Calm to storm at Leeds United: How did it come to this? Rewind to the start of April and Leeds United appeared to be sailing in calm waters. Unbeaten in five, safe from relegation and with their young players to the fore: a rare opportunity to relax and look forward to next season with some optimism. That was until the storm of 'mad Thursday', with assistant manager Steve Thompson suspended without explanation and news emerging that the club's top scorer had effectively been put in mothballs. Since then there have been three defeats in a row, the position of manager Neil Redfearn is in doubt, and there are fears that the futures of young guns Lewis Cook, Sam Byram, Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor could lie elsewhere. So how did it come to this? To try and understand, we need to go back to the end of last year, to December 30th to be precise, when Leeds United had just lost 2-0 away at Derby County. In truth, the scoreline flattered them, because they were completely outplayed. They were 20th in the table, just one point above the relegation zone. And I, for one, thought they would be relegated. It was at this point that Redfearn decided that if he was going down, he'd go down his way. So at the start of 2015, out went the diamond formation and in came 4-2-3-1. Out went Bianchi, Doukara and Antenucci, and in came Murphy, Morison and Taylor. Massimo Cellino has always told me he has never, ever, told a manager who to select. But he's also quite clear that he oversees transfers. And it doesn't sit well with the owner if a manager overlooks these signings. Anyway. Back to the turn of the year and the turn in fortunes. One January signing, Sol Bamba, made a difference. And Thompson started to make an impact, too. Murphy and Bamba, in particular, paid tribute to the help he had given them. And, perhaps most significantly of all, Redfearn started to get the best from the young guns he had nurtured through the club's academy. Results picked up dramatically. Among the impressive results were wins over high-flying Bournemouth and Middlesbrough. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Leeds were one of the form teams in the division. Then came mad Thursday and that optimism evaporated. Underlying all of this, from day one, has been a tension between the foreign and English contingents at the club - or perhaps more accurately, between the staff of the Cellino era and the rest. Despite the impressive results, the club's hierarchy were frustrated that the new signings - Montenegro, Cani, Doukara et al - were not getting a chance in the side. Whether or not this came direct from Cellino, who was banned (and in Miami), I can't say. But the frustrations of 'the board' were conveyed to the manager. Some of the foreign signings - Berardi, Bamba, Silvestre - mixed in with the rest, but the others didn't. And suddenly there was not only Salerno at training - who Redfearn always got on well with - but his 'assistant' as well, a young man named Andrea, who had previously worked in a shop in Miami before being brought to Leeds by Cellino. What was the 23-year-old Frenchman doing at training? What was his background in football? All these tensions boiled over with the Antenucci affair. To recap, chairman Andrew Umbers told Redfearn he was not to select the striker because he was two goals away from triggering a clause that would give him another year's contract. Redfearn said he would go along with this, but only so long as he could be honest about the reasons for not picking the player. After all, his form had picked up and he'd scored in his last two games. But he was told he mustn't do that. When Thompson and Redfearn arrived for work on the morning of Thursday April 2nd, Bellusci and Antenucci were laughing. That seemed strange, but the reason soon became clear when Thompson was handed a letter, signed by Nicola Salerno, informing him he had been suspended. Redfearn later spoke to Antenucci. "I stuck up for you, Mirco, and my mate got suspended," he said. "Now you're laughing about it." Antenucci felt pretty bad about that. And, to be fair, his attitude, in both training and the matches, has been good and he earned a place in the side. Cellino, in turn, denied that Redfearn had ever been forbidden from selecting the striker. When I spoke to the club's Italian owner last week, he revealed Salerno had tendered his resignation, but said he hoped to talk him out of it. It's hard to escape the conclusion that Salerno - who is described as a gentleman by pretty much everyone at Elland Road - felt very awkward about the events of the last fortnight. So the club has no assistant manager, no sporting director and a manager on the brink. The reasons for Thompson's departure are still not entirely clear. Cellino told me it was because he had called Salerno a '******' after the Fulham game, which Leeds won 3-0. He also said he was still committed to the club and that they needed four or five new signings to mount a promotion charge next season. In short, what we have is a situation of confusion, uncertainty and turbulence. Article by Simon Austin
Morning Elland. Read that and to be honest just usually **** at Leeds. Another summer of it ahead and likely many more seasons until club finally implodes completely. I for one dont expect anything else other than chaos
You couldn't make this crap up, but year after year, season after season (12 now ffs) we plumb the depths of ****osphere. Soap opera isn't the word we should use because a soap with the same story line for 12 years would have been taken off air years ago. Not sure what will happen, who will come or who will stay, which owner we get, who will be in jail and who should be in jail. How much longer will the loyal fans stay before they do what many thousands of scum fans did, and what Blackpool fans did. Maybe its time Farsley Celtic, Harrogate Town et al see some crowd increase.
Good morning Matt from a rather cold dull Bardsey #What we need is stability and it doesn't look like our owner knows how to provide it .WJ reported last week that Bamba had been told he wouldn't be getting a contract and his form as since dipped what do they expect? Can't wait for the season to end
I would expect that whilst he is being paid a wage he should still perform and give 100% - On the same theory you could say that if he was offered a 2 year contract then he would also not give 100% as he was only putting in a shift to earn that contract. I simply believe that he was fortunate in a couple of games and unfortunate in others, he is a good CB that will be found out from time to time like anyone else. We keep looking for excuses when the glaring obvious one is that we are signing players who are simply not good enough. We have a few average players, some promising ones and a lot of average ones.
All that has happened is the paper has come away from the cracks we were relegation material, flattered by a few fortunate results, some believed the hype. Those that actually knew what they were talking about knew we were getting a lot of luck. We are 16-19th in the championship side on paper and that's where we will finish. At least I called it right all the way along despite some of you creaming your pants at the new dawn.
Personally, I think this piece ^^^^ is a load of crap, but if there is any truth in it Redfearn should grow a pair of bollocks and tell the Italians to go **** themselves and stick their job up their arseholes, and then go make a press conference and tell everyone what the **** is happening at our club,. instead of dividing the fans over Cellino and co, and drawing his undeserved wages every week. How many managers get sacked then start moaning about how bad it was because the chairman didn't keep his promises blah blah blah, I'd have more respect for Redfearn if the above post were true and he took a stand, told the Eyeties to **** off and spilled the beans All we get on here is what people think is happening behind the scenes, then all of a sudden it becomes fact. If Redfearn had any principles, especially after his pal was suspended, he would do this. Tell the Leeds fans what is going on, then something could be done from the fans perspective, don't start gobbing off about it when Cellino finally sacks you after the Rotherham game. He should be sacked for not having a clue and playing a big lump who hasn't scored for 2 years in my opinion anyway
OLOF,well said eople just invent what is going on, So redders sees two italiens speaking italien and laughing and assume they are laughing at thommos sacking,before he had even been sacked, Funny how he blames all the older olayers but his youth lot are blameless, As the old saying goes if your good enough your old enough. We are safe but never gives the fringe players a chance,fair play for starting philips tho. All day sesh fella?
nice one OLOF ... what we do know is Redders is on a £50k bonus if Leeds finsh 12th or higher, which is probably why Cellino has let him be as he knows Redders won't achieve this ... playing Morison is stupid, may as well give Monty a go ... ignoring Adryan and putting it out there that the lad doesn't "understand the Championship" is evil, because such talk can destroy a youngster's career ... he's run Cook into the ground in his breakthrough season, so don't be surprised if Cook stays injured until January 2016 ... our kids are allright but they are running out of steam, so freshen things up and use the squad ... Sharp hasn't been given a 5-game run to find his form, so why not do it to try and fix the struggle to score goals ... Redders, as much as he is Leeds, is an Academy Manager and that is where he should stay ... Brian Kidd was excellent as number 2 for Scum, but when he stepped up to become boss at Blackburn he fell apart, because its not what he's good at ... many other assistant's have failed to step up to the head honcho role, and Redders is showing us he can't make proper use of his resources because he can't demand the respect of his ENTIRE squad ... Redders is far too cautious for this division, and he's an excuse making loser ... his "Leeds can contend in two seasons time" is not good enough for this club, because if you want this job then you need to work your butt off to get success right away ... we are Leeds Fcuking United, and we're sick of stumbling along in this division, so pull your finger out, stop finding reasons we can't succeed and crack on, become a legend or step aside Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Olof asked a great question about Redders telling the fans what's been going on behind the scenes. The facts are that we hoped firstly Grayson would spill the beans on Bates, and then Gary Mac and then Sheffield Neil and then BMcD but none of them have, money talks and truth stays behind closed doors
Leeds to contend in two seasons time is actually a very fair statement. Take away the academy lads and two or three of the others, this squad is every bit as dire as the ones we've had every season since that first Championship one under Grayson. I would wager potentially even worse. We could have a management team of Mourinho and Ancelotti and they wouldn't be able to get promoted. Working your butt off does play a part in earning success, but only if the pieces and the players are in place to begin with. We're a shambles off the pitch and we're not a lot better on it. I agree that Redfearn isn't the answer, but the short term outlook will kill us. We will never get a manager to come in and win us promotion in one season! It won't happen! Two seasons is very reasonable. I'd argue it's ambitious. Cellino promised us two seasons and everybody was overjoyed, Redfearn says it and it's the worst thing he's ever said. Can we stop with the whole 'we're Leeds United, we deserve success now' attitude? Short term will never be the answer. We tried it with Warnock, and that was a disaster. We don't deserve promotion if the team isn't good enough, and we have to sort out the ownership and all the off the field issues before we even think about doing anything else. I don't think Redfearn is the answer and I'd rather him go back to the academy, but how many more managers will we hire and not even give them a second season to build on their start?
Redfearn has **** all to build on, and then factor in the mad man we will never make progress. Both need to go and yes we need to start again, new owner, new philosophy, new manager, new squad and then with luck three or four years we might make some progress. Cellino has done us only two favours he saw bates off and dropped gfh right in it.
Two big favours though. At least someone half decent might consider buying the club sometime with that lot out of the way
We're 3 seasons away from promotion every year - Autumn, Winter and Spring. Redfern is a reasonable option for next year if we're going to hold on to the youngsters, otherwise any old waster can come in and start all over with the next cartload of dross that gets foisted on him. A bit of continuity is the only thing we haven't tried in ten years, what have we got to lose. Feckin' sanity's long gone.
Keep the kids,get rid of the dross and buy some class, Simples,it seems, Will it happen? I doubht it, Sell the kids ,keep the dross,buy more crap. Is more likely. Hope for the best expect the worst. MOT
