Tag Archives: Elland Road

Leeds Front-Runner Hockaday Mirrors Beckham Experience – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 02/06/2014 | 34 comments
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Dave “Who??” Hockaday

With only two weeks to go until the World Cup in Brazil, former England captain and global superstar David Beckham has been back in the media spotlight. A camera crew has followed the intrepid Essex boy deep into the Amazon jungle where this veteran of footballing conflicts with the likes of Diego Simeone and the Sir Alex Taggart hair dryer has encountered more natural perils such as snakes, alligators and mosquitoes.

The biggest shock for the former Premier League pin-up boy, though, was the discovery that – a mere 800 miles into the usually impenetrable rain forest of the Amazon basin – there lives a tribe of people who have never heard of him. Think of that. A whole group of villagers who have lived, moved and had their being in total ignorance of the identity and global celebrity of David Joseph Beckham.

It really does defy belief – particularly as there is a thriving Spice Girls fan club in this remote outpost. Or perhaps that’s just a mischievous rumour. Whatever the case, the fact is that just about the most famous sportsman on the planet had to journey far, far into the back of beyond to find a spot where his name and fame have failed to reach.

Spookily, the surprises don’t end there. Although these rustic and agricultural people are blissfully unaware of the global celebrity of Mr Beckham, it turns out that they worship as a god another football personality entirely – one whose name is unknown practically everywhere else on the globe, with the possible exceptions of Blackpool, Swindon and Hull.

Paradoxical as it may seem in a society innocent of any trace of Beckham mania, it is the almost totally anonymous front-runner for the Leeds job, Dave Hockaday, who is revered and idolised by these simple farmers and tillers of the Brazilian earth. Ignorant alike of the magic of Beckham’s right foot and the legendary reputations of some of the world-renowned giants he’s played for (as well as Man U), the villagers ignored him completely – and yet plied the former Real and DC United star’s camera crew for more details of Hockaday, the man they venerate as a local deity.

What about Dave’s goal-scoring exploits at Bloomfield Road, they demanded, eagerly. Could they have details, please, of his coaching contribution to Watford’s play-off success in 2006? Why had Forest Green seen fit to part company with a legend such as Hockaday – and would he, could he now be tempted to take over at Elland Road?

The previously undiscovered Amazonian village was all abuzz with these burning questions, even as they scratched their heads and wondered aloud who this Beckham geezer was. Such total and uncritical worship of a man quite literally unknown everywhere else is a phenomenon just as striking, in quite the opposite fashion, as their total lack of any idea of Beckham’s own place in the Beautiful Game.

Meanwhile, in LS11 – a society just as insular as any to be found in a South American jungle – it remains unclear as to who exactly will be granted the dubious honour of succeeding previous incumbent Brian McDermott as Leeds United coach/manager/whatever. Whether it turns out to be Hockaday himself, Uncle Festa, or any other of the rumoured ten candidates to be interviewed by il Duce Massimo Cellino, the Leeds United fans are likely to be the last people whose preference will be taken into account. That’s the way the wind is blowing and the cookie crumbling around LS11 these days.

If it is Hockaday – then perhaps we can look forward to the formation of the Amazonian Jungle Branch of the Leeds United Supporters Club. Any suggestions of Beckham for Hon. President, though, are likely to be rejected. They’d be looking for someone with Elland Road connections and – ideally – a bloke they’ve actually heard of.

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Dear Massimo…. A Postcard From Filey to Leeds – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 31/05/2014 | 33 comments

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Dear Massimo

Weather beautiful, having a lovely time – wish you were here. In fact, I really wish you were here. There are a couple of questions that, given such a golden opportunity, I’d like to ask you. Things appear to be happening at Elland Road, just as this blog’s back is turned – a small matter of a silver wedding anniversary to celebrate. You know the way it is. How is the family, by the way? Anyway, as I was saying, change appears to be afoot down LS11 – and some of us out here are less than sure about the way things are going.

Personally, I’ve only had my eye off the ball for twenty-four hours or so – yet in that time, it transpires that the club is yet again unable to pay the playing staff. On the other hand, somebody appears to have found sufficient loose change – perhaps down the back of one of those banqueting suite sofas – to compass the demise of the manager. Whatever we out here may think of Brian’s predictable fate – and you’ll be aware, Massimo, that there are at least two schools of thought on that one – can the club really afford to be reaching settlements when the blokes at the sharp end aren’t getting their wages? We’ve heard the usual phrases – gentlemen’s agreement, mutual consent – but let’s face it, there’s always a few bob involved. One and a half million quid is what I’d heard. I know Brian’s a gent – a rare thing at Leeds United – but there’s a limit.

As far as this blog is concerned, no fuss will be made about the managerial change we could all see coming. New brooms tend to sweep clean, and no takeover is without its casualties. Being grown-up, sensible types, we know this. But given that mature and pragmatic outlook, what we crave above all is clarity – a few outbursts of frankness and information-sharing. If we know what’s going on, we tend to be happier and a bit more tractable. This is a significant consideration at that season-ticket selling time of the year.

The matter of our departed manager Brian is a case in point – but it’s not the only example of confusion arising out of mixed messages. We’d heard variously that you wanted to work with Brian, that you didn’t need a manager, that you couldn’t understand why the manager was at his poorly mum’s bedside rather than at his desk, and that you were astounded he hadn’t resigned. We have the likes of Lorimer and Gray to try and explain the meaning of this and other mixed bags – but you might concede that it’s not easy to pick the bones out of it all.

Would that it were only the managerial situation that’s causing such a mass scratching of heads – but things are confusing and bewildering in a wider sense, too. There’s the stadium and the now chained and padlocked training ground. It seems a long time now since you were speaking breezily of assuming control one day, and then nipping down the nearest ATM to withdraw enough cash to buy Elland Road the next. All of that early determination to act swiftly and decisively appears to have dissipated. We can well believe that you’ve found the odd skeleton in the closet – a mass grave and a veritable boneyard would not surprise us, given the immense dodginess of your immediate predecessors, to say nothing of the one before – or the chap currently in police custody in Dubai. We fans were ready for bleak news about the mess at Leeds United. What we’re really after is a revised statement of intentions in the light of the bodies you’ve dug up so far. For example, last I heard on Elland Road was the hope that it might come back under club ownership by November. Is that still the plan? It wouldn’t be surprising if it was becoming unlikely. But it’d be good to know.

Transfer policy is another thing. Mixed messages again there. Various younger Cellinos have been active on social media, outlining recruitment plans that appear to include Serie A players, an English left-back, and so on. The news from higher up is more confusing. Next season might well be one of fire-fighting and consolidation, we are told. But the club captain’s ambitions run more to a promotion challenge – and that’s quite reasonable, really. As a footballer, time is not on his side.

We are a little worried and unsettled out here, Massimo. Actually, that is to understate the case by quite a bit. Some clarity is badly needed – some good news would be welcome, too. In the absence of those two desirable factors, nerves are being shredded out here and fingernails nibbled. That’s hardly conducive to the making of financial commitments such as the purchase of highly-expensive season tickets – even if the club’s banking situation were sufficiently up and running to receive such payments. And we’re getting idiots from the likes of West Ham and no-mark clubs like that taking the mick, for God’s sake – how humiliating can it get?? We’re wondering, some of us, if it’s Fred Karno’s Army we’re following – rather than Super Leeds.

Sorry to be a nag – I know you’re busy. But all this gloominess and uncertainty is fair putting me off my cockles and mussels. So if there’s any chance of some positive tidings…? Thanks ever so.

Meanwhile, the weather continues fine on the East Coast’s golden sands. Off to Whitby today. Will write again soon. All the best!!

Rob

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Orient’s Dream Goes West as Rotherham Head for Elland Road – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 25/05/2014 | 6 comments
Championship's newest stadium

The Championship’s newest stadium

What a cruel, almost barbaric way to have your season ended by shattering failure.  For, whichever way you dress it up, failure is what it most surely is, once you’ve come all this way, through 46 gruelling league games and two bitterly competitive play-off semi-finals – only to fall at the very last hurdle, thwarted by the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.  Commiserations then to Leyton Orient, who have seen their Holy Grail snatched pitilessly from their grasp.

Meanwhile, it’s a case of “To the victors, the spoils” – and, as the TV commentator instinctively identified, Rotherham will be happily anticipating their trip to Elland Road next season above all their other fixtures.  We should welcome them to the Championship too, even though it means that our burden of chip-on-the-shoulder smaller Yorkshire rivals has been cut by only one, instead of two – as had seemed likely when Barnsley and Donny took the big fall. It’s up to the “new” Leeds United to cope with such inconveniences, as the team of the past few seasons has signally failed to do; basically, if we can’t take points from the likes of Rotherham (and the Wendies, and the Udders) – then we won’t deserve to do well.

All that is for next season, however.  Meanwhile it’s appropriate to congratulate Rotherham United – and their likeable manager – on a great display at Wembley and, of course, one of THE great Wembley goals of all time.  The Millers’ old Millmoor has been consigned to history, and I for one won’t miss that away end or the perilous alley behind it.  Their new stadium looks a fantastic place and, doubtless, the away end there will be packed out when it’s time for the Leeds United travelling army to visit the New York.

Well done Rotherham – see you next season.  Unlucky, Orient – and the best of good fortune in getting it right next time around.

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Giggs Named ‘Manager of the Year’ After Norwich Walkover – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 26/04/2014 | 36 comments
Those vile Giggs accusations

Those vile Giggs accusations

The football world was “United” on Saturday evening as the Mighty Man U proved that they are still the best team in the Universe – as long as they are guided by a true soccer genius and all-round nice guy, such as Ryan “Giggsywiggsy” Giggs.  It was a day of triumph for Giggs, who never put a foot wrong as he showed that, as well as being the greatest winger in the history of the game, he is also the finest coach quite literally ever.

This 4-0 walkover was started in the best traditions of the Pride of Devon with a penalty, as Welbeck went down over a non-existent foot inside the Canaries area.  Rooney gleefully converted with what must have been the finest penalty ever seen in the history of the game, to give the Rampant Reds a well-deserved half-time lead.  Second-half goals followed with Rooney completing his brace and sub Mata – introduced by Giggs in a stroke of managerial genius – also notching two.  The crowd at the Theatre of Hollow Myths thrilled to a display of attacking football, the like of which had never been seen before and put the legendary Brazilian team of the 1970 World Cup to shame.  On this evidence, it is impossible to dispute the wisdom of the Football Writers electing gorgeous, pouting Ryan as the best manager ever, even given his relative lack of experience at only 90 minutes.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Giggs has not had it easy on his path to becoming the Greatest Coach in the Universe.  He’s had to fight for most of what he’s got in life – just ask ex-girlfriend, former Hollyoaks starlet and sometime punchbag Davinia Murphy.  Now, the media are right behind Giggs as he takes on the task of restoring Man U to their former winning ways.  His loyalty and commitment cannot be questioned – except possibly by his cuckolded brother Rhodri – and we can be sure that Our Ryan will stop at nothing to restore his beloved club to the Champions League at the earliest possible opportunity – by next week in fact, if UEFA know which side their bread is buttered.

Meanwhile, Man U fans from Torquay to Bangkok will be relieved that a man whose essential character so closely matches that of their favourite club is finally in charge and ready to oversee a return to more familiar methods of winning games and titles.  To this end, Giggs has inherited the Fergie Stopwatch and is prepared to have his face dyed puce with that distinctive purple nose detail made famous by the gruff Glaswegian Taggart lookalike.  It seems as though the good times will be back sooner rather than later down Trafford way – and the English press will have something to celebrate from this season after all.

Bad taste Giggs jibes

Bad taste Giggs jibes

Despite the fact that some hold a less-than-flattering view of the Welsh Genius – brother Rhodri for instance has labelled him “a worm, a weasel and a bottler” – true football fans will be well aware that the Quorn-munching superstar, the deserving winner of a BBC Sports Personality Award despite not possessing one, has what it takes to rise above all that and prove himself to be the Greatest Person in Creation, following Ferguson and Busby before him.

So let’s hear it for that nice guy, football genius – and now proven world-class coach – Ryan Giggsy Wiggsy!!

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That LUFC Investment Update in Full – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 07/01/2014 | 21 comments
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News you already know update

  • Good Evening
  • We’ve been working hard and hope it’ll pay off
  • Andy Flowers is on board after his chastening Ashes winter
  • Erm….
  • That’s it, with regard to this one
  • Look, stop nagging OK?

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Happy Birthday to Tony, Tony Currie – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 01/01/2014 | 15 comments
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Currie for England

Very happy birthday wishes today for one of my late seventies heroes, probably still one of my favourite ever United players, though his stay was relatively brief and the team he graced was not of that vintage which lit up Elland Road only a few years earlier.  Tony Currie had been the idol of the Sheffield United fans at Bramall Lane, making over 300 appearances for the Blades in a nine-year spell after starting out at Watford.  But he played arguably his best football at Elland Road between 1976 and 1979, winning the bulk of his England caps in that period and inspiring a declining team in Leeds to three semi-finals.  What an option he would have been as part of the great Revie squad – one of the few players I can think of from the post-Revie era who could have held his own in that auspicious company.

Currie made his debut for Leeds United on a sunny August afternoon at Elland Road against newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion.  Coincidentally, Johnny Giles – whose mantle Currie was meant to assume as the creative heartbeat of Leeds – was in the opposition side that day as a 2-2 draw was played out, United coming back from two goals down.  It was my first solo trip to Elland Road and I was right at the front of the Lowfields as over 40,000 packed the ground.  I can vividly remember Paul Reaney right in front of me, looking up and shouting “Tony!” as he played a perfect ball up the line towards the Kop End for Currie – it was the first time I’d realised what a shouty place a professional football field was.  For some reason, that image is burned on my mind; it could have been yesterday.

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Currie of Leeds

As his Elland Road career progressed, Currie achieved cult status with the Leeds fans.  The chant of “Tony, Tony Currie” was a hymn of adulation to a flamboyant and gifted star – you always thought he was just about to do something special and unforgettable and, of course, he frequently did. One speciality was the volleyed pass out to the wing, invariably finding a wide player in space, the ball dropping perfectly into his path and United were on the attack.  To watch Currie run with the ball, doing that deceptive little shimmy of his to take him past a defender, leaving the guy for dead as he moved upfield, is not something that any Currie fan will forget.  Whilst he was at Leeds, he scored a couple of his most spectacular goals in an England shirt, to my intense pride.  But he frequently had his shooting boots on for United too – who can forget that legendary “banana shot” against Southampton in 1978?  For my money though, one of his finest goals was against Arsenal at Highbury on the opening day of that season, a searing shot into the far top corner from wide right, struck with the outside of his foot and giving the startled keeper no chance at all.  Liam Brady had already scored a wonder goal for the Gunners, but Currie’s superb strike took the honours on the day in another 2-2 draw.

Three losing semi-finals are all that Tony Currie had to show for his time at Leeds, but he provided so many golden memories and is rightly regarded as a legend by those of a certain age who were fortunate enough to see him strutting his stuff for Leeds.  He was an imperious player, a character on the park and a genuine, massive talent who really deserved to play for a team right at the top to crown his career with trophies and medals.  I wouldn’t have begrudged him that, but I was crushed when, with his wife wanting a move back to London, Currie left for QPR in 1979.  It was a bad move for him, though he did get to play in a Cup Final, even captaining Rangers in their losing replay against Spurs in 1982.  But his marriage didn’t survive anyway, and you just wonder how things might have turned out if Currie has stayed at Leeds – although that late seventies decline may have been too steep even for the talented Tony to prevent.

Tony Currie at Leeds was the classic example of the right man at the wrong time; in a better United side, he’d have shone even more because the gifts he had were tailor-made to complement those of the stars that had started to fade or had left the club by the time TC joined.  As it was, we may well have had the best of him during that golden three-year spell, although Sheffield United fans still hail him as their best-ever player.  It was to Bramall Lane that he eventually returned after his playing days were over, working in community roles for the club he’d served so well before moving to Leeds – and even starring as himself in the movie “When Saturday Comes” alongside Blades fanatic Sean Bean.

Tony Currie: maverick entertainer, sumptuously-talented midfield general, movie star and all-round good guy.  Thanks for the memories and a very happy 64th birthday.

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

Posted on 31/12/2013 | 14 comments
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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!

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Barnsley Pay the Price Against Bolton for Leeds “Cup Final” Exertions – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 27/12/2013 | 16 comments
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Barnsley’s biggest star

Both Huddersfield Town and Millwall have enjoyed league victories over the Mighty Leeds United this season – classic David and Goliath tales of tiny, grubby backwoods clubs enjoying their moment in the limelight as they contrive to overcome a world-famous footballing superpower.

Now, little Barnsley have got in on the “David” act, making their annual pilgrimage to Elland Road and managing to escape with a point clutched gratefully in their hot, sweaty little hands. The fallout was similar to that in the earlier two cases – joy unconfined, celebration and jubilation in excelsis, dancing and cavorting in the cobbled streets and who knows what other forms of primitive festivity.  It’s anticipated that there will be a sharp spike in the birth-rate nine months hence – though sadly the limited gene pool means it’s unlikely we’ll see any such augmentation of the average IQ figure.

All of this is quite understandable, given the chip on the collective shoulders of each respective band of David fans, where this Leeds United “Goliath” is concerned.  It’s probably most acute in Huddersfield, whose fans have had to live their lives in the long shadow of Big Brother from Elland Road on the one side, and of the Pennines on the other, their only protection from the barbaric hordes of Lancashire.

But Barnsley nurse their own local-envy grudge against Leeds, seeming to feel that they must succeed in this game at any cost.  A red card is deemed a fair price to pay as evidenced by the clogging of Marius Zaliukas

Whatever motivates these quaint if rustic people to nurse such savage hatred in their bosoms – and really, who could ever tell what goes on inside those misshapen heads? – there is certainly a galvanising effect on the team they support.  Those guys can be relied upon to play well above their usual form and give even superior Leeds sides a terrible time.  The motivational aspect is undeniable and, sadly, it costs an unwary United points that should be there for the taking.  This happens time and time again – every time a Leeds fixture is in the offing, the drums start to beat, the blood stirs and an atavistic glitter is to be seen in the eyes of otherwise placid and useless players.  We Leeds fans refer to it ruefully as “Cup Final Syndrome” – much to the annoyance of the unwashed hordes in opposition camps.   The Barnsley lot, for instance, would have you believe that Leeds is “just another game”.  But this is demonstrably not so.

Quite apart from the annoying regularity with which these dingy little clubs raise their performance levels against Leeds, another noticeable factor is the slump in performance immediately afterwards.  It’s as if the players, egged on by their desperate fans, have given every last drop of blood, sweat and tears and then gone on to draw on hidden reserves to complete the job, leaving them shattered and drained.  What inevitably happens next time out is that a team of pale wraiths take the field, wave and smile wanly at the applause due to them for the Leeds display, and then capitulate to whoever they are playing, simply too shagged-out from post Cup Final Syndrome to offer any resistance. After the Leeds v Barnsley game, I predicted that it would be defeat next time around for an exhausted set of Cup Final heroes.  “It’s quite probable now that Barnsley will go on to collapse to defeat against their next opponents,” I wrote.  Naturally, I was right – the Tykes slumped to a 1-0 home reverse against Bolton Wanderers yesterday, thus further proving the point I’ve been making – which is basically that Leeds have to show equal desire against these fired-up teams.  Their superior ability will do the rest.

The truth of the matter is, of course, that this “Cup Final Syndrome” is a real factor, one that can distort results and affect the whole season.  As I’ve previously written, Leeds suffer more than most from the phenomenon – not that this is any reason for sympathy.  It’s something Leeds have to sort out and overcome, if they are to achieve anything in the foreseeable future.  It’s just the loud and indignant denials you get – from the clubs who experience Cup Final Syndrome – that amaze me. They’re prepared to swear blind that there’s no such factor at play, and yet the figures speak for themselves – as you can plainly see if you look at the results for Huddersfield and Millwall in the wake of their hard-won victories over Leeds.

The managers of those clubs concerned might see things in a different light; they might argue that if their team can reach such heights and expend such effort when they play Leeds, then they could and should do it all the time.  But that’s the point – they can’t. They almost literally do give that hackneyed 110% against Leeds.  It is their cup final. They try and they try – and they come off the field, maybe victorious, but shattered and run down, their batteries as flat as the top of Wayne Rooney’s head.  They’ve nothing left to give, with predictable consequences next time out as they succumb, knackered.  It’s all there, in those results.

Maybe the Millwall and Huddersfield fans, Barnsley supporters too, would rather have a more consistent level of performance – and in that case, maybe they’d tolerate a less superhuman level of effort against the arch-enemy Leeds United.  But do you know, I somehow doubt it?  I have this sneaking suspicion that they’d rather continue to settle, grumpily maybe, but settle nonetheless, for mediocrity and runs of defeats for most of the season – just as long as they can have those wins against Mighty Leeds.  That, for them, is what it’s all about.  It’s not as if they’re going to go up anyway – so they need those Cup Final victories, they’re a validation of sorts.  It’s a defining characteristic of the type of club they are, with the type of fans they have.

So, you small-time, small club, small-minded envious pariahs – next time you hear Leeds United fans singing to you about “your Cup Final”, and feel moved to utter an offended bleat of protest – just bite your lips, and pause a second or two.  Think on.  You might just realise that what we’re singing to you is almost literally true.

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

Posted on 23/12/2013 | 38 comments
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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.

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“Cup Final Syndrome” Inspires Barnsley to Thwart Leeds – by Rob Atkinson

Posted on 21/12/2013 | 56 comments
Marius Zaliukas - clogged by Tudgay

Marius Zaliukas – clogged by Tudgay

On the day that we lost David Coleman, the man who so memorably commentated on Leeds United’s only FA Cup Final success, it was the Cup Final mentality of smaller Yorkshire rivals which, yet again, intervened to make a liar of the formbook.  That nagging chip on the underdogs’ shoulders acted to dispense with the gulf in class, which is evident from a glance at the league table, and to produce a result nigh-on as daft as the Barnsley fans apparently celebrating some sort of trophy success at the final whistle.  Such evident confusion is perhaps understandable – it’s 101 years since their only piece of real silverware, and even that was upstaged by the loss of the “Titanic”.

It was one of those games, a bad day at the office, a match where nothing dropped for Leeds.  Choose your cliché and go with it.  Ultimately, it all boils down to the same thing: dropped points for Leeds against inferior opposition who simply dared not give less than heart and soul plus blood, sweat and tears, urged on as they were by the rabid hatred their fans bear for the Elland Road club.  For Leeds, Matt Smith missed a hat-trick of reasonable chances, and the game rather passed their other recently effective performers by.

This enhanced desire on the part of smaller clubs against United is something I’ve written about before, and far too many of the “Yorkshire derby” games follow this same, frustrating pattern for Leeds, costing valuable points that add up to a significant dent in the team’s potential over the season.  Huddersfield benefited from the same thing; even Doncaster performed well above themselves last week in losing to United at home.  Barnsley, though, are a case in point.  This disappointing (for Leeds) goalless draw was actually one of our better results against the men from Oakwell, who apparently view the two games against United as the main part of the season, with the other 44 matches a chance for some not all that well-earned relaxation.

The type of performance that Barnsley, as well as several other hotly-resentful Yorkshire clubs, manage to produce against Leeds leaves them open to charges of dishonesty and cheating their manager with the poverty of their displays in other games.  Barnsley have been pathetic for most of this season, but you just knew they’d be bang up for it against Leeds.  That said, it’s a thing that the Whites simply have to learn to deal with – there can be no excuses, whatever the lop-sided motivation of the opposition, for failing to take full advantage of a poor team.

It’s quite probable now that Barnsley will go on to collapse to defeat against their next opponents.  After all, that’s what normally happens – look at Huddersfield’s next few results after their 3-2 success earlier in the season.  Unless new manager Danny Wilson can inspire his team to repeat today’s determined effort, the delighted Tykes fans can look forward to some Christmas and New Year misery as their knackered heroes ease off into post-Cup Final torpor.  None of which helps Leeds; it simply serves further to illustrate the annoying nature of this extremely annoying and inconvenient phenomenon.

Ouch!!

Ouch!! Red card for Tudgay

There were no real winners today; Barnsley’s point leaves them rooted to the foot of the table, whilst Leeds’ failure to grab all three dents their hopes of consolidating a play-off position – even though the league position improved slightly from 6th to 5th.  United will hope to get back on track in front of the live TV cameras at6 Blackpool on Boxing Day.  It is to be hoped that central defender Marius Zaliukas will be fit enough to play after being clogged by Tudgay, a challenge that saw the Barnsley man receive a straight red card.  Leeds will already be without Luke Murphy, suspended after his 5th yellow of the campaign.

Allan Clarke, the man who scored that Wembley goal to win the Cup for Leeds in 1972, played for and managed both of these clubs.  His presence in either forward line today would probably have resulted in at least one goal, with his clinical ability making some sense out of the hurly-burly in either penalty area.  As for David Coleman, the iconic commentator who intoned “Clarke…..one-nil!” on that day over 41 years ago – well, even he would have found it hard to enthuse about this one.  A very unmemorable and disappointing day for United  – but yet more faux “Cup Final” joy for plucky little Barnsley.

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