Any club with an ounce of ambition or any idea how to build a team, would not have sold Gradel before first signing a replacement. Do we do things that way? Like hell we do. Sell the crown jewels and then spend the rest of the season trying to repair the damage done. We were lucky the way the fixtures came out, two poor outfits in a row at Elland Road and were lucky to beat both. Now just how long can our luck hold out for?
Newcastle did the same with Carroll. Except they got the money straight away and were able to still salvage a satisfactory finish, while we know that this money A) arrives in installments and B) will never see the light of day again. Obviously Bates thought Nunez was capable and that theory's been turned on its head in the last two games, so I guess we'll see Lloyd Sam step in. The bottom line is that we shouldn't have sold Gradel at all - there was no need to find an inadequate replacement after selling him, because he was a contracted Leeds player who we could have retained a la Beckford 09-10! And let's face it - even if we had 3m, there's no way the replacement would have come near to Gradel's contribution, whoever he was. The whole affair was a disgrace and marked the transition to selling club. There was doubt with the Schmeichel and Delph transfers, but none whatsoever here.
I TOTALLY DISAGREE - Gradel handed in a transfer request and made an emotional plea for Grayson to let him go home because he misses his family, would he have been the same player if we forced him to stay?? He would have left for nothing next season anyway because he wanted to go back to France and he hasn't gone to a Championship rival. Also as good as Gradel is we have Sam, White and Nunez/McCormack that can stand in on the wing and to be honest goal scoring hasn't been the problem so I think Leeds got this one right. Now selling your only goalkeeper without a replacement lined up was foolish but as it happens - turned out very well in the end
I agree with you, how can you plan for the sale of a key player when you had opened up contract talks in May, he had said he would reject any contract as he wants to move to a team challenging in Europe at the end of his contract, and as far as SG knew he was going to be a Leeds player up until that point, but on the last day of the window he poured his heart out, it would of been a Tevez situation all over.
We had one lined up - called Jason Puncheon. He was about to sign for us when he pulled out to go to QPR.
We should have held on to Gradel, allow him to see out his contract, better still we should have offered him an improved one at the end of last season. Players hand in requests all the time and they get ignored, Fabregas Arsenal last year and Moderic and Spurs this year plus a ton of others.
At the end of last season we opened up contract negotiations and he said that at the end of his current contract he wanted a move to a team playing in Europe, so no contract was offered.
Leeds fans have short memories... Everyone was dying for nunez to get played and he has now had 2 bad games and all of a sudden hes ****. Bates wouldn't have made the decision to sell gradel without getting a replacement anyway. You need to remember that it was most likely grayson's decision to sell him and i still think that it was the right decision, everyone said not selling beckford was bad business and all of a sudden we shoulda done the same thing with gradel. People really do go back on things they say.
we got less than 2mil for gradel which is piss poor for a player of his talent and age. we may as well of kept him as we'd finish much higher with him than without even if he sulked a little.
maybe.. but if we didnt get promoted with him, it woulda been for nothing. The way i see it, is that we have just as likely a chance to get promoted without him. Our whole team last year was so focused on snoddy and gradel and if they weren't doing well then we werent. Just like the year before with beckford
gradel was player of the year, but your saying were just as good with out him?. hmmm not sure that makes any sense what so ever
Makes no sense. Were not as good as last season no matter what rose tinted glasses you choose to look through
The goalkeeping situation was totally different. First & foremost, nobody was more up in arms at the sale of Kasper to Leicester than myself. In the end, I am more than happy with his replacement(s)! However, the Grayson bashers need to take note..... the sale of Kasper had nothing to do with the manager. The sale was done & dusted by none other than our esteemed Chairman. Grayson was told after the deal was done - FACT.
So move his family to England. If he was really missing them, he wouldn't have been begging for a contract extension at the start of the summer. Unless he suddenly started missing them for some indeterminate reason which wasn't there before. And let's face it, he didn't. We only have Sam who's a proven winger and he's nothing like as good as Max. The point is that it was done on the last day of the window. Well, that it shouldn't have happened at all, but of all the times to do it, this was the most stupid and misopportune of them all. The whole situation couldn't have gone worse when I think about it. It's not good enough just to get an 'umm, I might sign for you'. You need a contract signed before you can securely replace someone. Not that Puncheon would have been as good as Max anyway. Lies. No other word for it. Everyone was dying for him to get played BEHIND THE STRIKER. All of a sudden, he's **** ON THE WING. No, people just have different opinions. Generally they are consistent with those. "Bates wouldn't have made the decision to sell gradel without getting a replacement anyway" Well he did! That's exactly what happened. As if Grayson wanted to lose quite probably our best player. No sane manager would approve that transfer unless there were pressure upon them from upstairs.
We had Puncheon and Bentley saying they wanted to come to us but they both fell through. If a player doesn't want to play for the club, then good-luck and goodbye! We don't buy players to sit on the bench - Sam/Nunez should be having the games of their lives until January to prove they should be in our first XI and if they don't, then goodbye to them too! If McCormack wasn't playing so well up top, I'd endorse putting him wide, but he's our best striker atm (alongside Luc) so we have to keep him up top.
McCormack had his best spell at Cardiff on the left wing and could play there for Leeds if we play 4-2-3-1, but I agree with LondonWhite88 about how well he is playing up front at the moment and I would keep him there with Becchio. Sam/Nunez should take this opportunity with both hands as this may be their best opportunity to cement a first team place. Also if we sign Pugh, then White could be used as a winger.
