Harry Kewell, heading for the dole queue
Watford FC have sacked former Leeds United and Liverpool star Harry Kewell from his post as youth team coach at Vicarage Road, following a poor run of form – and the Leeds supporters have reacted on Twitter with varying degrees of not entirely sincere regret.
The background to United supporters’ wrath is fairly well known. Firstly, Kewell engineered a move to Liverpool at a time when Leeds were suffering a financial meltdown, and reportedly moved heaven and earth to maximise the benefit of the £5m fee to himself and his agent, leaving the club that gave him his big break grievously out of pocket.
Then, after an injury-hit spell on Merseyside, Kewell unaccountably chose to ply his trade in Turkey, at the one club no former Leeds player should ever touch with the longest bargepole. Kewell was in the Leeds team that stepped out to play Galatasaray in the 2000 UEFA Cup semi-final first leg in Istanbul, the night after two Leeds United fans had been brutally murdered in the city. UEFA showed neither sympathy nor understanding, insisting that the game should be played. The home side failed to show the most basic respect, not even wearing black armbands, and the Leeds United away support reacted with massive and laudable dignity, turning their backs en masse to the field of play before the match kicked off.
The atmosphere was evil, the players were still deeply affected, the whole occasion was a tragic farce. Any suggestion that night that any member of the Leeds United team, who faced such a sick and disgusting display of hostility and hatred, could one day wear the colours of the home team, would have been dismissed as a tasteless joke. And yet it came to pass that Harry Kewell sold his soul and made that move, earning himself the sobriquet of “Judas” for ever more. Little wonder that he remains a figure of hatred and contempt among the Elland Road faithful, to this day.
And now he’s out of a job, he can expect nothing but scorn and a grim satisfaction from United fans. The LUFC Twitter feed in the aftermath of his dismissal by Watford FC shows that that is exactly what he’s got.
Well played, you Hornets – and on your bike, Judas.
Life, Leeds United, the Universe & Everything 
scumbag that is, he was a great player for us though
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This awful man had the world at his feet but his mantra of ‘Self over Side’ leaves him detested by Leeds fans and forgotten by Liverpool fans.
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Kewell was not the only player who behaved les than honourably during the meltdown. According to Viduka, even Leeds heroes were unwilling to make any financial sacrifice to help save the club. Furthermore no- one can accuse Kewell of not doing his best to keep us in the Premiership. Of course the Liverpoll transfer was scandalous but again the morals on show were pretty much the norm for so-called elite footballers nowadays. Galatasaray was a tragedy but I think it is wrong to paint a whole club black because of what happened in Istanbul. I am acquainted with Turkish fans of the club who were as appalled as we are by the events. Still. I do agree that Kewell might have indicated some sensitivity on this issue. He was a thrilling player for us in the ecstatic years around the millennium – him and Viduka especially elevated us to another level. A certain sadness for me will always be associated with this gifted Aussie.
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I am an Aussie and have followed the Great Leeds United for as long as I can remember – 50 + years – I was wrapped when HK got to play at Leeds along with Mark Viduka. But along the way we know what HK did! He has betrayed the club that gave him so much – When Leeds was in trouble he jumped ship all to his advantage – He is as bad as, if not worse than SCUM!! – Fuck HK he’s a piece of shit!!
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Eddie Gray, greatest dribbling skills ever
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I seem to recall young Harold coming out with some duplicitous comment along the lines of…”I believe my move to Galatasaray will bring together the fans of these great clubs and help heal the wounds caused by this tragedy blah blah”…….you may be pleased to now that when he came to Launceston in Tasmania a few years back to play in a game for Melbourne Victory during the absolute tab end of his career, I subjected him to some ill-natured booing. That’ll learn the fucker……
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Good for you, I did the same to Emlyn Hughes at Ossett Albion in 1992 👍
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what a greedy wanker this man is as far as I am concerned I have wiped him from my great memories of the team that he played in. He would sell his mother to make money
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..Imagine how i feel…only went and named my Son after the greedy money grabbing Judas bastard. No,not Harry but yes you’ve guessed it,Kewell,ffs. My ex partner & i decided to keep her surname; ‘Waters’ (for personal reasons) and as Kewell Waters has a bit of a ring to it it kinda seemed perfect at the time (how wrong could i have been ?!) Having been a staunch White for over 40 yrs and a regular at ER through thick n thin i obvs must of had a cold rush of blood to the head when i gave him that awful name bk in 2000! If abandoning ship to the red shite from over the water from us here in Chester wasn’t bad enough (given that we’re less than 20 mile away-hence our City being full of L’pool fans and the banter that followed..Liverkewell etc etc lol) the scumbag then sickeningly joined those murdering kebab munching cowardly turdish scumcunts. It took me around a yr or so before i could actually even call my lad by his first name after that tragic night in istanbullshit. Talk about hindsight being a fine thing..well that’s an own goal that i certainly wont forget in a hurry.. Kewell was devastatingly diagnosed with cancer when he was 15 yrs old,Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma,and spent 6 months in Alder Hey. He is now 18,over 2 yrs in remission and doing great thanks to all of those truly wonderful staff at that truly amazing Hospital. LUFC sent my lad a ‘get well soon card’ signed by all the players during our harrowing time through treatment and gave Kewell & i a free stadium tour of ER following his recovery,where we met all the players & staff in the dressing room before kick off,and tickets for the game on the day v QPR last season. Was a heartwarming gesture by our beloved club in such hard times and helped lift our morale no end! My Kewell is turning out a fine young man,well mannered,full of respect for others,caring,genuine,thoughtful,honest as the day’s long,very unassuming,loyal and loved by all…all of the things his gold digging,glory hunting,self-centered,headline seeking Judas bastard namesake is clearly not ! ALAW MOT
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All the best for the future to the genuine article – MOT
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