Yet another week of no action by the club, the new owners and the old owner. The promise of European football may sound great, but without having bags of cash to compete properly it’s a way of destroying your club on the back of vanity and misplaced ambition. Yes Leeds have done it in the past and were challenging in Europe almost every season for a long time, but that was because we were one of the top clubs in England and Europe. Yes today we see clubs like Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City, Arsenal being able to have a go due to their cash and squad quality/size. Clubs that have done well in our domestic league and then qualified for minor European competitions have invariably come a cropper in our own league. Just think what happened to some clubs in the recent past: Wigan, Swansea, Hull, Everton, WHU, Southampton, Burnley, Wolves and Leicester. These clubs all went backwards and mostly relegated or fighting relegation. So for me if we ever get back into the Prem I will be happy with 7th place because without plenty of cash and plenty of players it’s a recipe for failure just an owners vanity project. You could also add Spurs into this because Poch did great taking them to the Champions League final but ever since Spurs have gone backwards. I accept not dropped into a relegation fight because they are still a very wealthy club, but making huge losses. And now West Ham have got to make choices after Wednesday nights glory. Do they sack Moyes or back him because his team struggled this season with a relegation fight whilst playing in Europe. Next season they are in Europe again and cannot fight on both fronts without big cash to bring in a lot of players. The manager fiasco was caused by Orta in choosing Jesse Marsch. We go from a high pressing high possession based style of football to a coach who wants to play narrow and use tackles as a form of attack. also leaving the defence exposed to quick counter attacks due to using a high line and pushing defenders upfield. Complete wrong choice and when you look at Brighton who lost Potter to Chelsea a coach who plays high possession football replaced by a coach none of us had heard of in De Zerbi who plays even more high possession football, basically a better version of Potter. What will we do? Finally here’s something that should cheer many up and maybe upset a few like Phil Hay who learn more from sites like this than doing actual journalism. The Sampdoria deal involves QSI and there is also a theory that Radz has the backing of the 49ers and in particular Parag Murathe. If the link is fact then the Samp deal is brilliant news for us and Sampdoria and PSG. Player loans between all 3 clubs brings massive financial rewards and also means no transfer fees … on paper anyway. The facts so far is that Radz is very close to QSI, also close to Murathe and a similar plan was agreed 2 years ago with the 49ers whereby Radz would pick up a couple of clubs in Europe and Leeds would form Leeds Football Group along the lines of Red Bull, City Football Group etc, this seems to be route to market? Also published yesterday a top 20 of the biggest sports owners in the world: 11. 49ers Enterprises Value of $5.97 billion and properties include San Francisco 49ers, Leeds United* FC, Elevate Sports Ventures* 12. City Football Group Value of $5.96 billion and properties include Manchester City, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC
Think Ive mentioned this already but on a personal level Ive found it difficult to form any sort of connection with players while in the PL. You knew they were basically journeymen with little or no interest who they play for, it's the paycheck that counts. That's fair enough too, it's the modern game. If best we can ever hope for is a repeat of last two seasons, I'm not terribly bothered if we don't get back. Add to that the nonsense of never wanting to compete in any of the cup competitions either. Is it too much to ask for to have eleven players on the field weekly giving their absolute all. Seemingly is but shouldn't be. If the 49ers eventually buy the club it has to be a drastic improvement on Radz. Like it or not, club wont ever prosper by selling best players and hoping u21's will fill the void, we've seen that first hand. I don't envy whoever comes in the rebuilding job as its a massive one
Eire we have all criticed Victor Orta but by the end of the summer I bet he will be hailed as a visionary or some such crap, simply because of the money we are likely to bring in for some of our players. Llorente will go for a minimum of £10m so not bad after having him for 3 years. Rodrigo will go for a minimum of £20m which is very good after 3 years Koch will go for the money we paid for him Firpo will be at least £10m Gnonto will go for at least 6 times what we paid for him Drameh will go for 5 times what we paid for him Roca will go for at least what we paid for him Wober will go for more than we paid for him Summerville will go for 8 times what we paid for him Aaronson will go for a slight loss or maybe kept and loaned out to increase his value Bamford will go for a profit A lot of our players are coveted by other clubs which backs up the argument of not playing to their potential due to shyte coaches
Let’s see what they go for and frankly I’m not too bothered. Putting quality on the field in Leeds jerseys is all I’m interested in and he failed miserably in that. All this hiding behind ones for the future etc etc. we deal in the present, that’s what dictates our league position and ultimately satisfies the fans. Where will gnonto future be. Will he even play again for us after a handful of appearances
Levy the owner who has killed Spurs has today said exactly what we would say at Leeds, except that the tight twat is trying to force the new coach into using his kids rather than spend cash. Everything in an owner that’s wrong for the fans “We’re currently paying the price where some of the acquisitions have not turned out to be as we hoped”. “We wanted Ange Postecoglou to play attacking football & trust the Academy”.
Well that is the most positive spin ever (you’re not VO by any chance are you)? Llorente will be sold at a loss + wages Rodrigo (allegedly) has a £3 million clause, either way he will be sold for a loss + wages Drameh will go for £5 million based on your math’s but won’t cover losses as above (if bought for the reported £1 million) Wober and Roca hope you’re right but can’t see why Summerville like Drameh, depends on what we paid for him to see if it’s money that can help Aaronson. Massive loss if anyone actually wants him Bamford, not a hope he’s going, no one is paying those wages for him
The EFL are now the only ones holding up the transition from Radz to the 49ers. I think we'll see things really start moving on Monday.
Leeds United chairman Andrea Radrizzani has agreed a deal to sell his stake in the relegated club to co-owners 49ers Enterprises. Step one in the rebuilding process. Radz on the whole has been good for the club but now is the time to move on.
YEP finally got onto the rich owners in football list I mentioned in the OP. Here is the Premier League rich list that the YEP have extrapolated from the worlds richest sports companies list I quoted where Leeds were number 11 in world terms and on this list number 10. Newcastle £320bn (massive) City £23bn Chelsea £11bn Arsenal £10.5bn Liverpool £8.3bn Fulham £7.4bn Man Utd £6bn Aston Villa £5.3bn Wolves £5bn Leeds Utd £4.7bn West Ham £4.6bn Spurs £4.2bn Palace £3.3bn Leicester £3bn Forest £3bn Everton £2bn Bournemouth £1bn Southampton £1bn Brighton £765m Brentford £24m
Morning all. The week for Leeds United ends on a more positive note, I feel the announcement was done to make the conversations with the next coach a bit easier. Now the new man in knows exactly who his bosses will be. I’d expect a coach to be appointed before the end of next week. Onwards and upwards, few of us our going to be totally onboard with a new coach no matter which of the genuine contenders it is. The plus side is if we can hold on to just a handful of the likes of Gnonto, Drameh, Cresswell, Summervile then it won’t matter too much if any new coach is slightly lacking as we’ll have one of the better teams. I think on reflection we shouldn’t worry if they’re good enough for the premier league, get us promoted then reassess.
I hope we get some serious cash as we now have an owner who gets us into the rich list. I’m sure they will see it as failure if we are not promoted first time of asking, after all this is a business for investors who demand a return. I cannot see us appointing a head coach who is seen as a gamble and they should be able to sell their vision to a very good coach with a track record……
Morning doc. Hope you don’t mind but I posted up the full article for the non Phil Hay haters to have a read for Those without an athletic subscription