Tag Archives: Brian McDermott

Enigmatic Haigh Might Just Make That Leeds United Dream Come True – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 08/01/2014 | 13 comments
Image

David Haigh – heading for the top with Leeds United?

The New Wave is, as usual, coming in slowly at Elland Road.  Then again, with Leeds United, everything always seems to take its time – and the experience of the fans over the past few years has been that the outcome was not always really all that worth waiting for.  Without revisiting all of the painful twists and turns of the past decade or so, it’s safe to say that our lot, as a group of loyal and passionate supporters, has not by and large been a happy one.  The lowlights include administration, points deductions, Bates, Histon, League One, Bates, TOMA and more Bates.  There has also been the odd highlight, but it’s fair to say we’ve been living through some Dark Ages in the history of our club.  So, are we at last on the brink of a long-overdue and richly-deserved Renaissance?

The man who probably knows most about that will give the odd nod and wink here and there – but as yet he’s not really telling.  This is, of course, David Haigh – a likeable bundle of energy and charm whose polished persona you could look at and instantly say to yourself, that fellow would make a fine politician.  And such indeed is his aspiration as a lifelong Tory.  Not that such a summing-up is necessarily a negative thing.  It’s just one facet of the David Haigh enigma – a committed Conservative activist who is also an enthusiastic philanthropist, and one, moreover, who takes a distinctly hands-on approach to that philanthropy.

He seems to be a man of contradictions.  Interviewed on the radio, for instance, he has the politician’s knack of playing his cards close to his chest.  He will talk quite a bit without really saying very much, and it can feel a bit frustrating – you sense this in the demeanour of the interviewer, too.  He’s anxious not to show his hand too early.  And yet at other times he’ll crop up on his highly-active Twitter account, coyly dropping little hints everywhere, sending the Leeds United Twittersphere into meltdown seemingly at will – and driving information-hungry fans up the wall with tantalised yet baffled hope.

The latest example of this is just a few hours old – a casual mention that Haigh is looking forward to a coffee with one Peter Virdee.  Now, Virdee’s is a name that was all over Twitter only a few days back, with suggestions that he’s both minted and possibly about to get involved with Leeds United.  Haigh’s tweet is of great interest, not only to all of those so desperate to “Dare to dream”, but even for the rest of us, divided as we are into hard-bitten cynics and the weary “wait and see-ers”.  Team strengthening?  Stadium repurchase and refurbishment?  Buying back our very own Thorp Arch training heaven?  Anything can seem possible when you’re talking the figures Virdee is reputed to deal in.  But who knows?  It’s only a coffee, after all.

What does come across very strongly with David Haigh is a cheerful optimism that he can take on this massive task – to revive a club that once enjoyed an almost global pre-eminence but has since defied most attempts to rouse the sleeping giant – and that he can and will succeed.  If there have been doubts, he’s never let them show and his habitual outlook is one of an almost insouciant conviction that he can achieve where others have so conspicuously failed.  That confidence communicates itself to fans desperate for the good times to return and for a True White, full-blooded Leeds fan to lead us.  It’s still the case at Elland Road that we’d rather have one of our own in charge than some dodgy “off comed’un”.

Despite his Cornwall roots and other initially apparent doubts about Haigh – insidious little rumours of a sneaking regard for a certain Franchise over t’other side of the Pennines, for instance – he does seem to have established himself this solid credibility as a Leeds United fan; something that counts for a great deal.  Not that we haven’t had trouble with our own, before – the memory of Peter Ridsdale is fresh enough to ensure that we won’t trust anyone just because he has a yellow, white and blue scarf about his neck.  But the appeal of Haigh seems somehow much fresher and much more believable than Publicity Pete’s self-adoring pitch – though it’s always possible this is the sharply clear vision of 20-20 hindsight.

It’s not easy at all to figure David Haigh out.  There is that enigmatic exterior to him which defies attempts to add up the elements we know are there beneath the surface.  The philanthropy is encouraging – his eager willingness to get involved in fund-raising events for causes which are clearly close to his heart.  This positive aspect looks like reflecting well on the club too, as Haigh leads Leeds into areas they may previously have been wary to tread.  One such initiative, the Beyond “It” campaign featuring openly gay ex-Leeds player Robbie Rogers’ anti-discrimination crusade, has received unequivocal backing from Haigh and a highly gratifying response from the fans of a club not always associated with such enlightened thinking.  He also supports a number of other charities in the UK including the Cornwall Air Ambulance Trust, English Heritage and the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. In April 2013, Haigh completed a 250km arctic charity trek for the Make A Wish Foundation, which has recently helped a very poorly little Leeds fan from my own home town.  He completed the six-day, husky drawn challenge which took him through temperatures as low as -30 to raise funds for Make A Wish which supports his niece, Sienna who lives with the genetic disorder Homocystinuria.

There appears to be little doubt that, in all of his extra-professional endeavours – which fill an already very busy life to overflowing – Haigh is the Real Deal in terms of commitment, belief and enthusiasm.  I could wish I knew more about exactly what manner of Tory he is, but the ranks of Football Club revivalists are hardly packed with the kind of radical reforming Socialist I’d personally like to see in Number 10 Downing Street.  If David Haigh can grasp the nettle of sorting out my beloved United – and bring to that task the energy and attainment so evident in other areas of his life – then he will have a very good chance of becoming one of the major figures in Leeds United history – and, what’s more, in a good way.  If that turns out to be the case, then the man’s politics will bother me not a jot.

Personal charm and likeability haven’t usually been enough to move such mountains, but beneath the Haigh enigma there appears to be evidence of a great deal more than that.  Besides which, the fact that he does seem such a very pleasant guy is still – in these first few months after the nightmare of Bates – massively important in itself.  A good radio manner with an infectious chuckle in his voice, the ability to say the right things at appropriate junctures and to deal with people in a civilised and courteous manner – all of this is the very antithesis of the old rogue who squatted on the Leeds throne for far too long.  So that, alone, commends David Haigh as The Right Sort.

Can he succeed – can he help to bring about success?  After an uncomfortably long silence that was at least partially broken yesterday with an “Investment Update” confirming that Mr Andrew Flowers of Club main sponsors Enterprise Insurance will be involved, it appears that things are still moving towards a positive conclusion.  We now know that the consortium is called Sports Capital, and that other, as yet un-named, investors will also be involved.  We know too that the financial backing is there for Brian McDermott to start bolstering his fatigued and pallid-looking squad.  There is little doubt that these are Good Things, and the way the wind is blowing suggests there will be more to come.  And as long as Leeds United AFC is seen to be moving in the right direction, engaging with fans and embracing transparency of intent and information – why then, the great majority of the fans will be happy, will be supportive, will be on-board and ready to March On Together back to nearer the top – which is United’s natural place in the order of things.  I’m pretty certain David Haigh would have no trouble agreeing with that.

Enjoy your coffee today, Mr Haigh, you likeable enigma – oh, and don’t stint yourself in bestowing that charm and appeal of yours on Mr Virdee – and on anyone else with the good of Leeds United at heart, and who might be able to restore us to our former glory.  If what I hope for and dream about can eventually emerge out of this coffee morning, I’d willingly treat you to a cappuccino or two apiece out of my own pocket.  From a socialist Yorkshireman, that’s 100% unequivocal support.

13 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

West Ham and Leeds Utd: A Tale of Two Managers – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 06/01/2014 | 24 comments
Image

Fatuous Sam: “I’m the boss”

It’s a funny old game, football.  Takes all sorts too.  While Leeds fans were venting some well-justified spleen at their misfiring players and management following the debacle at Rochdale, West Ham’s supporters, by contrast were waxing somewhat more philosophical – give or take one weeping kid –  during their own side’s 0-5 mauling at Nottingham Forest.  Or so it would appear, anyway, from reading the not entirely reliable internet outlet which is HF’s “The Game’s Gone Crazy”.

Poor kid

Poor kid

It was interesting, watching the Un’appy ‘Ammers disintegrate at the City Ground.  The travelling Clarets support got glummer and glummer as the game went on – and the distress of that one poor little soul reduced to tears at the humiliation of his favourites by these Norvern (to him) upstarts was especially heart-rending.  It really can be quite upsetting, the way TV cameras tend to zoom in on weeping infants these days when a team’s having a crisis.  We at Leeds know this all too well.

Leeds were awful at Rochdale and West Ham were equally awful at Forest.  The ‘Ammers manager, Fatuous Sam, chose blithely to shrug off what was an appalling defeat.  “I’m the manager,” he said.  “I make the decisions.”  There wasn’t too much sympathy in evidence for the suffering supporters.  At least Brian McDermott for Leeds acknowledged that the United display had been unacceptable.  Fatuous Sam seems to react rather testily at any suggestions mere fans might be critical of his team selections.  This is, after all, a man who feels that he would win everything if put in charge of a truly big club.  It seems amazing that no real giant of the game has ever taken him up on such a confident prediction.  Perhaps they’re mixing him up with Mike Bassett?  On the evidence of the Forest defeat, the fictional comedy England boss might just be a better bet.

The hapless West Ham fan blogger who much prefers to write of bigger clubs had evidently turned on his favourite target of all as a sort of therapy in defeat.  It’s understandable in a way.  Mired in the relegation zone and looking to be on the downhill run out of the Big Time, there’s not a lot of inspiration in writing about the ‘Ammers, is there?  But it’s a shame his research lets him down.  In his haste to revive memories of a famous Leeds FA Cup defeat at Colchester 43 years ago, HF mentions that even Bremner couldn’t spare United such a humiliation.  But as is quite well-known among real football fans, Bremner wasn’t in the team that day – as he frequently reminded people for years afterwards.  It also, apparently, took Don Revie three years to get Leeds “into the Prem”.  Not too bad, HF.  Only thirty years out with the terminology.

The tragedy of the thing is, this amateur is in far too much of a hurry to recycle his tired old standbys (such as “The Leeds United McFeelgood Factor Sleeper Express to the Premiership, Europe, Infinity and Beyond” – yawn, yawn) to bother with petty considerations such as research.  And boy, does it show.  Reading his blog is strictly for hard times – or for those, like me, who feel the occasional need to monitor him and to put him firmly but kindly in his place.

Things could be worse though.  HF is a pretty poor blogger – I can’t think of any worse off the top of my head, and that includes several particularly deluded Man U examples – but by the side of the team he ostensibly supports and that team’s fat and fatuous manager, he doesn’t look all that bad.  Perhaps he will do better next year when Leeds and West Ham are in the same division.  Then he can abandon his wet-behind-the-ears attempts at condescension, and start shooting from the hip, especially when the ‘Ammers face either of their two Cup Finals against the Mighty Leeds.  It might even do him some good and make him that bit more readable.  You never know – it really is a funny old game.

24 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , ,

Warnock the Clueless Bemoans Leeds’ Loss of “Pacy” Snodgrass – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 04/01/2014 | 17 comments
Image

Colin & Brian

A fascinating quote today from Neil “Colin” Warnock’s Saturday collection of epigrams, sideswipes and bewildered bits of nonsense in The Independent.  The piece opens with a characteristically self-aggrandising few paragraphs describing various situations in which he had to deal with stroppy owners or chairmen.  Invariably, of course, Colin was right.  It’s typical of former football managers of the Colin ilk that they will always emerge as heroes from their own reminiscences.

The bit that comes nearest to being of any interest to Leeds United fans goes as follows:

Come off it, Brian – I left you a decent side at Leeds

I heard Brian McDermott on the radio taking issue with my comment that he only needed to “put the icing on the cake” when he took over from me at Leeds. I stand by it. The main thing lacking when I left was pace – because I had to sell Robert Snodgrass.

Brian’s had good money to spend, whereas I was forced to make a profit on transfers, but they still lack pace. Eight of the XI he picked at Forest last Sunday he inherited from me.

Now obviously, this basically boils down to “I had it tough and it’s a bed of roses for the guy who’s followed me.”  Standard whinging fare from yer actual has-been who still wants to have enough to say so that his weekly column remains in demand.  But portions of that shortish quote do rather take the breath away.

Take for instance this gem: “The main thing lacking when I left was pace – because I had to sell Robert Snodgrass.”  Pardon me?  Was Snoddy really known for his pace?  He’s a fine player, and I would carry him on my own back to Elland Road, should he wish to return.  But the Snodmeister’s thing was trickery, sleight of foot, skill.  He did not scorch past opposing full-backs, leaving them gasping for oxygen in his wake and turning the turf to cinders with his state-of-the-art afterburners.  You’d have thought his manager might have noticed this, but evidently Colin had got Snoddy all wrong – which may explain a thing or two.  Perhaps it also sheds some light on why he preferred the class and skill of Browneh over that mega-hyped upstart Ross Barkley, who we had on loan from Everton, but for whom Colin couldn’t find a place.  Barkley has since that time somehow managed to fool everyone into rating him as a top Premier League performer and the likely future of the England national team.  It’s a pity that people don’t listen to Colin about things like this.

The not-entirely-coherent Mr Warnock also points out that eight of Brian McDermott’s starting XI at Nottingham Forest were inherited from Colin’s potential top-flight squad.  This may be true – as is undeniably the fact that we lost that game, looking particularly inept in the first half.  It all comes down to the fact that dear old Colin seems to feel that he left Brian with the basis of a very good Championship side of promotion pedigree, needing only “the icing on the cake”.  The folly of this seems obvious to anyone who has watched Leeds United this season.  Things have improved, thanks to a previously unknown level of investment in the summer.  There have been no 6 and 7 goal thrashings at home, for instance – things that most Leeds fans are glad to see the back of. Brian was swift to disagree with Colin’s “ice on the cake” jibe, and this is Warnock showing his displeasure at being contradicted by the current United manager who is, annoyingly for Colin, far more popular with the fans than he ever had a chance of being.

Worryingly, though, a few coldly mutinous voices are being heard to question whether things really are that much better under Brian McDermott.  It seems a daft stance to take, when the stench of Bates has been fumigated from the Elland Road corridors and so many facets of the club are starting to gleam positively again, such a difference from the murky despair which typified the previous regime.  The daftness can probably be explained when you look at the sources of some of these remarks – the WACCOE forum, for instance, home to so many of the younger and yappier, wet-behind-the-ears type of Leeds fan who will never be completely happy unless they’re showing how all-fired wry and cynical they can be.  Or the Service Crew equivalent, mouthpiece of middle-aged boneheads who like to have a moan about a popular and progressive manager who has a good rapport with fans and owners alike, just to provide a change from espousing their right-wing agenda, or boasting about what hard and tough chaps they used to be and still could be if the need arose.  Yawn, yawn.  But the thing is, impressionable people read this rubbish, and there is always room on a bandwagon for a few more idiots.

Sadly, then, there will more than likely be a few dim types who will read what Colin has to say and wonder if those EDL chaps on Service Crew might not have a point.  Despite the fact that Snoddy covered the ground with all the searing pace of an elderly snail, and looked tired just standing up, these easily-persuadable people might feel tempted to agree with Mr Warnock, and put down the lack of pace to the loss of our skilful Scot.  They might feel that Colin did a good job after all, having provided the bulk of the side that lost so convincingly to Forest.  Delusions like this spring up quite easily when fertilised by a high enough grade of manure in a seemingly respectable publication like the Independent.

It’s at times like these, with former managers injecting sly doses of poison, and the dimmer section of fans mouthing approval from the fringes of reality, that we have to make sure the bulk of the support – those able to think for themselves and recognises the inherent stupidity of Colin’s comments – need to redouble our backing of Brian McDermott and the current regime at Elland Road.  Just think where we were a little over twelve months ago.  Chilling, isn’t it.  It may well be that the league record over that time is virtually identical to the one of the previous year or so – but that sort of thinking is akin to judging a book by its cover.  The work of restoring Leeds United as a real force has, so far, been mainly a behind-the-scenes thing.  There is still much to do on the field, and we should be thankful the person who will do that work is not the type of man who would prefer Browneh to Barkley, or who would regard Snoddy as someone who could routinely out-pace Theo Walcott.

We have the right man in charge.  It’s important that we pay scant regard to Colin, or to anyone else – our own dumber than dumb tendency included – who might wish to persuade us otherwise.

17 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , ,

That Was The Leeds United 2013 That Was – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 31/12/2013 | 14 comments
Image

A look back before we look forward…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  January 2013 at Elland Road saw Leeds United in the throes of transition from the misery of life under Bates to a newly-budding optimism surrounding what was still technically, for the time being, life under Bates.  The long-awaited takeover had finally happened, but many were unable to see beyond the strings which were clearly attached.  After daring to dream, it seemed as though the old nightmare still had its final act to play out.  We were stuck with Ken Bates until the end of the season as Chairman – and then for three years beyond that as President, threatening to sully an office previously held with honour by the late Earl of Harewood.  Still, it was better than Bates owning the club.  So, modified rapture.

January was a mixture of indifferent league form relieved by significant Cup success.  Neil Warnock’s charges had ended the old year with a thorough drubbing at Hull; though the final score was only 2-0, the Whites had been taught a sobering lesson in how the game should be played at this level, and the score-line distinctly flattered them.   Sadly, another 2-0 defeat at Barnsley on January 12 showed that the lesson had not been learned.  How a team so humbled in two league fixtures could possibly knock out the mighty and Bale-inspired Spurs from the FA Cup was puzzling to say the least.  But that’s what happened – Spurs went the way of Birmingham whom United had beaten after a replay in Round Three, and we were through to face the daunting task of playing Champions Man City away in Round Five.

Leeds took an uninspiring single point from the opening three league games of February and then bowed out of the FA Cup at the Etihad, the 4-0 spanking again not really reflecting the lopsided balance of play in City’s favour.  Able to, as they say, “concentrate on the league”, Leeds beat Blackpool 2-0 and played out a goal-less draw at Blackburn to enter March, which turned out to be the last full month under Neil “Colin” Warnock.

Colin had looked ever less capable of fulfilling the United dream of promotion, and March was the month that broke the back of that ambition.  A scratchy win over Millwall was followed by three draws and then two defeats and, as April rolled around, Colin’s tenure ended after two further losses – at home to Derby and then at the Valley against Charlton Athletic.  And then, it all changed – though too little and too late.  By this time, the hopeful peering upwards at the playoff zone had been replaced by anxious glances over our shoulders at the relegation tussle.  When Brian McDermott was appointed, he immediately said all the right things as new managers tend to do – except he managed to imbue his words with a sincerity and meaning that marked him as somebody we might actually want at the helm.

Brian’s first match was a 2-1 defeat of Sheffield Wednesday, a badly-needed and richly satisfying victory after the previous chelpings of then Wednesday manager David Jones.  A win over Burnley followed, hoisting Leeds to mid-table security before two successive defeats re-awakened those nagging worries.  But all was well by the last day of the season as we travelled to Watford and won 2-1, successfully pooping their intended promotion party and sending Hull up instead.  Ah, well.

So that was it for the season.  During the summer, big changes were afoot at boardroom level, including the welcome early termination of Bates’ connections with the club, a £1 million-ish signing for the first time in absolutely yonks, and generally increased optimism and morale.

The story of this season so far has been “steady as she goes” with new players bedding in, plenty of our familiar flaws still in evidence, but overall a much brighter and happier atmosphere about the whole place under Brian McDermott, who has continued to forge a great relationship with the fans as he displays a quiet determination to succeed in this job, regardless of distractions elsewhere – the Ireland job, for instance.  McDermott is known to have ambitions in this direction, but he swiftly distanced himself from speculation, stating firmly that he had a job to do at Elland Road.  In fact, McDermott’s hand on the tiller has resulted in an identical position at the turn of the year as compared with previous seasons.  Leeds have fallen away in the past – can they now build on what looks certain to be yet another fresh start under the Haigh-led consortium?

2014 looks as richly promising as any year in recent memory.  Our arguably top performer over recent games, with due deference to the prolific Rossco, has been Marius Zaliukas, signed initially on a short-term deal.  That deal has now been improved and extended to the end of the 2014/15 season – surely a cause for celebration.

More signings are promised in this window following the expected ratification of the takeover by the Football League.  There is the possibility of a winger, maybe another striker too to take some of the burden of McCormack.  These could at last be exciting times.  2013 was a year in which we have moved from one takeover watershed to another, with no great change in league position but with a massive improvement in the whole atmosphere of the club since Bates was shown the door.  What we have now is a solid foundation to build upon, with a club that seems likely to be relatively well-funded, ahead of Financial Fair Play regulation, and able to exert some buying power in the transfer market to supplement the good players we already have at the club – including promising youngsters such as Byram and Mowatt as the Academy production line continues to flourish.  It’s impossible of course to speculate about what an article penned next New Year’s Eve would say – will it reflect on solid achievement, steady progress or dashed hopes?  All are possibilities.  That story will unfold in the next twelve months.

Meanwhile, let’s raise a glass to 2014 and all it might bring to fans of Leeds United AFC in terms of progress, excitement, maybe even glory.  Happy New Year to #LLUUE readers everywhere, to all Leeds United fans and to everybody else.  Let’s see where it takes us!

14 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Can Brian McDermott Emulate Leeds Utd Hero Simon Grayson? – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 23/12/2013 | 38 comments
Image

Simon Grayson: became United manager 5 years ago

Being the realistic and fair-minded character he undoubtedly is, United manager Brian McDermott would doubtless acknowledge the task he faces in matching the achievements of his last-but-one predecessor at Elland Road, Simon Grayson.

Grayson moved into the United hot-seat just before Christmas of 2008 after an acrimonious parting of ways with his former employers Blackpool – coincidentally United’s next opponents on Boxing Day.  His record at Bloomfield Road had been one of success, attaining promotion to the second tier for a famous old club which had been in the doldrums for far too long.  If that sounds familiar, it’s because the description could just as easily have been of Leeds United, and Grayson was destined to repeat his promotion feat at Elland Road, dragging comatose giants Leeds out of their humiliating third division berth in his first full season – despite having to work under the strictures imposed by a certain Master Bates.

There are some who seek now to belittle the scale of Grayson’s achievements, preferring to point at the lows of life in the Championship where Leeds had started so brightly.  But they haemorrhaged talent, failed to strengthen and fell rapidly by the wayside over the next couple of seasons, amid a welter of huge defeats.  That looks bad on any manager’s CV – but account has to be taken of the way in which Simon Grayson’s hands were tied in terms of his ability to improve the squad.   His career after Leeds has encompassed a third promotion from the third level of English football as he took Huddersfield up at the first time of asking.  Currently, he looks to be on course for a fourth such success, his current charges Preston North End lodged comfortably in the play-off zone despite a heavy loss to rivals Brentford at the weekend.

But it is for his success in reviving a moribund Leeds United, despite the Bates factor, for which Simon Grayson remains best-known.  To turn around a situation of seemingly terminal decline – after a succession of managers had failed to impose a big-club resilience on a lowly league – is the jewel in the crown of Grayson’s coaching career, especially as his promotion success was gilded with the fantasy-football type achievement of dismissing the champions from the FA Cup, at their own ground, in the third round.  For this alone, he would merit a prominent place in Leeds United’s turbulent but occasionally glorious history.

Simon Grayson lifted Leeds out of League One, elevating us to the Championship, in only his first full season.  It’s the only promotion he’s achieved outside of play-off football (note to Messrs Haigh and McDermott: Leeds United just don’t do play-offs) – and it’s clearly something still very close to his heart.  To win promotion with your boyhood favourites as well as slaying that club’s most despised dragon in its own lair – that’s the stuff of Boys’ Own fiction, made reality by a man as modest and dedicated as any we’ve been lucky enough to have associated with Leeds United AFC.

If Brian McDermott is to emulate Grayson’s first-full-season achievement, then it would have to be this season.  That. perhaps, would be unrealistic – given the fact that Brian has had his own problems of ownership and finances to deal with since moving in at United last April.  Clearly, whenever McDermott manages to guide Leeds back into the top flight, he will be hailed a hero and rightly so.  Until that happens, Simon Grayson remains, for me anyway, the third-greatest Boss at Elland Road behind the unassailable Don and his nearest rival Sergeant Wilko.  Some will disagree with that assessment – but really, the job of hoisting Leeds back from their lowest ebb was so massively important to us all that the person who managed it deserves appropriate recognition.

As Brian McDermott heads towards his first anniversary as Leeds boss in April, he might reflect that by then he’ll have a very good idea of what is possible in this current campaign.  A lot will depend on the currently-mooted takeover being approved by the Football League in time for Leeds to strengthen ahead of the run-in.  If they do that, and if the admirable “McDermott effect” continues to guide the club’s progress, then maybe – just maybe – he pull off a promotion that would see him elevated into the company of United’s greatest managers: Revie, Wilkinson – and Simon Grayson.

38 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , ,

Exclusive: Bates in League With Mysterons for “Radio Control” of Leeds United – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 14/12/2013 | 8 comments
BatesEyes

Bates: Evil plot with Mysterons to control and destroy Leeds United

The news that former Leeds owner Ken Bates is to operate a “radio station” in the vicinity of United’s Elland Road stadium took on a more sinister aspect last night when it emerged that the former Chelsea supremo has actually entered into a pact with intangible extra-terrestrial arch-fiends The Mysterons.   The evil alien race, believed to originate on Mars, have a well-documented history of exerting control over our species, and are known to issue their threats and demands by radio.  Bates’ new venture, cunningly named “Radio Yorkshire” in an impenetrably sly effort to distance it from the now-defunct “Yorkshire Radio”, would obviously be an ideally-situated base from which the disembodied masterminds could assume control of Leeds United, a necessary precursor to their ambitions of world domination.

It is understood that Bates was earmarked as a suitable terrestrial agent of the Mysterons as far back as 1984, due to his expressed antipathy towards the Yorkshire giants while he was boss at Stamford Bridge.  Bates was quoted then as saying: ”I shall not rest until Leeds United are kicked out of the football league. Their fans are the scum of the earth, absolute animals and a disgrace. I will do everything in my power to make sure this happens.”  This forthright statement caused antennae to prick up on Mars, and moves were immediately set afoot to recruit Agent Ken to the Mysteron cause.

The masterplan has had a setback recently with Bates’ infiltration of the club having been brought to an end by forces of the counter-alien organisation GFH Capital, under its reclusive Chief, the legendary Colonel White – a man thought to have a strong personal interest in the success of Leeds United.   Bates, however, is allegedly under orders to maintain his evil programme and, to this end, advanced state-of-the-art extra-terrestrial communications and hypnotic control technology has been installed above Subway opposite the South Stand. Resistance, though said to be futile, is being co-ordinated within Leeds United by another Spectrum agent, Lieutenant Green – although tragically he has been on the injured list recently and thus has been prevented from active involvement against the Mysterons.

hansenscarlet

Scarlet (pictured, left) and Hansen (right)

Due to the obvious potential gravity of the threat posed by what lies behind Ken Bates’ new venture, speculation is now rife that Lt. Green may be replaced in the January transfer window by Captain Scarlet who, while lacking a final ball – or indeed any recognisable primary genitalia –  has the crucial advantage of being indestructible. Scarlet, famously the love-child of Alan Hansen and Cilla Black, is thought to be available on a Bosman from his current club Liverpool.

Detailed plans for the January window are still being drawn up, with the threat of Bates and the Mysterons very much in mind, by the Leeds United management team on Cloudbase (otherwise known as the East Stand Upper).  Club manager Brian McDermott has expressed a wish to add at least two new signings to his existing squad, emphasising that he is looking for quality above quantity.  “I’m very clear about what we need,” said McDermott.  “We’re looking for a mixture of youth, experience, talent, dedication and courage in the face of alien attack.”

Leeds fans will be wary of the threat on their doorstep but determined to see of Bates once and for all.  A spokesperson for LAMA (Leeds Against Martian Aggressors) said “We’ve seen off Ken before, and we can do it again.  Mysteron radio control is not something we’re worried about, quite frankly.  We all listen to Radio Leeds now, they’ve got Ben Parker and he’s much more positive than dear old Eddie Gray was.  Eddie’s pessimism and negativity used to make my ears bleed.  Leeds legend, though.”

Ken Bates is 106.

8 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , ,

New Leeds Deal for Alex Mowatt a Sign of the Times for Resurgent United – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 05/12/2013 | 8 comments
Image

Young prospect Alex Mowatt: new long-term deal at Leeds United

The news that young Alex Mowatt has signed a contract extension with Leeds United, only eight months or so after turning professional, is another massively positive sign that this is a club that is going places.  Mowatt, 18, has seized his chance this season and has turned in a series of fine displays, nailing down for himself a regular first team spot well ahead of schedule. His is a classic example of the old saw “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough”, and Leeds have acted fast to tie the youngster to a deal that now extends until 2017.

Mowatt himself is enthusiastic about his situation at Leeds: “I’m really pleased to have signed,” he said. “I’ve been at the club since I was six and this is where I want to play my football.  This season has gone really, really well so far and I just want to keep working hard, keep improving, and play my part in helping Leeds United get where we want to be.”  As it seems certain that there would be no shortage of interested parties, Premier League clubs among them, if Mowatt were to fancy a change of scene, it’s vastly encouraging for United and the club’s fans that such a hot prospect has no qualms about committing himself for the long term.

As with Sam Byram and to a lesser extent Chris Dawson before him, Alex Mowatt has emerged from the shadows of junior and development squad football at Elland Road and has immediately looked like the real deal.  In looks and playing style, he has reminded many good judges of a young Gary Speed.  Ex-United skipper Brendan Ormsby has said of him: “He reminds me of Gary Speed with the way he moves and uses his left foot.  I like the look of him. Although it’s a silly thing to say, he looks like he can play!  At 18 years old, Alex looks like he has a good future ahead of him. He will be a very good player if he carries on this way.”

Looks-wise, Mowatt reminds me more of Lyndon Simmonds, a young lad who shone brightly for a short while nearly thirty years ago, but who then faded away, moving on to Swansea and then Rochdale.  Ormsby’s judgement commands respect though, and you can see what he means in terms of the similarities of paying style, based in both cases on a fabulous left foot.  But Speed’s are big shoes to fill, and the lad will doubtless prefer to be recognised as the first Alex Mowatt, rather than the next Gary Speed. As comparisons go, though, it’s not a bad or an unflattering one, is it?

Leeds United is a bit of a good news factory at the moment.  These things are strictly relative, of course, and after some of the bad times we’ve had over the past decade or so, the mere absence of calamity and disaster (and Ken) are ample justification for dancing in the streets.  But it does rather feel as though better times are on their way back to Elland Road.  The laughter and chat, audible behind Jason Pearce‘s post-match Radio Leeds interview after the Wigan victory, spoke of a good atmosphere around the squad and a bond between the players.  These are essential ingredients for a successful squad, and it seems that manager Brian McDermott is wisely nurturing a feeling of unity and positivity in a tight-knit group of players.  He’s been there and done it all before has Brian, and it would take a rich and foolish man to bet against him doing it again.  With bright young stars like Byram, Dawson and Mowatt once again rolling off the Elland Road production-line, his task will be easier than if he were just to rely on the transfer market. But if that, too, can be exploited to United’s benefit in the January window, then the club might just really be going places – and sooner rather than later.

8 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Disappointment at Huddersfield – Can Marius Zaliukas Steady the Ship for Leeds? – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 26/10/2013 | 13 comments
New Boy Marius Zaliukas

New Boy Marius Zaliukas

Another derby day defeat, another three goals conceded, this time against a team shorn of their top scorer due to suspension.  There were some crumbs of comfort: Matt Smith scored again, and could prove to be a handful for Championship defences as the season goes on.  Dexter Blackstock came on from the bench for his United debut, and he scored too, which is a great way to start with a new club.  We probably should have had a penalty, we scored one of their goals for them – and last but not least, we’ve signed an international central defender who captained Hearts to a Scottish Cup win.

Marius Zaliukas has been without a club since the summer, but played for his country only last week.  He was wanted by ‘Arry at QPR and nobody has had anything worse to say about the lad than that he’s got a bit of a temper on him.  At 29, he’s in his prime as a defender, and we’ve got him initially till the end of the season.  Yay.

It’s looking likely that Marius will have an active role to play at Elland Road sooner rather than later.  Our defence didn’t look exactly comfortable at times in the second half against Birmingham, even though we recorded a clean sheet in a 4-0 win.  Three at the back, if that’s how we’re to continue, will demand a decent pool of centre backs to allow for inconveniences such as suspensions and injuries.  It seems that Messrs Pearce and Lees were culpable in at least two of the three we let in from our chip-on-the-shoulder bearing neighbours down the road, so maybe an injection of international know-how and experience is just what the doctor ordered.

From all accounts, the boy might be a tiny bit aggressive, but again that’s more virtue than vice down Elland Road way.  Since the days of Norman the Great – in fact tracing our illustrious club’s history back as far as Wilf Copping – we’ve always appreciated a lad who understands the tactical subtleties of “getting stuck in” and “getting rid”. Marius Zaliukas sounds like he might be just our cup of Yorkshire Tea and it goes without saying that we wish him well.

If we can get the defence sorted out, and if we can convert a few more of the chances that we again created in reasonably great number today, maybe things can still look up in time for this season to mean something.  Well, anyway, that’s the positive spin on another disappointing day for Leeds United Football Club and its devoted army of fans.

It’s Yeovil next, and they beat Forest today.  Bring it on.

13 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

No Winger Needed for Leeds if 3-5-2 Does the Trick – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 23/10/2013 | 15 comments

Image

It seems clear in the wake of the Birmingham victory that, while Leeds don’t possess an out-and-out winger (especially since Ryan Hall seems to have tweeted himself right into the ordure), what we don’t lack is the potential for width – given the right team selection and formation.

All of a sudden on Sunday, the team looked to have clicked – doubtless the result of some hard work and hard talking during a fortnight away from the domestic routine while England took care of business at Wembley.  Birmingham were dire in the first half, but even in the second when the opposition improved, Leeds coped well, created chances and scored a lovely fourth goal.

The width came from more advanced positions for the likes of Byram and Warnock, either side of three central defenders.  Suddenly, we could start to think of the players NOT in the team, who might also have contributions to make to such a system, some of them from the bench, perhaps.  Diouf, Hunt, Varney. Possibly Dexter Blackstock if strong rumours of his imminent arrival on loan are true.

While the Forest player’s name sounds like that of a kids’ cartoon private eye, Blackstock has some pedigree and, if Brian McDermott feels he could add value to the squad, that’s a call worth backing.  It’s interesting to remember that Brian has said in the past he’d be looking for loans with a view to permanent signings in January – watch this space indeed.

Another likely arrival is that of former Hearts captain and central defender Marius Zaliukas, available on a free since his release by the Edinburgh strugglers.  Again, a central defender didn’t seem high on the shopping list a few days back, but if 3-5-2 is the way to go, we will need more numbers in central defence to cover injury and suspensions. It seems nobody has heard much about Zaliukas that isn’t good, save perhaps a slight tendency towards overdoing it on the “getting stuck in” front.  But those kind of players have always been well-loved at Elland Road.

It may well be that discussions during the international break resulted in a decision to give width from wing-backs an extended try – and that this is behind the sudden cooling of interest in wingers.  I still feel that Chris Burke from Birmingham would have been a sound acquisition, but if Plan A has changed to Plan B then our limited resources may be better used elsewhere.

It will be very interesting to see the personnel and shape on display at Huddersfield next weekend, and also whatever may have transpired in terms of recruitment in the meantime.  Another display and result to compare with the Birmingham game, and the atmosphere around LS11 could really start to perk up again.

15 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , ,

Brilliant, United!! Leeds Utd 4, Birmingham City 0 – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 20/10/2013 | 7 comments

Image

Cometh the hour, cometh the Beast.  As Leeds United vaulted out of the doldrums with a display of all-round excellence against Birmingham City today, it was action-man skipper Rudy Austin who was their drive and inspiration.  You can pick any cliché you like to describe the excellence of Austin’s bionic performance.  He gave 110%.  He covered every blade of grass.  He was a powerhouse in midfield, a last-ditch impassable obstacle in defence – he even found time to score the goal that provided United with a precious breathing space they’ve enjoyed all too rarely in recent times.

All that said, this was no one-man show.  From back to front, from top to bottom, Leeds were bang up for it today and would have beaten far better teams than Birmingham City, who were simply blown away by the hunger, commitment and endeavour of the Whites’ frankly voracious performance.  From the kick off, United set a tempo far too punishing for the hapless away team, and the Blues had to withstand ferocious pressure in a first fifteen minutes of siege football.  That they emerged without conceding from that opening quarter-hour was mainly about some casual finishing, but Blues had defended grimly and must have been hoping for some respite if the storm would just blow itself out.  Then City keeper Darren Randolph came out to make a neat interception but tried to be that bit too clever and had the ball nicked off him by the ubiquitous Austin.  A first time pass to Ross McCormack who looked up and, seeing an empty goal 25 yards away, calmly propelled the ball into it.

Leeds had earned that breakthrough and they now set about consolidating it. Birmingham had to redouble their defensive efforts as well as trying to make the odd foray upfield, but by and large they were swimming against a flood tide as white shirts poured forward and Leeds players won most first and second balls all over the park.  The inevitable second came after the half-hour.  McCormack found time and space wide left, and advanced on the defence before putting a quality ball into the City box where Austin, at the end of a lung-bursting 70 yard run forward, was found in splendid isolation on the edge of the six yard box to plant a neat header past the helpless Randolph.  The first half’s coup de grâce was administered by the towering Matt Smith who had headed a diagonal pass into the path of McCormack.  The striker’s shot from a narrow angle was saved, but Smith was on hand to identify the space at the near post and neatly wrong-foot Randolph to finish efficiently.

A 3-0 half-time lead was beyond the wildest dreams of the long-suffering Leeds faithful, who must have spent the interval torn between celebrating, pinching themselves and praying for a continuation of what had been a masterful performance from United, even allowing for the frailties of the opposition.  City came out with the intention of playing for pride and perhaps at least winning the second half.  The introduction of recent Leeds nemesis Nikola Zigic might have caused a few collies to wobble and Birmingham did show a greater presence in the game in the second half, pushing United back and causing the odd flurry in defence, one goal-line clearance from Tom Lees being particularly memorable with Paddy Kenny beaten by a lob.  But Leeds’ nerve held, their confidence remained high and they defended adequately when they had to while managing to attack dangerously at every opportunity.

The hard work and persistence of Austin with the subtler promptings of young Alex Mowatt, allied to Smith’s aerial presence and McCormack’s intelligent space-seeking runs, always promised a fourth goal to set the seal on a highly encouraging afternoon. That fourth goal, when it came, was a thing of beautiful simplicity.  Smith was the scorer on 74 minutes, having had an emphatic finish ruled out for a narrow offside decision two minutes earlier.  Now though, Mowatt received possession on the left in a tight enough situation to deny him the chance to do anything but feed in a first-time cross. This he did, and the quality of the ball to the far post was such that Smith’s second goal of the afternoon was served up to him cooked to perfection on a silver plate with all the trimmings.  It was a sumptuous cross and Smith snapped up the chance gratefully, powering an unstoppable header into the net at the Kop End.

This was a performance of verve and style from United, the shape and make-up of the team proving just right for the task of dispatching a Birmingham side who are capable of much, but who were simply not allowed to perform on the day and were, in the end, sent packing, well beaten and thoroughly demoralised.  City manager Clark bemoaned the crass defending that contributed to at least two of the four goals, but in truth he will be relieved that his team escaped a far more savage beating. In the first half particularly it had been men against boys and it’s no exaggeration to say that United could have run out winners by seven goals or even more.  As match-days go, it was the kind of occasion Leeds fans have been denied for far too long.  This was a banquet of a performance after too long on starvation rations, and every man played his part to the full, though nobody could deny the marvellous Austin his man of the match accolade.

All credit to Brian McDermott and his players who have evidently made good use of the fortnight’s international break to get a few things thrashed out.  The desire and hunger of this display was wonderful to see and it sets a standard that McDermott will wish to see as a default level of performance from now on.  Whether the squad is strong enough for the long haul is severely open to doubt and there are still wrongs to be righted there.  But United’s big win has shown that, on their day and with their main men available, they are capable of handing out no end of a hiding.  More of the same next week against Huddersfield would do very nicely indeed.

7 Comments

Posted in Football, Leeds United

Tagged , , , , , , , ,