Daily Heil – one of the gutter brigade
The crappier end of the press in this country can be very, very predictable indeed when it comes to their coverage of Leeds United. I’m talking here particularly about the likes of the Mirror, the Mail (or the Daily Heil, as it’s colloquially known) and the Express – and then even a step lower than these diseased organs, down to the trash comics like the Sun and the Star. Even the so-called “quality” papers can be relied upon, more often than not, to print rubbish about the Whites of Elland Road. They hear the song that echoes around football grounds everywhere whenever a game of professional football is played in this country. They know from this that there’s a lot of clueless individuals out there who “all hate Leeds scum” – without knowing why, beyond the fact that their dads did too, back in the long-ago sixties and seventies. They know that this Leeds-hating, brainless yet massive constituency forms a significant market, and they’re ready and willing to pander to it – as this will sell thousands more copies of their grubby rags. It’s not big and it’s not clever – but it is lucrative. And really – why let a few scruples get in the way of the bottom line?
So, in the interests of satisfying their Leeds-hating mass-market, the papers will have no hesitation in printing any old rubbish that might stir things up or cause upset around LS11 – anything they can fabricate or indiscriminately recycle to unsettle things at Elland Road is grist to their less-than-choosy mill. Sometimes this will take the form of bare-faced lies – one outstanding rag the other week claimed that, if Massimo Cellino’s appeal against his tax evasion verdict were to fail, he would probably go to jail – and sometimes it’s just a matter of making something up and running with that. For this latter category, the hack concerned will normally look at the best player Leeds currently have and write some illiterate piece linking that player with one of the last clubs Leeds fans would wish to see him leave for. This is done with the aim of making the player restless if possible, irritating the Leeds fans and pleasing their army of anti-Leeds readers.
At its worst, this type of sleazy journalism can amount to illegal approaches from interested clubs with the media concerned acting as a conduit. It’s not confined to the printed press either. In January, Sky TV got ever so hot and bothered on deadline night, when the furore of McDermott’s abortive sacking developed into a feeding frenzy over Ross McCormack’s immediate future. With literally only a few hours of the window to go, Sky went into overdrive, doing their level best to generate interest from the likes of Cardiff and speculating frantically that the player would be making an urgent transfer request and heading off back to the Valleys. There was genuine excitement and eagerness at Sky HQ – and a palpable grief and disappointment amounting to actual sulkiness, when nothing happened after all.
Now, we have the fag-end of the season to go; those last few games with not a lot hanging on them for Leeds, not a lot for the lazy hacks who masquerade as journalists to exercise their poison pens over. So, we start with the traditional “let’s whip up some transfer interest in their best player” nonsense – and all of a sudden, our Ross44 is linked with the likes of Leicester and West Ham and sundry other smaller clubs. It’s calculated to annoy and to disrupt – but we should bear in mind that, from all we now understand, transfer policy in these Cellino days will be advised by what is best for the club first and foremost – not by any desperate need for money and not by a willingness to pander to a player’s own whim. The fact of the matter is that, for every transfer “story” in the gutter press that actually comes to be, there are perhaps 19 that never had even a whiff of truth about them, and which end up being far more useful as the wrappings of choice for those who love fish and chips.
It’s all part of being Leeds, after all. We don’t need to foster a siege mentality at this club – it arises naturally because there is a state of siege as far as the rest of football and the assembled media are concerned. And that’s annoying and sometimes even a bit upsetting – but really – would we have it any other way? Would we rather be a Man U, fawned over by a media which is comprised of liars, cheats and sycophants? Not really. It’s better to be Leeds, and to know exactly where we stand in relation to our enemies out there. We just have to remember: don’t believe everything they put in the papers. Or, in our case – disbelieve just about everything.
At least that way we’ll be nearer the truth.
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
Hi Rob,
I normally enjoy reading your comments they are normally informative and sometimes quite witty, but on this occasion all I see is paranoia I think most clubs have to endure rubbish in the gutter press linking their best players with other clubs.
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People do say I’m paranoid – but they’re just out to get me O.o
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Hi, I think your sport on Rob, leeds sell papers,& you are paranoid
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Cheers, you’re a spot.
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They’ve never forgiven us for when we last won the title rob.
The press narative then was – wouldn’t It be great if man u won the title for “the worlds greatest fans” after “25 years of hurt”
Apparently we were just a long ball team then despite having one of the best midfields in europe.
Anyway fuck em. Their biased articles should be a great motivational tool to any Leeds manager.
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I’m sure there will be lots of interest in Ross,that’s a given to be fair.Cellino does not like paying high wages so unless he is thinking of players from Cagliary,what type of player will we get.Yes you are right of course papers will throw up gossip but isnt that how it works?
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Don’t read the papers all they are doing is showing what utter fools they are.
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There’s bound to be speculation, he’s on course for 30 league goals thios season (hat-trick tomorrow will do nicely).The question is would Ross want to leave now we will have the resources to put him on the biggest stage ?He’s a folk hero at Leeds and he’s seen what’s happened to the likes of Becchio not getting a game; Beckfordnow plying his trade at Bolton and Howson & Snods may well be back in the Championship next season. What Cellino has got planned, who knows ? But would you want to be negotiating with him for our best player ?
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The gutter press at it again linking mccc with wet spam and byram with southampton to be honest if they offer 6mil or more i would sell them they are replacable,i wouldnt like to see either of them leaving would rather get rid of the rest of the crap we have and build something round mcc and byram they say mcc is on high wages but look at this season if we didnt have him we would be relagated no doubt about it,if we can keep them all is good but if they want to offer silly money then sell them.
Im sure the call of the prem would swing any footballers mind even with cellinos millions we arnt garenteed to be promoted in two seasons which im sure these so called trusted [hahahahahahahahahah] rags will tell us that we will be losing all our best players to smaller clubs all summer thats why i never buy a news paper.papers have bin lieing since the first ever one was printed so unless its on the LEEDS UTD web page or from news now i dont listen,i read just about every LEEDS blog you write rob and i always think you are spot on …………………MOT
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Having been wound up all season by the media, sky , Shitbag Sterland and his cronies, I’ve become numb to most of what is in the rags, along with that front bottom miwaw fan who writes his venomous spiel about us for the times . We march together and that is all that counts, we know are the most passionate fans on the planet and we know our time will come again. When Massimo get shot of Cagliari , I would hope the major league players come in, we will only then worry about not getting our man . Ross isn’t going any where and he with a few others we will build a proper team again … That shows us they have passion to wear our colours . I was very pleased to see Austins rating for the season, other than he can’t hit a barn door his passion is there to be seen. We will beat Barnsley this Saturday and we will do Forest , both these clubs have been thorns in the sides for too long, this is our time now. Fuck the press fuck sky WE ARE LEEDS
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Great bit of tub thumping there Sniffer 🙂
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Ive always thought that with the like of the Sun “scoops”, they make up about 20 different bogus transfer stories – then when one comes true, they claim it as a “we told you first ” story. They cant really lose can they?
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I must learn to spell…
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Theres one thing for sure Rob the press will stir the shit between Cellino &McDermott.I only hope B Mcd is wise enough to ignore it.Iff they go after Cellino he will take them on and destroy them.He dosent give a fuck about them hes honest.
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I don’t think it helps when we have 16 year olds playing press officers who then connect there ‘articles’ to the newsnow website. From this loads bull twaddle is written in which some how ends up in the national rags. Although through all the TOMA which all Leeds fans at some point got wrapped up in, I firmly believe these ‘authors’ literally copied and pasted information which was reported on all the Leeds forums. Its ridiculous and they call themselves professionals.
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Your not paranoid Rob.. but what can I say “I’m proud to be a Leeds scum :),” MOT
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“Fuck em”. We are Leeds!
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Yahoooooooooooo…
Fantastic result today. So Happy…..
well done Brian and the Team.
congrats Ross on another goal.
Lets steamroll our way to the end of the season.
M.O.T.
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Rob, paranoia requires an unjustified and irrational view of a state of affairs .Your views and entirely vindicated so don’t go booking yourself in with the therapist just yet.
I am probably in a minority but I can’t stand the gutter press already sucking up to the champions elect , LIverpool.
What is it with that club? They had some of the worst hooligans in the 70s and 80s, got all English clubs banned from Europe after their actrocities at Heysel. They have been pretty average for the last 24 years and seem to have every bit of luck you could ask for. For example, who else could see their title rivals fall away like the last week ?
Now that is paranoia?
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Putting the poignant anniversary to one side, I have no feeling for Liverpool over any club tbh. The press and media seem to force them and manure on us on a regular basis. Kev and Chris have their memory kept alive by us, simple as that. Other supporters can taunt without any publicity, if it were us and not the media darlings it would be another cosh to hit us with. As for the Mail ? it’s a good paper if you like other sports but look a bit closer to home for poor press . The YEP has been pretty toothless in out dark decade .
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I’ve seen this McCormack story coming up on a daily basis on a smaller (and rather naff) blogsite. Essentially, the “journo” had clearly just scoured the internet for a story and rehashed it as his own – day, after day, after day. Unfortunately for the “journo” – who happens to be a student at Bournemouth university – he forgot to include substance, depth and any credence to the story. Whoops! As the blogsite was open for comments and there were 3-4 rather insipid comments already made, I thought to challenge the little oik on why he continued to run the same story everyday (as well as some rather generous tips on how to improve his journalistic capabilities). Sadly, he chose to ignore my rather insightful view. Perhaps it was because I and no doubt many others made it known it was an utter non story and that we weren’t falling for it. Ah well, another Leeds hating “hack” and his 15 mins of fame.
Speaking of Leeds haters, I would be interested to know why Everyone really does all hate Leeds Scum? I’d wager a good 95% don’t know and just follow the crowd, stating the usual verbiage of us being arrogant and that we cheated our way to titles. Or is it just jealously?
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