been in charge of 24 games this season, booking 82 players and sending 8 off. One man smiling that day was Gillingham chairman Paul Scally but given that his team were clinging on to League One status by a thread, it's a fair bet the fella was not feeling as smug on his journey up North. Bates had already spoken about "Poetic Justice" should Gillingham be relegated at the hands of Leeds. However, as we Leeds fans know all too well, teams are relegated over a season, not one game. With the hot sun beating down for the first time at Elland Road this year, despite the points decision, there was still a party atmosphere in the air. The now customary "last day" inflatable's were being thrown around a history making crowd of 38,256 and we began in damn good voice. As predicted, Macca rested a few players and cobbled together an experimental looking side...

So with Casper in goal, a new look back line had young Gardner in at right back, Bradley Johnson at left back with Lubo and Huntingdon in the centre. Douglas and Prutton partnered up in the middle with Sweeney brought in to the left and Hughes on the right. Kandol and Elding lead the line and as the noise levels went up the boys attacked the packed South Stand. It's been noticeable over the last few seasons that a massive crowd does not always bring the best out of the home side, there is a tendency to freeze and it appeared the case in the first half today. Even given for the changes Macca had made, it made you wonder if this side had actually trained together during the week as they frankly failed to make any real impact on the visitors. Gillingham were well organised and fighting for their lives, Leeds seemed to think they could walk over them in first gear and we got a heck of a shock. It was quickly apparent that all was not well with our back line and 7 minutes in, Jackson appeared to have got the better of them...

He also got away with the ball appearing to go over the dead ball line, as he continued his run and forced Casper into a save. Going forward we were lifeless and thankful this game was, in the grand scheme of things, meaningless. This was making life easy for Gillingham, especially with the 3-5-2 formation they were using and they passed well and were beginning to take control. The opening goal summed up the first 20 minutes. Huntingdon, who looked a pale imitation of his normal self, was caught in possession by Jackson. Jackson progressed, skipped passed both Casper's attempt to save at his feet and Lubo's dive in and smashed the ball into the net for 0-1. It certainly dampened the party atmosphere as we watched the players proceed to struggle to string 3 passes together. Off we went looking for a leveller, but in all honestly, we just hoped that we could get to half time and regroup...

Gillingham continued to have chances, Mulligan's header went over when he should have done better and the best we got at the other end was long range efforts either dribbling back to the keeper or going wide. At halftime we were introduced to two lucky people who had flown in from OZ to watch the game after winning a competition. They must have been left wondering if the trip was worth the while, but still as bad as the first half was, we had seen worse and surely they would react in the second half after a quiet word from Macca. With the crowd finding its voice again, the players suddenly found a spring in their step. Finally passing the ball around we began to ask questions of the Gillingham side. Douglas and Prutton were now getting more involved and that drive that was missing in the first, appeared. Dougie had a shot charged down as the noise got cranked up as the Leeds players began to slowly rise to the occasion...

After 60 minutes Macca changed the game with a brilliant substitution. Off went the anonymous Sweeney and on came Carole. Carole has been one of the most frustrating players this season but his introduction changed things around. He went on the right & Hughes moved to a more natural position on the left and we suddenly had balance and someone with pace on the park. Kandol headed one over and Douggie smacked one into the Revie, but we were now looking like a side that could score. When it did come, not one person in the ground would have predicted it. Brilliant running from Carole on the right saw him cross from the near the by line and in a flash, Bradley Johnson came from nowhere to meet it with a left foot volley on the edge of the area to scorch home one of, if not the best goal of the season so far. It was like an exocet scud missile that had the keeper grasping for air, the back of the net straining and the Leeds fans in celebration...

The lad has shown glimpses over recent weeks of what he can do and to be fair, the experiment to play him at left back may not have worked out, but fuck me, what a strike. 1-1 and suddenly it was game on as Gillingham woke up again knowing that nothing less than a win would do. They piled forward and the game got stretched and with Carole as an outlet now for Casper to throw to, we looked threatening on the break. Still it was Casper called into action to keep the sides level, first saving from Crofts and then Oli. With time ticking down, Macca took off Dougie for young Delph and the lad made an immediate impression, showing some calm touches on the ball whilst the game was becoming frantic with both sides looking for a winner. Kandol had a great chance when put through, but skied his shot and after Elding had seen a shot deflected over, great running by Hughes down the left saw him burst into the box...

Rather than take on the shot, he tried to square to Kandol, but the defence cleared. It was looking like ending a draw when a superb ball from Huntingdon was played through to an onside Kandol, he took the ball in his stride and advance towards the Revie, he looked up and as Row Z ducked, the lad twatted the ball home from the edge of the area for his best taken goal in a Leeds shirt thus far. It was just reward for his efforts in the second half and I doubt anybody in the ground would have begrudged him this moment. As we began to party, the Leeds players nearly got caught out by a swift attack that saw Southall manage to somehow miss an open goal. He prodded it onto the post and the ball bounced back kindly into Casper's arms. At the final whistle, all apart from one pillock managed to keep off the pitch as the players did a lap of honour to say thank you for our support and we wished them all the best in the Play Offs...

So, in essence, the season starts now. We have 3 games in which to claim promotion and we have been here before. Considering all we have been through this season, in some respects this in itself is a magnificent achievement. However, as we know, this is football and this will mean nothing should we fail. We reconvene next Monday night for the first leg against Carlisle and we pray for "Third time lucky" in the Play Off's...

Leeds United AFC... "The truth is rarely pure, and never simple"...Keep Fighting...

Comments

Yeovil Town 0 Leeds United AFC 1

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:41:36 +0200

"...HEY UP, HEY UP, HE'S ONSIDE AS WELL, HE'S ONSIDE, OH MY WORD, OH MY WORD, MARK VIDUKA. AGHHH, IT'S GONE' HE'S DONE IT! OH MY WORD! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! IT'S MARK VIDUKA, AND HE'S DONE IT, HE'S DONE IT FOR LEEDS UNITED..."

As final away games of the season go, one is hard pressed to recall a better afternoon than Arsenal away in 2003. With the hosts aiming to claim the title and a rejuvenated Whites bidding to cling on to Premiership status, Peter Reid oversaw one of the most startling victories in the clubs recent history. The financial meltdown off the park had taken its toll and after both the fire sale and ultimate removal of El Tel, Reid was the man handed the task of keeping the club afloat. After a first game defeat at Liverpool, the season was kick-started by thumping Charlton away 6-1. However, as the weeks wore on it was clear that only a last day victory would secure Premiership survival for one more season at least. Arsenal were stalling after awesome form but this was still rightly a home banker. Leeds were given little chance, but as is so often the case in football, it was the unfancied Mighty Whites who struck first. A suspicion of handball was ignored as Kewell twatted home a beauty. The Arse rallied and drew level via the goal machine Henry. In recent weeks, this may have been the signal for surrender, but an Ian Harte freekick ghosted home for 2-1 and we bit our nails praying for the lads to hold out...

The boys had worked their socks off in this game, but when Arse levelled again via Bergkamp and in the face of a Red tide, there seemed no doubt that the hosts would go on and claim all three points. That was until Mark Viduka had the final say, scoring one of the most important goals in his Leeds career. With seconds left on the clock, a through ball saw him bursting down the Arse right hand side. The big man showed great control to bamboozle the last defender, before cutting inside and smash home the most wonderful of goals and sending the travelling support into delirium. The final whistle kept the Whites up and handed the title to Manu. It was the second time in recent years that a Leeds win over the Arse had handed the title to the Red enemy. That was of little concern on the day though and if we needed a cherry on the cake, then it was provided upon hearing the commentary of the winning goal as it happened by the Leeds fan on "SkyFanzone". Its now gone down in Leeds folklore as the lad "Rocked and Rolled" his was through the final moments and summed up the passion of the ecstatic White support perfectly. We all know that moments like this are rare in football, no matter which club you choose to follow. However, when they do come along they somehow seem more sweeter and live longer in the memory:

When the fixture list came out at the beginning of the season, Yeovil Town away was looked at as one of those games you "had" to go to as another ground to tick off the list. However, in the context of needing points to secure a place in the Play Offs, this trip now had much more importance than that. Thanks to the Police deciding to make this a Friday night kick off, meticulous planning was required for the near 4,000 Whites fans attending. With that in mind and a five hour drive ahead, quite how we found ourselves still in Wetherby at 2pm was open to frantic discussion. As was a half arsed plan to camp over "somewhere" in Yeovil. Mind you, as we sped down the M1 it was quickly becoming apparent that the list of things we had forgotten to pack was longer than "Jesus" Prutton's hair. We decided to put that idea on the back burner and concentrate on getting to the ground. After a tortuous trip we eventually arrived, parked up and belted to the ground with just minutes to spare. This was the club's first ever visit to Huish Park and it was packed to the rafters. The ground has 3 seated stands and the away end is uncovered terracing, similar to Swindon Town. Yeovil were out to finish on a high and gain revenge for the late defeat at Elland Road earlier this season...

Wise's side were looking like having to settle for a point when loan striker Mark DeVries headed a late late winner. With a record crowd of 9,527 crammed in and Leeds fans dotted all over the ground, the travelling army were in good spirit's as we looked forward to what we hoped, was history in the making. Macca again made a change and it was the unlucky Prutton dropped to the bench for the returning Dougie. So Casper in goal was protected by an unchanged back line of Lubo, Huntingdon , Fraser and Sheehan. Kilkenny, Johnson, Howson and Douggie made up midfield and the Freedman - Elding partnership continued up the front. The home crowd started in good form as the Leeds boys played away from us in the first half. It was clear from the off however that the hosts appeared in awe of the occasion and gave the Leeds boys too much time and respect. They paid the price on 4 minutes when a cross was lofted in from Fraser on the right. Bradley Johnson met the ball at the far post but couldn't convert what appeared a simple chance. Fortunately Freedman was on hand however to smash home from 6 yards and send us flying around the old school terrace. 1 nil up after 4 minutes and we thanked the gods we had made kick off, I mean you can imagine how gutting it would have been to miss the goal...

With the goal in the bank and Yeovil's reluctance to put a foot in, the boys began to stroke the ball around pretty well. It was worrying however that whilst we had all the play, we never really troubled them again for a long period of time and infact, after dropping a sleep at the back, Yeovil could have been level with their first chance on goal. Old warhorse Marcus Stewart headed one over from a flick on by Skiverton. The Leeds build up play continued to impress, Howson in the thick of it in the centre and Fraser getting forward to good effect. It has to be said though that we were, once again, lacking that killer ball and the off the ball running of Beckford to give us other options. As the half wore on, the pace of the game was beginning to have a "friendly" feel about it and it appeared to lull the Leeds players into thinking it was all too easy. That was until Yeovil awoke and began to find charity from our back line. Williams should have scored, but instead forced Casper into a smart stop. Williams had a second chance from the rebound, but fired just into the side of the goal. It was the signal for the Leeds back line to finally awake however Yeovil were now beginning to put some neat passes together as Smith ended a good move by hitting one over from distance...

With Yeovil pressing, we began to take the chance to hit on the break. Elding, who’s work rate was impressive, had a half decent shot tipped over. After Freedman had another shot saved, it was Elding again who was unlucky when put through and just about to pull the trigger when a Yeovil defender slid in to put the ball out for a corner. Yeovil had the last word however when Stewart had a glorious chance to level, but he snatched at a chance when he was free in the centre of the area and Casper clung on to the ball. 1 up at halftime and another chance for us to see some dodgy dancing from Hughesy as we tried to keep warm from a cold wind smashing into our faces. We knew we were just 45 minutes from the Play Offs and we expected Yeovil to be quick out of the blocks and it proved to be the case. A soft free kick from ref Stroud who, was hardly noticed in the first half set the tone. The free kick routine ended with Barry slicing wide, but doing enough to get the home fans into good voice. With the game opening up, we seemed content to soak up pressure and hit on the break ala Millwall. One great break saw Elding through and fire well wide, only the offside flag spared the lads blushes. Johnson tried one from around 30 yards and had the keeper beaten, alas, the bar as well...

The game could have turned on two moments in which ref Stroud was at the centre of. Firstly Huntingdon had a shot which appeared to hit a Yeovil arm. Stroud waved away our final chance to be awarded a penalty away from home this season. Stroud's second decision minutes later had a more direct influence. It had not been a dirty game by any means, but Sheehan had lost control of the ball coming out of defence on halfway. In a stupid attempt to win it back he dived in on Peitler. From where we were, it looked a nasty and needless challenge. With Yeovil players in his face, Stroud produced Red and we were left to fight out 25 minutes with 10 men. Moments later, Stroud pulled out the yellow card after Bricham flew in on Johnson. With the free kick awarded around 35 yards out, up stepped Lubo to twat a stunning jet propelled scud missile towards the top corner and it took a great save to keep it out. Had it gone it, it would have been up there with "Zico" Sterland's effort at Bramall lane all those years ago. Macca moved swiftly to change the team around. Elding went off for Hughsy who immediately tucked in at left back. We were now coming under some serious arial pressure, however Lubo and the impressive Huntingdon remained calm and tried to break where possible...

Freedman once again came into his own when down to 10 men just as he had at Huddersfield. Clever play coupled with great ball retention giving the defence much needed respite from the Yeovil attack. However the Yeovil attacks became more frequent, and with Yeovil having men over on many occasions, it was brown trousers time. After Dougie had cleared off the line with a great header, Yeovil had their best spell. They pinned us back in our area by having 3 corners on the bounce. Casper eventually getting a free kick when it looked like he had flapped at the last one. Macca threw on Prutton for Johnson as he looked to beef up the midfield and it had a great effect. "Jesus" was able to hold the ball up a lot better than Johnson and was also able to win us a couple of corners as we tried to play down the clock. With 7 minutes left after soaking up all the pressure, we should have killed the game. Kilkenny swung over a rare free kick and at the back post, Freedman some how deflected over from around a yard, if that. Being kind to the fella, he can't have seen it till late but it could have been a very costly miss as Yeovil came right back at us. Rui was thrown on for Kilkenny as we looked to see out the last 5 minutes and Casper's best save of the game thwarted a great effort from Downes...

As the board went up for 4 minutes extra, it was heart in mouths time, especially when Yeovil put together a great passing move, only for Stewart to fire high over the stand. The fulltime whistle was met with massive relief as the players made their way over to thank us for our support. The players deserve massive credit for the spirit and commitment shown in the second half, especially when reduced to 10. This was the type of game we would have gone on to lose just a few weeks ago. Whilst Macca and Stan certainly deserve all credit for the turn around of the team, mention must also be given to first team coach Neil McDonald. It seems no coincidence that performances have been much improved since his arrival a the club. As we wound our way back to the car and enjoyed the good natured banter between both sets of supporters, we decided to scrap the half arsed camping plan and shoot back home, making it back to Gods County in just 4 hours. So, the win cemented the Play Off place as this history making season continues to take twists and turns. We now enter the "big week" and we are left to wonder if the upcoming 37,000 + crowd against Gillingham will be celebrating automatic promotion, or giving the boys our well wishes for the upcoming Play Off fight. Either way, it promises to be one a hell of a day in what has been, one hell of history making season...

Leeds United AFC... "Everyone's Rocking back in Yorkshire, Rocking for Leeds United Football club"... Keep Fighting...

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Millwall 0 Leeds United AFC 2

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 19:11:12 +0200

As we headed to Millwall, it was almost 8 years to the day that we arrived with heavy hearts to a mourning Elland Road for the second leg against Galatasaray in the UEFA cup semi final in 2000. It was a season that began so brightly and one that, up until the New Years day clash at Sunderland, a youthful Leeds side had played some of the best free flowing football in recent memory. Whilst it remains difficult to detach oneself from the off field incidents, we had been privileged to witness some truly remarkable football matches. The likes of the 4-3 win at Coventry and the stunning 4-4 draw at Goodison Park remain forever etched into fans minds:

Alongside the football played, the players also showed fight and bottle, traits that had been lacking for a long time. As if to demonstrate this, the players were tearing up visitors to Elland Road and not rolling over away from home, hard fought wins at Spurs and Chelsea were testament to that. We had hit top spot in October in a thrilling game at Watford, in which a wonderful goal from Michel Bridges set us on the way to the 3 points. We had quickly become realistic title contenders however, such was the effect of the Woodgate/Bowyer incident, this changed in an instant. As we had no knowledge of the facts surrounding the incident, the team and supporters tried to stick together...

"Innocent until proved guilty" was the mantra as a siege mentality was beginning to form in the face of frenzied media speculation. Such was the nature of the league, poor results in the aftermath meant that it wasn't until just after the tragic events in Istanbul that the club dropped out of the running for the title. Everything related to football became secondary as we tried to get our heads around the senseless loss of lives. It was simply a shattering experience and one that its hoped no other club has to go through ever again. On the field, it would have been easy for the team to give up, but after taking beatings from Villa and Arsenal, they regrouped and took the fight for 3rd spot all the way to the final game of the season at West Ham. That hard fought game ended 0-0 and cemented the Champions league spot. Many a glass was raised that night, mainly to the memory of 2 Leeds United AFC fans who should have been around to see it happen. During this week, as the arbitration process slid into 4 days, the news that the panel would not deliver a verdict until after the season had ended sparked predictable outrage. A change of heart saw a commitment to reveal all by May 1st. Every man and his dog has had an opinion on the matter, yet many seem to be remarkably ignorant on the subject they are talking about...

Some claim we were rightly docked 15 points for going into Administration, not even realising that we were docked 10 points last season. Others can't understand why the club have chosen this point of the season to appeal, blissfully unaware the club have been trying to get this issue resolved since last year. Its difficult to read anything into why the panel are taking so long to come to a conclusion of what appears to be a black and white case. Whilst this may point optimistically towards the club having a half decent chance, it could just as likely be that we have not and they are just crossing the t's and dotting the i's on the final report. Meanwhile rumours of the outcome continue to do the rounds, as do veiled threats from other clubs about what they will do if the arbitration is settled in Leeds United's favour. So with this distracting shitstorm swirling around we set off to Millwall. A drive to Cockfosters, a tube to London bridge and a train to South Bermondsey was the final route taken and upon arrival to London Bridge we were met by a huge police presence. Sharing a train to the ground with Millwall fans was a tad daunting, but the army of police on the platform at South Bermondsey quelled anyone's thoughts of a pre: match rumble. We wound our way to the ground down a narrow walkway protected by huge spiked fencing on both sides...

A late own goal gave us victory here in 2005 and the near 2,000 strong travelling army, in yet another "Highest attendance of the season" for the home crowd, would have happily taken a repeat of that. No one likes Millwall of course but regardless of what they say, they do seem to care. Clearly in a bid to foster good local relations, the club went the extra mile and invited the London branch of the Galatasaray supporters club to the game and insisted they mingle with the home support. During the course of the game, these fans were able to continually give the Leeds support both free geography lessons and fantastic safety advice. Any lingering doubts we had that Galatasaray play in Istanbul or that we should look out for Turks carrying knives were firmly removed. With the team once again without the services of Beckford, Macca made three changes to the side that slept through Tuesdays Yorkshire derby. So with Casper in goal, Sheehan returned to join Lubo, Fraser and Huntingdon at the back. Prutton was drafted in to help out Kilkenny, Skipper Howson and Johnson. Upfront, Elding was given a chance to shine alongside Freedman. With the ground as loud as I can recall an away match since Swansea, the home players began at a frantic pace and proceeded to put in a shift that belied their league position and must have had their fan base questioning just why they have not played like this all season...

Frankly, in that first half, we couldn't match them for passion, pace, endeavour and quality. With the aid of a lino that stuck his flag up whenever the crowd behind him growled, Millwall were quickly benefiting from a set of officials who didn't want a rough ride. Free kicks for Millwall came thick and fast with Brkovic only just missing with the first effort. He then forced Casper into a smart save for the next one. Great running from the hosts was complimented by fast free flowing football which we simply couldn't cope with. Brkovic shot wide and this was swiftly followed by Craig firing over when it seemed easier to score. The Leeds midfield was near none existent, ball retention for Kilkenny and Johnson appeared impossible and in the centre, both Prutton and skipper Howson were chasing shadows. Freedman was the only player in a Yellow shirt looking capable of changing the flow of the game, but we seldom got the ball to him and when we did, he was surrounded by Blue shirts. Millwall smelt blood, and were playing as if their lives depended on it. Brkovic was becoming a pain in the arse, but at least he had not brought his shooting boots as he put another chance over the bar. We had little chance to breathe before another flowing move was deflected for a corner and it was Karacan whose near on free header flew just sent over the bar...

As we prayed for the halftime whistle, Savage was quickly followed by Simpson to be thwarted by Casper. On halftime, we had a rare attack. Elding had struggled through the game with both a lack of service and when he did get it, a lack of control. However our only "flowing" move of the game fell at his feet from 16 yards and he fired just over. Halftime was like water on a burning beach and we finally found entertainment singing to the Leeds subs to "Give us a dance" and "Give us a ball" to which they were more than obliging. After clinging on we assumed that Macca would find some words of wisdom to lift the players and it worked. Well, for about 45 seconds when our first attack of the half came to nothing. Millwall quickly picked up where they had left off and proceeded to once again cut us open at will. If this was a boxing match, it would have been stopped. Karacan's superb strike beat Casper, but came back off the bar and seconds after that let off, Simpson then took the piss only to fire just over. You would have imagined this would have fired up the home support, but yet again, all we heard were the Galatasaray fans. Whilst we expect little sympathy in this matter, it has to be said that if this was Leeds, Liverpool or Man City fans singing "Munich" songs on this scale, there would have been a national uproar. It was after this latest let off that things started to shift...

In the main it was down to the off the ball movement and running of Freedman and a change in tactics that saw us look to hit on the break. This was allowing Fraser and Sheehan to get into the game and we suddenly had a couple of half chances. Freedman dragged a shot just wide and a sudden burst of confidence was found after Millwall, for some reason, took off Brkovic. Still, we were in need of a miracle and in need of divine inspiration. On 70 minutes, the "Jesus like" Prutton provided it. A cross from Johnson was cleared to Prutton's feet and his superb volley found the bottom corner from around 20 yards, causing pandemonium in the away end. Macca decided to shut up shop and took off Elding for Hughes as the hosts rallied. However, we now had something to cling on to and a tactic that was working. After Casper, who's handling and kicking had been exemplary today, had snuffed out another ball into the box, off we went looking for an unexpected cherry on the cake. It arrived on 76 minutes and when it arrived, it left us rubbing our eyes that this was Leeds United we were watching, not Arsenal. In a flowing move towards the Millwall area, the ball fell to Hughes, his first time ball was sent out to Johnson on the left. Johnson had clearly learned from his midweek fuck up and rolled the ball back along the 6 yard box to the onrushing Hughes who smashed home sending us fucking mental...

Hughes celebrated with some more dodgy dancing as the atmosphere in the ground got even worse. As we celebrated and rammed the Turkey chants down the home fans throats, they responded by fighting with anyone in their way as they somehow believed that they would inherit super human powers and jump from top tier of their stands to ours for a good old fashioned rumble. To our right, one fan produced an old Leeds shirt and gave us comedy gold by pulling out a lighter and trying to set it on fire, only to repeatedly fail and after finally kicking it around like a football he was dragged out by the old bill. Whilst the game continued we looked for a third, Freedman with another chance and Prutton looking to add to his opener and though Millwall had a couple more threatening opportunities, suddenly, attacks were breaking down and we were able to pick them off and break. The announcement, as the board went up for 4 minutes, was that we were to be held back for a while, this sparked a mass exodus from the Millwall support who it appeared tried to tell us "See you outside". A Sheehan Free Kick was the near on last kick of the game and the final whistle brought great celebrations from players and fans alike. It has to be said, in all my years supporting Leeds United AFC, I can not recall a more satisfying "Smash and Grab" result...

All that remained was to get back to the car in one piece. We were held outside the ground and on the narrow walkway to the train platform for the best part of an hour, before bringing the London tube to a standstill as we were frog marched from London Bridge to Kings Cross with little trouble from a good spirited Leeds support. We saw only a handful of skirmishes of what looked like Millwall v riot police at London Bridge. We got the news of Brighton's late winner back at the car, but it could not dampen what turned into a fucking great day. So we have one foot in the Play Off's but we have to be honest and say that we were very lucky today. Whilst this sort of performance shows the spirit in the camp, it will not certainly not get us to Wembley should results go our way over the next couple of weeks. Next up is the much anticipated trip to Yeovil and we still have the right to ask, just how can the police say we can play Millwall at 3pm on a Saturday, but yet are forced to play Yeovil on a Friday night. We have a long fucking trip to mull over the answer to that...

Leeds United AFC... "We're not famous anymore"... Keep Fighting...

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Huddersfield Town 1 Leeds United AFC 0

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:07:38 +0200

If there is one thing we know through bitter experience as Leeds United AFC fans, it's just when things are looking up, something normally lurks around the corner to bring you back down to earth. Its nearly 37 years to the day when one such incident took place. Back in the 1970/71 season, Revie's Leeds were flying high and heading towards the title and Inter-Cities Fairs cup double. 3 sapping away games in 4 days had been negotiated without defeat. A 1-1 draw at Newcastle, was followed by a 0-0 draw at Leeds Road Huddersfield, where over 43,000 crammed in to watch the game. When King Billy inspired the win at Anfield in the Inter-Cities Fairs cup, things were looking good and with lowly West Brom next up at Elland Road, it was all seemingly falling into place. It was a game that was to go down in folklore and add to the many perceived injustices that have fallen upon the club over the years. Trailing to an early goal from Tony Brown, Revie's Leeds were piling on the pressure. With 20 minutes to go, It was goal scorer Brown who received the ball and steamed forward. Baggies player Colin Suggett was clearly offside at this point and the linesman flagged straight away. The Leeds players stopped but referee Tinkler waved play on. Brown half stopped, waiting for the whistle, but then carried on towards the onrushing Sprake...

By this time he was joined in attack by Jeff Astle and despite Astle himself being in an offside position when he received the final pass from Brown, Astle was allowed to fire home and the goal was amazingly given. This stunning decision sent Elland Road into mayhem and Tinkler was surrounded by angry Leeds players as they demanded that he spoke to the linesman. Even after Tinkler did this, he stood by his decision and awarded the goal. Some angry fans got onto the pitch and yet again it was a clear case of Leeds being robbed once again. With 8 minutes left, Leeds pulled a goal back through Clarke, but the final result sent shock waves through the land as the battle for the title swung into Arsenal's favour. In the aftermath, plenty of people had their say, including Tinkler himself who claimed:

"I am completely sure that Suggett committed no offence. He was in an offside position and the linesman had flagged him, but he was not interfering with play"

However, Tinkler's linesman also had his say:

"Suggett wasn't just a yard off-side, he was a good five yards and in my opinion must have been influencing play. He didn't touch the ball but he set off in support of Brown so there was a clear intention of interfering with the course of the game."

Perhaps the most telling comment came from Baggies manager Alan Ashman, who told reporters:

"I would have been choked to have been beaten by an offside goal like that in any match, but these things happen and we just have to swallow them"

(More Leeds footage can be found here: www.thebeatengeneration.co.uk)

Revie's team managed to put this result behind them and go undefeated for the rest of the season, losing out to Arsenal for the title by just 1 point. With the league gone, the Mighty Whites rallied and squared up to Juventus in the two legged final of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. A 2-2 draw in Juventus was followed by a 1-1 draw at Elland Road. For the first time in the cup's history, it was won on the away goals rule. Mick Bates and Paul Madley's goals in the first leg proving vital. Fast forward to tonight and things are once again looking up. McAllister and his back room team have taken the wounded animal and nursed it back to full health with startling results and any fan witnessing the last 3 games will testify to that. So perhaps we should have foreseen that something was on the horizon, although admittedly, this time, not in the controversial way it happened all those years ago. Our last league visit to Huddersfield was at the old Leeds road ground which saw the sides play out a goalless draw back in 1987. We have however played 2 friendly games at the new Galpharm stadium, a 5-0 win back in 1999 was followed by a 2-0 win in 2000. With the rain pouring down, we would have taken any result that kept the good run we were going, especially when news had filtered through that Beckford was not going to be involved...

Given Kandol's half decent performance against Carlisle on Saturday, it didn't seem too much of a concern to many. So with Casper in goal, the same back four of Kenton, Fraser, Huntingdon and Lubo started. Midfield was again unchanged with Johnson, Howson, Douglas and Kilkenny. Freedman and Kandol led the line. For their part, Town have no manager in place at the moment and they lined up with an experimental 3-5-2 formation to counter our 4-4-2. As you would expect in a Yorkshire derby away from Elland Road, the home crowd were up for it, the home team were up for it, the Leeds fans were up for it and the Leeds side, as per usual in these games, tried there best to sleep through it. A fast and frenetic start to the game was expected, but the stop - start nature of the game was immediately frustrating. Despite this, both teams had early chances, Town managed to mess up a good move that showed Brandon wasn't on the same page as Worthington. Up the other end, Freedman smashed one over the bar. The Whites tendency to try a more direct route now Kandol was in the side enabled Town to settle. Kandol won a good share of headers, but they seldom fell to a Leeds player thus allowing Town many opportunities to clear. Town also had a master plan to disrupt what good movements we could put together...

This revolved around crashing into players and giving freekicks away at a rate of knots. Clearly the Town management team had done their homework to a tee. Give Leeds freekicks around the area and with a chance to shoot on goal, the freekick taker will become a rugby player and twat the ball over the bar. If there was no chance to give the freekick in this position, commit fouls elsewhere or concede a corner as there is fuck all chance the resultant cross will beat the first defender. It worked perfectly to plan as time and again all the good work that the likes of young Howson managed in midfeild, ended wastefully at the feet of Johnson or Kilkenny. With the Town fans to our right chanting to the beat of a god damn annoying drummer and the Town fans to our left fighting amongst themselves the game itself was becoming less of a distraction. For our part, we missed Beckford immensely. Time after time we broke through midfield, but had no runner to play a killer pass to. Instead Freedman was having to drop back to get possession and balls to Kandol's feet were bouncing away and immediately giving possession back to Town. Freedman did look to take the game to Town on his own a couple of times, shooting straight at the keeper with a chance 20 minutes in. There was little coming back our way as we dominated possession for long periods, without getting into any danger areas...

The freekicks kept coming and the Leeds players kept fucking them up. Kilkenny this time over the bar after the ref had pulled play back. Town had looked shaky and non threatening, but as time past, they were beginning to realise there was nothing to fear and intelligent breaks from midfield were beginning to damage us. As was Casper who had a nightmare period where his kicking once again let him down. We nearly paid for one such clearance which fell to Williams but his first time effort back saw Casper make up for his error. With the constant running & pace from both Worthington and Williams now causing us problems, Huntingdon was lucky to survive a penalty appeal where he was done for pace and it appeared he had clearly pulled back the Town man. The ref gave it the other way, but it looked 60-40 in the attackers favour. Moments later, another Town attack was ended as Dougie crashed in with a cynical tackle, the ref booked him and the resultant freekick was wasted. 7 minutes later, Dougie was off and the nature of the game changed. Dougie chased Holdsworth as he burst through on the right and rather than the previous cynical challenge, this was more a coming together of legs, however, the ref showed Red and the Town fans erupted. Down to 10 men in the pissing rain with a team that didn't seem overly arsed about being here wasn't the best place to be...

Freedman tried to add some urgency in a breakaway, but he just hadn't got he legs to break away from the defence and the chance was snuffed out. Town were now sniffing blood and coming forward well, but the game swung again just before halftime. Worthington went for a ball that belonged to Casper and went through him. Big Lubo went mad with him and could have got himself sent off by his reaction. There was a handbag mealy in the box, before the ref consulted his linesman. On his advice, Lubo was booked and Worthington was shown a second yellow and sent off. Not that we had noticed he had been booked earlier in the game mind. The halftime score was fair on the face of it, summed up by not a lot of football, with the ref making up for it with his entertaining decisions. With no changes at halftime, we expected that Macca would have read the riot act and bollocked the lazy set of twats for not turning up. If he did, it had little effect as after Kandols first shot on goal was deflected for a corner, we managed to hit the first man and immediately set town on the attack. It set the tone for what was to follow. With only Howson covering himself in glory, the rest of the team just could not seem to cope with the endeavour and determination shown by Town, along with no little football it has to be said. Collins ran half the length of the park to beat Casper with a stunning shot, only to see it come off the bar...

The rebound was cleared, but you sensed something was in the air. The Leeds players tried to respond in a fashion, but with Kandol now getting flagged for offside every time Howson tried to play him through, it was 1 step forward, 2 back. Booth was the next to miss a great chance for Town, heading wide when he should have done better and just when it looked like Town may take a strangle hold, we broke. We broke well, Freedman fed Johnson, who up to this point has been anonymous. He ran clear on the left of the area and with Kandol unmarked, he tried to pick out a cross. He managed to pick out the corner flag when in reality, any sort of half decent ball would have set up the big man. Johnson held his head in his hands and as well he might because the let off galvanised Town. Johnson was soon subbed for "Jesus" Prutton as Macca looked to change things. Prutton immediately tried to at least put his foot on the ball and give us a bit of stability, but it was short lived. Now, the best player on the park in a Leeds shirt was, by a country mile, Johnny Howson. He was wearing the skippers armband and fighting for everything. So when Macca, for some reason, decided to take him off, the reaction from the Leeds fans told its own story. On came Hughes and within a few minutes, we were 0-1 down. Holdsworth racing in to head in off the post and send the Town fans into ecstasy. From then on the constant drone of that fucking drum was accompanied by "We all hate Leeds Scum" as they partied like it was 1999...

It could have got worse, a great move set Skarz free and he tried to lob Casper, only to loft the ball just over. It was 81 minutes before we forced the Town keeper into any kind of save Hughes let fly from distance and it was tipped round the post for a corner. No prizes for guessing what happened to sub Carole,s corner. Seb did add something to the side, he skipped past his man a couple of times in the final moments of normal time, but our last chance came in the 5 minutes stoppage time. Freedman had a half hit shot cleared off the line and any chance of a get out of jail card was gone. The final whistle sent the home support into delirium and they left us in no doubt how long they have waited for a night like tonight. With news filtering through that Walsall had lost, we had escaped with regards the Play Off position, but it was no anaesthetic to the pain of defeat in yet another Yorkshire derby. So, we move onto Millwall and hope to god that Beckford is fit to rejoin the team. Many fans criticise Beckford and call him lazy at times and whilst that may be the case, tonight showed us what life would be like without him, or at least a player of his type in the side. It wasn't the most appealing alternative. Talking of appeals, with the arbitration for the 15 points beginning this week, we await the outcome with interest, and fingers crossed of course for something to finally go our way off the park...

Leeds United AFC..."And Leeds will go mad and they've every right to go mad"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 3 Carlisle United 2

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:22:02 +0200

It’s been rumbling on all season and we are finally nearing the point of closure. For those watching on from higher ground, it no longer matters about the moral rights and wrongs. It also matters not about the much divided opinions of the masses. The only thing that matters are the results of a process which it is hoped will be independent. There are rumours circulating and there are pockets of idle gossip. Only Bates and those close to him will know if he has been offered a number of points back to let the matter drop. Only Bates and those close to him will know the percentage game the club are playing. Only time will tell if the club will be hit with further sanctions should Bates fail. Bates used today's programme notes to spell out 6 points that he believes are the "real issues" of this arbitration:

1. What did we do wrong - the football league has been unable or unwilling to tell us.

2. We complied with the football league rules & regulations.

3. We complied with the laws of the land.

4. The taxman has vowed to oppose any insolvency proposal proposed if football creditors are paid in full, which the football league insist that they are.

5. The football league had a (misconceived) quarrel with the administrators which had nothing to do with us.

6. Give us back our 15 points

Every fan you speak to has an opinion on the matter but not one of them believes we will get back 15 points. Not many of them think we will get any, but they cling to the belief that Bates has followed this through when many would have dropped the issue. With that in mind Bates must have a strong case or something up his sleeve. If not, why pursue and spend time, money and effort into a case that has the potential to leave him with egg on his face. With the talk of the points deduction reaching fever pitch, we were informed that a high profile name was added to the much talked about petition to 10 Downing Street that now has over 34,000 names on it:

"Golfing legend and lifelong Leeds United fan Colin Montgomerie OBE has given his backing to a petition surrounding the club's 15-point deduction."

Given the timing, this immediately felt like a cheap publicity stunt. Mind you, it was a confusing one given that any Leeds fan with a memory span longer that Liesdales goldfish will remember that back in 2005, it was Monty himself seeming to have had a change of heart regarding his allegiance by giving interviews saying:

"I must apologise to all those Leeds supporters out there. I’m still a big fan, and it is still the first result I look for. But I live across the road from the Chelsea ground now, and I go the matches." Colin Montgomerie - 2005

There’s just something about "Celebrity" football fans. Its hard to put your finger on, but it’s as if their elevated position in society means they are able to play by different rules than others. For example, another "Celebrity" Leeds fan was of course England Cricket star Nasser Hussain. Nasser is an Arsenal fan now after he claimed that he changed teams so that his boys can watch 'decent football'. If only it were so simple for the rest of us. I suppose there are pro's and con's to having "Celebrity" fans out there following your club, but at the end of the day I guess we have to simply be eternally thankful that we don’t have to suffer the likes of Mick Hucknall amongst ours. Also this week, and perhaps more worrying than which star will be next to name us in an interview, contract talks between Rui and the club were suspended. Its interesting to recall that it was Wise who talked Rui into not signing a deal back in January when he said:

"Rui knows that he's got another contract here. But does he want to sign a new contract on League One money when there's a possibility that we'll go up, or does he want to sign a contract on Championship money? If he wants to sit down then he can, but I told him he'd be a fool. He'd be mad to do it now because we only pay a certain amount of money. Obviously if we go up, we'll pay that little bit more." Dennis Wise

If you look back to majority of games this season, Rui has been nothing short of a colossus at times and in some respects even been the difference between winning and losing games. These performances both for Leeds, also his successful African Nations with Angola, have naturally attracted interest from other clubs. Should we fail in our promotion push this season, it’s feared Rui won’t be the only player we will be sad to see leave the club in the summer. So this morning we awoke early for the penultimate home game of the season. With the lucky song blaring out of the radio, there was just that feeling in the air that this was to be our day:

The last visit to Elland Road from the Cumbrians ended in defeat as Andy Ritchie bagged a brace back to give us a 2-0 win in 1986. This season of course we have already lost to them at their place. We saw one of the best 45 minutes of the season so far as the Wise / Bassett combination got off to a flying start. We tore them apart but missed a host of chances, only take a slender 1-0 lead into the break. The second half was a bemusing role reversal as the home side ripped us apart and won 3-1. Some say this was the turning point of the season and result wise, its hard to disagree. Back to today and Macca was forced into one change to the side that swept away Orient. Sheehan suspended for today and Huddersfield on Tuesday, so in came Kenton at left back...

So with Casper in goal, Fraser, Lubo and Huntingdon joined Kenton at the back. Kilkenny, Johnson, Douglas and Howson made up the midfield with Beckford and Freedman up front. It was reported that Beckford had undergone an early morning fitness test after his injury at Orient and also Freedman had shaken off a sickness bug to play. With a crowd of 28,530 in great "early kick off" form, the boys set about keeping the current good run going. Playing towards the South Stand there was an early shooting chance for Douggie, but his shot flew high and wide. With Kilkenny playing more infield today this was leaving Fraser vulnerable and Carlisle were having the most joy down the our right. Playing with a 5 man midfield and just Graham upfront, they were a tough tackling and well organised outfit. With no little pace though the side, it was easy to see why they have been so successful this season. For our part, we were not clicking as we had done a week before. Good moves were breaking down too easily and the final ball left a lot to be desired. We were failing to get either striker in the game and Carlisle were beginning to settle well into a good pass and move tempo. In contrast to the referee who took charge of the Brighton game, today’s official Probert, seemed keen to let the game flow and it made such a difference...

It was Carlisle who struck the first blow with a good move that left us chasing shadows. Great work down the right left Fraser pulled out of position. Hackney deliver a peach of a ball across the 6 yard box and Dobie was totally unmarked on the back stick to slam home. It was a blow, but one that the boys responded to positively and though we were again failing to be in anyway "slick", we still fashioned chances. Freedman headed over and after a short corner, Johnson saw a brilliant left foot curler flash just past the post. Carlisle were continually threatening though and the extra man in midfield was giving them the advantage. Only the offside flag stopped Graham bursting though after a great move through the middle. After a couple more scares, we continued to try get Beckford and Freedman into the game, but it was looking like one of those days. On 42 minutes, great build up play between Kilkenny, Douggie and Johnson saw the ball fall at Freedman’s feet, but his shot went a whisker wide of the top corner with the keeper beaten. The halftime whistle was met with an appreciative crowd who could see the work rate and effort, but perhaps not the tempo that would have troubled Carlisle and we hoped that a Macca pep talk would do the trick. With the noise of the fans being cranked up, we began the second half like a hurricane...

It was beginning to be reminiscent of the Viduka inspired win over Liverpool back in 2000 and we got an early reward for our efforts. On 49 mins, Kenton never gave up chasing the ball on the by-line and he got the ball back to Kilkenny. Kilkenny had time and space to loft in a cross which Beckford missed at the near post, but it was enough to put off the keeper and Freedman bundled in a header for 1-1 and send the home support wild. At this point, things could potentially have gone sour as Beckford hobbled off and it was Kandol chosen to spearhead the attack. It was Kandol however who began to have a telling influence on the game. Kandol managed to hold the ball up a couple of times as we probed and pressed Carlisle. With Douggie and Howson able to get into the game more, we were looking more like the side we saw last week. It didn’t stop Carlisle attacking on the break, but today was the day we were reminded just why we brought big Lubo back to the club. He was simply magnificent in the second half and pulled off some terrific blocks and timely tackles. With Huntingdon next to him playing some neat balls out of defence, we soaked up pressure and quickly hit back and on 58 we nicked the lead. Johnson’s ball into the box was knocked onto Kandol. Kandols shot was well saved by the keeper but young Howson mopped up and twatted home for 2-1 and an amazing turn around...

Carlisle got their heads down and whilst the home support was still celebrating, they won a corner. It was swung into the middle and as Casper came to grab It, he dropped it onto Grahams boot and he said "thank you very much" for a quick fire reply that took the wind out of our sails. It was a blow that could have gone either way and with Carlisle tails up, they could have taken the lead. Great play by Hackney saw a ball into the middle fall to Dobie, but he failed to apply the finish. The game began to get stretched and both teams went for a winner. Johnson was having a great second half and he fired one goalwards that was deflected for a corner and we had hearts in mouths a couple of minutes later when Casper made up for his error with a diving save. The next goal was going to be crucial and it came on 69 minutes. A bad tackle on the left saw the ref pull out a yellow for Carlisle’s Smith. The resultant free kick was swung into the box by Kilkenny and the ball fell to the feet of Freedman 6 yards out who lashed it into the top left hand corner for more mayhem on the terraces. It was a long way from over and Carlisle kept coming forward. Both Lubo and Huntingdon made timely blocks as we managed to keep out both Dobie and Hackney. Up the other end, we were still looking dangerous. Freedman had his eyes on a hatrick and Kenton was also making great runs forward...

In one flowing move, Kenton just fired wide after cutting into the box. It was nervy end to end stuff and when Douggie fizzed one just wide after great work from Kandol, you though perhaps we should just try shut up shop. However Macca brought on Prutton for Kilkenny and he had a an immediate impact with a couple of half chances. With 4 minutes of stoppage time held up, there was no sign of either team wanting to stop and It was Kandol who nearly had the final say. To be fair it would have capped off a great display from him had he notched. With the keeper out of the action after he fought for a high ball, he just needed to prod goalwards, but he appeared to slip at the vital moment, not getting enough on the ball and the chance was gone. The ground erupted like Mount Vesuvius on full time and with 3 vital points in the bag, all eyes were on results elsewhere. So, we congratulate Swansea and we hope to join them next season in the Championship. With 4 points and a better goal difference on our nearest playoff challenger Walsall, cementing 6th spot is still in our own hands. The temptation will of course be to pin hopes on the arbitration going our way, however with away trips to Huddersfield away on Tuesday and Millwall on Saturday, its key that we do not take our eyes off the ball. Anything that happens in our favour off the park from Wednesday onwards will be a bonus...

Leeds United AFC... "15 point's, who gives a Fuck"... Keep Fighting...

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Leyton Orient 0 Leeds United AFC 2

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 10:08:25 +0200

FA Cup Semi-final fever hit this week and it once again proved that you don't have to be a publicity seeking chairman to find yourself queuing over night for precious tickets. This week it was the turn of Pompy fans who braved the elements but back in 1987, without the luxury of pop up tents, it was Semi-Final ticket hungry Leeds fans. This was to be my biggest adventure yet as a young lad and we had arrived at Elland Road at around 6.30 pm finding the West stand gates locked. The club were aware that fans had planned to sleep out, so decided to keep fans away from the ground the best they could and ensured the front of the queue began outside the locked gates at the bottom of the Lowfields road. This was our sleeping position for the night and we quickly made friends with those around us. As the night drew in, a steady stream of hardy fans began to gather. Whilst me and another lad busied ourselves by being John Sheridan and Ian Baird on the road with a ball, the adults began to reminisce about the good old times. By midnight, the queue disappeared around the corner of Lowfields and onto Elland Road itself. Fond memories of the night remain intact. Hot chocolate in hand, listening to the tales about Revie‘s heroes, before drifting off to sleep in the cold night air. What was noticeable upon awaking was how the queue that was pretty organised soon became 20 and 30 fold as people gravitated towards the front...

Fans were "saving" places for mates, others were more blatant and as time went on, heated debates began about the late comers pushing in. As 8.30am and gate oppening approached, we were near the front and I was tight against the wall. My old man took me by the hand and just said, "Stick with me son, there will be a mad dash!". I heard his words, but was not prepared for the crush and madness that ensued. As the stewards opened the gates, a mass of people pushed forward as one. Once through the gates, people were sprinting like drug fuelled athletes to get to the ticket office. It was as I came around the corner that I got caught up in a crush and my arm got bent back against the wall. Immediately my old man picked me up and carried me to reception where we were met by David Dowse, the then club secretary and my old man explained the situation. A club first aider suggested that I was taken to Casualty. That was all well and good, but my old man had our priorities at heart and argued that we had queued out all night and were now in danger of missing out on tickets. David Dowse nodded, then disappeared for 10 mins and returned with 2 tickets. I understand these were the first pair sold to Leeds fans that day. After a long wait in Casualty, my old man ushered me into school where we were met by an unhappy Head Master. Of course, we went on to lose the game 2-3 in one of the greatest FA Cup semi final games ever played...

Also this week, that Donny head groundsman left many Whites fans, including yours truly, feeling like April Fools as many of us were unable to make the rearranged date. Finding ones self stranded away from home with no access to real time scores and totally reliant on text messages from the game left nerves shredded. The unexpected result meant it was worth it and loud cheers could be heard echoing around the dark late night streets. Quite how we managed to nick it is another matter as all eye witnesses seem to agree that it really ended up being a good old fashioned back to the walls battle as we held on for 3 points. The winning goal coming from a stunning freekick from Sheehan:

What was pleasing to hear was the new found spirit and fight within the side continuing to grow. News that Macca had been rewarded with a new 12 month rolling contract just seemed to boost the feeling that, just perhaps, the club are on the cusp of some stability. It was this warm and fuzzy thought that aided the trip down to Brisbane Road in cold winteresq weather. The last time a Leeds team had run out here was in 1963. Goals from Bobby Collins and Albert Johansson gave us a 2-0 win in front of just over 12,000. Back in those days of course, those fans would have paid to get in, unlike the residents of the 4 blocks of flats, one on each corner of the ground, who got a prime free view...

Macca didn’t tinker with a winning side even though he was forced into late changes at Donny. With Casper in goal, the back four of Huntingdon, Lubo, Fraser and Sheehan continued. Douglas, Howson, Kilkenny and Johnson made up the midfield and the improving by the game partnership of Beckford & Freedman upfront. It took about 5 minutes for the game to settle, but once it did, both sides seemed committed to be playing half decent football. The home side, on the back of a poor run, were knocking the ball about well and for our part good, interchanging passing through the midfield was looking promising. After giving a ball boy a rollicking for not passing a ball to him quicker, Kilkenny got a decent shot in early doors, but it wasn't until 12 mins that we looked overly threatening. Great play from young Howson saw his cross in thrashed home by Freedman, but the flag was up for offside. It was from this moment that we took the game by the scruff of the neck and proceeded to play some of the best football away from home this season, without being over spectacular. Douglas anchored midfield thus allowing Howson and Kilkenny to have a field day. Along with Fraser & Sheehan trying to overlap, there was a swagger and confidence about the side that has rarely been seen. On 16 mins we deservedly took the lead. Fraser tried to whip a cross in, but it was handled on the right of the area...

Johnson swung in a great freekick and Huntingdon smashed a close range header home. After a couple of minutes of being thrown around like a rag doll by the big bloke at the side of me, we watched in delight and wonderment as the boys in Yellow began to rip the hosts apart. At this point, all that was missing was that final ball. Beckford's running was causing all sorts of problems as was the intelligent positioning of Freedman and it was his snapshot that was well held before Orient had their first real chance of the game. A great piece of swift play ended with Mkandawire swivelling and firing well over from close range. It was a warning shot that suggested despite the dominance, Orient were not out of the game just yet. It should have been over the next 20 mins though as we wasted some great chances. The best of which came Howson's way as he latched onto a great through ball and even though the ball seemed to get caught in his feet, he got a shot away that the advancing Morris saved well. The rebound fell to Freedman whose rocket shot was saved well too. A quick free kick was to route of the next gilt edge chance, a ball slid through to Beckford who did everything right, but failed to hit the target with a first time shot. We were getting so far on top but not killing them off and the voice was nagging away in the back of the head again. As halftime approached, we nearly paid for missed chances...

A speculative shot from distance was well held by Casper and though Huntingdon and Lubo were defending most other things well, Casper was still forced to tip over a cross shot as the home side came on strong. Both these saves made up for yet another bad day at the office for Casper with regards to kicking. The halftime whistle was met by a deafening roar of approval by the near 3,000 travelling army and we proceeded to utilise our 15 minute break with a hearty "Champions of Europe". Now we have been here before and we really braced ourselves for one of those home side rallies and for the first couple of minutes, it looked like our fears were well founded. Good pressing earned a corner and we thought "Here we go again". However, as the rain lashed down, the boys proceeded to prove us wrong. With Sheehan seeing more of the ball and Johnson now playing his best football for the club thus far, we were breaking well and getting forward in numbers. Howson was driving midfield and we were once again beginning to dominate the game. We still needed that killer goal and it came on 50 minutes. Brilliant work by Freedman saw him dummy and then skin his marker. As he strode into the box, he squared to the onrushing Beckford who twatted home and sent the away end tumbling into jubilation. It was just reward for the performance thus far and personal reward for Beckford's non stop running today...

We sang louder and the tempo of the Mighty Whites got faster. If you scrunched your eyes and looked through your fingers, I swear it was just like watching Brazil as our dominance nearly got a third. How we didn't is beyond me and I guess everyone who witnessed it. Johnson had a shot well saved, the follow up saw Beckfords overhead saved, which fell to Kilkenny whose attempt to tap in was hacked off the line which lead to another Leeds shot blocked before finally the ball was cleared to the loudest cheers of the day from the home support. Things were going so well, it was surely going to be a case of how many, however, in a second, the games momentum changed. Beckford went down under an innocuous looking tackle and stayed down as the game went on without him. After Casper had flapped at a ball into the box, we finally hacked it into touch so the trainer could come on. Beckford was having a super game, but that was ended as he was taken off. Kandol came on and the tempo began to drop. Kandol certainly put in the effort, but with every other ball forward now getting flagged for offside, we were allowing the hosts to get more into the game. We dropped a bit deeper and tried to hit on the break via midfield and it began to work well. Macca proceeded to change midfield around with both Kilkenny and Johnson making way for Prutton (went wide right) and Hughes (Went wide Left). It was the latter making the most impression...

Clearly pumped up, Hughes was steaming into tackles and the travelling army responded to his passion by notching up the noise as we looked to sing the boys home. Brilliant play from Freedman saw him release Howson, who once again was thwarted by the keeper when the lad really should have notched. Sheehan, who is now suspended for 2 games, saw a 30 yard Freekick well held too. The lad was impressive in parts today and had an almost "Dorigo like" second half. The last 5 minutes saw great banter between ourselves and the home fans to our left. It was good natured and the loudest they had sung all game, however, heavy handed policing in their end tried to snuff it out. 4 minutes of injury time was just enough for Kandol to get a shot on target as we professionally saw the game out. The players came to thank us for our efforts as we slowly drifted out of the old wood floored stand and into the pissing rain. The transformation to a side who play a decent brand of football whilst brimming with confidence has been as swift as the wheels falling off over Christmas and cleary the credit for this must go to Macca and team. The main consensus of this change seems to be the boost of Douglas back in that anchor role. It has certainly, on today’s evidence, impacted Howson's game and both players were immense today. The main worry was Beckford's injury and we pray to the gods that this isn't one of those tricks those bastards love play on us...

The old trick of "Give hope with one hand, rip it away with the other" has become far too tiresome, but you just fear that it is coming. So, we march back into the top six, with a game in hand on our nearest rival and goal difference worth a point. On top of that we have not conceded in 4 games. Next up is Carlisle for yet another "6 pointer". The power of positive thinking is possibly having the desired effect. 5 games to go, lets keep it going...

Leeds United AFC... Christopher Loftus & Kevin Speight -R.I.P. - We Will Never Forget Istanbul 2000... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 0

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 09:32:03 +0200

This week the nation's eardrums have been subjected to an all out assault, as the should he / shouldn't he debate about Beckham and his 100 caps raged on the airways. Now it's no secret that the majority of Leeds fans have little time for the man. However, as much as it sticks in the throat, there was a time when the lad was one of the best players England had ever produced. In his prime he could even skip past Ian Harte and deliver the most potent of crosses. This is a fact because I saw it happen with my very eyes. It is of course open to debate, but had Beckham stuck to "on" field "performances", he could have gone on to be much more respected by the masses than he appears to be today. The thought behind the "Give him his 100th and send him into retirement" brigade was quite noble, but there used to be a time when playing for England was more than just a sentimental or ego driven numbers game. Perhaps given that England are in dire need of revolution at the moment this was possibly the occasion that the team resisted the overtures of the individual and his marketing power. In the end its doubtful if his inclusion meant that much to those who exist outside the bubble and marketing prowess of "Team Beckham". With all this going on, it brought back the memory of the first time we ever saw Beckham play. Back in May 1993 and Leeds United AFC seniors have, by the skin of their teeth, survived a torrid season that saw the Champions of England humbled...

A Rod Wallace hatrick on the last day of the season had kept us up with 2 points to spare and we looked forward to a break in the summer. However not before backing the youth team in the final of the FA Youth cup. We were to play Manchester United over two legs and the buzz was slowly beginning to build. This was a distraction we had welcomed and the final quickly became the focal point of the club. The young Leeds team were clear underdogs, there was no doubt about that. Ferguson himself purred when surveying the talent in his young team and made the quote of "I have never seen their like before". With over 30,000 at Old Trafford in the first leg, the hosts were stunned into the usual Old Trafford silence as first Jamie Forrester netted, then Noel "Snowy" Whelan as we took a stunning 2 goal lead into the second leg. A crowd of 31,037 gathered for what turned out to be a most amazing night. We can now recognise that the team in Red were littered with quality. Beckham, Scholes, Butt to name but three but back then, these names were unheard of and rather than being a game about stars and personalities, the game was a simple White v Red. It proved no contest as no matter how good the individual Red players were to become, they froze in front of a passionate White support. A stunning Forrester overhead kick on 12 minutes sent the home support into raptures and at 3-0 on aggregate, the game looked dead. However a Scholes penalty gave the Reds hope, but it was soon extinguished by a well taken goal from Smithard giving us a 4-1 win and the trophy...

It was a night where the future of Leeds United looked assured, however as we are aware, nothing is ever that straight forward with our beloved club. Whilst Fregie went on to build a first team around the likes of Beckham, Butt, Neville, Scholes and Gillespie and win the league in 1996, Wilko opted for a different route. Wilko had given first team debuts to Bowman, Whelan, Forrester, Sharp and Tinkler before that FA Youth cup final. However by the time the 1994/1995 season came around, hopes of moulding a team round this bunch of kids had faded. The team that had won the cup against all the odds disappointingly went on to manage just a handful of first team games between them. Today’s visitors were of course fellow Play Off hopefuls Brighton and the links between the clubs have always been very strong. A host of players have played for both sides, including Seb Carole and Ian Westlake, but it’s a tale of three strikers that interests the most. First up was Terry Conner. As we know Conner was a local lad who scored against West Brom on his debut. Terry went on to score 19 goals for Leeds before Eddie Gray swapped him for Brighton’s Andy Ritchie. Ritchie had already made a name for himself with the Leeds support after scoring a hatrick against us for the Red enemy. That didn't stop Ritchie becoming a popular player for the Whites and he went on to notch 44 goals in 159 appearances in the White shirt, before being sold to Oldham for a paltry 50k...

The other striker in question is of course the old Kop favourite Ian Baird. Bairdy made a name for himself at Leeds by being the on field embodiment of all that Leeds fans demand in a player. Passion, Pride, Commitment and Desire. Bairdy showed all the traits required to boost him up to fans favourite and would simply put his head where others dare not stick their feet. Bairdy scored 58 goals in two spells at the club between 85-87 and then 88-90 making a total of 192 appearances. Bairdy ended up at Brighton in 1996 and scored 14 goals in 44 games before retiring from the game and going into management. With Tranmere edging further ahead of us in the Friday night games, it was imperative that we got a result today. Games in hand are all well and good, but as we know, its points in the bank that will ultimately decide our Play Off fate. With the refreshing win and performance against Walsall still in the hearts and minds, it was an optimistic bunch that turned up in once again appalling weather conditions to Elland Road. Macca predictably kept faith with the victorious side and sent out the White gladiators unchanged. So Casper was once again protected by a back four of Rui, Lubo, Kenton and Sheehan. Midfield was made up of Kilkenny, Johnson, Howson and Prutton with Beckford and Freedmen up top. Leeds lost the toss and attacked the Revie in the first half. This is usually a bad omen, however with our new found positive thinking, the crowd roared on the boys from the start...

It appeared that the Whites were determined to continue where they had left off the last game and dominated the first 30 mins. Slick passing and great off the ball movement gave the crowd something to feed off and though the ref was doing his utmost to turn this into a stop start niggling affair, we really should have nicked the lead. A clutch of half chances and corners in the first 15 minutes lead to a Freedman shot being somehow hooked off the line by Whing as we turned up the heat. Brighton were not in the game and it became clear that they were willing to soak up pressure and take a point. Midfield was being dominated by both the tireless Howson and the once again impressive Prutton. Bradley Johnson was having his most influential half since his arrival and it was he who was providing decent delivers into the box from the left. The same could also be said of Sheehan who was once again turning in a performance fit of a player from a higher level. However, with the goal not coming, frustration began to kick in on the park. To the Leeds boys credit, heads didn't drop, but the impetuous did as the game drifted into niggling stop start mainly due to over fussy refereeing. An injury delay to Johnson did not help matters and once again, the failure to take early chances was threatening to damage the players confidence. Brighton's first half display was gritty and dogged without really troubling the back line of Leeds. The main danger was great running from midfield but with little or no cutting edge both Lubo and Rui were able to mop up with ease...

Up the other end Prutton had a brilliant effort just wide and as we approached halftime, Freedman was fouled on the edge of the area. The resultant freekick saw Sheehan line up Hartesq for a freekick that zipped just over the top. Goalless at halftime was disappointing, but given the overall performance, there was much room for optimism that we could push on and nick the second half. Now playing towards the South Stand and pushed on by great support, the boys began strongly with both purpose and intent. Great movement and passing was threatening to open up Albion, however as he did in the first half, the ref decided he wanted to be part of the show. He began a series of annoying decisions for both sides and he simply refused to let the game flow. This was coupled with Casper choosing this half, of all halves, to display his most woeful kicking display of the season. Every time we looked to build on our momentum, one of these two elements clean stopped us in our tracks. Despite this, we were still the better team and taking the game to Albion. Kenton was having a storming game at right back, almost managing to play most of the half as an all out winger and with Howson dominating midfield we had the visitors on the rack. Howson went closest to scoring by unleashing a searing shot that was tipped over by the keeper just before the hour. Just as it looked like we could overcome the ref and Casper elements, disaster struck. Johnson’s injury in the first half had taken its toll and he was taken off...

Though he was playing well by his standards, this in itself wasn't the cause of the disaster. It was more the decision to move Howson onto the left and bring Douglas into midfield. Douglas will be the first to admit that he is way off the pace and the loss of young Johnny to the left meant the domination we had enjoyed in midfield quickly began to evaporate. Brighton immediately began to exploit this and had the first real chance just after, however it was the Whites who should have taken the lead. A rare decent ball from Casper found Freedman who raced clear of the defence. One on one with the advancing keeper, Freedman seemed caught in two minds as he failed to get a decent shot in and in an instant, the chance of the game was gone. From then, Brighton woke up and responded well. A dodgy looking offside flag rescued us from going a goal down as the visitors sensed there could be more than a point in the game and threatened to over run us as time ticked on. Still it was the whites who created half decent chances. Notably Beckford managed to lift the ball way over the bar after a great play from Kenton found him unmarked. Macca moved to take off Kilkenny and bring on Kandol, but even with 3 up it had little effect as the stop start nature of the game continued into injury time. The final chance of the game fell to Leeds when Beckford did brilliantly on the left and put in a great delivery to Kandol at the back stick, but he failed to get a decent connection...

Disappointment was in the air at the final whistle, but the crowd acknowledged the effort and performance the players had put in. Though its fair to say we did not reach the heights of the Walsall game, it was a performance worthy of a win and once again, a damn sight better than we have witnessed in previous weeks. However, failure to take chances and kill off a team that is in close contention for the same aim as ourselves is indeed a blow. So the result leaves us now 4 points off a Play Off spot with 2 games in hand with a goal difference that is really worth a point. With an April Fools day trip to Doncaster next up and a trip to the Orient on Saturday, the aim must now be at least 4 points out of 6 and that will be easier said than done. We can do it though can't we, after all, its in our own hands...

Leeds United AFC..."It's a conflict of parallels"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 2 Walsall 0

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:13:33 +0100

Last Easter we looked for hope and footballing resurrection but were lulled into a false sense of security. The home win over Plymouth catapulted us out of the bottom three for a few hours, only to be dragged back into the mire by Easter Monday with defeat at Colchester. Whilst the stakes this season are of a different nature, we were again on the look out for hope. Most football fans are a strange breed at the best of times. The majority of us are naturally a pessimistic bunch and that’s when things are going well. In the good times its best to savour, but always to err on the side of caution and when things are going bad, it's almost impossible to look on the bright side. Faced with the latter on the back of the last few games, we find ourselves once again looking for straw's to grasp at to give ourselves some crumb of comfort. Many Whites fans are finding it hard to lift themselves at present and its fair to say that events over recent weeks have left even the most optimistic Whites fan drained. However, given that we were still only 2 points from a Play Off berth, hope continues to shine even if it was not as bright as we would have liked. Had the season taken a different path, we would possibly have been more than happy with the current situation. If we had, for example, taken an age to over come the 15 point deduction and slowly climbed the table to this position, imagine the change in mindset...

At this point in the season, a source of hope and optimism could be found in the history of Manchester City and their escape from this division at the first time of asking. At the same time, the natural pessimistic side which shouts the name of Nottingham Forest must be ignored. Whilst the Mighty Whites were undergoing the transformation from Graham's Caterpillar to O'Leary's Butterfly during the course of the 1998/1999 season, it's fair to say City were not exactly pulling up trees. City took till November to get near a Division Three playoff spot. By mid February they fell out of the playoffs and things were looking bleak before they rallied and cemented that play off spot on the last day of the season. From there, it was hardly a march to glory. Scrapping past Wigan in the playoff semis and with 88 mins on the clock against Gillingham in the final, they trailed 0-2. There was 94 mins on the clock when Dickov pushed the game into extra time and after a nerve jangling penalty shoot out, City held out to win 3-1. City then went on to get promotion at the first time of asking the next season. Given our own Play Off history, the need for positive thinking is essential. Should we scrap into the Play Off's "Third time lucky" should become our new optimistic Play Off mantra, as we look to ignore our own previous Play Off misery...

After the disappointment of Vale, it was off field events that were once again a distraction this week. Fresh from last weeks reports that a top lawyer had seen all the documentation with regards to the High Court writ and gave us an outside chance of getting "something" back, Bates decided the time was right to announce that he had severed ties with Radio Leeds from the end of the season and bring all radio match commentary "in-house". Well, when I say "in-house", I mean that which some call "the propaganda station" also known as Yorkshire Radio. Many fans are still trying to understand the why's and wherefores of how we owed them 480K during the administration process but that aside, it seems that no longer will the people of Leeds be able to tune in to games without purchasing a DAB radio. The community is not evenly split on this latest Bates move and a lot see this as a yet another cold, callous and calculated move by Bates. Whilst Radio Leeds may not supply world class commentary or insight into the goings on at Elland Road, what it does offer is both a link to Leeds fans and more importantly, an accessible, objective and independent voice. The question many fans are currently asking is will Yorkshire radio offer the same or will the questions asked and the answers given be the ones that Bates wants people to hear...

With the results filtering through Radio Leeds of the 3pm kick offs, it quickly became clear that tonight's match was a win at all costs game. The performance was not important, only that Leeds showed some bottle and fight to keep us in contention for that 6th spot and the power of positive thinking was now having little effect as we wandered to the ground for this "Six pointer". Whilst the last visit of Walsall saw a magnificent hatrick by Phil Masinga back in 1995, its the memory of the Division Two game back in 1989 that lingers. It was the penultimate home game of the season and a terrible game to boot. Then club captain Mark Azilewood had been a solid servant for the club, but was going through a very bad patch. With a section of the crowd on his back he managed to get on the end of a ball into the box and silence his critics with the only goal of the game. His goal "celebration" of sticking two's up at the Kop was a step too far and he was immediately subbed. Wilko then stripped Mark of captaincy and soon after he was booted out to Bradford. Macca was forced into a change from the Port Vale game with Hughes picking up a 2 game suspension due to hitting 10 bookings. So with Casper in goal, Macca drafted in Sheehan back to left back, then stuck with Lubo, Rui and Kenton at the back. An unchanged midfield of Johnson, Prutton, Howson and Kilkenny sat behind Beckford & Freedman...

Given the way teams have been coming to Elland Road and attacking us, it was a surprise to see high flying Walsall come with a cautious attitude as they left only Mooney up front and packed midfield. Even given for this, it was frankly a pleasant surprise to watch what unfolded before the SKY cameras and our very own eyes. In a throw back to the game against Forest, the Whites played with purpose, passion and no little skill and desire. In fact we looked a completely different outfit to what had recently gone before. With Kilkenny, Prutton and Howson all firing we managed to create Beckford more chances in the first half than in the last 4 games. Beckford's off the shoulder running was paying dividends as he twice managed to get on to the end of through balls, just failing to find that killer touch. Prutton was trying from distance too and it was Walsall keeper Ince that was having to earn his money as Casper watched on. Only a few minutes in saw a shot from Beckford well saved. He was then put through one on one with Ince and steered the ball just wide, though play was harshly pulled back for a free kick. Shortly after, a headed ball from Howson fell at Beckfords feet and his delicate chip did not have enough on it to lift over Ince. The breakthrough came on 29 minutes, Prutton found Kilkenny who had drifted to the left, his precision pass was picked up by Beckford who swept round the onrushing keeper to fire into the net from a tight angle...

The despairing dive of the defender tracking back only managed to help the ball on its way into the net. From then the confidence levels grew and with Freedman cleverly linking up play with the midfield, we began to brush the visitors aside in a way we have rarely seen. It wasn't total football, but it was total commitment and domination and we should really have been more than 1 up by the time Prutton again went close as Ince made a terrific save just before halftime. It was difficult to sum up the mood at half time, after what we had witnessed, we wanted to be optimistic, but the pessimism was ruling the head and we hoped that our fears would prove to be unfounded. Out the boys came for the second half and we held our breath. Within seconds of the restart a brilliant flowing move down the left between Prutton and Sheehan saw Prutton put in a great cross, Freedman reached it, but his header lacked that bit of power to trouble Ince. It was just after this that Walsall finally awoke. With a couple of forays forward they got into some good positions, but didn't trouble us until a free kick was awarded just on the edge of the area. Holmes stepped up to crack a terrific shot just over Casper's bar. Moments later, we should have been made to pay for all our missed chances. Bad defending allowed a ball to come in from the left, it bobbled around before falling at the feet of Mooney, who 6 yards out, lashed it over the bar when it seemed easier to score...

It was a let off that we have not been used to this year and we took advantage of it. Playing some of the best football of the season, we pressed forward in search of a killer goal. Sheehan was having his best game since he arrived and Johnson was coming more and more into the game. Sheehan had a rasping free kick tipped over and Freedman again had a chance which he prodded into the keepers arms. Johnson had a header saved on the line and in an almighty goal mouth scramble, Lubo hit one over the bar. There was always that nagging voice in the head screaming "We will rue missed chances" but fortunately, it was silenced with 10 minutes to go. Walsall players lost possession midway inside there half on the right, Kilkenny played an instinctive first time through ball to the speeding Beckford. His first touch seemed to have let him down, but his pace made up for it and he lifted the ball over the onrushing Ince and as the ball nestled into the net, we went fucking mental. Game over thank you very much now let the good times roll. With the whites tails up, the question was, could Beckford repeat Masinga's feat and bag a hatrick. The lad had a couple more chances late on, but unfortunately could not put the cherry on this cake. With 8 minutes left, Douglas came on to a tremendous reception for his first run out since the return fixture at the Bescott. Howson had the last chance with a great shot from distance, but we were not to be denied our best win of 2008...

All over the park we looked assured and confident. Walsall were poor overall, but teams worse than this have come to Elland Road and got something from the game. The transformation tonight was truly astounding and unexplainable. Anybody watching Leeds for the first time this year on SKY will be wondering what the fuck have we fans been complaining about and scratching their heads as to how we have dropped so rapidly down the table. So with contradictions ruling the heart and head & with 8 games to go, we look for inspiration, we look for optimism and we look for positives. Tonight it was the players that finally supplied all three of those requirements and all credit to them for doing so. However, one only has to remember the performance against Forest and what followed to avoid getting too optimistic and carried away. The only thing in our favour is we have a run in that mostly contains those either just around us or above us. However, its to be hoped that Macca's plan relies on much more than Leeds "turning it on" against the big boys. That said, if we can, in someway, play like this consitantly over the next 8 games, we could easily get that play off spot. With the Huddersfield game rearranged due to some bizarre international call ups, including Kandol for Congo, next up its Play Off chasing Brighton at home...

Leeds United AFC... "Land of Hope and Glory"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Wolverhampton Wanders 1 Leeds United AFC 0

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 09:12:45 +0100

Flashback - Season 2006/2007

They are rubbing their hands & sharpening their knives. As every game passes and our hope begins to die. You can see a light ignite at the back of their eyes. They are loving it, praying that we drop, willing the lifeless body of Leeds United AFC to slowly slip out of the Championship and into the abyss. Fans up and down the country, fans from far flung places, fans with glee simply etched in their faces. Fans who hate us from a long time ago, others who have really only just begun to know. They have heard the stories about the mighty Leeds United AFC, they hate us far and wide, their hate is like a badge & they wear it with pride. However, lets be honest, we love it & wouldn't have it any other way. I love the thought of every single away game we play, we are a big deal to the hosts. I love the thought that the stay away fans at every ground turn out for "Dirty Leeds". I mean, other than local derbies up and down the country, you can't really imagine they get so wound up by too many other clubs, but when the "Dirty Leeds" are in town, this is how it is. They fucking hate us, we see it everywhere we travel. They love to put one over us, they look forward to our visit. Most of all, even after how far the club has fallen in such a short space of time, its a big game to the locals wherever we play and it was the same at Wolves today, another massive crowd turned out, helped by yet another magnificent travelling White army of nearly 3,500...

Desperate times mean desperate measures and given the ever expanding injury list, Wisey again tapped up a few mates and put the emergency loan system to full use. With Casper rightfully retaining his place in goal and with a back line of Richardson, Heath, Marques & Lewis, Wisey called in some favours. Somehow he managed to pull off a masterstroke and played Harpo, with the captains armband, Groucho, the Herman Munster dynamo & the French nippy little player, Zeppo Marx all in midfield. if that wasn't impressive we had the added bonus of Donald Ducks nephews up front. Huey (still getting over his broken wing), Dewey (still getting over his horrendous leg injuries) and Louie (Who looks like he's been snacking too much near the park pond again), all playing in a kind of 4/4/2ish, that at times could have been 4/3/3ish - but it could also have been, ahhh fuck it, a play where you want formation up the front. Now, it's no understatement to say that it was the most one-sided game of football I have ever seen in my life for most of the first half. This caused many Leeds fans to have a crick in the neck watching only the left hand side of the park, as the Whites rarely got over the half way line. To be honest, this was not against a team that were overly fantastic either. Wolves are on a fine run at the moment, but they will be the first to admit that they simply have a team packed with young, enthusiastic kids that work their bollocks off for each other (A novel approach to football)...

Cleary there were some tactics going on out on the park for the Whites today too, as for the first 44 minutes, Harpo, Groucho and Zeppo rarely got near the halfway line. Maybe this was due to the fear of contracting Birdflu from Huey, Dewey and Louie and if that's the case, its understandable. However, its more likely to be something to do with the fact that their "comedy routine" revolved around "clownesq" football. In a nutshell, the first half was like this. Wolves attack, it gets broken down by the Magnificent Marques or the "I am really trying boss" Heath. They pass the ball to Groucho thinking "Job done", Groucho thinks, no chance, I don't want it, here, you have it Harpo. Harpo thinks, fuck's sake, I was just thrilling the crowd with my clumsy falling over routine, and passes it to Zeppo, but it misses and finds a Wolves player. They attack, header tipped over by Casper, corner. Corner swung in, headed out by Heath, straight to Zeppo who tries to find Groucho who is smoking a cigar, can't multi-task, misses the ball. It finds a Wolves player, they attack, nearly score, corner. Corner swung in, Headed out by Lewis, straight to Harpo who tries to find Huey, but Huey, along with the other two up the front are struggling. Its not wet you see, their webbed feet can't control the ball, so it finds a Wolves player and they attack and Edwards hit the post and on and on with this embarrassing "to me, to you, to me, to you, to me, to you". Well, OK, that's the Chuckle brothers, not the Marx brothers, but I am sure you catch my drift...

It appeared that for the Whites, retaining possession in the first half was simply impossible. Thinking about it though, the Chuckle Brothers, hmmmm, has anyone got their number. Its not fair to say that Wolves were magnificent, but time and again they ran at us and we could have been 3 nil down at the break. However, for one brief moment before the end of the half, we could have nicked and amazing "against the run of play" goal. Louie, who up to this point had managed to replicate his form on the right wing very well over on the left (i.e. The left back was exposed as opposed to the right back not having cover and being exposed), swung in a freekick that Dewey managed to get his head to. 6 yards out with keeper Murray stranded, it seemed a certain goal, however he put his header into the ground and it bounced over the bar in a comedy moment that could only happen at the longest running Circus in town. I don't have a fucking clue how, but 0-0 was the halftime score. Halftime was spent reflecting on matters since "Molegate". Its fair to say, things have gone from bad to worse. The victory over Palace was shrouded in suspicion and the defeat at Cardiff was shrouded in controversy. The Leeds fans "Paedophile" taunts were plastered all over the paper's. The Cardiff fans "Istanbul" taunts were ignored by all around. Though I wonder if Liesdale heard them and what he thought, after all, he was there that night in the thick of the action...

Perhaps he simply doesn't care, but then, why should he. Moving on to the 0-0 draw against QPR and a near 30,000 crowd did their bit to show Bates what cheaper prices can do, alas, Bates wasn't there to see it. Some of the Players froze in front of the big crowd and both Healy and Blake hit woodwork. In patches though, QPR played like Brazil and got a well deserved point. Some of the fans booed at the end & you have to wonder if they turned up expecting to see so much more. But then, had they been to the ground all season, they would have seen that it wasn't the worst performance of the season by a long long way. It remains to be seen if they turn up to the Luton game, which again is a must win and again has much reduced prices. With no goals in two games and more injuries, this time layoffs to Thompson and Sa, its looking bleak. We have been cushioned by the loan of striker Johnson for a month, a lad who looks like "Predator" from the movies, but he couldn't get in this Wolves side who are no great shakes. After all the hope that was given to us on the back of the Hull and Palace wins , we have simply proceeded to fuck it up and look like we are back to square one. As the rain lashed down at the beginning of the second half, it made for more "ducklike" conditions. It was hoped that, after simply "getting away" with it in the first 45, the Whites could kick on and nick a point or maybe, even 3...

Well, OK, that was hopeful, but When Edwards smashed the ball onto the angle of post and bar from a free header, it was looking more and more likely that Wolves would be made to rue missed chances. I mean, just how many more could we give them. More and more we got a foothold into the game. I assume Wise at Halftime had told the midfield that the ducks up front might be shit, but they did not have birdflu. It worked as, though Harpo continued to play as if he was wearing clown shoes, Groucho began to get into the game and make his presence felt and we began to drag Wolves down to our level. Great thinking from the Whites, as surely a scrappy time wasting game was the best ploy to win a point. Balls were knocked for the strikers and by now the pitch was sodden and they had found their webfeet. Huey and Dewy were begin to chase balls, yes, honest guv, they ran after things and Louie, though he was still trying to do too much, was actually getting into the game. In our best period of the game we forced a couple of corners and one of which, as god is my witness, even beat the first man. With the rain now lashing down and the White army in full force, at least of each end of the horrendous "Steve Bull Lower tier" that is not made for vocal atmosphere, we were hit with an almighty bolt of lightning from the gods that may have well had "Ha ha ha ha we thought we would give you a bit of hope then rip it from your tight grasp" written all over it...

As the ball was played through, Kightly received the ball and as he proceeded to cut inside Lewis, a second ball landed on the pitch from the Leeds fans (A ploy used to great sucess by the Sunderland fans over Christmas you may recall). However, the ref didn't see it, so Kightly continued and as Harpo threw himself in a slow-motion "Power Rangers" style leap in front of him (I think he slipped). Thus obscuring Caspers view as Kightly twatted in from just inside the Box. Cue wild celebrations in the home end, cue the "Leeds are going down" chants, cue "We all hate Leeds Scum" chants, you know, the predictable. Clearly stung by this devisation, the Leeds players took the kick off with determination, pride and passion and then reverted into their shells for a few mins as the Wolves crowd shouted at them. Only realising with about 2 mins plus 4 stoppage to go that actually, the Wolves players had dropped so deep in desperation to hold onto the win, that we could get near their box. It was a freekick on the left of the box that gave us our only real chance of the 2nd half. Louie rolled the ball square and Lewis was onto it with a first time effort that was goal bound, only for Murray to tip over the bar. All that remained was for Louie to be subbed and give young Tom Elliot a run out and at the final whistle, the sheepish Leeds player's to give a half hearted gesture to the Leeds fans...

They then fucked off to the comfort of the dressing room and another undeserved wage packet, as the Leeds fans were left to run the gauntlet outside as the jubilant Wolves fans were having a party and simply pissing themselves at how bad Leeds really are. There are small things to take away from the game, Casper continues to look like a player we will get good money for in the summer. The same can't be said of Marques, though he is simply wonderful and gets better by the game (making Blackwell look a twat for not playing him), as he is out of contract at the end of the season, he may well be a bargain for someone. Douglas is working harder every game, but Nicholls continued run of poor form is dragging him down. It was good to see Young Tom Elliot again, though very briefly. it was very worrying that after the game, Gus said:

"We are running out of games and it is now or never. If we do not start getting it right soon survival will be impossible. We have not scored a goal in our last three games. That tells me when the final pass or the final cross comes in we are not making the right decisions."

Well Gus, you and Wisey have not been panicking whilst the rest of us have been shitting bricks for month's. So welcome to the club fella, though its a tad late for you to join our party. Perhaps if you lot in charge and the players could have shown some urgency at say Christmas, we may not be rooted to the bottom of the league and searching the AA route map for next seasons venues. With results elsewhere again going against us and the ever mounting injury list (apt of course that we will play Birmingham on Tuesday as they are at near full strength when it should have been visa versa) & it would seem, our management team finally shitting themselves at the prospect of being the first people to ever take our proud club into the Third tier of English football, we have to remain positive...

The SS Leeds United AFC... The Captain & first mate have finally realised there is a fucking great big Iceberg ahead... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Port Vale 3 Leeds United AFC 3

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:01:51 +0100

The first in an occasional "fly on the wall" series revealing the inside workings of that fine, well oiled machine known as Leeds United PLC:

There is a knock on the door of PR's Penthouse Office - February 2001...

DOL: "Alroigh Peter, sorry to bother you when you're feeding dat dere fish, but its important so it is!"...

PR: "Ididn'tdoitnobodysawmedoityoucan'tproveanything!!"...

DOL: "Whah?"...

PR: "Erm nothing, nothing. Come in David, come in. My, your looking mighty fine, what can I do for you?"...

DOL: "Grand, grand, well Oi had a little visitor last night and Oi'm delighted!"...

PR: "Visited you say? Tell me more?"...

DOL: "Oi've been visited by a Leprechaun so I have Peter, de big green one with de ginger feckin hair!"...

PR: "Right, Leprechaun you say, and what news did this Leprechaun bring you?"...

DOL: "Oi need another Robbie so I do Peter! He says dat if Oi get tree Robbie's den we will win de league so we will!"...

PR: "So, urm, let me get this straight? You need another Robbie because you were visited by a Leprechaun and he told you so?"...

DOL: "Aye, Grand, you got it! We have Fowler & we have Keane, one more and it's de title guaranteed!"...

PR: "David, you know I admire you and hang on your every word, but I can't just sanction this after all we have paid out! I need approval by the real decision maker within the PLC. Leave it with me David, I will fight your corner and get back to you"...

DOL: "Grand, grand. Oi can't ask for more dan dat Peter so I can't, seyafter"...

DOL leaves office and PR turns to goldfish...

PR: "So what do you think - can we afford another Robbie?"...

Two Days Later:

PR: "Ah, David, glad I caught you! Great news we have agreed a deal to sign another Robbie - Port Vale bit my hand off at 4.7 million plus add on's for when we win the title. What idiots, I would have gone to 7.5!"...

DOL: "Oi can't believe it, tank you so much, when will Earle arrive?"...

PR: "Earle? No David, They wanted silly money for him to come out of retirement! I got you some youth star of the future, never heard of him, but big things are predicted. Williams his name, bit of a weight problem, but you manage to make Viduka look slim, so I'm not worried"...

DOL: "Youth star you say, sounds like he will fit in with moi babies. Oi'll feckin Take That, Oi'm delighted!...

If we could have hand picked 3 games on the trot to try get the season back on track, we would not have chosen much different than Bournemouth, Cheltenham and Port Vale. After surviving against the first of those teams, next up was a home game against Cheltenham Town, in what was the visitors first ever game at Elland Road. There was a severe storm warning given out before the game and what followed was certainly a storm, but perhaps not the one the weather men predicted. It was a game that 3 points seemed to be a formality beforehand yet it was, once again, the visiting team at Elland Road that played all the football. With a goal lead after a mistake by Fraser, the visitors simply stuck to a game plan that was alien to the home side. It consisted of simple passing combined with width, pace, and ball retention. The Leeds response was feeble, weak and at times, shameful. More slow, sleep inducing sideways passing that never got anywhere and as one wag commented, it was like his sex life. 95% possession with only 5 % penetration. Kandol missed the best chance in the first half with a point blank header over the bar. The only other notable chance falling to Beckford, whose snapshot also went over...

Worse was to follow after the break. Cheltenham scored one of the goals of the season and it was rightly applauded by all four sections of the ground...

The visitors then proceeded to pick holes in both the United midfield and defence. With the Leeds fans once again asking "What the fuck is going on", the white machine froze and were simply ripped apart. Firstly a Cheltenham striker with an open goal, managed to unfathomably stand on the ball and fall over. Not long after, a searing shot from the visitors rattled the bar. It could have been 4-0 and it would not have flattered the away side. Leeds fans are a resilient lot, but tonight was the night the patience snapped. Macca's decision to take off Howson, who was by no means on form, but one of the only players still playing with any semblance of pride, was met with a chorus of abuse. Kandol, along with many others, had been having a mare, yet he was kept on the pitch as we tried to get back into the game. His apparent lack of heart had not gone unnoticed and was harshly treated by some sections of the crowd. When the ref booked him for a stupid frustration type tackle, some chanted "off off off". When Kandol and Frazer were finally dragged off, the boo boys struck again...

Elding came on a nicked a goal back, but honestly, someone should have told him before he went on that we were 2 down as his "Celebration" of shouting at the Revie was met with a volley of "Fucking get on with it!" abuse...

A final punt in the box and it was all thankfully over. Other than the loan figure of Hughes who made sure he went to all sides of the ground to applaud the support, the rest of the shamefaced twats ran off as quick as they could. There are problems at the club that we know Macca inherited, lets make no mistake about that. However, just what is going wrong at Leeds seems to be simple, but yet so complex. Lack of fight and confidence. Lack of ability and any team shape. Lack of pace, lack of width, lack of quality & a manager determined to play players out of position. Every sound bite from a player at the club is positive, yet talk is once again cheap from players who talk the talk but do not walk the walk. With the fans fury vented on the radio stations, it seemed to go almost unnoticed that the announcement of Flo's retirement had been given out. It was not unexpected and it was disappointing in many respects that we did not see the best of his last days as a footballer...

With Leeds fans at yet another low point, it was hard to see how the team would react in a positive fashion at Port Vale's self proclaimed "Wembley of the North". Around 4,000 of the white army travelled down the M6 and despite what had gone on during the week, we were in good heart, good voice and plenty of gallows humour. Macca decided on another shuffle to try and breath new life into the team. Both Frazer and Kandol were dropped to the bench and in came Freedman and Hughes. So with Casper in goal, a back four was cobbled together with Kenton, Rui, Lubo and Hughes. Kilkenny, Prutton, Howson and Johnson retained midfield positions and Beckford was joined by Freedman up front. From the kick off, it was good to see that we had at least upped the tempo from the midweek debacle. Passing was quicker and at times too quick, rushed forward passes meant that they tended to be misplaced and easily blocked out by Vale. It was Vale with the first few notable chances, 8 minutes in, Rogers beat the offside trap and Casper had to come out to deny him in a one on one situation. It was a while before Vale would beat the offside trap again as they were getting frustrated by the linesman's flag...

With Leeds suffering the same fate at the other end, our best chance came from an instinctive looping shot from Freedman that was touched over the bar by the keeper. It was hard going and for the next 20 minutes, we struggled as Vale rose to the occasion. Playing neat attacking football, they caused us no end of problems without having that killer instinct. With Lubo and Rui playing like strangers & Kenton continually left exposed by the lack of support on the right by Kilkenny, we were once again struggling to contain a team who were clearly up for the challenge. With the white support getting frustrated, we finally had a half decent chance. We actually played a flowing move that included 3 passes to Yellow shirts, only for Kilkenny to fire over the bar. It was looking like we could hold out for halftime when things began to slowly change. Firstly a simple ball through split the Vale defence, Freedman latched on to it, but could only send a feeble chip into the keepers hands. It was the best chance of the game for Leeds and we screamed at the players to produce more. They began to do the simple things better and for the next couple of minutes, everything seemed to click. Again Freedman broke clear only to be pole axed by the keeper...

It seemed a clear pen, but the ref gave a corner thus continuing our run of no penalties awarded away from home this season. The corner was swung in and it fell to Rui who kept his composure to prod home and cause chaos in the away end. It was an undeserved lead and seconds later, it was doubled. A swift move saw Kilkenny's ball fall to Freedman who made up for his earlier miss and twatted home to paper over some bloody large cracks. It was a stunning turn around and came totally against the run of play. Still, 2 - 0 up and you can't look a gift horse in the mouth. Time to shut up shop and fuck off home with 3 points. Well, that was the idea. After some great banter with the Vale keeper, the second half got underway at a snails pace. Vale were not flowing like they did in the first half and we were content to try and pass the ball around sideways again with the occasional hoof from Lubo rather than go for the throat and kill off the game. Prutton was having a half decent game in the centre again and he had a shot from distance, but we really never looked like troubling the keeper. The game started to have a friendly type feel and it was that which really was our undoing. Vale made a double sub and began to wake up. From not looking dangerous, suddenly they got a life line...

A ball swung in was adjudged by the linesman to have hit Hughes hand. Now, from where we were it was hard to tell. What I will say is this, whenever you see stuff like this on MOTD, they always say look at the offending players reaction. Hughes went fucking mad claiming it hit his head. He was booked for his troubles, but if reactions are anything to go by, then it wasn't a pen. However up stepped Harlsey who empathically twatted past Casper for 1-2 and had the small amount of Vale fans signing "Glad all over". With Hughes and co still complaining, Vale stepped up 5 gears and suddenly looked like Brazil. Whitaker curled one wide with Casper stranded and then seconds later he struck the leveller. A cross in saw the back four sleeping and he nipped in for 2-2 and the Leeds heads dropped. It was around this point that Macca made a telling change. Off went Kilkenny and on came Seb Carole. It was a simple but effective change and from then we had a "great for the neutral" school yard kick about. Both defences fell apart as both teams raised their games and went for a win. Kandol came on for the once again ineffective Johnson and it looked like the script had been written...

Almost immediately, Rui had a header cleared off the line from a corner as we probed and pressed in a way that we have not seen since the second half of the Forest game. Carole was having an impact, as was Kandols ability to win headers and it paid off on 86 minutes. Carole's great cross went over everyone and Freedman had cleverly drifted to the back stick where he met the cross for 3-2 and sent us mental. It was still underserved, it still papered over the cracks, but given the hole we had dug ourselves into, who cared. It was just a case of keeping calm, composed and shut up shop. We didn't, we tried to be clever and go for number four, We so nearly got it after a brilliant run from Beckford. He burst into the box and tried to lift the ball over the advancing keeper, but the lad got a hand to it and got play going forward again. Twice they could have levelled, before we gave a stupid free kick away in the last of the 4 added minutes. The defence again went AWOL as the ball was hammered into the box and after what looked like a bit of ping pong, Rodgers slammed home a killer, but deserved, goal to leave us fucked off and bemused...

So, we drop to 10th, but surprisingly, still only 2 points from the playoffs. The fat lady has not started singing yet, but honestly, how many more chances are we realistically going to get before we are forced to accept mid table mediocrity from a season that we have allowed to drift away. The last 15 minutes of the game were much better than we have been playing, but it has to be put into perspective. No disrespect to Port Vale, but this was the bottom of the league we were playing and both the performance & result gives the fans little confidence. We need to remain both positive & United, but admittedly thats getting harder by the week. Next up, Walsall at home...

Leeds United AFC..." Are you going backwards
Or are you going forwards?"... Keep Fighting...

* Tanks to Irish Henderson the Irish Translations...

Comments

Leeds United AFC 2 AFC Bournemouth 0

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 01:15:39 +0100

The 1988/1989 is often overlooked by many Leeds fans. It’s a season without the romance of League play offs, FA Cup Semi finals or promotions, yet it was pivotal in the clubs rise from the ashes. After just missing out on promotion in 87 and then just missing the play offs in 88, it was make or break for manager King Billy. It turned out to be the latter and with the club struggling, King Billy was sacked. When Howard Wilkinson was brought in on the 10th October 1988, it was a bit of a coup. Wilko was managing in the First Division with Sheffield Wednesday at that time. Though the faithful had to wait until the following season for any kind of success, the foundations were beginning to be built. Wilko brought in Chris Fairclough and of course, a certain Old Trafford “cast off” Gordon Strachan. Whilst the contributions made by both these players live long in the memories, it was a £50,000 buy from Bristol City who made the more immediate impact. On April Fools day 1989, Carl Shutt’s home debut was against Bournemouth and the lad rattled in a hatrick. Shutty remains the only Leeds player in modern day history to have achieved this debut day feat and he went on to win the hearts of many fans...

Not so much for his goal scoring prowess ( He only went on to score 25 goals in over 100 appearances) but for his tireless none stop running and fight for the white cause. Shutty’s career at Leeds may never have reached the heights that his debut promised, but who will ever forget screaming at the lad to pass to the unmarked Strach in the Nou Camp against Stuttgart in 1992. It was the replayed European Cup tie & he had come on to replace Cantona. Shutty ignored the shouts and went it alone to bag the second goal in that thrilling win. It was ironic that Leeds once again had a striker making a home debut against Bournemouth today. It had been a busy week in the loan market. Dougie Freedman was quoted earlier this week as saying that he wasn’t interested in signing for the club. A couple of days later with Warnock spelling out to him that he has not much chance of first team football and the lad made a dramatic u-turn. Not the most encouraging start to a Leeds career and there was no realistic danger that he would repeat the debut day feat of Shutty. With Constantine shipped out on loan to Oldham, (Followed by Weston to Scunny and Westlake Brighton), Macca decided to ignore youth like Tom Elliot, (reserves top scorer) and bring in more experience...

We did need another option up front. Other than Beckford and Kandol, strikers Elding & Flo have struggled to make any impact when they have had the chance and the latter was subject to rumours about his long term future at the club. It had also been a busy week as far as the arbitration and 15 points was concerned. No sooner had the dust settled on the decision to have the case heard behind closed doors, then personalities from clubs around us started making noises in the press. Ling of Orient (Though Orient came out and said these were personal comments and not that of the club) and Doncaster chairman Ryan both suggested they would consider court action if the final League One standings were affected by the outcome of arbitration. What is strange is that, whether you agree with this crusade by Bates or not, Bates has made no secret of the fact that the club was to fight the points deduction. Its not Leeds that have been dragging heels in this matter, it is the league who have steadfastly refused to enter into any discussions until Bates finally issued the high court writ. So people should have been aware this was on the cards. The rights and wrongs of the case continue to be discussed and its interesting to hear that the club does have some, albeit limited, support from other clubs...

Julian Rhodes of Bradford City recently came out in support of Leeds via the Yorkshire Post claiming that we were “A little hard done by“ and points out that the final deal giving 11.2p in the pound was a great deal for the creditors “Leeds have had more points deducted , but whose creditors were better off?”. Following this theme, Bates used his programme notes today to mention that in conversation with other clubs, some claimed the facts of the matter had not been clearly explained to them and others openly admitted to voting for the points deduction from self interest:

“Some, from wanting us to be disadvantaged and some because they don’t want to lose the huge income that they generate when we visit them” Ken Bates

Bates also revealed that the Football League themselves had openly opposed the Leeds CVA at the creditors meeting and Bates claims:

“The Football league voted against Leeds’s CVA and sent Nick Craig, the leagues lawyer to the meeting when he not only voted against the CVA but also spoke vehemently and passionately against Leeds proposals” Ken Bates

Its not clear from the Bates notes if this vote against the CVA was based on the way administration was handled what with all the suspicion surrounding Astor telling KPMG that they would only back the Bates bid. Or if the league simply oppose any club trying to follow the Leagues own rules of exiting Administration via a CVA. If it’s the latter, then of course the league will do the same to Luton and Bournemouth right? So with all this rumbling on in the background, it was down to Macca to focus on the job in hand and somehow try to ensure that our season does not rest upon the arbitration decision going our way. With the fortunate win at Swindon under our belts and another week on the training pitch getting to know the way Macca wants the boys to play it was an optimistic drive to the ground. Macca decided not to tinker with a winning side and kept faith with the same starting line up from the Swindon game. So with Casper in goal, a back four of Lubo, Rui, Kenton and Fraser. A midfield of Kilkenny, Prutton, Howson and Johnson. Kandol and Beckford led the line. Beckford of course fresh from his double award of “FourFourTwo player of the year for League One” and “Goal of the year” for his phenomenal strike whilst playing for Scunny against Rotherham...

Playing towards the South Stand and roared on by over 21,000, it wasn‘t long before the tone of the first half was set. 3 minutes in and Bournemouth winger Gradel had rounded Casper to fire home, only for Ref Shoebridge to pull play back for a free kick on the edge of the area and a booking for Rui. It was a relief, but puzzling why he had not played advantage to the away side. It has to be said that Bournemouth where having the better of a stop - start game. The ref was blowing for petty fouls was not helping the game fall into any sort of pattern. In right winger Gradel, the visitors had the type of player that Leeds fans have been crying out for all season. Pacy and comfortable on the ball, he was giving Fraser a torrid time. Centre forward Vokes was also giving Lubo and Rui the run around but it was the whites that struck first. A simple high punt from Prutton saw both keeper Forde come racing out and smash into his own defender. The ball ran loose to Bradley Johnson who simply said thank you very much and ran the ball into the empty net for 1-0 and relief all round. Any hopes of Bournemouth folding and the ref losing his whistle at this point soon evaporated as the visitors decided they had nothing to lose...

They had, however, not brought their shooting boots with them and that was their downfall. Gradel with his orange boots was a thorn in the side of us for most of the first half and it was he who laid a great chance on a plate for Vokes, who missed. Gradel then volleyed just wide and it seemed only a matter of time before we conceded. The Leeds attacks were becoming lack lustre and whilst you could see the effort levels were there, the quality was not and passes went astray time and again. Kilkenny started on the right wing, but was continually getting pulled inside, this leaving Kenton at right back exposed. Prutton was once again the heartbeat of the midfield, with young Howson showing in patches just what kind of player we hope he will be in the future. Johnson was again starting slow, despite the goal. After one of the best White moves of the game, a great one - two saw the ball returned to Howson who sent the ball over. Back came Bournemouth with Casper at his best to save from the by now down right annoying Gradel. Beckford had a couple of chances, one of which well held by the keeper, but in the main, both he and Kandol were quiet. Kandol did get his head to a great Howson cross, but failed to show anything like the accuracy of his header at Swindon...

Halftime was greeted with relief and laughter as news of another Newcastle comedy scoreline was filtering through. The parallels of the Newcastle situation resultswise and our own relegation from the Premier League are strikingly similar and most barcodes I know are now sweating. Had it not been for the fact that there are 4 or 5 teams worse than the in the league this year, they could well be going down, as it is, I suspect they will just survive. Out came the troops for the second half and just as at Swindon, we knew a second goal should do the trick. However it appeared that we were heading for a re:run of the Swindon second half. Bournemouth were quick out of the blocks and fashioned some great chances. The impressive Vokes and Gradel (who had switched from Orange to Blue boots at half time) both had chances to level early on. Talking of boot switches, with about 50 mins gone and a Bournemouth player down, 4 of our players , including Beckford and Kandol, raced to the touchline and all changed their boots. You just wonder why they didn’t bother to do that at halftime. It was just after the restart that something began to slowly change. Whilst Bournemouth were still threatening on the counter attack, the Leeds midfield began to slowly creep on top and between the four of them, take gradual hold of the game...

Kilkenny was again drifting inside and playing intelligent short passes, but the main reason for the shift was the continued endeavour from Prutton and the emergence of Johnson. Just when we were threatening to get on top, Bournemouth should have scored. Vokes held off Rui however his finish was off target. Vokes again got through shortly after, but Casper saved with his feet. The rain got worse and it lashed it down making for an exciting period of the game. Keeper Forde did well to stop Kandol, but on 63 minutes we managed to show some class and effectively kill off the game. Howson picked up a loose ball and ran at the defence before squaring to Kilkenny on the edge of the area. Kilkenny picked his spot and twatted home into the bottom left hand corner for game over and delirium. Freedman came on in the later stages becoming the 39th player we have used this season, but had little chance to shine. The goal had ripped the heart out of Bournemouth and they didn’t really trouble after that. Hollands hit one over the bar and Kuffour sent one well wide from distance. Beckford was really trying to get in on the scoring, but was off target twice...

Frustratingly, Beckford was taking up great positions out wide, only for no bugger to pass to him. If we can get him service when he takes up these positions, who knows where that might lead. Just before the final whistle, Hughes got a run out after his injury and talking of injury, Kandol limped off to be replaced by Elding. No sooner was the lad on, than the whistle went for yet another vital, if unconvincing, win. So we move to 5 games unbeaten and up to 1 point from the play offs. Despite a shaky looking defence, we have 2 clean sheets in a row for the first time since early January. Perhaps lady luck is back. Next up, Cheltenham’s first ever visit to Elland Road...

Leeds United AFC..."A man they called Sergeant Wilko, Has made our dreams come true"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Swindon Town 0 Leeds United AFC 1

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:01:22 +0100

It was widely reported on Wednesday morning that the UK was hit with it’s biggest Earthquake in 25 years. This was quite incorrect as that was simply an aftershock. The original Earthquake took place the previous Saturday with Elland Road at the epicentre. It was due to a combination of Kandol falling on his huge arse and a stunned Elland Road crowd fainting as one. They had just witnessed Kandol leap higher than his usual 2 inches to nick an unlikely last gasp leveller against Crewe. It was unlikely for 2 reasons, firstly, Kandol has been playing so poor latley that when chances come his way, either he fails to connect with the ball or he sends it high, wide and handsome. Secondly, Crewe had completely out played Leeds for 80 minutes and should have been 4 -0 up by that time. Only the crossbar and Casper managed to keep the score to one. It was such a poor performance from Leeds that "What the fuck is going on" rained down from the terraces midway through the second half. In fairness, the side was shorn of Hughes due to injury and Beckford, who was suspended. However, with now the biggest, most expensive and no doubt the highest paid squad in the league, this can not be used as an all encompassing excuse...

Though we had some good chances in the first 10 minutes, when the goal didn’t come, the players lost their way and more worryingly, their fight. It was a million miles away from that performance against Forest. Only Prutton, who was drafted into the centre, never stopped running or working for the cause and came off the park with any credit. Away from the Earthquake, the big news of the week was the apparent climbdown from the Football league. In response to the clubs High Court writ, they offered the club the arbitration case Bates asked for months ago. This was swiftly followed by big talk from Bates about wanting the case thrashed out in public, but the League wanted it behind closed doors. It was then Bates who appeared to climbdown and before the week was out, agreed "under protest". Many fans are still unclear what, if any, are the ramifications of this should we lose. For example, are the club then open to further punishment from the league for, at the very least, breaking the agreement not to sue the league. The 15 points back would of course be very welcome indeed, though as it was pointed out, on current form we would probably end up in the play offs and fail miserably...

It was that conversation which rattled around the car as we bleakly headed to Swindon’s County Ground. Our last visit here had brought a 5 goal victory and history was never going to repeat. During the week Macca had decided to ship out Ben Parker on loan to Darlington. Parker, it seemed, had just found his feet when Macca arrived and it seemed very harsh that he was immediately dropped for Sheehan, especially after witnessing Sheehan’s performances to date. Macca then brought in left sided defender O'Halloran on loan from Villa. We heard the team line up outside and O'Halloran was in, with Sheehan dropped completely from the line up or subs. We got into the ground just in time to see O'Halloran being helped off during the warm up and by the time we had got into the correct part of the ground (thanks go to the stewards outside for the wrong instructions) the line up had changed. So Macca went with Casper in goal. A back four of Kenton on the right, Fraser drafted in on the left with Rui and Lubo in the centre. Midfield was again changed around, with Howson and Prutton in the middle, Kilkenny on the right and Johnson on the left. Beckford returned upfront with goal hero Kandol...

The terrible pitch looked worse than ours and a gale was blowing in the faces of the Leeds boys for the first half as we played towards the Town End. It was said that this was turning into a great advert for finding other things to do on a Saturday afternoon. Clearly the pitch and wind had a lot to do with it, but mainly you feel due to 22 players on the park that had little confidence and little ability. It reminded me of one of those games we had as kids after school in the local park. No one could trap a ball, pass a ball or tackle with any precision. It was in short, a fucking woeful advert for professional football. Still, this made for one of those "Expect the unexpected" games and we initially tried to at least pass the ball around. Swindon had the first real chance, Roberts blasting over when he should have done better given that we gave him time and space. Cox then nearly got in ahead of Lubo but we hoofed clear. Our first real effort on goal saw a ball in from a free kick on the right find Becks, but he aimed for the roof of the stand and was unlucky to only just miss. Swindon were mastering the conditions better, however it was more due to our reluctance to get our shirts muddy that they were getting sight of goal...

When they did, rather than work openings, they were going for "Goal of the season" and both Paynter and Roberts tried from distance. It was good of them to give free footballs to the kids in the park behind the away end. It really was becoming desperate stuff and thoughts drifted to Focus DIY shops when, out of the blue, we scored. It was a great goal too when it came. After a boout of head tennis, good work on the left saw the ball fall to the feet of the industrious Prutton, his great cross was met by an unmarked Kandol at the back post and he guided the ball home with his head before running off to do his triple flip over and leaving us once again stunned. Clearly the Earthquake causing goal against Crewe has relit Kandol, as never before has he shown so much accuracy with his head. It was a goal that should have settled us down and prompted us to go on to better things. As it was, we dropped a bit deeper and allowed our defence to show just how shit they can actually be. For the next 20 minutes I don’t think I can recall an error strewn defensive display like it. The main culprit being Lubo as the big fella lost all his composure and poor Huntingdon, sat in front of us, must have been wondering what on earth he has to do to get a game...

Lubo wasn’t alone however as Kenton and Casper did their best to join him. Vincent, Cox and Paynter all took turns in making us look stupid, but what we lacking in defensive composure Swindon, thankfully, lacked in that killer touch. In a moment that will leave Simon Cox having sleepless nights for the rest of his life, he managed to somehow head a glorious chance over the bar. Cox was unmarked, on his knees, 3 yards out with the goal at his mercy. It was a let off that we did not really deserve and a miss that has to be seen to be believed. We continued to cling on till half time and to be fair, neither team really deserved to be winning. That said, in the position we find ourselves at the moment, we will take anything that comes. You could tell we were now fired up after Macca’s team talk because we came out of the tunnel at a speed which would have made a turtle go white with fright. We now had the wind with us and we had the lead. This was it and with perhaps a smattering of free flowing football it could be the turning point. It would have helped if anyone on or off the park had believed that but deep down we knew that it was only the result that mattered today...

So we decided to sit back and give Swindon the ball, the time, the space and say, "Come on then". Swindon accepted the challange and we basically got played off the park by a team that was up for the fight. Roberts wing work took the piss out of Kenton time and again and indeed one of his crosses look like evading Casper, but ended up on the roof of the net. A great flowing move saw Vincent overlap and his teasing cross well held by Casper & after a great move, Paynter nearly got a touch to level the scores but the ball went wide. Paynter then had a header over before Comminges shot wide. Kept looking at the big clock to our left, but it just seemed to be standing still, as did our attack and midfield. At least the defenders had now woken up and we were defending with all hands to the pump. 65 minutes gone and we were clinging on. We needed a leader, we needed a man to take charge and say "Enough is enough". Bradley Johnson decided he was that man. It was he who awoke from his slumber and tried inspire Leeds to better things. Firstly he passed to a Swindon man, then he passed into space where there was no Yellow shirt. Finally he got the ball and ran at the defence. Swindon players backed off and it was clear they were in awe...

What was this thing before them, this fireball of a footballer, this colossus and just as we were about to apologise to him for all the bad things previously said, he slipped the ball through the defence and over the goal line near the corner flag for a goal kick. I can’t think of any explanation other than blame the wind. It was at this point when the most bizarre thing happened from within the Swindon support to our right. A small group of fans, 15 at most, had assembled to "have a go" at the Leeds support and it was during a hearty version of "We all hate Leeds scum" that a loan bald fella, a few rows down from them, stood up & turned to them. He then tried to clambered over seats to have a go at them. Only to be dragged away and out of the ground by 3 burly stewards. It was certainly more interesting than what was going on below us on the park. The closest we came to scoring again was a Prutton corner that got caught in the wind and nearly beat the keeper. After that, it was back up field and we simply waited for the inevitable. It nearly came on 72 minutes, a superb double save from Casper thwarted a Comminges header and Roberts follow up. Swindon’s tails were up and Macca decided it was time to throw in some experience...

On came Thompson for Kilkenny and promptly bemused the Whites support by being sent onto the right wing. Great tactics and "thinking outside the box" from Macca and proof again that supporters would never make football managers as no one had even thought of such a move. With 10 minutes left, our last shot towards the goal came from the boot of Howson from about 25 yards out and after that distraction, it was back to desperate defending. Though the introduction of McGovern gave the home side more impetus, the final ball into the centre was becoming more hopeful hoofs than anything more clinical. With some blatant time wasting from Casper we managed to steer through the paltry 3 minutes stoppage time and hold on for a much needed and totally undeserved win. Macca punched the air in delight at the final whistle and though his record after that first defeat of 4 games unbeaten asks more questions than it gives answers to, it was one hell of a welcome 3 points. So we move to 2 points from the playoffs with 2 very winnable home games to come. The fact remains that we currently are one hell of a poor team and need to do much better. It all must seem a million miles away to those supporters who watched Leeds United AFC win the League Cup on this weekend back in 1968. Next up a home game with AFC Bournemouth...

Leeds United AFC... "Tresor Kandol, Scored a fucking great goal"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Leeds United AFC 3 PSV Eindhoven 5

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:43:46 +0100

*Flashback - 17 October 1995*

Tony Yeboah was simply majestic in the early part of the 1995-1996 campaign. His exploits included those stunning goals against West Ham, Liverpool, Wimbledon & who can ever forget that stunning hatrick in Monaco. It was this that put us into the next round of the UEFA cup and when the draw was made pitting our beloved Whites against the Dutch masters PSV, I was in heaven. Personally, being dragged up on a diet of Second division football most my early years, I could only look back in envy at the Whites exploits in Europe in the 60s & 70s. This season was really only the second taste of European football I had experienced as a Leeds fan. The first of course being the humbling experience in the European cup in 1992 -1993 season. With only the win against Stuggart at Elland Road(4-1) and The Nou Camp (2-1) to shout about before getting hammered by Rangers in the much hyped "Battle of Britain". So when the news of the draw filtered through I was delighted, walking on air, over the moon and this continued for a while, until reality sunk in. Leeds were to be at home in the first leg, not too much of a problem. With any lick we could nick a goal or two and set ourselves up nicely for the away leg. The date set was Tuesday 17th October. Nowt unusual there then, as most midweek games are Tuesday nights. What was unusual in this case and in a cruel twist of fate delivered by the gods, was the game was to be played the night after my wedding. We had chosen to marry in a registry office and to be honest, we weren't the most well off of folk at the time, so we chose the cheapest day to get married (Monday). All I could think was fuck, fuck fuck and more fuck. How on earth do I get to the game. How do I tell the missus, that what should and could have been the honeymoon, was to be her first ever trip to Elland Road...

Unless...well...could I...maybe...go without her???

After the ritual chatting it over with the whole office, the consensus was this was a no go. I would have to miss this vital game, bite the bullet and accept the responsibility of being an adult. I should take it like a man, after all, that's what marriage was clearly all about. Compromise, giving things up for the other half etc. So finally, it was agreed, my work colleagues had talked sense into me and made my mind up. So with heavy heart, I rang the ticket office with a "cunning plan". I purchased two tickets for the South Stand and arranged to collect the next day. My hands were trembling as I approached the ticket office and sure enough the tickets were ready for collection. As I drove home that night I prepared my speech to the missus, and to be honest it went kinda well in the car, but the words just wouldn't seem to come out as planned with her in front of me...

Me: "errr, you know..I was kinda thinking..its.. errr..like tradition isn't it"...

Her: "What is"...

Me: "Well, you know, for the groom to give the bride a..errr..wedding..gift"...

Her: "Awwww, that's soo sweet of you"...

Me: "Yes....well, errr, I thought so"...

Her: "I really Love you "...

Me: "errr yeah... thanks, here you are sweetheart"...(Ducks)

It was a face that I will never forget. At first it wasn't even the date, it was simply the fact I had handed her "FOOTBALL" tickets. She had that look of, "you are taking the piss". Now, to be fair, the missus and I are like chalk and cheese in many respects and its like, a simple fact of our life. She don't hate football, but she don't like football. On the other hand, Leeds United dominates my life, so that reaction was understandable and I was prepared for some sort of negative reaction. What I didn't know was what the reaction would be when she found out the date...

"Oh..err.. thanks, that's a surprise, which Saturday is it?"

Hmmmm, what an evil question, typical woman, put me on the back foot. I had to choose my words carefully. Think on my feet. Act fast. Be clever, yet sensitive. Be a man. However, before I could utter the words I heard...

"Your having a fucking laugh..."

Over the coming days, the wedding dominated everything. The excitement of buying a suit, the purchase of the rings, organising a reception of sorts, you know, all the normal things. To be fair, the wedding, as I suppose weddings tend to do, came and went in a blur. The ceremony was over in the blink of an eye, nothing like as bad as I imagined. You know, like the 90 mins of sheer hell listening to a Leeds game on the bloody radio and ending up with total nervous exhaustion. In fact, the day had gone so well I was feeling quite relaxed and happy, so my mind started working over time on more important things. Things like ,what time to arrive at the ground tomorrow. It was a Tuesday, we had the day off, we could get there really early, wait around for a few hours and get autographs. We could have photos taken with the players, she could meet my Idol Gary McAllister. We could even get Fish and chips at the "United" Fisheries. You know, really make the most of it. Now its fair to say that most folk that I know have had there first taste of football in a certain way. You know, its pissing down with rain, its 0-0 and its cold, the game is dull and if your lucky, and this really is the deal breaker, your half time pie is Luke warm. Bang, that's it, your hooked for life and that's your lot. You are indoctrinated with your love of your team. So as it was dull, overcast and raining, I was quite positive that this would be the turning point in our relationship. Going forward, I could actually involve the missus in what was and still is my religion...

We got to the ground in good time and parked up and due to the rain, we wandered up to my mates house near the ground. Richy Rich is someone you have to see to believe. He was, in fact, a carbon copy of Rick Mayalls character in "Bottom". It was only the small fact that I had just married the girl the previous day that, on this most special occasion, he refrained from oggling her and instead made us a pre: match cuppa. Richy was coming to the game too but stood on the Kop. He then proceeded to put the shits up the missus with exaggerated tales of violence and shocking acts that both he and I knew, were all in his head. The closest dear Richy had ever got to a fight in recent history was with a butch lass in the Peacock one time. Richy nearly had a heart attack after seeing Batty and Speed in there playing pool and he wanted to be the big man and play them. Only he forgot to put money down to be next on the table and by the time it was finally his turn, both Batts and Speed had fucked off. So before the missus had the chance to get any whiter, I decided that with an hour or so to go before kick off, now would be a good time to go see if we could get some autograph's...

As I had forgotten to bring a pen and after walking round the ground twice, I could see that glazed expression that only women seem to have descend over the missus's face. I decided to take her in and to wonder at the look on her face as she entered over the threshold of Elland Road for the first time. I knew that the excitement would overcome her any moment, any moment, yep, Any moment. Maybe it was the lack of floodlights. I can still recall staring in wonder at the tallest floodlights in Europe as I entered the ground for the first time. The Diamond shapes glistening high in the sky were the 8th wonder of the modern world, however, the new East stand had meant these were no more. So it was understandable, wasn't it, that she may have been a tad less impressed. Instead she looked at me and said "Is this it". A phrase that all men dread in some way or another. By now the atmosphere was building and in the South East Corner, the Dutch fans were in fine voice. What was clear passion to me as a football supporter, was being misunderstood by the missus as anger and intimidation. Of course, this thanks mainly to Richy Rich explaining how the Dutch have the worst hooligans in Europe...

This seemed to be perpetuating this myth, but in truth, the Dutch were just having fun and a good old sing song. So were the Leeds fans on the Kop which had just found its voice: "WHO THE FUCKING HELL ARE YOU". At which point, the missus made me swap seats so I was nearest the Dutch "Hooligans" as she called them. By kick off, the place was buzzing. I love night matches anyway but after putting Monaco to the sword, there seemed an extra sense of Leeds being on the verge of something great tonight. The PSV side was packed with stars, but so were Leeds. It had been a good start to the season for the Mighty Whites, aside from Yeboahs goal exploits, McAllister was playing fantastically well. Speed was scoring for fun and Carlton Palmer was actually looking not too bad, honest guv, well, OK. The defence was not leaking too many goals and managing to make the hapless Lukic look half decent and we started well. The boys were playing left to right, towards us in the south stand and it wasn't long before our superb start was rewarded with a great goal. Freekick on the left, Macca swung in a gem of a cross and Speed launched full length to head the ball home...

What a start, the crowd went mental and the look of horror on the missus's face as she was thrown around the South Stand was a picture. Fucking hell, we were leading the mighty PSV 1-0 and the place was going mental. I couldn't believe it, this was magical. Maybe, just maybe, she was my lucky charm. I was beginning to think all those stupid thoughts that football fans do. You know, the normal bollox like I must wear my lucky pants to the game, or put my left sock on first in the morning of a home game. I have to wear my lucky cap & listen to my Lucky song on the way to the ground. I was all making sense at long last and, well, maybe the missus was my lucky omen. After all, we had barely started and we were beating the Dutch masters 1-0 and it had all gone quiet to my right. Unfortunately this didn't last too long. A mistake at the back let the Dutch back in and with all fairness to Lukic, even at his best he was shit. It was soon 1-1 and just as Leeds were beginning to reassert ourselves in the game, the jammy twats got a lucky second. A deflection that wrong footed Lukic and all of a sudden the mood turned, from where there was joy and smiles, there was anger and grimaces. The crowd were slowly turning against the white's...

One lad in particular, somewhere behind us, was getting really wound up. "GET A FUCKING FOOT IN SPEED YOU LAZY BASTARD" .."GET SOME BLOOD ON YOUR BOOTS PALMER YOU FUCKING FAIRY".. If the missus had seen the good side, it was only fair that she should see the other side I thought as Leeds probed, but to no avail. The ball wasn't getting through to Yeboah & Deane & we suddenly didn't look like scoring. Near the halftime break another Leeds attack broke down and PSV swept up field. The ref gave a free kick around about 25 yards out & in front of the Kop, to the right of the penalty area. A dangerous position, but no one could have expected what was going to happen next. With the wall back more than the full ten yards, two PSV players stood over the ball. The game seemed to go into slow motion as one player scooped the ball into the air and Vonk, the other player, twatted a stunning volley into the top right hand corner (Think of the Sheridan freekick against Derby in 87). Lukic was left in his familiar grasping thin air" pose to leave us 1-3 at half time. To be fair to the Leeds fans, its not often an opponent goal is applauded. Most fair minded fans in the ground knew they had just witnessed another very special goal at Elland Road, the like we had become accustomed to with Yeboah...

It was cold & it was raining. I should have been on my honeymoon and we were 1-3 down. I looked at the missus and she said the immortal words that you just know come from someone who doesn't understand, someone who just doesn't have the passion, but is trying...

"Oh dear, well that isn't good is it, but its only a game. Do you think you could go get me a hotdog and oh, and a coffee would be lovely"...

After a failed mission to get to both the bog and get through the queue for food before the players came back out, I decided to go back to the seats and explain that they had run out. I got abck just as the players were talking the field. "Sorry love," I uttered, "but you know, big games like this, it sometimes happens". Boy am I glad I did. Leeds came out pumped up and were now regaining the initiative and fighting for every ball. It wasn't long before we got a foothold in the game. Yeboah found space in the box and played a lovely ball across the area. It landed at the feet of Palmer who rocketed in a fantastic goal. We had hope & we went mental. The Dutch started lighting flares & the missus wanted to go home. I told her to calm down because this is it, the come back is on. We pushed forward again, with the home crowd in fine voice. Where was once silence, now gave way to the strains of "Marching on Together". As a cross came into the box, Weatherall challenged the keeper and knocked him for 6. Both players lay on the ground as the ball came out to Gary McAllister who without looking, from 30 yards, lobbed the ball into the back of the Kop Net for 3-3. It was fucking amazing, we were back in the game, and Elland Road bounced around like those old glory nights of Bremner and co. The missus asked me for that cup of coffee but I was on cloud fucking 9. My main man, the star of the show, the Rolls Royce, Captain FanFuckingtasic had got us level. This was it, this is what European football is all about. This is what Leeds United AFC are all about, never say die, stick that in your Dutch fucking porn and smoke it!

Though we had conceded 3 away goals, surly the fact that we had made such a comeback would mentally scare PSV. I was thinking about the next leg, we could do what we did to Monaco over there. We could easily take this tie *FREEKICK TO PSV* We could show Europe that United were really back *FREEKICK LOFTED OVER THE UNITED DEFENCE* and I tell you what, if the missus was such a lucky charm *LUC NILLIS LEFT FOOT VOLLEY* She could come Every Game *GOAL.3-4*. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK. Fantastic goal again, the Dutch were bouncing and again, the wind was out of our sails. I mean, yes, it was a great goal but due in no small part to our shit defence. Before we could rally & 2 more simple defence splitting balls later and Nillis was in again for 3-5 and that was really it. Game over bar the shouting. All that passion had evaporated, all that optimism had simply disappeared and it could only be one persons fault. The missus was clearly a bad omen. How could I have even thought about bringing her to a football game, let alone the biggest of the season. At the final whistle as I sat devastated, head in my hands, my world collapsing around me, she tenderly lent over me and whispered...

"Can we get that hotdog now..."

Comments

Leeds United AFC 1 Nottingham Forest 1

Wed, 13 Feb 2008 23:32:48 +0100

After the preseason "buzz" due a host of new signings that included Tony Dorigo and Rod Wallace, the start of the 1991/1992 campaign was frustratingly delayed. The game at Palace had been postponed due to work ongoing at Selhurst Park that was not finished in time. So United’s season began at home to Nottingham Forest in bright sunshine. Its doubtful that anyone leaving the ground that day would have predicted that the mighty whites would go on to be eventual Champions of England. The old big’ ed Clough brought a side that oozed class, but in front of 29,450 fans, it was a 13th minute goal from none other than Gary McAllister that settled the game. Batty’s long throw, flicked on by Chapman and McAllister fired home from the edge of the area. It was the springboard for a team destined for greatness. The midfield of Strachan, Batty, McAllister and Speed were almost unrivalled in the league at that time. The sublime and silky skills of Strachan & McAllister were perfectly complemented by young Batty and Speed, both of whom had come of age and the four of them were pivotal in the clubs success. The thrilling climax to that season saw the team clinch the Championship on a sunny day in April. We arrived back from a nail biting Bramall lane victory to see the scum lose at Anfield. The celebrations that ensued in City Square that evening are still fresh in the mind 16 years on. If someone had tapped me on the shoulder that night and foretold me the future path the club would follow, I doubt neither I nor anyone in earshot would have believed them...

At that point in time, Leeds were almost untouchable. Risen "Phoenix like" from the ashes to the pinnacle of English football in just 3 seasons. It’s unlikely that kind of meteoric rise will ever happen again for any club, let alone Leeds United. It’s a sobering thought not only as to how far we have fallen, but how the game itself has mutated. In the run up to tonight’s game, a frenzy was being whipped up after news broke of a press conference to be held at the club on Monday night. After the disappointment of the Northampton game, fans speculated and rumours were beginning to spread as to what it was about. Bates selling up? The fifteen points being reinstated? Chinese whispers snowballed on the net and hopes were being built up to meteoric heights. It was possibly one of the cleverest ploys Bates has ever put into play, even McAllister himself claimed not to know. When 5pm came round, we held our breath and awaited the news:

“Leeds United are delighted to announce a four-year deal with emerging Italian striker Brando Macron. Macron, who is well-established on the continent, is currently coveted by many clubs in Europe but chose the mighty Leeds United AFC in a deal that could rise to 7 Million pounds.”

Well, OK, after all the fuss, that’s what we were hoping to hear! The news of a new kit deal, no matter how good it sounded for the club, was hardly what many fans were hoping to hear about. Still, you have to hand it to them, as some fans commented, only the current Leeds board could spin the fact that the likes of ADIDAS, Umbro, Nike, Puma, Admiral etc are no longer arsed with having Leeds United amongst their portfolio into something positive...

Talking of positive, that was the last thing we were heading to the ground. On the back of this dismal run, Forest were the last team we needed to face. The team news didn’t do anything to change the mood. The only positive was that this was the first time in month’s that we had fielded an unchanged side two games on the spin. So with Casper in goal. Kenton, Rui, Lubo and Sheehan at the back. Prutton, Hughes, Howson and Johnson made up a midfield quartet that would have had trouble getting in that 1991 squad. Leaving Beckford and Kandol to lead the line. Beckford of course owing the fans a massive performance due to his stupidity in picking up a 5th yellow card at Northampton, ruling him out of Saturdays game at Donny. With the 29,552 crowd in good voice a cracking atmosphere was building as we set about erasing the pain from the weeks before. Attacking the South stand the game began at a high tempo. With a noticeable and welcome tactical switch from Saturday. Hughes moved into the centre to protect young Howson and Prutton back out wide right. We had a lack of width at Northampton and we had no “wide” player out there again tonight, however it was evident that we were using the full width of the pitch to try and stem the Forest wingback system. With the ball being moved to feet and at pace by the Leeds side, it was hard to believe these were the same players we had just watched lumber to a point. It was however Forest, breaking with pace, that had the first couple of chances. Sheehan nearly put a clearance in his own net and Commons blasting wide from the edge of the area. The game was fast and both sides were playing neat, open football...

Howson crashed a long ranger at keeper Smith before Forest came back and had a header just over. Breathless stuff and a world apart from the drivel we have been getting used to. The first controversial point of the evening came when Kenton’s ball into the Forest box hit an arm. Premiership ref Halsey waved the appeals away and he was just beginning to divert the focus of the game onto himself. It was a shame really as the game was going fine, but in a period of 15 minutes, he began making decisions that bemused both sets of fans. One of which saw a Beckford shot sail well wide and he gave a corner. Refreshingly, Leeds pressed and with Hughes doing the dirty work in midfield, it was left to Howson to try and dictate and with Prutton having his best game for weeks, we were playing good football and creating half decent chances. Kandol was still struggling to hold the ball up, but at least tonight, if he lost it, he tried win it back and Bradley Johnson was showing tiny glimpse’s of why we bought him. Just as it seemed we would be the first to score, Forest swiftly broke and Tyson missed a glorious opportunity when one on one, but Casper did enough to put him off. Both Lubo and Rui had their hands full with the pacy Forest attackers. As halftime approached, the best chance of the half for Leeds broke to Johnson as he met a Hughes cross, but shot wide. Halftime was greeted with an ovation by the surprised and delighted home faithful. With hope growing on the terraces, the boys came out to a wall of noise. This clearly stunned the home side as within a minute, we could have been 1 down. A great move saw Commons fizz one at Casper who did well to save. Seconds later, a ball through found Tyson and it looked easier to score, yet he pulled his shot wide...

It was the sort of quality ball through that Beckford would dream about, but we lacked anyone in the side that would be able to match it. What we did have tonight though were bollocks the size of coconuts. Though Forest had another break that went begging, the home side rallied and we should have had a penalty. A ball into the box clearly struck Hoskins on the arm, but amazingly, Halsey waved play on. That sent the noise levels up and aggravated the home side and from here on in, we took the fight to Forest. Howson stepped up to the plate and took midfield by the throat. Hughes battling for all he was worth and Prutton's main of hair was simply everywhere in what was turning out to be his best preformance in a white shirt. Sheehan had a shot deflected and we piled on the pressure with some of the best passing moves of the season. It was in danger of all falling flat though. With one sublime cross from Commons our asleep back line allowed Bennett to rise and head home for 0-1. For a second, a hush descended as the crowd, dumbstruck, watched the Forest fans and players celebrate as one. Within seconds of the restart, Tyson was put through and expertly lobbed Casper. It looked for all the world that Casper was beaten, but somehow, don’t ask me how, Casper leapt like Superman and clawed the goalbound shot away to safety. It was the pivotal moment of the evening. It was the signal for an all out onslaught from Leeds players and fans alike. The noise levels grew and after all the talk pre:match about European Cup’s, it felt like we'd been transported 15 years back in time to Leeds v Stuttgart. The white of Leeds playing the Red of those who came to conquer and a packed and passionate Elland Road, roaring the whites on...

An exaggeration, perhaps, but anyone witnessing recent games will forgive our enthusiasm at seeing a Leeds side that finally wanted to play football and refused to let their heads drop. We worked hard and always wanted to get play going and provide attacking options. On the occasions when we did go backwards, it was genuinely to keep the ball for the next attack, rather than working all the way back to Casper due to lack of ideas. Johnson was replaced by Sweeney and he immediately gave us fresh ideas and new momentum. Questions were asked as to why Prutton was taken off for Flo, but it did not stop us pushing forward. Howson leading, the rest of the team responding and the Elland Road crowd, simply irresistible. Within moments of coming on, Sweeney burst into the area and his shot looped over the keeper and it took a stunning goal line headed clearance from goalscorer Bennett to preserve the lead for the visitors. Flo was getting in the thick of it and had a shot blocked, before another corner came out to Sweeney and he smashed one inches wide of the post. Still we refused to surrender. At this point, after playing so well, defeat would have ripped apart the season and left us desolate and inconsolable. With time now against us and after seeing a late counter attack from Forest snuffed out by the immense Rui. We headed back up field in search of something, anything. Tactics changed to a more direct route as we went all flat out for that one chance. It duly came with 8 minutes to go and a ball into the box saw Kandol get pulled down by a Forest defender, Halsey pointed to the spot without hesitation. This was it, this was the big chance. Beckford, who had not had the best of games, grabbed the ball and put it on the spot. To the back beat of “Leeds, Leeds Leeds,” Beckford steadied himself, as the majority closed their eyes and prayed...

Becks stepped up and coolly sent the keeper the wrong way to send the ground into total delirium. A deserved leveller and one that left the players dancing jigs of delight on the touchline. Yet, there was time for either side to nick a winner. As the crowd settled, Halsey again took centre stage, a flurry of soft free kicks had given Forest the advantage, but they were damaged by their own substitutions. Commons taken off leaving no one who could really trouble us with crosses. Casper dealt with the final hoofs into the box and the final whistle was met with appreciation for both sides in one of the best games of football seen at Elland Road this season. So, it remains to be seen if this was simply just Leeds United raising their game against one of the promotion hopefuls or whether this is the start of things to come. It will be disappointing to say the least if its not the latter. This performance was not without fault. With shooting boots on, Forest could have romped this. We still lack strikers who are able to hold the ball up, a left back that can not get beaten so easily and a midfield that lacks that bit of quality to rip open a visiting defence with one pass. It was however a welcome display of Pride, Passion, Commitment and Desire that we feared had left the side with a bonus of one of the best passing displays from a Leeds United side all season. We visit Doncaster on Saturday with renewed hope...

Leeds United AFC... "Champions of England 1991/1992"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Northampton Town 1 Leeds United AFC 1

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 16:31:25 +0100

Bates: I wish to make a complaint!

Northampton Town: We're closin' for lunch…

Bates: Never mind that my lad. I wish to complain about this player what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very club…

Northampton Town: Oh yes, the, uh, Bradley Johnson...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?

Bates: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!

Northampton Town: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!

Bates: STUNNED?!?

Northampton Town: Yeah! Your crowd musta stunned him, Bradley Johnson’s stun easily in front of over 10,000 crowds major…

Bates: Um...now look... mate, I've 'ad enough of this. That player is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged session with some WAGS!

Northampton Town: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for more!

Bates: 'E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This player is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PLAYER!!

Northampton Town: Well, I'd better replace it, then. (he takes a quick peek behind the counter) Sorry squire, I've had a look 'round the back of the shop, and uh, we're right out of players. We got a slug?

Bates: Pray, does it play football?

Northampton Town: Nnnnot really…

Bates: WELL IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!!???!!?

Northampton Town: N-no, I guess not. (gets ashamed, looks at his feet)

Bates: Well?

Northampton Town: (quietly) D'you.... want to come back to our place?

Bates: (looks around) Hang on, I have to make a call first- Hello, yes, is that Leicester City - I wish to complain about this Sheehan player what I borrowed...

There is currently a strange feeling of “Déjà vu” whilst watching the Whites. Flashbacks to the second half of the 2005/2006 season and Blackwell’s charge for 2nd spot have clouded the thoughts of many. That season, the Whites had peaked away at Plymouth in a New Year 3-0 victory. Whilst we carried on edging the odd result, something changed in the players attitudes in the aftermath of that game. The run up to the Play Offs saw the club win only 6 out of the last 18 games. Away from home, other than a superb win at Palace, the team were limp, lifeless and dire. This season, since Bournemouth, we had won only 5 in 18 league & cup games. That tally only includes 1 away win before todays game. Its not unfair to say that some of those performances have been similar to those back in 2005/2006. The club has undergone massive change’s in recent weeks. However that should not be a whole hearted excuse for what has been happening on the pitch. Though the team has suffered from a lack of a settled and consistent line up it should not prevent the players, individually, possessing a fighting spirit for the shirt they wear and the club they represent...

During the first part of this season, we saw poor performances spared criticism due to late goals. Late goals that came off the back of the team showing this fighting spirit for 94 minutes and we reaped the rewards. We fought like tigers and made our own luck in the process. Its something that has disappeared out of the players and with it, so has that edge, that arrogance, that confidence and the ability to make something out of nothing. McAllister is the man charged with re:establishing that fight & injecting that confidence. Its to be hoped he does not become the fall guy for taking on what appears at the moment to be Mission Impossible. After the speculation about Sammy Lee ended due to complications involved in his pay off from Bolton, Macca went for his old mate and Ex Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton as his assistant. With most Leeds fans not knowing too much about "Stan", it was left to the Irish contingent to take their heads out of their hands to let us know that some fans were so impressed with his Republic of Ireland interviews they made "Youtube" compilations and from what I have seen of these, Stan would have had no problems auditioning for a role in Father Ted...

With ex Carlisle manager Neil McDonald coming in as first team coach, Macca had taken his first full weeks training just as the club had served the much talked about High Court writ on the Football League. We headed for "Sixfields" hoping that Macca and Stan had got a grip of things and we were on the look out for some minor miracle to occur. The stadium only holds around 7,500 and the "Sold Out" signs were up. This left many ticketless fans watching the game from the unique vantage point of a hill behind the far home stand. The travelling 1,200 Leeds support were again split, mainly behind one goal and about a third of the stand to our right. The return to fitness by Casper and Rui’s return from African Nation cup duty meant another changed teamsheet. Macca went with Casper in goal. A back four of Kenton, Lubo, Rui and Sheehan. A Midfield of Howson, Hughes, Prutton and Johnson. Kandol retuned from an argument with Macca / sickness bug depending on who you believe to partner Beckford up front. It was noted that once again, the team sheet was lacking any width or pace and more worryingly, there was no sign of any players on the bench that would bring these qualities to the team...

Hughes was again out right. Prutton had joined Howson in the centre & Johnson, making his return to his former club was out left. With young Parker and Huntingdon sat with long faces amongst the Leeds support, we set about looking for a vital 3 points. The home side had a lot more abut them and were quickly picking up second balls and showing a lot more desire to win the ball. We were happy it seemed to sit back and try hit on the break. The opening exchanges were made up of niggling fouls and both teams inability to retain the ball. After having the ball in the net ruled out for a clear offside early on, the Cobblers grew in confidence and it was mainly due to the magnificent form of Rui that we didn’t concede. Twice in the first 15 minutes, Sheehan was left exposed and out of position. On each occasion, the ball in the box wasn’t the best and with Lubo seeming half asleep, Rui was there to block or pick up the pieces. We allowed Gilligan the space to try lob Casper from an angle, but thankfully, he was off target and Rui diverted another chance with his head that forced Casper into a smart save...

Our first real chance came soon after. Beckford latched onto a hoof and tried a lob, but never troubled the keeper. Back came the cobblers and a Rui blocked proved vital as Haynes shot deflected just wide. For the next ten minutes, we were not in the game. We were pushed back by the enthusiasm of the home players, who were winning midfield but thankfully they lacked a cutting edge to trouble us. With little to get excited about on the park, the biggest cheer came as we saw a group of Leeds fans appear on the hill in the distance. With a huge police escort, they were being marched towards the ground and apparently had walked miles from the train station. On 27 a long clearance from Sheehan looked like it took a deflection as it fell nicely into Beckford’s path Becks raced clear and one on one, it was just a case of him putting it away. It was a reflection of his current confidence levels that he delayed too long and a defender got back to put it out for a corner. With the chance gone, again we were getting pushed back. All attempts to break out of our half were halted by the offside flag or the inability of Kandol to control / retain the ball...

Northampton, for all their possession, were still not creating clear cut chances. Most balls into the box were now being headed clear by Lubo. However, the quickest player to the clearance was always a Cobbler, who would swiftly launch the ball back into the box and Lubo would head out again. On 38 minutes and to be fair, against the run of play, we nicked the lead. A great passing move in the middle seemed to have broken down with an over hit Prutton pass. Johnson chased it into the corner and swung over a half decent ball in from the right. Howson had gambled and broken into the box. He met the cross on the volley and smashed home a stunner that gave the keeper no chance. 1-0 and finally, something to shout about for the travelling support. With a goal in the bag, we sat back and defended our way to halftime. On the face of it, winning away at halftime and not playing well again was not too bad, it was however papering over cracks. Out they trooped for the second half, but from the restart, only one side was pumped up. Immediately we were forced on the back foot, Northampton took the game to us and for long periods kept us in our half...

Only sporadic hoofs up field to Kandol’s head were giving us any sort of relief. Lubo and Rui were having their work cut out as both Kenton and Sheehan were getting beaten too easily. It was evident there was something not right about the Leeds attitude. Beckford managed to get himself a stupid booking, He is now suspended for Doncaster away, with a petulant kicking away of the ball. The rest of the game he sulked and at one point just ignored his teammates as they were shouting at him. Our only real chances were again on the break. The most notable being Beckford staying onside to burst through on the right, but his wayward shot nearly hit me. With the hosts making 2 changes before the hour mark, the Cobblers midfield had the game by the scruff of the neck. Howson, Prutton and Hughes had disappeared. Hughes again being wasted and ineffective wide right. Perhaps the time has come to try him just in front of the back four. Johnson reminded us he was still on the pitch on 71 minutes when he was subbed for Sweeney. His cross for the goal his only real contribution to the game and he got a standing ovation from the home support. Not something we are used to seeing when a old player goes back to his former club in a Leeds shirt...

On came Sweeney and immediately, we had someone on the left who was prepared to at least try go past his man. As it was, the Cobblers got a deserved leveller on 75. Kenton went AWOL as they broke down the left. Rui was pulled out of position to try and intercept the cross, he failed and Lubo failed to cut it out and it was left to big Akinfenwa to brush off the feeble attempt by Sheehan to bundle past Casper for 1-1 and party time in the home end. Down went the Leeds heads and for the next few minutes, it could have been 2-1 but for some brave blocks from Rui in the midst of goal mouth scrambles. On 81, to the amazement of the travelling support, Macca took off Prutton and brought on Flo. Whilst Prutton was not having the best game, he was damn more effective that Kandol, who was winning the odd header but his inability to either retain the ball or pass 6 yards to a team mate was sending some fans over the edge. Flo at least could do that and we finally started to show some urgency. Indeed, against the run of play, we nearly nicked a winner. Sweeney did brilliantly on the left and rolled a peach of a ball across the 6 yard box that Flo was inches away from converting...

Stunned by the sudden urgency of the not so Mighty Whites, Northampton began to sit deep and hold on for a point. A long ball into the box was punched up in the air by the keeper and Beckford tried to loop a header in, but it lacked that bit of pace to beat the lad on the line. In the final seconds, Howson’s break through the middle was halted by the most cynical of challenges. Sweeney took the ball, placed it down as we held our breath for a Thompsonesq finale. Sweeney had other ideas and with the last kick of the game passed it into the keepers arms. Had that last 5 minutes of urgency been seen throughout the game, we could have taken them to the cleaners. It’s not really fair to assess Macca’s reign at the moment, but in the context of time running out for a Play Off push, it has to be said, nothing much has changed. The “impact” of a new manager has not yet been felt. The players do not appear to be busting a gut to impress and that remains both worrying and frustrating. So, the week ahead starts with a home game with Forest and then a trip away to Donny. As it stands, we will be lucky to still be in the race for 6th spot come 5.50pm Saturday night. It would seem that “Shit or Bust” has never been a more apt phrase associated with our club...

Leeds United AFC... "Passion, Pride, Commitment & Desire"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 0 Tranmere Rovers 2

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 01:23:43 +0100

After the laughter had stopped, there was nothing but silence. The Mail on Sundays story was dismissed by many as a work of fiction, but there was no reaction from the club. Nor was there any "tub thumping" from Wise, no quotes such as: "Why would I want to go to Newcastle - Leeds are a bigger club" or "Newcastle, are you serious, What suit am I wearing' Guv". Given the reaction by Wise at suggestions that Beckford was Derby bound, this seemed strange but it was quickly all put into context. After all the Wise words about loyalty and about finishing a job though, a weekend of negotiations lead to Wise resigning. He packed up his stuff and disappeared into the Geordie sunset quicker than you could say "How about trebling your wages Mr Wise". Though there were no tears shed, the timing could not have been worse. Stunned reactions to the departure were swiftly replaced by anxious fears as to what effect the walk out would have on a “stuck in a rut” and low on confidence team...

It was no secret that the majority of fans did not want Wise at Leeds and relegation compounded that feeling. Many fans however grew to respect his presence at the club after he stuck manfully to the task during the farcical preseason. We were continually impressed with the words spoken by Wise about the club. Also by the way he turned the club into somewhere players came to make a name for themselves, as opposed to thinking they had made it just by signing for Leeds United. Moreover we were impressed by the way his motivational siege mentality inspired the club to shrug off the 15 point deduction to fight for promotion. That said, its fair to say that he appeared to be knocked out of his stride in the wake of Gus leaving. He has also been found wanting as the team have stumbled since before the Christmas period. Some people in football may laugh when reading newspaper reports claiming Wise to be an intelligent soul. The cynics however would point out that there is nothing unintelligent about realising your bandwagon has 3 flat tyres and getting out with a fat cat pay rise...

So with Wise gone the speculation began to hit fever pitch. Names were banded about such as Adams, Davis, Allerdyce and McAllister. Still, the most likely candidate to take over was Harry Bassett. This prospect being the stuff of most fans nightmares who pointed to the downward spiral of results have coincided with him coming on board. When news broke that Bassett was gone, a sigh of relief that could have been measured on the Richter scale came from the heart of Yorkshire. By 6pm on the night of the Southend game, the rumour and speculation of who was next in line to take the job was ended. A world apart from the farce that followed Blackwell’s dismissal, Bates had, to his credit, acted quickly and Gary McAllister was unveiled. After the manager soap opera, there was still a game to play and as Macca was in Monaco, Gwyn Williams, the clubs technical director, was left to make the best of a shitty hand and stepped into the breach at Southend. However, the manner of the defeat lead to fears that the club was imploding...

It has to be said that you would have thought that, knowing there was a new manager to impress, the players would have fought their socks off. It wasn’t to be and it is to be hoped this drab and limp performance isn’t a reflection of a team that is sulking. The players, it appears, got wind of Wise leaving before the Luton game. That goes a hell of a long way to explaining the performance, but again, the lack of fight was puzzling. Why no performance from the boys to say “goodbye” to Wise? During the rest of the week rumours abounded regarding the spirit in the camp. These appeared to be unfounded as Macca’s first training session seemed to go down a storm. Macca talking about the players "having fun" and "getting the ball down". The roller coaster nature of the week was showing no signs of slowing down when Transfer Deadline day was upon us. In a previous interview, technical director Williams had mentioned that a couple of new faces were lined up but due to Wise leaving, they were probably dead in the water...

However, that did not prove to be the case. In came striker Anthony Elding from Stockport, along with left back Alan Sheehan. The biggest shock of the day however was Lubo "The Giant" Michalik walking away from regular Premiership football to seal a permanent deal. Lubo had been chased by Wise all season, so given Wise had left and the player had still come in was a shock indeed. With Kenton signed on full time that was 4 unexpected, but welcome, deals for the day. It wasn’t until the "Beckford for Newcastle" rumours started at around 10.30pm that there was cause for concern. It was a bloody nervous wait till midnight before the blasted window shut and we could finally reflect on a whirlwind week. This morning we awoke to the first snow of the year. Was this a sign from the gods that finally, things were finally to turn out "all white". This despite the fact that Macca had taken just one or two training sessions & it was unrealistic to expect miracles...

Still, that didn't stop us heading to Elland Road with a renewed optimism that went against both the form book and common sense. Macca clearly had tough decisions to make but frankly, his first team sheet (We assume he picked it!) was somewhat of a shock and a disappointment. Bizarrely, out went both Huntingdon and Parker, who were replaced by Heath and new boy Sheehan. It was a strange one given that these two in particular had overcome shaky starts to at least be able to hold their heads up high in recent performances. With Kandol sick & Casper, Kilkenny & Frazer injured, other changes were forced upon Macca. This left Macca fielding a much changed 11. So, Lucas carried on in goal. A new look back four of Sheehan, Lubo, Heath and Kenton sat behind a midfield of Hughes, Howson, Johnson and Prutton. New boy Elding was drafted in to replace Kandol and he partnered Beckford. Beckford receiving yet another England snub during the week, but he will be the first to admit his form has dropped recently...

After a fantastic reception greeted Macca, we held our breath and awaited to see this brave new world. Instantly you could see a change, the players were trying to pass the ball. Lucas was throwing the ball out to the defence rather than hammering it forward and though this approach lacked the pace to make it really effective, you could see the green shoots appearing. That said, it was Tranmere who nearly nicked the lead. A soft free kick, in just about the same position Donny scored from, gave McClaren the chance. He beat the wall and left Lucas with no chance but the ball crashed off the woodwork 9 minutes in. It was a real let off and the crowd began to find its voice. With Howson trying to pick out passes, we were having most joy down the right. Prutton doing well and Kenton, in at right back, was overlapping to great effect. Again, though, we lacked any penetration or the ability to run at Tranmere with pace. It took nearly 22 mins for the first real United chance...

Good build up play found Elding on the edge of the box, but his shot failed to really trouble the keeper. The controversial moment of the half came a couple of minutes later. Hughes came off worse in a clash with old boy Moore. With blood pouring from a head wound, Hughes clearly claimed that Moore had used his elbow. The ref was having none of it and sent him off the field for treatment. Though we were down to 10 men for the best part of 6 minutes, Tranmere lacked any ideas on how to get past us. The defence was looking pretty solid. Heath getting in a block from one effort and both Kenton and Sheehan coping well and trying to break where possible. After being largely untroubled whilst Hughes was off, he came back to a fantastic ovation. Immediately, Howson sent a 25 yarder into the keepers hands and it was hoped we could now go on and press. We tried to pass the ball, but it just wasn’t happening, well, certainly not Arsenal style. Any deadball and crossing situations were wasted by failing to beat the first man. Lacking any real pace, we failed to get behind Tranmere once & "hoofball" was reappearing...

Beckford was trying to get into the game, but with a level of service that made British Gas look world beaters, we never really created him one clear cut chance. Lucas saved at the feet of Moore before we were awarded a free kick just on the stroke of halftime. It was way out on the left and Prutton delivered to the far post. It went over everyone and crashed against the bar before being hooked to safety. That was the closet we had come and 0-0 at halftime was disappointing, but fair. So with the boys attacking the Revie end, it was to be hoped that the boys could be inspired to make Macca’s homecoming complete and take something from this game. We started well and for the first few minutes had Tranmere pushed back. Great work on the left from Prutton tied the defence in knots and a great ball whipped in saw Beckford’s header saved. A flurry of corners were, however, leaving the crowd frustrated. What looked to be a training ground "dink" to the near post failing more than once and other attacks getting broken down too easily...

With Tranmere on the back foot, Macca changed things round and in an attacking move, took off Kenton and brought on Carole. Carole was getting the ball, but his absence from the team has clearly affected his confidence. Making no attempt to beat a man, when the opportunity arose, he was turning back on himself and looking for others to take responsibility. A few minutes later, Macca took off Elding and brought on Flo. Two brave and attacking substitutions that could have changed the game for the better, however, they swiftly backfired. With Hughes now pushed to right back in Kenton’s absence, the midfield pairing of Johnson and Howson were beginning to struggle. Johnson’s contribution in the first half was minimal, even if it was an improvement on his last outings, but second half, he was in danger of disappearing altogether. Howson, unfortunately, wasn’t far behind him and the pair struggled to contain some swift breaks from the visitors...

On 61 minutes, a long ball was headed on to Myrie - Williams. Williams made Heath look a total twat, then cut back inside Sheehan onto his left foot and dispatched a peach into the top corner leaving Lucas with no chance. 0-1 nearly be came 0-2 seconds later. As the heads went down all over the park, a free kick caught us napping and Sheriffs header was brilliantly turned away by Lucas. A long ranger from Johnson was the only response as it appeared that we had already given up the fight. On 69 minutes, a free kick came in from the right and Ian Moore headed in for 0-2 and celebrated like he had won the pools. Though you could, in a way, understand his elation , it was disappointing given the fans had given him a great reception every time he has faced us since leaving. With that goal, it was all over. Macca tried to change it by bringing on Huntingdon, taking off Sheehan and pushing Hughes to left back, but frankly, we could have played till Christmas and we would not have scored...

Once again, we lacked heart and fight. We lacked anyone with pace and we lacked anyone willing to put the foot on the ball and play a decent forward pass. Any football that had been played in the first half was now long gone and the ball was continually hoofed up field in hope that something would drop. Beckford was having to move out to the wings to get a touch of the ball and that left a hole in the centre that no one was filling once he did get the ball in. Flo had the best chance on 90 mins, but by then, half the 24,907 crowd had left with aspirations and dreams in tatters. So, it was not the dream home coming for Macca. The team is at its lowest ebb since relegation and we have fallen out of the play off spots. There is a hell of a lot of work to be done and people can mention the solid foundation left by Wise all they like, but closer inspection may reveal spots of dry rot. With only 8 points from 9 games, its relegation form at the moment and we pray to the heavens that Macca can turn it around...

It has to be said that it is unlikely that Macca knew the extent of the problems he is currently faced with. Rumours of Sammy Lee coming in as his assistant gather pace and we should have confirmation before the next game. Macca may quickly realise that he may have to bring in magician Paul Daniels as his number two if the turn around is to be swift enough both to catch up on a host of teams running into form and stop a damaging free fall. With Bates still intending to fight the points deduction in the High courts, this season could yet have another couple of twists and turns. We are not out of it and we have to remain both United and positive. Next up is the clubs first ever trip to Northampton Town's "Sixfields stadium"...

Leeds United AFC... "Cometh the hour, Cometh the Mac"... Keep Fighting...

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Luton Town 1 Leeds United AFC 1

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:26:56 +0100

Many Leeds fans were left breathing a sigh of relief this week on the back of the snub from Bristol City striker Enoch Showunmi. This was, in the main, based on the fact that no bugger had heard of him and many Bristol fans had commented on various internet forums that they didn’t rate him as anything other than a Division Three striker who was currently out of his depth. 18 years ago this month and 1990 was a time that was pre: internet or SKY sports news and football lived happily without this blasted transfer window. In a golden age that didn’t have this “24/7” football culture, we were more or less left eagerly awaiting Don Warters of the YEP to break any transfer gossip. Though frustrating, it was better than getting robbed on the infamous "club call" service. This, as you will recall, was charged at around 50p per minute to hear some random made up bollocks about possible world class superstars who were destined for Elland Road. So imagine if back then we had the internet and news had broken that Lee Chapman was to sign. One can only wonder what the reaction would have been. Given the way some Leeds fans, including my old man, were slating him at the time, we could well have seen a similar reaction as we saw over Showunmi...

It’s unimaginable now to wonder what would have happened had Chappy then decided to stay and fight for his place at Forest. Thankfully Chappy did come and he wrote himself into Leeds folklore with his magnificent goal scoring feats. The question is, was Enoch Showunmi possibly our new Lee Chapman? Was he the man to kick start our faltering league campaign or was he just another Wayne Andrews. We will never find out, but one thing is for certain, if he doesn’t want to play for Leeds, fuck him, we are better off without him. Are we better off without both Shaun Derry and Alan Thompson is another question altogether. This week saw Derry sign for Palace and Thommo has been shipped up to Hartlepool in a bid to "get him fit". The Derry situation was predictable but in the end, a sad one. Its been clear that Derry’s days at the club have numbered. Though Derry has come out and defended himself against the "mole" allegations that clouded last season, there is no doubt that Wise seemed to have little interest in having him in the team and it was probably best for both parties that he went. In the main, it is only good memories most Leeds fans have of a man who was here, there, every fucking where for the White cause. As far as the Thommo situation goes, it remains to be seen if he will be back...

Let’s just hope that for this loan spell, we added in a recall clause, so as to avoid the Derry farce over New Year. So with no other transfers news this week, the only surprise story was broken by the Mail on Sunday, with Wise tipped to join Newcastle as director of something or other. It was interesting to note that there was no reaction from Wise on the matter in the same way he tackled the Derby interest for Beckford. Moving on to today, It was more than ironic that faced Luton Town. A return to the scene of the crime where, last season, 11 men in Yellow shirts who claimed to be Leeds United AFC, turned in the worst and most spineless display’s in living memory. With Blackwell sacked, the sting appeared to have been taken out of the encounter. However, with Luton the latest club to fall foul of the Taxman wanting to be treated like a Football creditor in Football administration cases and get his money back in full, it made the trip all the more poignant. With the 50 Football League charges for alleged breaches of rules still hanging over Luton, it appears now that the Taxman will challenge any attempt for Luton to exit administration with a CVA in place. We watch with interest how this matter is resolved as at the same time Bates progresses his case on the -15 points to the High Court. After the disappointment of the Donny Rovers game, it was a sombre trip down as we went over and over the whys and wherefores of what is going wrong at the moment…

We prayed that Wise would put down his "ACME TACTICAL AWARENESS FOR THE MISUNDERSTOOD" manual and at least revert back to 4,4,2. This he did and in the process moved Hughes back to the centre of midfield. With Kilkenny suspended, Bradley Johnson was given a brilliant opportunity to show what he could do ahead of young Johnny Howson, who we assume is still not fit (Lets pray he’s not next out on loan for this reason). So with Casper in goal, we went with an unchanged back line of Fraser, Kenton, Parker and Huntingdon. Prutton, Hughes, Johnston and Sweeney made up the midfield and Beckford lead the line with Kandol. Beckford showing total solidarity for team mate Kandol’s stupid haircut (Also seen on Defoe) by supporting a "Mohican". This had the unsettling effect of making the lad look like an anorexic Mr T. The team line up seemed solid enough and it should really have been a good time to play Luton on the back of there defeat at Bournemouth in midweek. As ever, its simply not panning out this way and there was barley a minute on the clock before Luton could have been ahead, Spring given time and space to launch from 35 yards. It took a deflection and wrong footed Casper and went inches wide. It set the tone for the first half…

The resultant corner saw us scramble the ball away as we appeared content to play hoofball for the first few minutes in the hope that we could settle things down. It wasn’t happening and Luton were playing with a style and pace that unsettled us and began to make us look ordinary. Fortunately, in the early stages, Luton were having trouble staying onside and a couple of good moves broke down. Up the other end, we were near none existent with Beckford also struggling with the offside rule. With Spring and Currie looking sharp, Hughes was already having to work his bollocks off and it was his ball through that gave us our first real chance. Kandol latched onto it but lifted over the bar. For the next 15 mins, we struggled to put a move together. We had trouble getting the ball and when we did, we couldn’t pass it to a yellow shirt. Furlong was taking advantage of his size compared to Kenton and Luton’s passing play was putting us to shame. Huntingdon did well to block from Furlong and it seemed only a matter of time before Luton scored. As it was, football again proved to be a weird game as in a rare foray forward, we won a free kick just outside the area. Sweeney, with his first constructive touch of the game, swung in a ball that Huntingdon got to first with a superb header for 1-0...

It was against the run of play but hey, what the fuck, we went mental. So did Huntingdon and was booked for over celebrating. For a few seconds after the goal, we actually put a few passes together, but then normality resumed and that really was it for Leeds in the first half. We had about 18 minutes to hold out till half time, during which, there was a disturbance to our right between both sets of supporters and in the Luton end behind the goal, we could see fans being ejected. We assumed they were Leeds fans in the home area. Luton continued to press and we could have had no complaints had they got level before half time. Spring forced Casper into a good save and then let himself down when he completely fuked up a cross coming in from the left, only timely defending from Huntingdon and Parker saved us. 1-0 at halftime covered up the cracks, in the grand scheme of things, Luton were ordinary, but they were playing us off the park. There were so many areas that were not performing. Casper looked dodgy and his kicking was woeful. We gave him the benefit of the doubt by assuming he was ordered to launch the ball onto Luton’s right full back every time he could. Sweeney’s shirt was spotless when he passed us enroute to the tunnel and that summed up his first half. Hughes was having to battle twice as hard as Johnston hardly touched the ball…

Kandol was winning nothing and though Beckford was putting the effort in, he had not had anything that resembled a decent pass to enable him to have a shot on goal. We had no idea how we were winning but it needed Wise to sort it out. So, we begun the second half as we started the game, on the back foot. Luton simply ran at us and used the wings to great effect. Talbot flashed a great effort just over and our defence was having to work overtime to put in blocks and head the ball away. Ball retention was impossible and at times, you would have thought these players had just met each other outside the ground. Spring had another shot deflected wide and the Luton crowd sensed there was something here for them. We had no one to put the foot on the ball, no craft and frankly, no ideas other than hoofing the ball away. Casper took what seemed a bad knock midway though the half and with no keeper on the bench it was a worry. He got up but did not look comfortable after that. On came Dean Morgan and immediately caused us trouble. Again it was Hughes plugging the gaps left by Sweeney and Johnston that was sparing our blushes and it was clear to most of us that Wise needed to change it…

We had pace on the bench in Carole and Sorsa, but not on the park. Twice in quick succession Luton went close, Both Talbot and Morgan had great chances but we weathered the storm at the back, sometimes more through luck than judgement. Then the turning point. A ball over the top saw Kandol fight for it, he took a knock and could have gone down, instead, with just the keeper to beat he showed the composure of a frenzied mad axman and twatted over the bar. With the chance gone, Luton came back and nearly scored with a Furlong header. With Casper then booked for time wasting, Luton threw on 2 subs in quick succession. It threw Luton out of their stride for a few moments and first a great move started and finished by Parker saw a shot flash just wide. Just after, Johnston showed he was actually on the park by picking the ball up and running at the defence. Prutton was unmarked on his right, but the ball got caught up in Johnson’s feet and the chance was gone. Beckford, who had been feeling his thigh for about 10 mins was taken off with 5 to go and on came Flo. With 4 minutes injury time held up, Luton missed the best chance of the game, Morgan got behind us and put in a great ball that Furlong headed wide…

With that, you could see the Luton heads drop and it should have been an unlikely 3 points. In the final minute however, a throw down the Luton left found Morgan again and his Cross was headed home by Parkin for a deserved point. It was a basic goal, we completely switched off and went to sleep. So, what could have been an unlikely win, ended up a draw which feels like a defeat. It is worrying that there seems to be no progression with the new arrivals and its worrying that the players do not appear to know what the fuck they are doing. We can forgive that given the new additions need time to bed in. What we can't forgive is an apparent lack of fight. Wise has gone from a team that would run through brick walls for him, to one that refuse to step over puddles. Hughes, Huntingdon and to an extent, Parker and Beckford apart, there is currently very little of it and recent displays are more in line with the cup games against Hereford and Bury. I said back then, if this was repeated in the league, we would be in trouble. At this rate we could seriously finish outside the payoffs and be staring at another season in Division Three. Whilst that may sound like a panic statement, it’s a true reflection of how the wheels appear to have fallen off the bandwagon. We stumble to Southend on Tuesday night and pray for better...

Leeds United AFC..."The wheel is turning but the hamster appears dead..." Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 0 Doncaster Rovers 1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 01:10:42 +0100

It’s true what they say, football’s a funny old game. One minute we were looking hopeful of marching into the New Year top of the league, the next, reality set in and we crawled into 2008 on our hands and knees. If we thought 2007 had ended badly at Swansea, it was still a good performance compared to the wake up call that was the 1-3 New Years day defeat against Oldham. It was evident that something needed to be done. Performances on the park over the Christmas period were that of a team running out of steam and riding lady luck for all she was worth. If we step back and analyse the first half of the season, its hardly surprising given the amount of effort and energy put into the campaign thus far. That however needed to be rectified swiftly if the good work up to press was not to be wasted. Thankfully Wise and co not only recognised this, but as the transfer window opened, did something about it...

The first player in was Neil Kilkenny from Birmingham. Signed on emergency loan so he could play against Northampton the next day. His debut was as impressive as you are likely to see. With Hughes pushed into midfield to partner Kilkenny, we finally had some fight and bollocks back in the middle. Hughes was the unsung hero of the game, doing the dirty work and allowing Kilkenny the time and space to dictate. Football was suddenly being played and balls to feet replaced the much used hoofball. The whole team responded well and it was badly needed. Parker was drafted back into the action at left back and gave a steady performance and on the right, Fraser had his best game for a number of weeks. Though it has to be noted that Northampton were poor overall & lacking the invention and spirit that we have been used to seeing from away sides at Elland Road this season...

This was a much needed win and a much improved performance. 3-0 was a deserved scoreline and we left the ground wondering who else would crawl though the transfer window. Over that weekend, talks were ongoing with Bradley Johnson from Northampton and a host of names were linked with moves to the club. After thinking the move over, Johnson signed up and was followed by left footed Peter Sweeney from Stoke. Finnish winger from HJK Helsinki, Seb Sorsa was then granted international clearance and after agreeing to keep reserve keeper Lucas for the season, in came Darren Kenton on loan from Leicester to hopefully plug the gap left by Rui. It was a fast and furious start to the transfer window in comparison with recent seasons. We have got used to last minute loan deals coming in and a lot of movement the other way. The flurry has however left onlookers in some quarters pointing the finger at the club...

Comments such as "You can’t pay the debts, but you can by new players" continue to be thrown our way and up to a point you can see where they are coming from. Even people within the game have had sly digs. On the back of a failed bid for Walsall left back Fox, it prompted their chairman to have a go at us in his in his programme notes: "Taking this time further I feel very uncomfortable about clubs who have come out of Admin, having paid off their creditors a few pence in the pound to cover outstanding debts, then start splashing out on substantial transfer fees." A very noble stance, but it would appear this did not stop Walsall themselves selling then top scorer Matty Fratt to Leicester after Leicester came out of the administration process. It does appear that for other clubs, going through administration is a process of cleansing, forgiving and forgetting. No-one, for example, looks at big spenders QPR and reminds them or their support of the debts they left behind...

Of course, we know its not apples and apples and football will never be a level playing field whilst ever Leeds United or Ken Bates are involved. After sitting back over the weekend and watching the continuing saga of Newcastle United trying to outdo the Leeds United soap opera of recent years, the results around us meant a Monday night trip to Crewe could see us into third spot should we win. Despite our recent away form and despite Gresty Road being a bit of a bogey ground in recent seasons, it was a car full of renewed optimism that headed over the Pennines and down the M6. Wise had plenty of options with the new boys in town and it was a much changed line up from our last away trip at Swansea that began the game. Nearly 2,000 of the White army made the trip and the locals that decided to go to the game and not watch on SKY really did not have a hope of matching the vocal support. Carrying on from the Northampton game, we dominated much of the play, with the solitary Beckford goal coming on 30 mins...

Again the Kilkenny and Hughes partnership was pivotal but with Sweeney hugging the left and Prutton working well on the right, we actually had some width. We left the ground actually believing that once the new faces had gelled, we could now push on and at least fight for that second automatic spot. Over the last 2 games, we had seen more football to feet than in the last 15 and we wanted to see more of it, starting today against Doncaster Rovers. Its 52 years since Rovers had played at Elland Road and they brought a magnificent 3,000 travelling army to mark the occasion. This swelled the crowd to 31,402 and the ground was brimming with optimism. At first glance, the team sheet gave no cause for concern or hint of what lay ahead. Given the last couple of games, there should have been nothing to overly worry about...

So with Casper in goal, a back four of Kenton, Parker, Huntingdon and Frazer protected him. A midfield of Hughes, Kilkenny, Johnston and Sweeney sat behind strikers Beckford and Flo. Beckford of course, still at the club after Derby boss Jewell had said he was not interested in buying him. Beckford himself had answered a SKY reporters question about him possibly leaving with "What shirt am I wearing bruv are you serious?". Wise had clearly decided to show us he had been playing Championship manager during the week and rather than leave the simple 4,4,2 set up that has been so effective this season, he decided that today of all days he pushed the midfield around. The effective Hughes/ Kilkenny partnership in the centre was broken up & Hughes bizarrely forced out right. It looked more like a 4,3,1,2 line up that was similar to how Wise had tried to play with Robbie Blake last season, to no great effect...

It was quickly becoming apparent that the result of these changes was none of them had a clue what the fuck they were supposed to be doing! In stark contrast, Rovers knew exactly what they were supposed to be doing and full of confidence on the back of a great run, they bristled with pride and passion. Wise commented midweek if the Rovers players could cope in front of a 30,000 crowd. He may have been better off in looking at his own as we struggled to match them. On a pitch that had as much sand on it as a Scarborough beach, we kicked off playing towards the massed ranks of Rovers fans behind the South Stand goal. Within the first couple of minutes, Johnson and Price were involved in handbags and after a free kick for Rovers was wasted, we tried to put them on the back foot. With the conditions underfoot not really suiting the "new" passing game that we had been trying in the last couple of games, we were struggling...

With 13 minutes on the clock, Coppinger was played in on goal but he tried to be clever and lost the ball. Price then stabbed wide from six yards out as we struggled to contain or indeed make any notable chance of our own. With the way Wise had set the team up, there was no width, no outlet and with no Hughes in the centre of midfield, we were losing most 50/50's. With 21 minutes gone, Wellens was went down like he had been shot by a sniper and won a soft free kick on edge of the penalty area. After what seemed an age, Stock stepped up and curled a shot through the wall and left Casper with no chance for 0-1 and a deserved lead for the away side. The defiant white army raised the noise levels, but though we pressed, we were lacking in ideas. Kilkenny, without Hughes beside him, was lightweight and the flanks were near none existent...

It took a full 25 minutes to get a first shot on goal. A corner on the right was half cleared to Beckford, who hit a great first time shot, but Sullivan was able to pluck it out of the air. In all honestly, that was as good as it got for us in the first half. We had a couple of free kicks that came to nothing and Sully did well to cut out a couple of crosses, but it was looking more likely that Rovers would score a second than Leeds an equaliser. That was until injury time and a flurry of corners gave us hope. The best chance falling to Kenton after Johnson had nudged the ball to him and he tried to back heel the ball home, but again, Sully was there to protect the Rovers lead. At halftime, the crowd were looking for Prutton to come into the right, push Hughes into the centre and revert back to a standard 4,4,2 formation...

It was not forth coming, the only change was Heath replacing the injured Kenton. Within seconds of the restart, we conceded a needless corner and the tone for the second half was set. Rovers were on top and it seemed only a matter of time before the second goal arrived. We did try get forward & even forced a couple of corners, one of which came out to Kilkenny but his snapshot was well wide. Our best chance of the game came soon after. Beckford put through and under challenge, tried to lob onrushing Sully, who bravely got in the way of it and the chance was gone. Up to this point we were carrying so many passengers, it was untrue. Wise took one off on 54. The totally ineffective Flo made way for Kandol and it was the perfect opportunity for Kandol to show that being dropped has been the kick up the backside he needed. Whilst we hoped this would spur us into all out action, it had the opposite effect...

Rovers were back on top and had great chances to score before we got back near their goal. On the hour McCammon was through, but his shot was blocked. Then a last ditch tackle saw O'Connor’s effort go for a corner and a Coppinger shot was tipped round the post by Casper. The resulting corner saw McCammon head wide when it seemed easier to score. With Leeds seemingly out for the count, out fought, out thought and out played, Rovers were in total control. Wellens skinned half the team, only for his final shot to be deflected for a corner and due to the fact Rovers were picking up every second ball, this fell to Roberts who powered one wide. Wise’s final contribution was to throw on Weston for Kilkenny and with Rovers taking a breather, chatting to each other about where they may fancy going on holiday in the summer, we managed to catch them out on a couple of occasions...

Kandol surprised the whole stadium by unleashing a shot from outside the area that was on target. Sully laughed as he went down to pick it up. Then a couple of free kicks down the right were pumped in by Sweeney, but nothing really looked like it would trouble Rovers. 4 minutes injury time may as well have been 4 hours as we laboured to even hoof the ball forward, in the hope of a late chance. The final whistle brought boo’s from all around and relief that it was finally over. So, a second home defeat of the season and we lose more ground on the pace setters. With more rumblings about a high court date regarding the 15 points and Bates pushing his plans for ground redevelopment whilst at the same time announcing a price rise of between 10 & 20% on next seasons ticket prices its to be hoped that people are not taking their eye off the ball. Next up a double header, with tricky away games at Luton and Southend. Fingers crossed Wise learns from today’s debacle, get’s back to basics and we get back on track...

Leeds United AFC... "Would the real Leeds United AFC please stand up?"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Swansea City 3 Leeds United AFC 2

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:59:53 +0100

It’s fair to say that 2007 will not go down in Leeds United AFC’s history as one of the best. At the beginning of the year, Bates promised a "new look" Leeds United. One that was hungrier, leaner and fitter. What we didn’t realise was it would take a spineless fight against relegation, a farcical period of administration resulting in the club being docked a total of 25 points and being forced to start the current season on minus 15 to get close to that point. Its certainly been a year that has tested the faith of even the most ardent whites fan. However, given how the current team have responded to life in Division Three after the initial setbacks, its to be hoped that 2008 will finally be a year when we will have something to celebrate. Swansea City came to Leeds earlier in the season and were less than impressive. A 2-0 home win was the least we deserved and few would have predicted on that day that the Swans would now sit in top spot and be flying...

It was not the best time to face them and to be honest, it was one of those mornings. It’s stupid “o“ clock and your just getting up. The wind is howling, the rain is battering against the windows and you think to yourself, why the fuck am I doing this. It was tempting to stay in bed and give this one a miss, I mean, a 10 hour round trip when in good health is an arduous task, a 10 hour round trip with one of those Christmas “bugs” in your system is down right stupid. Then you hear your lucky song on the radio and you remember that just one win will hoist your beloved Whites to the top of the Christmas tree and all sane thoughts are blocked out of your head as you set off with blind optimism and hope in your heart. We actually made it down in just over 4 hours. Little traffic aside from the army of Leeds fans on the motorway. “It’s just like a mini Derby County” said my mate upon arriving ...

This much was true, the Liberty stadium is a smaller version, but on this day, this new build stadium had something that you rarely saw on visits to Derby, or any other “new builds”. That something was passion. Around 19,000 crammed in today including a vocal 2,500 travelling whites. To our left and to our right, massed ranks of noisy Swansea fans. This was something that we have rarely seen at away games to date this season. There have been small pockets of home support willing to exchange banter, but this was something else. A lot of it was, as you would expect, Anti Leeds, Anti Cardiff and Anti English chants. The locals were up for it and they didn’t half back their side. With a presentation for the late, great John Charles made just before kick off, the atmosphere inside the ground at kick off was unbelievable. There was no hiding places today and there was no doubt that any repeat of the 3 previous games would lead us to a twatting…

Wise decided that it was time to make two change’s from the starting line up at Hartlepool. Kish was dropped to the bench for Thommo and Prutton, whose form has dropped dramatically over the last month, was benched. Wise bringing in Carole for his first start since the Cheltenham defeat. So we set out with Casper in goal, a back four of Fraser, Rui, Heath and Hughes. A midfield of Westlake, Carole, Thommo and Howson, with Beckford and Kandol again up the front. Playing towards the Leeds fans and all in Yellow, we started brightly and showed we were not here just to make up the numbers. Crunching tackles were flying in from young Johnny and it was he who had the first chance, a fine effort from 20 yards out that had the keeper worried. Within seconds, Beckford had chased down a long ball and with typical confidence, tried to lob the keeper, on this occasion he just got too much on it and it went over the bar...

A promising start but hopes of a magnificent away performance quickly evaporated. There was a nasty undercurrent on the park, even though it was early, there were niggles and after Hughes was booked for a typical challenge, it was evident that most of the niggles were coming from Leeds. We were moaning at the ref and moaning at each other and after surviving a scare when Scotland should have done better, it was becoming apparent that all was not well with the away side. Again reverting to long balls in the direction of Kandol, Swansea quickly realised that football was the way forward and they began playing some of the best stuff seen this season. Quick, incisive passing, getting behind the Leeds defence at pace, it was going to be a long game for Fraser and Hughes. With just 9 mins on the clock, a clumsy tackle by Thommo 25 yards out saw a free kick awarded. Thommo was lucky not to be booked for arguing with the ref...

As the wall was marched back 10 yards, Casper left a lot of space to his right and Robinson took the chance, curling in a screamer and sending the home support wild. At this point we feared that the brand of football played by Swansea would overrun us. We looked slow and every time they attacked, we looked like we could shaky. However, when Beckford latched onto a poor back header 3 mins later and lobbed home from an acute angle for 1-1 sending the travelling white army fucking mental, you thought, well, just maybe. Having got this foothold in the game, we needed someone to put the foot on the ball. We needed someone to show some class, but it just wasn’t happening. Every ball was again launched up the park and every time the Leeds moves broke down, back Swansea came at us with breathtaking football. I have waited a bloody long time to see a team in White play this way, its just fucking typical it wasn’t Leeds...

The movement of the home side in attack was simply brilliant. On the other hand, when we attacked it was mostly slow and laboured build ups. Robinson was becoming the main threat, tormenting Fraser who was getting skinned each time. After a corner was awarded to the home side on 23, the ref had to pull Heath and Hughes to one side for moaning about it and seemingly arguing with each other. Anderson swung in a peach for Monk to out jump Rui and head home for 1-2 and send the home support into wild celebrations. Given the way Rui has played this season, its hard to criticise, but he simply should have done better. With the lads still arguing amongst themselves, the Swansea players sensed blood and attacked at every opportunity. Robinson again at the centre of things and as his shot came in, Casper failed to deal with it presenting Scotland with an easy chance. Thankfully he blasted it over the bar. The closest we now came to getting into the game was a Rui header from a corner. We had stopped playing & we were now giving the Swans the freedom of the park...

Every time they got the ball, there was no yellow shirt in sight, when we got it, they were all over us like a rash. Then the flashpoint. With the ball in the centre circle, young Johnny was quickest to react and picked up the ball, in steamed Bodde with a horror tackle. There was just no need for it and it kicked off on the park. Howson, not one for staying down, was clearly in agony and as the ref pulled out the red card, the trainer called for a stretcher. Off went Johnny to a chorus of boo’s and abuse from the home crowd. With Johnny off, Wise brought on Prutton as we looked to make the numerical advantage count. However, we proceeded to play the laboured, slow and ineffectual football and even with 10 men, Swansea looked the more dangerous. They were simply waiting for the ball and attacking with pace. It summed up the confidence of the home side that at our next corner, Swansea left 3 bloody men up the field. After 2 more golden opportunities to kill us off and with half time looming, Swansea hit a third...

A through ball was latched onto by Scotland, with Heath and Rui in attendance we should have snuffed it out, but they allowed him to keep running, shrug them off and fire past Casper leaving us 3-1 down. It was comedy defending that was reminiscent of the horror show at Stoke this time last season. Frankly, we were lucky to get to halftime at 1-3. Swansea were simply playing all the football and we couldn’t handle it. The defence was having a mare, the midfield was now none existent and in attack, Beckford had disappeared after his goal and Kandol may as well have not been playing. Halftime was as miserable as I can remember being for a long time. We hoped that Wise would get tough in the dressing room, but you had no confidence in that given the recent second half performances. Out they came to a tremendous reception and with no changes, we just hoped that we could grind them down and make that extra man count...

Swansea were soon on the back foot and after Kandol was fouled on the edge of the area, we had our first chance of the second half. Up popped Thommo to smash home the free kick from 25 yards and all of a sudden, we had hope. Within seconds of the restart, a ball through the middle was handballed by a Swansea defender and another free kick was awarded. Up stepped Thommo again and curled a fucking beauty, beating the keeper, but coming back off the post. Chance gone but a new wave of hope spread across the travelling army. Thommo was finally in the game and was dictating everything. For a 15 minute spell it was all Leeds, but again, it was slow and predictable. It was amazingly on the hour mark that we finally troubled the home keeper again. Kandol’s long range effort was spilled by the keeper, but Beckford could not force the rebound in. Sadly, that was to be the best chance of the second half as we huffed and puffed, but got no bloody nearer. Wise took off the once again ineffective Westlake and threw Flo onto the park, but it was 10 man Swansea who looked more dangerous...

A great flowing move saw Robinson shoot inches over and it was quickly followed by yet another flowing move that we had to be thankful Rui blocked or it would have been 4. This was ridiculous, we were playing 10 men, yet had lost all shape and it even got to the point where Thommo was telling his own players where to pass the ball. It was Thommo who had our last chance on goal. A well struck effort from long range was saved well by the keeper as we ran out of ideas and amazingly, ran out of legs. Considering that our fitness has been superior in most of our games this far, Swansea were the ones full of running and we were now dead on our feet. Wise threw on Weston for Carole but frankly, just as Flo, Weston made little impact. In the last 10 mins, a brilliant move again from Swansea saw Butler force Casper into a great stop and then thanks to comedy defending from Leeds, we allowed Butler in again, this time he beat Casper, but thankfully also the far post...

As we entered injury time and hoofed the ball up in desperate hope to find yet another last minute goal the Swansea fans began to celebrate and remind us that they only got 10 men. The final whistle was met with massive celebrations in the ground and a massive police operation outside of it. All that remained was a very long & miserable 4 hour trip back up north. So, we lose our third league game to a team that simply outplayed us. it’s a result that has been coming and we can’t say we hadn’t been warned. We need to learn from this and fast or all the good work this season may well be wasted. Wise has talked about 3 or 4 new faces coming in during the transfer window, its to be hoped that he can relight the spark that has been missing in recent weeks and of course, hold onto Beckford, who is rumoured to be interesting a few higher placed clubs. We move on to New Years day clash with Oldham and a return of an old favourite in John Sheridan...

Leeds United AFC… "John Charles CBE - Gigante Buono - 1931-2004 RIP"... "Keep Fighting"...

Comments

Hartlepool United 1 Leeds United AFC 1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:55:33 +0100

There are pivotal moments in every game. The memory of one such moment, at home to Newcastle back on 22nd December 2001 still lingers. With an hour gone & a healthy 3-1 lead in the bag, the fates began to conspire against the Whites as the Cartoon army began a stunning and unlikely fight back. First Elliot with a header gave them hope but the pivotal moment of the game was Jeff “twat” Winter handing out an early Christmas gift. He awarded the dodgiest of spot kicks which allowed Shearer to level the scores and send the travelling Cartoon army mad. Just as it seemed that a shell shocked Leeds may cling on and nick a point from the jaws of a victory, up popped Solano to bag a very late winner. A gut wrenching result of Leeds United AFC 3 Newcastle United 4 was, on the face of it, a blip. Little did we know as we trudged away from Elland Road with Cartoon Army laughing in our faces, that the worst was yet to come...

Fast forward to the 22nd December 2007. The Whites begin the festive fixtures home to Bristol Rovers and as far as pivotal moments in games go, the 84th minute should never be forgotten as the season unfolds. With Beckford hitting the bar in only the 4th minute, you could have been forgiven for expecting lowly Bristol were about to be put to the sword. The truth is, Rovers came to Elland Road with a plan and almost executed it perfectly. Once again, had a visiting team come to Elland Road with shooting boots on we could have been looking down the barrel of a defeat. The Whites display, at times, went on to resemble headless Christmas turkeys trying to escape the chop. A spirited display from the visitors was worthy of at least a point and they could have been 2 up by the next time we threatened their goal. However after missing the chances, we turned the screw. Beckford first shooting wide then almost immediately forcing the keeper into a stunning flying tip over on 30 mins...

That was as good as it got in the first half for the Whites. Rui Marques, clearly celebrating his call up to the African Nations cup with Angola had to be and was on top form in the second half. This coupled with a tremendous performance from Casper, who yet again came out on top in a "one on one" and then pulled out 3 other great stops in a “great for the neutral” second half. We were again second best for long periods, but managed to keep on going. It was only when Wise changed the set up by throwing on Flo and Seb that we really looked like doing anything other from the game than clinging on for a point. Then, in the 84th minute, our lustful affair with lady luck this season continued. A ball into the box by Thommo was flicked on by Flo to a leaping Seb Carole. Sub Seb’s header across goal was weak at best, but it struck the shoulder of a lad called Elliot which in turn wrong footed keeper Phillips leaving the ball to bounce into the Revie end net for the most bizarre goal of the season thus far...

It was, as said, harsh on Rovers as they deserved at least a point. How vital these three points become remains to be seen, but with lady luck still all over Leeds United AFC like a rash, you could be forgiven for thinking that the gods are trying to make up for shitting on us in the past 6 years. Certainly, this “own goal” coming so soon after the jammy leveller at Walsall, does make you wonder where our season is heading. One thing was for sure, with the games coming up, including the home game against Oldham on New Years day, we have every chance of being top of Division Three as we enter 2008. It will be only the 4th time in the last 17 seasons that we have gone into the New Year top of our respective tree should we achieve this feat. With Christmas all but over and done with, for the second successive Boxing Day, we headed to the North East. This year it was Hartlepool & A shitty 12 noon kick off...

It’s interesting to note that last Boxing Day’s trip to Sunderland saw Wise start with a front line of Beckford and Kandol. The performance of the two on that day will go down as one of the most inept ever seen. What a difference a relegation and a year makes. Hartlepool are of course, one of the best teams Leeds have played this season, despite coming away with a 2-0 home victory. The last visit to the Victoria was back in 1979, when we managed to twat them 6 - 2 in the F.A. Cup. Whilst we were not expecting a scoreline of that nature, given we had now not won in our last three away games, we were at least hoping for an upturn in both result and performance. It has to be said, early on a cold and windy winter morning is probably not Hartlepool at its best. The 970 hardy souls who managed to get tickets for this game were met with a brisk wind and an army of police...

Quite what they were expecting us to be up to on this trip was baffling. After all, the return fixture at Leeds saw around 2,500 Monkeys and a 3pm Saturday afternoon kick off pass with very little trouble. Given the recent White displays , it was hoped that Wise would realise that his team was, being generous, running out of steam and freshen things up. With both Prutton and Westlake have been found wanting lately and the continued struggle to find a suitable centre midfield pairing, cracks have been showing and only lady lucks intervention has papered over them. Thus it was disappointing to see that Wise again resisted temptation to mix things up and made only one change. Thommo dropped to the bench and Kish came into the centre of midfield. So, Casper in goal was again protected by a back four of Hughes, Fraser, Heath and Rui. Kish, Howson, Westlake and Prutton in midfield and Beckford and Kandol again up the front...

Kandol, in a bid to take the limelight from Beckford, was supporting the most bizarre "haircut" you are likely to see all year & it was quickly apparent that the near capacity crowd and the players were simply not up for this early morning lark. What little enthusiasm in the stands existed was becoming quickly muted at what was being played out before us. Half arsed challenges and little football on display, it was going to be a long morning. Hartlepool settled quickest and at least tried to play football. Leeds content with once again hoofing it up to Kandol and Beckford and hoping something stuck. Prutton's head was still bandaged up after a wound he picked up in the Rovers game and it must have affected his eyesight. Almost every ball was played to a Hartlepool player or into touch. On the other side of the park, Westlake was simply anonymous. With Kish not looking fit in midfield, poor Howson was running round like a blue arsed fly. Even he, it has to be said, was not having the best of games too, so as you can imagine, it was getting frustrating on the terraces...

With Ian Moore having a point to prove and Hartlepool using the ball well, our back line was having a torrid time, Fraser was woeful at times but they didn't really create any clear cut chances. When the first real chance for the home side did come, they took it. 21 minutes in and an Elliot freekick found Nelson at the far post to plant past Casper. It was possibly Heath's worst moment of the season as he got nowhere near the lad, leaving a somewhat free header. Within seconds of the restart, it could have been 2. Moore this time firing just over as Leeds threatened to fall apart. It was though, Howson who began to try and drag the Whites back into it. After some tidy play in midfield, he sent the best ball of the game through to Kandol. He should have taken the chance early, but tried to be clever and the keeper did enough to put him off and the chance went begging...

That seemed to lift Hartlepool and we went back into our shells as the hosts poured forward. Barker had a great chance to make it 2 and kill us off, but we held on and as poor as we were, should have been level on halftime. Beckford, from 6 yards out, somehow managed to find the keepers legs. If we were hoping for Wise words at halftime to kick them up the arse, it didn't appear to have happened. Hartlepool again on top and we were incapable of putting more than 2 passes together. Fraser's afternoon was going from bad to worse as the hosts were now targeting him as a weak spot and being proved right. Brown tormented him and left him for dead, getting the ball on target but hacked away from the line. Time and again though, the hosts attacks were being flagged offside, to the frustration of the home crowd. It was giving us a small lifeline and respite and Wise finally responded to make a double sub that got us a foothold...

Off went the ineffective pair of Kish and Prutton, on came Thommo and Seb. Finally we had some pace and someone who could pass to a Yellow shirt. Initially though, it didn't knock the hosts out of their stride and two chances from Moore should have again killed us off. Firstly Fraser was once again left looking stupid as Moore got past him and put the chance just wide. We had our first chance of the second half just after, Hughes found himself unmarked at the back stick and his low shot was saved well by the keeper. Then moments later, Moore skinned Frazer again to be left one on one with Casper. Once again, it was Casper the victor as so often this season. As time ticked away and the frustrated away support tried to lift the noise levels. On came Flo in a vain attempt to nick something and it nearly worked. A ball over the top was held well by Kandol, his flick sent Flo into the box, unmarked and unchallenged but Flo lifted the chance over the bar...

That really summed up the afternoon thus far and that seemed that. However, with five minutes to go and Hartlepool dropping deep, we finally began playing football. We had our best spell of pressure and it is beyond me why we didn't start playing this way sooner. Finally we were getting the ball down and finally playing swift, passing football and the hosts shit themselves. Time was against us however and it was the 90th minute we got an undeserved leveller. Casper’s dead ball was flicked on to Beckford, who took it in his stride, broke clear on the left of the area and sent a left foot rocket into the far corner for 1-1 yet another late "Get out of Jail" goal. With Hartlepool shocked back to life, the 5 mins of injury time turned into a "next goal wins". Great defending at the back cleared the last Monkey's attack and with Thommo lucky to stay on the pitch after a bout of handbags- though he now faces a ban for 5 bookings- we nearly nicked a winner...

Beckford through, 8 yards out sent the ball past the keeper, but past the post too. Some claim the flag was up anyway, but I can't confirm that. Beckford’s reaction suggested he knew he had just missed a sitter. As the ref blew, cries of "We are top the league" could be heard as we crawled into top spot for a couple of hours. So, at best and being generous, it was as Wise suggested after that the players had too much Christmas pudding. At worst, the players are believing their own hype and thinking they are too good for this league and don't have to try to win games anymore. If it’s the latter, they and we are in for a hell of an awakening in 2008. Many games this season, the difference has been down to the front two and god help us if we lose Beckford. We move onto high flying league leaders Swansea on Saturday and a repeat performance of the last 3 games will surely see us suffer a roasting...

Leeds United AFC... "Feed the Monkey's, let them know its Christmas time"... Keep Fighting...

Comments

Walsall 1 Leeds United AFC 1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:43:23 +0100

Leeds Scum to be thrown out of the league...

Leeds United AFC were today facing up to life outside the Football League after being sensationally thrown out by the football authorities. The decision comes in the wake of the actions of Leeds scum Peter Finch. 27 year old Finch, who is a Leeds fan working in Salford, was seen walking past the Sir Matt Busby statue outside Old Trafford football stadium at 12.30 pm on Wednesday 13th of December. Eyewitness reports confirm that Finch was “giving it a dirty look”. The disrespect shown by Finch appears to be the straw that broke the camels back for the Football League. A spokesperson for the League, who have been taunted by Leeds fans everywhere as it appears their decision to try and relegate the Division Three club by making them start the season with -15 points has backfired, was quoted as saying "We know the whole country is shocked and appalled by this Leeds scum’s actions. It is in the best interests of everyone concerned if we finally expel Leeds United for this action. We will not allow the total and utter disrespect of one of the games greats to go unnoticed and unpunished". When quizzed about the lack of league action or the apparant lack of an apology from Huddersfield Town and their support for the disgraceful "paint job" done on the Leeds Legend Billy Bremner statue earlier in the week, the spokesperson said "That’s a different matter, Bremner was part of "Dirty Leeds" and as such, was rightly written out of the "Football Greats History Book" in 1993 as part of the SKY tv deal"...

The week began with yours truly on the steps of the new Wembley stadium. It's an awe-inspiring sight if there ever was one. It was a eerie and sad thought that my presence may well be the closest Leeds United will get to the "New" Wembley in my lifetime. Of course, I have been fortunate enough to venture into "Old" Wembley twice, with contrasting fortunes. As Champions of 1992, we took on FA Cup holders Liverpool in the FA Charity Shield. It was an amazing day. The trip down was all butterflies in the stomach stuff as never before had I been to the famous old stadium. The sun was shining, the Champions of England were in London town and there was somewhat of a party atmosphere around the old place. 80,000 crammed in and the Leeds end went mad when Dorigo opened the scoring...

An entertaining 4-3 win for the whites was of course to be remembered for the actions of one man. Eric Cantona went on to score a fantastic hatrick in the old place and we left with hearts pounding and dreams for the coming season intact. As we now know, that 1992/1993 season ended in embarrasment and was one to forget. Not only did King Eric depart for the scum over the Pennines, but the whites failed miserably to build on the Championship season and became the first Champions of England not to win a game away from home. Many factors have since been blamed for the dramatic loss of form, the main reason given was the failure of the players to come to terms with the new back pass rule. The second Wembley occasion was that of the League cup final of 1996. After a somewhat fortunate journey to the final, only Aston Villa stood between us and the cup...

On the day however, Wilkos men simply did not turn up and never before has a team in a final been so comprehensively out played, out battled and out fought. A 0-3 score line that day flattered the Whites and only a young Andy Gray came off the field with any pride. I can still recall the sight of a beleaguered Wilko walking down the tunnel surrounded by Leeds fans baying for his blood. His team selection & tactics that day were both so far of the mark it was untrue. So I went from Wembley to Walsall in a matter of a week and it was back in 1995 that I had my first visit to the Walsall’s Bescot stadium. On board the sterile environment of the travel club coach on a cold January day to see a fired up Walsall come within a whisker of knocking us out of the FA Cup. Only for David Weatherall to nick a very late leveller to take the tie to a replay...

We won the replay a week or so later 5-2 and went only one more round, before getting knocked out at Old Trafford. Nothing much in Walsall has really changed. The stand behind the goal for the away support remains the same. You enter the turnstiles and move straight into the stand. There is a tiny teabar located at either side of the stand and on a day like today, there was no escape from the freezing cold air. Leeds fans were located both behind the goal and to our right, indeed, half of one of the home stands was given to the travelling army of around 3,000 and we were in good voice, despite the cold. With the tantrum thrown by Kandol in the dying seconds of the Huddersfield game, Wise was forced to shuffle the team around, though his selection did raise a few eyebrows...

Given the fantastic second half display against the Town, it was a somewhat surprise and disappointment that he reverted to the original starting 11 less Kandol. Young Howson, who swung the game so effectively in the whites favour, was returned to the bench. So with Casper in goal, the back four of Fraser, Heath, Rui and Hughes remained, as did the midfield of Douggie, Kish, Westlake and Prutton. Constantine was given the nod to join Beckford up the front. Playing away from us and towards the home support the boys set about there task. Given we had, albeit unimpressively, scored 7 without reply in the last 2 games, there was rightly an element of confidence within the United support. Walsall however are the current form team of the league and started the brighter. The were so nearly ahead 8 minutes in, Bradley tried from long range and deceived Casper...

The crossbar saved us, only for Mooney to follow up and score. Thankfully, the lino was quick to cut short the bald headed ones celebrations to massive relief all around. Even though our new strike partnership was in its early stages, it was noticeable that they were not gelling. Both were making similar runs and neither were really able to hold up the ball. They were not helped by some early doses of hoof ball, to which neither were capable of winning headers. It was a feature of the game that would not really change. Walsall were quicker to most balls, collected 90% of the second balls and really restricted us to long range efforts. Douggie was way over and on the one occasion that we did get a free kick on the edge of the area, he managed to keep the ball down, only to strike the wall. We were though managing to slowly grind the hosts down, without really damaging them...

Fraser was working the flanks well and Kish was all action in midfield, yet we never once got behind them and the closest we came to making the keeper work was a thumping volley from Hughes that was deflected with the keep sprawling himself needlessly. Walsall were neat, tidy and committed and continued trying to hurt us on the break. Mooney was the main threat & Ricketts simply provided the comedy. He was jeered and abused with every touch. It was Mooney though who rolled back the years to provide the only touch of real class in the first half. Receiving the ball on the edge of the area, he foxed a defender before unleashing a superb effort that flashed just wide. Casper never touched it, yet Walsall were awarded a corner. Before halftime we had a brief flurry and won a corner or two, both were wasted and both highlighted that at times, the Leeds players have a hard time crossing the road, let alone the ball...

Given our amount of possession, 0-0 was a fair reflection of the game at halftime and the whole 15 minutes then belonged to the travelling white army as we proceeded to keep warm by a massive and loud rendition of "Champions of Europe". Its not really been sung at away games this season, but today we made up for it. Clearly the Walsall keeper, with the unfortunate name of Ince on his back, was impressed. When the Walsall players came out, he was clapping and dancing in time to the Leeds fans. With the cold biting and with, what we assumed, would be a kick up the arse from Wise at halftime, we hoped we could kick on and at least make the keeper make a save. For the first five or so minutes, it looked like this would be the case. Westlake hit one over and the Leeds fans got louder. Truth be told, that apart, it wasn’t really happening on the park, if anything, Walsall were growing in confidence...

With strong running from midfield, they were now causing us allsorts of problems. Kish was clearly tiring and Douggie was trying to make up for it, but Wise was intent on sticking to his plan. The Leeds attacks were predictable. Other than a speculative shot from Frazer, it was hoofing the ball up to the Walsall area and hoping that Leon or Becks whould get a head on it. As per the first half, neither did, and we continued to fail to win any second balls. Walsall on the other hand were using pace to run at us and get behind us. Balls were being whipped in that both Rui and Heath were only just dealing with. It was however, the introduction of Sonko that started to turn the game in the hosts favour. His pace and direct running was causing us all sorts of problems and with an hour or so gone, he hit a sweet volley from the edge of the area that took a stunning flying save from Casper to keep out...

With Mooney continuing to terrorise the back line, it was only a matter of time before they scored unless Wise did something. Finally there was movement on the bench, finally we thought, he would put on the boy wonder, but no. Off went Leon and on came Flo. Que Hoof ball again. However for all his added inches, Flo was not winning any headers either. Kandol’s presence was being sorely missed at both ends of the field. For all his faults, he does win 85% of headers and does manage to hold the ball up. Becks was now coming more into the game and deciding he could wait for service no longer. Off he went to try find the ball and when he did, there was that spark, but there was also 3 or 4 Walsall players closing him down. As the home support finally found its voice, Walsall won a couple of free kicks and corners and with 15 to play, it was a corner that undid us...

A far post cross was not dealt with at all and it was bundled goalwards. Casper made an initial stop, but Mooney was on hand to sweep the ball in from close range and set the home crowd alight. It was looking fucking bleak. Up to this point in the game, the only action the home keeper had been called into was to fend off the good natured banter of the Leeds fans. He had not had a save to make and that really was summing up the afternoon. Wise decided to finally make a telling change. Kish and Prutton made way (I think you will find that this is the first time I have mentioned Prutton and that says it all for him today really), on came Thommo and Howson. Within 5 minutes of them coming on the park, we were a different outfit & Howson had put in so much passion in that spell, it put the rest to shame. That said, still we were lacking ideas, still the ball was getting launched and still we won no second balls...

However, Hughes was now bombing forward more and in an act of desperation, Heath was now added to the attack. The home keeper made his first save of the game, picking up Becks scuffed backpass type shot. This was with 80 minutes on the clock which was a sad reflection of the performance really. Time was ticking out, but credit to the referee. After letting a couple of heavy Walsall challenges go, he finally got one right about 30 yards out in the very last minute. Thommo stood over it and we held our breath, praying for a Thommo special. As it was it was a crap free kick, however as Westlake ducked out of the way, it hit him on the back of the head, wrong footed the keeper and bounced in for one of the softest goals you are ever likely to see. It was bloody harsh on Walsall but did we care. Did we fuck and we went fucking mental, talk about getting out of jail. As it was, it wasn’t to be a get out of jail free card as we lost Douggie with seconds to go...

He was stretchered off after going in for a ball and looking like he fell awkwardly. The players knew there was something seriously wrong and pleaded with the trainer to get on the park as quickly as possible and its to be hoped there is no long term damage. So, we got lucky today and with other results going for us, the point gained here does not mean that we suffer for not picking up all three. This was, over all, possibly the worst away performance of the season and we were incredibly lucky to come away with anything at all. Its to be hoped that Wise watches this game back and realises what we are lacking. Pace in midfield and someone with the ability to get behind the defence. With his decision to drop Carole, not play young Howson and send De Costa out on loan, you do have to wonder what his plans are. One thing is for sure, more days like today will prove costly. We move on to a busy Christmas period, starting with Bristol Rovers on Saturday...

Leeds United AFC..."We are the Champions, Champions of Europe"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 4 Huddersfield Town 0

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:32:54 +0100

"When they talk of Mathews and Pele...
Of Laughton and Finney and James...
Like a whiskey in your belly...
He will glow amongst those names..."

This week marked the 10th anniversary of the passing of King Billy. Many tributes have been penned & many a word has been spoken. They all speak the same language. It's one of total respect for an iconic figure in the proud history of Leeds United AFC and a giant of English football. Of a player who, despite his stature, would give his all for the club he was proud to represent. They tell of the goals he scored and of the passion, pride, commitment and desire that went hand in hand with King Billy taking the field in the colours of Leeds United AFC...

The story of King Billy the player is not one that I am qualified to tell. Never having the privilege of seeing the great man play in the flesh due to my age. Like many, I have been brought up on the footage, the legend and the myths about the human dynamo. I remember King Billy as a manager. As the man who lifted, what was then, a lowly Second Division side and came within a whisker of both an FA Cup final and Playoff promotion. I only met him once, as a school kid in the West stand car park. He had an aura about him and I was simply in awe. I remember not managing to speak, other than thrusting him a piece of paper and a pen for a signature. I was just happy to be in the presence of a truly great man...

In the days after his passing, we played Chelsea in what the papers dubbed "The battle of the Bridge" After an impeccable minutes silence for King Billy, the game ended 0-0, but that only told half the story. Leeds, down to 9 men after Kelly and Haaland walked, were required to show Billyesq spirit to hold on for a point in the face of a blue tidal wave. A stunning last minute save from Nigel Martyn protected a vital point. In the Leeds team that day was the only present era player, arguably, to have come close to the stature of King Billy as a true Leeds United ledged. That man was Lucas Radabe...

Whilst in the colour of blue that day was a certain Dennis Wise and who would have thought that 10 years earlier, it would be Wise as manager of Leeds United leading the tributes to our King Billy:

"Billy is a legend here and it's only right that we all pay tribute to a man who obviously means so much to so many people." Dennis Wise.

With 2 home games this week, the best tribute the club could pay to King Billy would be two rousing performances and 6 points. After the disappointment of recent games and still smarting from the reverse at Cheltenham, the first 3 came on a wet and windy Tuesday night with Port Vale the visitors. As a crowd of 20,301 will testify, it was a strange old game and truth be known, it wasn’t the best. Wise had decided that it was time to freshen up the side and rested the unfortunate young Parker and Seb Carole. With Hughes banished to left back, Kish was drafted into midfield along with Westlake. Casper returned from injury and it appeared, on paper at least, that this was a straight forward 3 points to be had...

As ever, games are never won on paper and the match itself proved more difficult and a damn frustrating night for the cold home faithful. In fits and starts, Leeds could and possibly should have been out of sight by half time. Beckford struck both posts and a number of other efforts went begging. The only goal to show for our efforts came from a blistering run down the left from Hughes, his deep cross was nodded home by the arriving Prutton to warm up the crowd, but the anticipated onslaught never arrived. Instead, sloppy defending gave Port Vale 3 good chances to level before half time...

Rodgers and McGoldrick were both wasteful of great opportunities at the Revie end & the second half was proving to be a nervy affair as the Valliant’s came out fighting after the break. Only for a piece of sublime magic from our young England hopeful to break their hearts. Rui played a glorious ball through to Beckford and with defenders in front of him, on the edge of the box, he showed some neat footwork to outfox the defender. He found half a yard on the right hand side before shooting across the keeper and into the far corner. It was a goal from nothing and once again, Beckford proved to be the only player on the park that could produce such a flash of inspiration...

With the game as good as over, we sat back and Vale began to push on. Casper had to be alert to push away a Rodgers effort and Vale belied their league position with some great inter passing moves. Having no cutting edge though was proving to be their undoing and on 83 minutes, Flo showed them how its done. A great move down the Leeds left saw the ball fed inside to Kandol. His ball to Flo was expertly taken in his stride and smashed home from the edge of the area, giving the keeper no fucking chance and making for a flattering 3-0 scoreline. So with 3 points in the bag and a move up to 5th in the table, today’s visitors were Huddersfield Town...

Much had been made about the fact that the Terriers were, in their opinion, harshly dealt with regarding the ticket allocation. Given they brought around 4,000 with little trouble in our last meeting - the 1-0 Leeds Carling cup win in 2004 - you could see their point. Any sympathy for them, or their club was however quickly eroded as it came to light that some Town supporter had defaced King Billy’s statue over night. Blue paint had been dumped over the body and face of King Billy and HYC was sprayed on the side of the white marble plinth on which he stands. HYC appears to stand for the "Huddersfield Young Casuals" who the YEP call "a self-styled hooligan "firm" attached to Huddersfield Town"...

The timing of the act was, to say the least, in bad taste and it was a move that angered many. It’s to be hoped that the statue can be restored to its former glory and the act only fuelled the desire within the ground to ensure that the boys turned in a display fitting of the great man himself. A crowd of 32,500, the largest Division three gate since the "Boxing day massacre" between both Sheffield clubs 25 years ago had assembled in what can only be described as woeful weather conditions. Wise kept the faith with the side that beat Port Vale, so with Casper in goal. A back four of Heath, Rui, Fraser and Hughes. A midfield of Douggie, Prutton, Westlake and Kish sat behind the deadly duo of Beckford and Kandol...

After a lump in the throat minutes applause to the memory of King Billy, playing towards the South stand and attacking a rookie 17 year old keeper, we hoped that a shoot on sight policy would be adopted and we could hit the Town hard. Well, that was the plan, but no bugger had bothered to tell the Leeds players. Huddersfield mastered the conditions the quickest and thanks to some neat football, could have been ahead in the opening stages. A mixture of sloppy defending and persistence from the Town frontline presented Wallwork with a glorious chance, only for him to send it over the bar. Sensing that the Whites were on the back foot and struggling to get to grips with the conditions, Town continued to press forward...

Indeed, the first 24 minutes were more notable for the lack of a Leeds midfield and for great defending by Heath and Rui. The main problem was in the middle of the park. Douggie running round trying to make up for absentees. Westlake anonymous and Kish was finding it tough to get into the game. The loud noise on the terraces at the beginning of the game was making way to frustrated groans as time and again, Leeds were second best and getting no where near Town’s goal to test the young keeper. That was until 24 minutes gone and Leeds finally got a shot on target. Jonathon Douglas would never claim to be as good as King Billy, but the fact that the current club captain, wearing the number four shirt scored the first goal today was incredibly fitting...

Prutton’s ball into the box was cleared to Douggie around 25 yards out and he struck a low shot that deceived the young keeper and sped into the back of the net for an undeserved and against the run of play lead. Not that the crowd gave a fuck as the goal lit the blue touch paper. Now we had the lead, that should settle the nerves and now we could push on. With the crowd screaming "Shoooot" whenever we got into the Town half, it was surly only a matter of time before we doubled the lead. Douggie had another shot deflected and Beckford hit one over the bar. However, a familiar story was beginning to unfold. Once again we dropped off the pace. Kish was also bloody lucky to stay on the park after a rash challenge as Town pushed forward again...

Jevons had a fantastic effort form way outside the box just wide and as the tension began to creep into United legs, Town were getting closer and closer to nicking a leveller. Its fair to say that halftime came at the wrong time for the Terrier’s, but not for the freezing cold Whites. Wise had clearly decided that he needed to do something with the midfield and it turned out to be an inspired substitution that turned the game in our favour. Off went Kish and on came young Johnny Howson and he made an immediate impact in the second half. Howson’s youth, enthusiasm, vision and drive ensured that the midfield was now in the home teams control. 4 minutes into the second half, he was in the thick of the action...

Howson managed to get the ball to Kandol on the left. Tres sped forward, but rather than play the obvious ball inside, he checked and went wide to Prutton. Prutton’s ball into the centre was met by a delightful poachers finish at the near post by Beckford for 2-0 and total pandemonium. It would be harsh to blame the young keeper for this, even though he was caught in no mans land as his defenders were asleep. By now though, the massed ranks of the Leeds fans in the Revie had aimed their efforts at putting the lad off. Chants of "2-0, it’s your keepers fault" rang round the ground as we looked to quickly kill off the game. To his credit, the young lad responded with 2 saves in 5 minutes that kept Town in it...

A long ball in bounced over the defence and Prutton’s header was tipped over, this was followed by a great long range effort from Howson, again, the keeper kept it out. Town were now attacking rarely, and when they did, the Whites defence were on top of the situation. It was a case of would United sit back or go for the kill. With the rain bouncing down, we upped the pace and in the 70th minute, got the killer 3rd. A great ball through to Westlake saw him scamper clear of the defence. He put a low centre in for Prutton, his shot was well saved, but Beckford was on hand to tap in the rebound. Game over and more celebrations ensued...

It was proving to be a game of 2 halves, this was more like the tribute to King Billy we had envisaged. The icing on the cake was provided by another cameo appearance by Flo. On for Beckford on 83 minutes, he took only 4 minutes to arrive in the right place at the right time for number 4. Westlake again involved when he acrobatically volleyed a ball into the box goal wards and brought out another good save from the rookie keeper, only for sleeping defenders to allow Flo to be first to the ball for his tap in goal. All that was left was some trade mark petulance from Kandol to pick up his 5th yellow of the season and a ban for the Walsall game...

As the crowd chanted, "We want 5", the referee, who other that being perhaps too lenient in the first half, had an otherwise impressive game, called a halt to the game and the roar rang around the ground. So, in the context of the game as a whole, 4-0 was possibly harsh on the Town. In the context of some Town wanker defacing King Billy’s statue, it was just deserts. For a short while at least, we were up to third and just 2 points off top spot. With Ken’s plans for his "Elland City" dream taking shape and the talk of possible new signings in the transfer window, we march onto Walsall next week with top spot firmly and amazingly, in our sights...

Leeds United AFC..."King Billy Bremner: Side Before Self, Everytime..." Keep Fighting...

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Cheltenham Town 1 Leeds United AFC 0

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:28:54 +0100

Losing to lower league opposition has never been too much a of problem for the Whites. It’s a feat that we manage to do every now and again with consummate ease. We seem to do it best when there is something at stake, be it a cup final or a lucrative home draw in the next round or even a fans 500-1 bet on the line. Without going too far back, recent examples include the 0-1 reverse at home to then lowly Wolves in the 6th round of the FA Cup 1998, where a we were undone by a inspired performance by boyhood Leeds fan Don Goodman. Away at lowly Tranmere in 2000 saw us go out after extra time in the League cup 2-3, while Cardiff away in the FA cup 2002 will never be forgotten. Neither will the cup double Sheffield United did over us in 2002/ 2003. So it should really have come as no shock to any Leeds fan that after the slip up against Division Four Bury in the Johnstone’s paint, there would be another miserable result to add to the list...

Hereford had fought tooth and nail in the first game and came to a miserable Elland Road in good spirits. For our part, there was no such spirit. The fight that was shown a few days earlier in the game against Swindon Town had evaporated and the crowd of 12,000 watched in horror as the Division Four side basically out played, out thought and more worryingly out fought us. Ahead early on with the aid of slack defending, the whites proved once again that the focus is, rightly, on the league. When I say rightly, of course it is. That however does not excuse lack lustre, half arsed efforts such as this one. A strong side on the night that was more than good enough to match and indeed take Hereford apart. Perhaps it was the shock of seeing what was akin to gay porn in the match day programme that sent the players minds elsewhere. Wise gallantly took the blame, but frankly, it was the players that had to carry the can for this one...

So after what can only be described as to lowest point of the season, out of the FA cup in the first round to Division Four opposition, we headed to Cheltenham in hope of some kind of response. Cheltenham are not doing too well, and we hoped that it would be a simple, professional performance enroute to the 3 points. Life in football is never that straightforward and though we got the stroll in the park we were hoping for, it didn’t quite work to plan. Our first ever visit to Whaddon Road was, on the face if it, a pleasant one. An easy trip down and plenty of parking spaces in the town. Just a short walk from there to the ground surrounded by some good natured banter. The Cheltenham fans were clearly thrilled to be playing us and were making themselves heard down the streets. It was quite nice to have a change from "We all hate Leeds scum" as they sang more about their local rivals Swindon...

Whilst they fans were being so polite, it was clear that people were taking advantage of them, I mean, for a start, a bloody phone company has sneaked in a couple of mobile phone masts and thinly disguised them as floodlights. Three sides of this ground are newish, small stands. Opposite us was the main bulk of the home support on terracing and above them a seating area that is reminiscent of the old Lowfield’s road seated stand. Leeds fans occupied half of the stand we were in and the whole of the stand behind the goal to our left, yet another magnificent turn out by the white army. With Wise losing Casper to a leg injury in the Hereford game, Lucas was drafted in for his first league start. Also making his league debut was young Ben Parker, so with these changes the line up was, Lucas in goal. A back four of Parker, Rui, Heath and Frazer. A midfield of Douggie, Hughes, Carole and Prutton, with Kandol and Beckford up the front...

Now, its fair to say that we dominated the first half, but didn’t really create too many clear cut chances. Cheltenham, you would have thought, would have been up for this game, but they & there fans seemed just happy to be here and on the same pitch as Leeds United AFC. That was fine, they could do that all day long for us, but the fact was, it was becoming clear we had left our shooting boots at home. With 4 balls hoofed over various parts of the ground in the first 45 minutes, that should give you come indication of what I mean. The approach play was wonderful. Douggie and Hughes not giving Cheltenham any time to settle and forcing the ball wide with ease. From there it was falling down, Frazer couldn’t beat the first man cross wise and Carole was trying to do too much. Before he knew it, he was getting forced back and chances to cross were going begging. The only flashes of brilliance were coming from one man...

He could have saved Steve McLarens job and fired England to Euro 2008, instead he had to settle with finding a away through a stubborn Cheltenham defence. A good move saw Carole feed him the ball, this time he fired over, but he was getting into the game more. Shortly after Douggie tried from long range but again, it wasn’t really troubling the keeper. As the half wore on, Prutton earned a free kick in a dangerous position, it was lined up central and Douggie clearly fancied a bit of it ala Millwall. He was close to making it 5 balls out of the ground before half time. Frankly, we needed a spark. We needed a flash of brilliance and a flash of genius and it duly arrived. Parker began the move on the left, the ball was worked to Prutton who slide it out on the left to Carole. His ball in was headed on by Kandol to Douggie who headed on to Beckford with his back to goal on the edge of the area. He held off his man and turned, sending a rasping left foot shot past a despairing keeper, only to bounce off the fucking cross bar...

Up to this point, Cheltenham had rarely got out of there own half and had that gone in, you could have envisaged a confident Leeds going on the rampage. As it was a 0-0 halftime was warmly welcomed by the home crowd. Halftime was spent watching fan after fan after fan pose with one of the Kaiser Chiefs for photos. The price of fame I guess, but he seemed genuinely flattered by it all. So, 45 minutes to go. Should this game go the same way as the first half, it would be all over in no time and well, it fucking should have been. The opening 30 minutes of the second half was spent with Leeds camped in the Cheltenham half. Whatever was said at half time was clearly working, The boys were getting the ball down and more importantly, getting crosses into the middle. The first chance though fell to Beckford. A great through ball over the top from Kandol, he was onto like a flash, lobbing the onrushing keeper, only for the ball to drift wide...

It was an uncharacteristic miss from the lad, but it set a tone for what was to come. More and more moves were being put together and more and more final touches were going astray. The only scare from the home side came from Parkers only mistake of the game. Gillespie took advantage and shot just over, from then it was back up the other end as we tried to figure out how to break them down. Prutton was getting more into the game, but just didn’t have the legs to get past his man, so instead was playing intelligent passes inside. Douggie and Hughes were pushing on, but we were lacking real width. We were lacking anyone getting behind them. Clearly Wise could see this, so he made a change. Off went Carole and on came Westlake. It was harsh on Seb as he wasn’t having that bad a game however Wise seemed vindicated as within minutes of coming on, Westy beat his man and got to the byline, whipping in a super cross but Kandols header was tame...

With the frustration growing on and off the park, the best chance of the game fell to Beckford, a corner in had eluded everyone and Beckford, 6 yards out tried to break the back of the net rather than tap home and he put it over the bar. Still the pressure was relentless, Parker had a shot from range and Westlake also made the keeper save. It was proving to be one of those games and with 17 minutes to go, Wise decided on making his change. It was a gamble, no doubt about that, off went Parker and Prutton, on came De Vries and the returning Flo. Frankly, at this point, the formation went out of the window, it was a play were you fancy line up and the Leeds fans feared the worse. This is because, quite simply, we knew what was coming. HOOF! Seconds after the switch however, we thought we had made the breakthrough, A free kick awarded 20 yards out, in the centre of goal was powered forward by Douggie, it was parried by the keeper and there was Beckford to bury his header into the net, we went fucking mental...

That of course was until we saw the linesman’s flag & it was impossible from the side to tell if he was offside. As time ticked down, we lost all shape. We lost the ability to pass to each other and every ball was hoofed up to a big man. Flo tried one from distance and yes, I think De Vries did actually touch the ball. But as the Leeds heads began to go down, the Cheltenham boys were sensing that there was more than an undeserved point here. Now they were able to hit us on the break. Now we did not have a left back, we had Westy trying to fill in. Now they finally had some fans backing them. With 85 minutes on the clock a ball in left Lucas flat out. One of their lads had blatantly not looked at the ball and crashed into him, a clear free kick. Well, clear to us, the ref gave a fucking corner and it took around 3 minutes for Lucas to come round. With no substitute keeper on the bench, Frazer would be the only man we could possibly turn to...

As it was, Lucas picked himself up and carried on, though he was clearly injured. As the corner came in he was first to it and took a decent catch, but rather than hold on to it, he threw it out right for Douggie. It ended up a the feet of a Cheltenham player and his ball back over the top caught us flatfooted. Out came Lucas to the rescue to head the ball away, only for Gillespie to collect the ball 25 yards out and lob a beautiful winner. The place went mad, the Cheltenham players celebrated like they had won the cup and the Leeds lads trudged to the centre circle. It could have got worse, seconds later we were undone again down the right, only a timely challenge prevented a 2nd goal. The final whistle was met with fantastic home celebrations and frustration in the Leeds end. No after match huddle today as a few of the Leeds payers just fucked off down the tunnel. Those left came over to thank us for unstinting support, but a few idiots behind the goal were intent on letting feeling's be known. Hughes in particular was unimpressed at the 2 fingered salute some were showing the players...

Quite how we lost this game is beyond me, but then, how the fuck we won some games earlier this season is beyond me too. So its tempting to say the wheels are falling off the bandwagon after recent results. Its also tempting to blame the new Brian Kidd. However, the simple fact is, Cheltenham was a bad day at the office for the strikers, on any other day we would have won 3-0. The same can not be said of the recent cup exits and if that level of performance transfers into the league, we are in trouble, as yet, that has not happened. The main problem at the moment is once again the glaring lack of a plan B, with Kish on the bench we should have thrown him in and carried on trying to break them down. This Hoofing panic tactic has been found out and this was the source of many fans anger on the day rather than the off key strikers. With the news of High court actions regarding the deducted points and rumours again surfacing of fat Freddie joining up with Bates, its an intriguing week that lies ahead...

Leeds United AFC... "Don't panic Captain Mainwaring!"... Keep Fighting...

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Leeds United AFC 2 Swindon Town 1

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:24:43 +0100

"I’ve won a Championship medal, a European medal and countless Scotland caps, but sometimes I think I’d swap the lot for an FA Cup winners’ medal." Billy Bremner 1972

It was kind of ironic that soon after the club took part in the FA Cup first round for the first time, all the surviving members of Leeds United's 1972 FA Cup winning side were reunited to celebrate their achievement. It’s 35 years since "Sniffer" nodded in that Jones cross, thus enabling king Billy to lift the cup for the first and only time in our proud history. Quite what that team would have made of the Friday night trip to Hereford, on the back of league trips to Carlisle and Bournemouth, is open to speculation. Wise branded it as a "Tired performance". This sent many fans who remember the olden days into a spin, including my old man who went into one of those "In my day..." rants. If you have never had one, the gist is simply back then, football was a game played by "real men" and the current "lot" should think themselves bloody lucky...

After managing to drag Hereford down to our level, the tired limbs of the whites managed to tease them. We let the home crowd have some good old fashioned FA Cup "ooooh’s and aaaah’s" and then got them back to ours for a replay. Good work from the boys under the circumstances and a nice earner that should cover the travel fee’s for the last week. If we are honest about things Hereford probably deserved to win the game. If it wasn’t for the brilliance of Casper and the wayward shooting of the Hereford players, there would have been no hope of pulling the romantic tie of Harrogate Railway in the next round. You can only imagine what the look on Bill Fotherby’s face would have been had that come to pass. As it was, Hartlepool at home is the reward on offer...

Next up was the Football League trophy against Bury at Elland Road. A magnificent turn out of over 18,800 were treated to Leon’s first Leeds goal, before we fell asleep at the back and gifted them two very soft goals. Then a moment of madness by De Costa really costa’s the game. Going in at halftime 1-2 down and with 10 men you could have been forgiven for thinking it was all over. However a remarkable second half, which was Howson and Douglas inspired, should have given us at least extra time. The Bury keeper was in stunning form and kept out a host of chances. When he wasn’t keeping us at bay, he was helped by one of the most woeful pieces of finishing ever witnessed. De Vries must be having sleepless nights wondering how on earth he missed a one on one. Hopefully he will make amends for it at some point...

Overall, the only real bonus’s being that of Ben Parker’s growing reputation and run out for young right back Madden. It was pleasing to see that he grabbed it with both hands and if he continues at this rate, Frazer will be looking over his shoulder. Wise has since praised the lad and it appears he will be heading out on loan for experience. Ameobi is the latest lad to do this, this week heading to Scunny. Wise has invited the England under 21 manager Stuart Pearce to come look at our great young talent. Of course, the cynic’s were quick to suggest it’s a stealth ploy to gain interest in them as we are, after all, heading towards the January transfer window. As Gus has already proved to us this season, anyone will probably leave if the offer is right. Its to be hoped that is not the case, as it was mainly due to the performance of one of the youngsters that we pocketed the points today...

Johnny Howson burst into the first team last season and was a breath of fresh air. It was unfortunate that he arrived when the team was at its worst. Though he has had an opportunity earlier this season that he didn’t take, Howson has got his head down and come back stronger for it. He turned in a man of the match performance against Bury and it was enough to keep him in the side today. Todays visitors are of course a team notable for amazing occasions coinciding with their visits to Elland Road. No one present on that cup night in September 2003 will ever forget our then keeper Paul Robinson’s header in the last minute of normal time. Leaping like a true centre forward, Robbo buried his header in the Revie end net, rescuing the whites as we went on the thrash them 4-3 on pens. If that wasn’t enough to make any Swindon fan squirm, we were at it again a year later...

You may think that goalkeepers scoring at Elland Road is a rare feat, this pales into insignificance when put along side the fact that, yes ladies and gentlemen, Swindon town have the unfortunate record of being one of only two teams that Michael Ricketts ever scored against in a Leeds shirt. To this day, the Swindon fans carry this great shame and they were out in force today to try and exorcise that particular demon. So with Casper in goal, a back four of Heath, Rui, Fraser and for possibly the last time this season Clapham. Johnny was joined by Prutton, Carole and Hughes in midfield, with Beckford and Kandol up the front. With Owen’s injury on Friday, it was imperative that Beckford took his opportunity to press for an England start against Croatia next week. With a combination of a howling wind and the whites losing the toss and forced to play towards the Revie in the first half, its fair to say the 27,990 crowd was strangely muted...

It took a while for both the crowd and the players to get going and by the time they did, we could easily have been a goal down. A flowing Swindon move early doors saw a Comminges cross create panic in the United box, before the ball was hacked away. Other than a great header from Kandol from a great cross from Beckford which was saved on the line, it was Swindon making all the running. Easton had a header saved by Casper and this was quickly followed by Howson’s one mistake of the game, he let in Paynter but Casper was having none of that too. Leeds upped a gear and the crowd began to find its voice. With Hughes floating just in front of the back line, it was noticeable that Howson was coming into the game more. He was free to roam and was picking out great passes. On 13 he got the ball out to Fraser, whose great cross was met by Kandol, this time the keeper’s save was a formality. 5 minutes later however, the crowd were on their feet after an amazing volley by Howson from the edge of the area was met with a great tip over from the keeper...

After a Clapham shot was blocked, the game was beginning to open up. With the whites always looking a threat going forward, but still looking dodgy at the back, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock was broken. Both Cox and Paynter again had chances to nick one for Swindon, but on 31 minutes, a great ball through sent Prutton away on the right. Prutton’s cross into the area was met by defender Aljofree’s arms and the assistant ref flagged for a penalty. If Kandol thought he had a hope in hell of taking this one, he was wrong as Beckford grabbed the ball and stuck it on the spot. The ref ensured that the players were not encroaching and after what seemed an age, Beckford stepped up and thumped the ball high into the top left corner and gave the keeper no chance. The crowd went mental and off went Becks to milk the applause of the North East Corner...

With Howson, Prutton and Carole now motoring in midfield and Hughes mopping up anything that came his way, in unspectacular fashion we got a grip of the game and allowed the ref to take centre stage. With the exception of some pushing and shoving between Kandol, Beckford (getting booking number 4 of the season) and the Swindon centre halves, it was not an overly dirty game. However, Swindon drew a line in the sand with a foul on Carole, the ref gave a free kick and yellow card. From then, Swindon began to show the rough side to their play and memories of Jon Gittens flooded back. The last notable action of the half saw Howson send the kick over the bar for a 1-0 lead. Halftime was brightened up by a young lad taking penalties against Lucas the kop cat. Upon scoring, young lad proceeded to do cart wheels on the pitch. More followed as he won the prize by answering a tie break question...

The second half got underway to a surprisingly subdue crowd and just 2 minutes in, Swindon were level. With no sign of Clapham at left back, Heath was dragged out to the left touchline, Cox ran past him as if he wasn’t there and cut into the area. To be fair to Heath, he never gave up, but Cox simply squared the ball along the six yard box and Peacock was on hand to twat home for 1-1. The Swindon fans went mental and we had it all to do again. Fans returning to there seats had no idea that Swindon had even scored. Perhaps its time for Uncle Ken to put 50p in the meter for the scoreboard to be switched on. For a ten minute spell we seemed to panic. Beckford did have a great chance, lobbing the keeper but it was easy for the defender to clear off the line. That aside, nerves both on and off the pitch were evident. Swindon were briefly taking hold of the midfield and but for a couple of offsides could have caused up problems...

Football is full of comedy moments however and just as the Swindon fans were taunting the Leeds fans with a good old fashioned "You only sing when your winning", it was one stunning moment that changed the game. Howson beautifully took the ball down under pressure on the left and played a scintillating diagonal ball out to the right, picking out Kandol. Kandol took one touch and a great flick on found Beckford who had burst into the area. Becks controlled it with his knee before he volleyed it past the stunned keeper for 2-1 and his 10th of the season. It was a goal of top quality and one that, being honest, was out of keeping with the game. The finish must surely have put him in line to spearhead the England attack on Wednesday night and save one time Leeds fan McLaren’s job. We hoped that we could push on, but in good old fashioned Leeds United tradition, we failed to kill them off and Swindon never gave up...

From this point, the game became scrappy, disjointed and exciting for the neutral. The ref was coming more into things and was beginning to book any Swindon player that moved. It was refreshing to see that we finally had a ref that favoured the home side in this respect and whilst the Swindon fans will moan about this, they can think themselves lucky that they didn’t get some of the arseholes we have had this season, or they could have ended the match with 9 men. With Kish on for Carole and what looked like an angry Hughes disagreeing with the bench on a decision where to play him, we just couldn’t find a killer third. As has been the home script lately, Swindon pushed on and did get the ball into the net. Casper saved a brilliant header by Corr and as the ball looped into the air Cox slid in to blatantly punch the ball home. Now, its not clear if the ref saw this, as an offside decision was given. Had he seen it, Cox would have had to be sent off after being booked just minutes earlier...

As we approached the 4 minutes injury time, Swindon were finally running out of steam. The ref was still picking on the poor lambs as Paynter was the last of the 7 Swindon players booked. With a couple of Hoofs and a couple of favourable free kick decisions, we held out for three more precious points. The Leeds huddle was matched by a Swindon huddle as the two teams grouped together on each side of the pitch to the loud and proud strains of "Leeds Leeds Leeds". So, we march on and climb to 4th in the league & only 2 points behind the leaders. It wasn’t pretty, but at times, it was incredibly entertaining and Swindon fans can perhaps take heart in the way their lads shook off the current off field problems. With a few home games to come before Christmas, is it conceivable that the club could deliver us a half decent present and be top of the league? Before we dream of that, a certain matter of a cup competition which has been 35 years too long since we won it. We can but dream...

Leeds United AFC..."Elland Road is the only place for us"... Keep Fighting...

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AFC Bournemouth 1 Leeds United AFC 3

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:19:42 +0100

The memories from that magnificent 1989/1990 season remain undiminished. With or without rose coloured spectacles, it’s a season that many people hold up as their "favourite" season. That final day win which took us up as champions was the culmination of an amazing, swash buckling Vinnie Jones & co led adventure. However, be it through fact, urban myth or Chinese whispers, we all know that the celebrations on that day were overshadowed by violence. All the news channels were showing the unfolding scenes. The tabloids were having a field day and had headlines screaming out such as "LEEDS SCUM". Word was that we would have points docked, or even be refused entry onto Division one on the back of what happened. I remember thinking, what on earth were folk doing, because if promotion meant so much to me, then surely it would for them. How could anyone who loved Leeds as much as me / you did, risk losing all we had achieved for the sake of a pissed up fight...

Here we are, 17 years & 2 "Leeds United Relegation Parties" later and that may seem to be a long time to hold a grudge, but lets face it, the people of Bournemouth clearly have a right to do so. A dark and cold Tuesday night in Bournemouth appeared to be the last place on earth we needed to visit. Especially after the bad press of the last two games with regard to trouble which was coupled with warnings of "payback time" posted on Bournemouth fan sites. With that in mind, getting lost on the way to the ground was not a particularly helpful move, but thought it was not worth risking a car window by stopping to ask for directions. Help was however at hand & if you ever do get lost in the dark on the way to an away ground, a good tip would be simply follow the team bus! We did and it worked a treat. The car park where a lot of the trouble took place in was quiet and the ground has undergone modernisation. The only remnants of that day in 1990 was the uncovered terrace that held the majority of the Leeds fans...

That stand now has seats and the 2,300 of the white army that made the trip were split between here and half of the East Stand. As at Carlisle, the two sets of supporters were only separated by some mesh, a few coppers & stewards. As the news was announced that the game was put to 8pm, a group of Bournemouth fans began to goad the Leeds fans. It was just venomous banter. No throwing of coins & nothing out of hand other than 2 Bournemouth fans who got carried away and were ejected. The main gathering of home fans behind the goal, with the aid of a drum simply used the extra 15 mins, to remind us that they “All hate Leeds scum”. On the back of the Carlisle result, tonight's performance was not totally going to be the issue, simply the result. With that in mind, Wise took a gamble. Given the tired and switched off performance of the second half on Saturday, it was expected that he would show a ruthless streak and perhaps alter the starting line up...

In a show of total loyalty to the players who have responded thus far, he kept the status quo. So with Casper in goal, he continued to have the now goal leaking back line of Frazer, Heath, Rui and Clapham in front of him. Hughes, Douggie, Carole and Bournemouth fans favourite Prutton in midfield, and of course, Beckford and Kandol up the front. The latter returning to the club he made 11 appearances for, but failed to score. Bournemouth have not won a home game all season and began as Carlisle had, slowly and shitting themselves. As Leeds had clearly decided from the start there would be no W&B sexy football tonight, we began as we meant to go on. Instantly hoofing the ball from back to front as quick as possible. This appeared like it was going to be a long night, however it was a great through ball 3 mins in, that gave us hope for better. Kandol’s first touch was sublime & was moving so fast, it appeared that someone had used Sky Plus to slow the game down...

Kandol sprinted, "six million dollar man" like, past the defence and one on one with the keeper struck a low shot that was easily saved. The keeper spilled and like the true predator he is, Kandol reacted quickest to tap home into the same net that Chappy scored the winner in 1990 and send the travelling army into delirium. That's what we needed, that should restore confidence, now go get them boys! The next 15 minutes looked for all the world that we could take them apart. Not with total sexy football, but they could not handle our tactics. We had 2 half decent chances to take kill them off, the best of which saw a flowing move down the right, Prutton crossed deep and Kandol leaped like a salmon and headed the ball over the bar like erm, a fish. It took the hosts 20 minutes to get near our goal, when they did, they should have levelled. A great flowing move saw the ball land at the feet of Kuffour, who, from an angle, brilliantly chipped over defender and keeper but the ball drifted just wide of the far post. It was a signal for a shift in the game and it was finally a signal for a period of sexy football, unfortunately from Bournemouth...

With Sicknote Anderton pushed forward and conducting the runners from midfield, the hosts grew in confidence. Leeds visibly began to shrink as they did second half against Carlisle. As we continued to Hoof at every occasion & both Kandol and Beckford began to lose the ability to hold the ball up, Bournemouth used pace and intelligence and hey, actually passed the ball to feet, you know, like on the ground and took the game to us. Only a spark of Beckford brilliance interrupted what was becoming one way traffic. He flicked the ball over the a defender and nipped goal side. Only pressure from the on rushing keeper saw him put the ball over the top. The ball came swiftly back the other end as the pressure grew. An Anderton freekick found Casper’s arms and with Frazer and Rui rocking, Heath was having a hell of a job keeping the back line in check. Douggie and Hughes were not picking up the second ball in the middle and we were in danger of being over run...

In the space of a few minutes, Casper dived full length to tip round the post for a corner and then home player of the match thus far, Kufflour ran onto a through ball. The flag stayed down and Casper gambled, raced out of his goal, but failed to intercept. It was only good tracking back from the defence that pushed the lad wide right and the chance gone. The Home fans raised their voices and a goal looked inevitable. When it came, it knocked spots off the Carlisle leveller. A great move down the left saw the ball fired in, Kufflour moved the ball to the feet of Karacan. We allowed him space to take aim and smash a scud missile of a shot into the top right hand corner first time to send the home support into party mode. It's worth mentioning that we have now conceded two goals of top quality from distance in two games. In earlier games this season, strikes of similar quality from distance were either going millimetres wide, or Casper was dealing with them. As we appeared to implode and forget how to pass 5 yards, the hosts began to out fight and out think us...

With a Clapham clearance off the line, it was a relieved away support that heard the half time whistle. As the cold bit in and the Leeds fan’s swapped, in some cases, horror stories about the last visit to Dean Court, the boys came out to a tremendous reception. The second half got underway and we played towards the uncovered section of Leeds fans and finally we tried to keep the ball down and play some football. A couple of corners were won and with the newfound determination being showed it appeared that Wise must have thrown a few teacups at halftime. It was however, the home side who nearly went ahead. Frazer, similar to the build up to the second goal at Carlisle, gave away a needless corner and it was whipped in with pace, the slightest of touches would have guided it in. As it was, we were let off the hook and we got the ball down again. We were now beginning to find space, Anderton’s legs were giving way and the pace of the Bournemouth play was dropping...

With Prutton going close with a header and the Leeds fans noise pulsating round the ground, Leeds pulled out of the hat, our best move of the game thus far. Rui fed a glorious ball to Seb on the left, he ran and arrowed towards the area, played it to Becks and a great one -two later, the ball was back at Seb‘s feet and he promptly curled a beauty past a diving defender and keeper Moss for 2-1 Whites. It was tough on the hosts, but after Saturday, fuck that, we went fucking mental. It looked for all the world that finally, we would replicate that sexy football we saw in the first half at Carlisle as we pounded forward. Kandol was proving a handful, even if Steve Bennett started to take exception to the way he was challenging. However, it didn’t last long and our momentum began to once again drop. Bournemouth pushed forward and tried to up a gear, but Heath was once again standing tall and with Rui now back to his normal self, we snuffed out most things and tried to ensure that the game was played in front of us. Any balls into the box were becoming predictable and easy to deal with...

The game changed again on 62. Heath and Bradbury challenged for the ball. It appeared that Bradbury had lashed out with an arm after and Steve Bennett had no option or hesitation in pulling out a red. Bizarrely, the game resumed with a freekick to the Cherries and that was the closest they then came to pulling level. A great strike left Casper stranded, but went just over. Down to 10 men and Sicknote off, it should have been easy. Frustratingly however, we reverted to Hoofball for the rest of the game. For the second time in a few weeks, with Leeds playing 10 men, you would have struggled to see who was the man light. Every high ball to Kandol was now gifting them a freekick. Simple passing move's were breaking down due to lack of concentration and the game cried out for De Costa to sprinkle some magic on proceedings. With nothing to lose, the hosts were now pouring forward and were getting great support from the fans, we didn't know how to react, though they did not make a clear cut chance, some brave defending was now being required...

Wise, who had spent a lot of the second half with a mobile phone to his ear, finally changed it by taking off Seb for Weston. Frankly, Weston hardly touched the ball and it was looking like we were going to have to hold on a dodgy last 5 minutes, when we finally got the ball down again. A great move on the right got Frazer involved, his brilliant cross was met by Kandol, who kinda headed it down, the keeper misjudged the bounce and it went in off the woodwork for 3-1 and total relief. With game over, De Costa finally got a run and showed some brilliant touches & Hughes, rather cynically and blatantly picked up his 5th yellow which means he will miss a cup and not a league game. At the final whistle & for the first time this season, the Leeds fans were held back so the police could clear the home fans. Within seconds of the whistle blowing, rows of riot police marched onto the pitch and were followed by the remarkable sight of 4 police men with rather angry looking dogs. All this was going on whilst the Leeds huddle jumped up and down and as the players broke, it was the first they had noticed what was going on...

You can be sure there will be a photo turn up on the net of Wise applauding the travelling support whilst flanked by two coppers and dogs. As the players trooped off, we stood in the cold and we patiently waited to be released. Some good natureded singing at the over kill police action could be heard. "What a waste of money" was followed by "Fuck off home, and shag your dogs" and the rather witty "You only sing when your dogging". In the carpark after, there appeared to be no trouble, so I suppose the police will say that it was a worthwhile exercise. So, we show the "bouncbackability" that we needed and the win was just the tonic we required after Saturdays defeat. The only gripe is that, while we continue to show that Hoofball will win you games in this league, we are, have been and should be so much better than that. When we keep the ball down and play football, we look fantastic and other teams can not live with us. As the news breaks that the Huddersfield game has been switched to 12.15 due to potential crowd trouble, it's to be hoped that this season does not end like 1990. We resume league action with Wise’s old mates from Swindon a week on Saturday...

Leeds United AFC... "History never repeats, History never repeats"... Keep Fighting...

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