Andy McVeigh tweets about the mindless and cowardly vandalism of his Gary Speed tribute
Whatever posturing and defensive self-righteousness might be espoused by the laughably self-dubbed “Leeds Residents Against Graffiti”, nobody with even an ounce of perception or common sense will be fooled. The vigilante group, who lack the courage to emerge from behind their cloak of anonymity, have recently vandalised 14 or so of the urban artworks that have enlivened some previously drab features of the Leeds cityscape. Ironically and despicably, the group choose to refer to artist Andy McVeigh, otherwise known as “The Burley Banksy”, as a vandal. But their crude destruction of Andy’s well-fashioned tributes to various aspects of Leeds United, is the quintessence of vandalism, and this group are bang to rights on charges of hypocrisy and a wilful, covert assault on what has been a welcome initiative to brighten up our streets. It’s nigh on impossible to believe that these cowards are motivated by any positive feelings for Leeds, despite their weasel words in the local press.
The fact that one of their covert operations involved the vandalising of Andy’s tribute to Gary Speed, and on what would have been the United legend’s 50th birthday too, tells you all you need to know about these people’s agenda. The disgusting insensitivity of that act alone speaks volumes about the lack of respect being shown, and will obviously lead to suspicions that such a crass action could only have been undertaken by people who, to say the least, do not have the interests of Leeds United, the club’s supporters or the City of Leeds, at heart. Some will remember an equally cowardly and repulsive act in which the statue of Billy Bremner was defaced. That particular instance of vandalism was traced to opportunist supporters of a club in the Cleckhuddersfax region, currently rooted in the relegation area of the Championship.
It would be nice to think that these craven and idiotic cowards would emerge from their bogus cover as environmentalists, and have the minerals to admit that they’re motivated by envy and hatred. But the nature of cowards and frauds dictates that this will not be so. Pity. It would give some measure of satisfaction to see them held publicly to account – but if there’s one thing of which we can be tolerably certain, it is that such worms will always hide away from the spotlight under which they would most certainly shrivel and disappear.
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