More from paddy. https://tbrfootball.com/patrick-bam...marsch-as-soon-as-he-was-sacked-by-leeds/?amp He somehow manages even …. in his comments about his relationship with JM… to make it all about him. He comes across as implying he’d have saved Jesse if he’d been fit. It’s hard to tell sometimes if he’s just mind-numbingly arrogant and lacking self-awareness or - for one perceived to be well/spoken for a footballer - just clumsy in his word choice. Maybe what he meant to say was ‘I was sorry that I was never fit enough to help the cause’ interpret as you will
You won't be surprised to hear that in my opinion that's all a load of nonsense. According to Arsenal c*nt Keown, who was quoting Deloitte, we're ranked 10th in Europe in terms of turnover. That's fantastic progress from a club that was out of the top flight for 16 years and are only in our 3rd season back amongst the elite. There will always be clubs with way more money to spend than us and of course it was ever thus, but when they've filled their 25 man squads there's still enough top flight players and unpolished gems out there to be able to compete. It's not a level playing field and never has been so no point in getting grumpy about it now
Just calling it as I see it Jamster. Don’t give a damn what any of the pundits opinions are. Competing successfully for the lower pl clubs is to aspire to finsishforty points behind the winners some day
Seems Brighton are bucking the trend whilst making a profit on transfers and managers, whilst we're massively underachieving for the amount of money invested in the squad. Which is nothing to with Man City, Chelsea or whoever and what they choose to spend by the way.
I read quite an interesting article yesterday about a club set up by disgruntled Arsenal fans in the twelfth level of English football called Dial Square. Similar to the Salford situation it is based a bit on fed up with the direction the board are taking the club but it is much more about the fabric of the game itself. These guys have given up season tickets they have had for 20 odd years because of the ridiculous money in football that doesn’t sit well against how ordinary people live. They got fed up with the sterile atmosphere, not blaming the new stadium itself (although it was acknowledged that lack of standing had changed the match day experience). The bigger problem was the people buying tickets now, especially season tickets and corporate. Lots of these are gobbled up by businesses for Customer entertainment but, worse, lots more are bought by people who simply see them as trophies of their wealth. People with little or no interest in the game, who spend most of the time on their ‘phones when they can be bothered to actually take their seats. When I read something like that it explores things like player loyalty, fan engagement and what success means in my mind. I am definitely seen as pro Rads and probably an Orta supporter (there’s a tune in there somewhere). It actually isn’t really that, these people will move on in time and be replaced by better or worse but I will still support Leeds. Regardless of our league position and form I will still be tuning into dodgy tv and hoping like mad we win. If we lose, I will rinse and repeat next week. If we go down, the whole process will start again. It is all disappointment tempered by hope but it is something earthy and real. My spine tingles every time I hear our crowd get the noise up properly. I would love us to, somehow build a team from the youth set up married with a few astute signings that could compete with the elite like the 60’s and 70’s. The problem is, as soon as we have a really hot prospect, every team on the planet will know about him (am I allowed to say him?) and there will be an agent trying to engineer a move to one of the “big” clubs and 50 grand a week by the time he is 14. That is why I find some of the vitriol against our board a bit unfair. To even be competing at all in the Premier League after the Ridsdale nightmare, the Bates years, the skint Arabs and the embarrassment that was Coco is remarkable in itself and I remind myself every so often, we could have been starting as a Dial Square type club because we had no choice. Man U can take their wealth and build a sterile corporate cash waving borefest and see if they can outbid Chelsea for every player in the world and then stroke their cocks for qualifying in the Europa League. Me, I will make do with our Luke Aylings, hope the odd Charlie Cresswell makes it and Victor (or whoever) signs more Gnonto types than fat Kev’s. Won’t make any difference to me, I will be staying with Leeds forever, or at least until the world stops turning round.
I completely understand your perspective fella. There is an argument for being more connected to a club in lower league football. I kind of fell out of love with football for a while. It was the bielsa years and watching the simple joys of kids football that reignited a bit of football passion in me. Funnily enough watching pushy parents, and clubs scrabbling for signatures of 7 year olds, has now started to have the opposite effect. Never lost my love of Leeds though. It’s in the blood isn’t it. For all the PL leaves a bad taste I can’t control that. I want my team to be as successful as they can so I’d rather be in it. The ‘price’ over time may be a further eroding of what that physical club is - a money making corporate machine where the fans are just customers. But I see the real ‘club’ as being guys like us and regardless of who wears the shirt or runs the physical actual ‘club’ - for some, probably unexplainable, reasons (but steeped in our memories… nostalgia.. tribal sense of belonging.. whatever) it will always matter to us.
Just think how much fun it would have been if we'd gone bust and reformed in non League. Rampaging through every division, winning 40 games a season and not having to move endless games for Sky and BT
or still being midtable in non-league looking enviously up at Harrogate town whilst looking forward to the big derby with guiseley
Excellent and can s e exactly where those Arsenal Fans are coming from. Like others have said I’m a Leeds fan but not a pl football fan. Not sure if that even makes sense
Great article Doc. A few points. I do think lock-down came at the time for us. We had a small squad, and the players would have needed a rest. That's not to say we weren't due an assist. The amount of times, decisions or results have conspired against us (even in recent times), are contemptuous For me, the problem occurred in the Summer of 2021 when we failed to strengthen. We had just finished 9th, and the club (whether it be Bielsa saying he was happy with his squad or Radrizzani wanting to save money) decided to rest on their laurels, expecting to glide through the next season. It's not that unusual to see a promoted club excel in their first season in the top flight. We've seen it from Sheffield Utd, ourselves, Brentford and now Fulham. As I said at the time, when you're riding the crest of a wave, you already have the momentum with you, plus it would have been easier to attract the better players. To stand still almost cost us our top flight status, and the reality is, it still might!
You could have your own table pitchside complete with white tablecloth and butler. I can picture you now resplendent in stripey blazer and boater all in Leeds colours.
You enjoyed it because we were the richest, best supported club in that League. Sounds awfully like being Man U or City or Chelsea in the PL today and to be honest that's what some fans want isn't it. Qatari or some other mega billionaires money.
Many forget Bielsa stating he was happy with his small squad but omit to reference that and blame the owner fully.
