I remember talking to some Sheff Utd fans in Hull, old time lads, similar age to me saying the PL was crap. People moaning and telling you to sit down because they wanted to gawp at the big stars, trouble getting tickets for away games.together. They were enjoying days out again. Found out what they meant. Maybe one of half a dozen who had gone away for years getting a ticket for the big games sitting next to, as happened to my mate at the Emirates, 2 women and 2 kids who all managed to get tickets sat together at playing on their phones and asking him to tell him who was who because it was their first game. Of course Leeds with their large away following can't keep everyone happy but at least their away tickets go to real fans. Then there is the way the "smaller" clubs don't get the rub of the green as far as decisions gol
That may happen yet mate, people forget with our owners we went into the premier league season with a squad of twelve players and beat the champions Leicester but ended up going down, no wonder
Every team gets lucky once or twice, just take a look at Cardiff beating Leicester today, who themsleves recently beat City. Odd things happen in football otherwise there wouldn't be any betting.
Wouldn't say it was luck today more good defending and taking chances but yes agree it does happen in football
just read again and having a few coders but was you regarding our Leicester win which again on the day wasn't lucky but through our the season our squad just couldn't cope. Yes agree strange things do happen
Go along with all of that. Supported Hull City since 1964, done the hard miles, Southend away on a Friday night, Swansea on a Tuesday etc countless times, bottom of the old div 4 at a time when rugby ****ing league in Hull was at it's height ( didn't last long thankfully) and finally we reached the premier league and suddenly you cannot get tickets for away games and we had to go in a ballot with 'fans' who didn't know Hull had a football club until we reached the Prem. Cheated at places like Arsenal and Chelsea, where diving is accepted and encouraged and bent star struck referee's do my head in. During our last season in the Prem we had 16 penalties given against us, a record for the PL. The best thing about the Premier League ? The journey getting there. Enjoy yours.
Anyway last time we played you thought we've no chance of staying up but thankfully we have really picked up, has for you results went your way today except against us but the position you are in i think you will do it, it's the best chance you have had in many a year so to the genuine long suffering fans hope you dohas for the others well sorryenjoy the ride
We are the Last Champions before it was spoilt by the big money and the Premier League. I hope we do manage to get there but I do wonder if we'll get priced out of it in the long run.
You and I both had better Saturdays in a lot of ways when we were crap and getting small crowds. Out for the day with like minded individuals. More fun and spontaneous. Prime example us being at Boothferry Park with 3,000 others needing to win to avoid relegation to the 4th division for the first time in our lives whilst tens of thousands of glory hunters were at Wembley for Hull FC v Hull Kingston Rovers, most of them for their first and last rugby league match. The celebrations matched anything since in many ways.
If you go up then that's when the problems start. Do you not spend a load and hope to stay up or bounce back up with parachute payments helping you like Burnley and West Brom have done. Or do you spend, having a problem with a large wage bill when you come down if you don't insert relegation clauses or lose a load of players if you do. When the Allams bought us we were about £40 million in debt after relegation. 8 years later following 2 further spells in the PL and parachute payments and taking in between £600million and £700 million we are now about £60-70 million in debt. And we have a pair of self proclaimed geniuses in charge who inform us we are the best run club in the FL. Who is going to buy us with those debts and not owning our ground. You would face similar dilemmas but at least, thanks to your owners, you have your stadium back.
We've already been there and done that and suffered the consequences having 15 years in the doldrums. I don't want to go back to paying silly money for anyone as they don't play for the shirt, I would rather build the team around our youngsters.There should always be clauses in contracts now as we have been burnt once and it should never happen again.
Excellent points and very close to my way of thinking. The real test for Radz will be if or when we get to the pl. he hasn’t the money to make us a big club there so hopefully we find an owner with substantial pockets
You were still paying Nick Barmby £20,000 a week whilst he was helping our climb up the leagues. Crazy. Then you read about that Chelsea player, can't remember his name he wasn't even a top player, who suddenly got a move to Europe. A Lambroghini worth £280,000 was left on the training ground car park. He had simply gone off and left it behind. I can recall working in Leeds and talking to Jack Charlton in his sports shop and my girlfriend talking to John Giles as he set up insurances. Madeley and others had to work as well. Same with my City idols. I remember bring at Preston in the early 1970s. We were in their social club and there was a bit of a stir. Tom Finney was walking by. I guarantee modern players won't be treated with the same respect and affection. My dad went to Brownhills school in Leeds. The goalkeeper in this picture was his English teacher playing for Huddersfield Town v Preston in the 1938 cup final. He told me he came in Friday morning, organised things and left to join up with the Huddersfield players and was back at work on the Monday morning. Times change, eh? please log in to view this image
My dad was a welder in the Glasgow shipyards at one time. At lunchtime, there would be a '100-a-side' football match with guys in dungarees & steel toecaps. Amongst the players were big names from the top clubs! Not only did they have to work, they loved their footie so much that they risked serious injury playing in these games, 'cos no prisoners were taken. Imagine being tackled from behind, two-footed, by someone who was wearing tackety boots with steel toecaps - and probably supported the team you were playing against on Saturday. And not one of them had a car either - they all travelled by bus - even to the match they were about to play in.
No I wasn't having a dig about either game. I was just saying that sometimes even with the best plans and abilities in the world luck plays a significant part in winning some games.
Some thoughts about the match....... First of all, the team didn't play badly, though there were many individual mistakes. I enjoyed it, even when 1 & 2 down. Secondly, despite what a lot have said, we weren't tired, physically or mentally. There was much effort & invention right up until the final whistle. In summary, it was simply a bad day at the office. Crap referee, 3 fine 'keeper saves & 3 clearances off the line. On another day ... I was intrigued that Harrison started again, so I decided to focus on him during this match. I've never been a fan of his, mainly because the hype before his arrival promised so much, but has never been delivered. (Not his fault, I guess, but he gets blamed for it anyway). So from that standpoint, you might be a bit surprised by what I say here about him. Basically, I think we should keep him. There, I said it! Why, you ask. Well I started having suspicions that his performances were not entirely all his fault, and I now believe that might be the case. What started me thinking about this was Alioski bursting into a run of form all of a sudden. I attribute this to him being moved to the right, and Ayling's return. Combined. Without boring you with the detail, they simply play really well together. So why did Alioski produce so many sub-par performances? Easy - he played on the left. With Douglas. And they didn't - and still don't - click. So, to Harrison. He's not really had a decent run, and as a result of this, it's been assumed that that's the reason for his poor form - well, that or simple lack of skill/application. I took this at face value too. Against Dull, I watched him do everything right (apart from 2 habits which I'll cover later). His movement on & off the ball, passing, crossing, vision, tackling - you name it, he did it ok. In fact, quite well. So where's it all going wrong then? Simple. Douglas. Yes, Douglas gets forward. Sometimes. But that's where his support of his winger ends. And it's not personal. He does it with Alioski too! Douglas imo is the root cause of the problem. I don't know if he's working under instruction, or is simply poor at what he does, but he is simply not fitting in. And I'm only speaking about the attacking aspect - it's widely known that his defensive qualities are not up to scratch - and he proves it often. I'm not going to go on about it. There's a perfectly good chance that I'm talking bollox - but do me a favour & keep an eye out. You'll really need to be at a game to assess, as a lot of the communication breakdown comes from off the ball movement, which you don't get to see on the telly. Happy to be ripped to shreds, but confident that you'll struggle. Oh, his 2 bad habits. First one is the obvious one - his defending. It's not that he doesn't show willing, he's just not too sharp at times at defensive duties, like tracking runners etc. Usually gives them a head start, but he's not got the pace to catch them once they've got away. Either that or the Dull midfield are Olympic-class sprinters. The second habit you prolly wouldn't notice unless you were focussing on him - and it's an important one. When he crosses, it's almost always the same type - he sends in a ball parallel to the 6 yd line, just out of the 'keeper's reach. No hitting the byeline & cutting back, & no early crosses either. Or very few, to be precise. Now this is a fine cross, don't get me wrong, but there's 2 things wrong with it. First is that it's predictable, and will have been noticed by opposition analysts, but the second is not only important, it's also farcical - the Leeds guys waiting for the cross are too far out for it. They're hovering just inside the 18yd box, presumably looking for a high ball to run on to, instead of a knee-level Exocet fizzing along 12yds in front of them. Someone needs to have a word & sort it out.
