We have the largest fan base in league, some of the highest ticket prices, we finished 7th last season and were the league's second top scorers and the club are spending £7million on redeveloping a stand on a stadium we don't own. Yeah it's ridiculous for us to expect the club to invest in players and try to get promoted...
Saying that you expect a shot at promotion is obviously not unreasonable, it's the arrogant manner in which certain Leeds fans try to put this message across.
@ BillysStatue Absolutley brilliant and spot on article , i have been spitting feathers now since yesterday still not able to find words to post about the situation at the club , we have been banging on about lack of ambition,transfers,funds, Kasper etc , replacements, tatics, no investments , loanee's, freebies all summers since last january , not just here but all the boards are the same ........Simon has done a reasonable job on no funds , granted but .............. listen to his interviews and it's Yawn time !!! no motivation there ever !!! I am sure that even Bates would recognise & relish respectfull heated exchanges with a manager who stakes his claim & say's what he wants & stands by his words rather than a lillylivered yes man !!! i am sure you will find that even the yes men are among the first to go !! Bates went after simon to come to elland road ....... ( i think ) so grow a pair demand what you need !!! if you're not happy with the response , be a man ........ WALK !!! you will ultimately get more respect for sticking by your beliefs ..... Simon was billed as a great upcoming new manager ...... we all wish him success , but fail with Leeds & get sacked and it will be just about curtains on that carreer , succeed & sky's the limit for the future !!! so be your own man & do it SIMON'S way not the Bates way !!!! Oh yes & if it's a bit difficult handling everythig then get a real , decent & proper No2 / Assistant Manager ....................
@RodzUK That is the other absolutely KEY point you raise...Grayson's number two. He doesn't have a proper right hand man to bounce off. Glynn Snodin is a coach, not an Assistant Manager. There seems to be nobody on the coaching staff who are capable of challenging Grayson at all, and this has to contribute to the problems. When Grayson ****s up tactically, he does a royal job of it but there never seems to be any other input coming his way. The only person responsible for this is Grayson himself. He needs a strong footballing man next to him to help him....he can't do it all alone no matter how good he thinks he is.
The simple answer is SG has lost the changing room by his blind loyalty to bates. He has lost the respect of his players further by fielding his favourite but unfit AOB who had not kicked a bal lin the preseasons and was obviously not match-fit.Again Odea was drafted into the team 48 hours after his move,whilst players like Parker ,Lees and White all of whom have sweated out the preseason training and matches didn't even make the bench.This is poor justice and the team spirit suffers!
but it seems that 2nd tier football has brought with it the same old arrogance and pigheadedness ---------------------------- we call that optimism in Yorkshire pal
We didn't overachieve last season, we underachieved. Until the last two months of the season happened to us, we looked like playoff shoe-ins but the midfield went to **** and failed to stop the opposition and the players generally looked knackered and passionless due to a lack of on-field leadership, only one permanent signing in January and fatigue from no squad rotation. If we'd got our act together, we'd have got a playoff finish and no-one would have breathed the word 'overachieved', especially considering we were top scorers right until the last fortnight of the season. That underachievement, coupled with our nationwide fanbase and the expectation that comes with being one of the biggest footballing names in Europe makes it clear why there's so much discontent. Even if we did overachieve last season, we should still be unhappy because an overachieving side needs investment too!
Calm down the 'over-achieving' is based on the final standing of 7th for a first year back. But it was a patchy season of an inauspicious start and decline at the end - with a big purple patch inbetween. Saints are a decent side as this season will prove (we were a pretty decent when we shared the honours the season before last) so don't be surprised you lost. I'm surprised no premiership youngsters have been signed on loan (al a Herni Lansbury for Norwich last season) I would have though Leeds would be attractive for giving young talent big game/atmosphere experience in what could be a promotion push? First game of the season, 22 days until the window closes - Good time to addressing things; 1, the attitude 2, some movement in the market. Anyway the Leeds lot on here seem like a decent bunch ...all the best for the season
Well SaintJack....if you think Southampton are a decent side then you will achieve nothing better than mid-table. This is a notoriously tough division, and you will have to be really good to get seventh. Our performance against Bradford last night showed once again that our defence is shocking, and our midfield just doesn't help them. As for Lonergan, he has chucked in two long rangers now that Schmeichel made look easy. The bottom line for Leeds is this...Bates needs to give Grayson at least £6m and allow him to go out and sign players who will improve the side. I'm sorry, but if Forest are rolling out £2.5m to bring in a Dutch player McLaren rates, then why the **** are Leeds not spending? Forest have a lot less money than Leeds, so is it Bates or is it Grayson? Is Grayson on a profit-based bonus? I'll bet Harvey is, and he's a clown anyway. Then again, the Bates strategy has always been to surround himself with clowns and yes-men, and that is always a bad strategy. When the Howard Johnson chain of motels that had hundreds of locations across the USA went bust because they did not anticipate a changing market, the CEO famously said "but no one told me things were changing and we were in trouble". He was notorious for firing anyone that stood up to his ideas, and look where that got his company. Something has to change at Leeds United, and soon.
@Billysstatue *Thumb's up * Again good point !!! I put this on A N Other Board !!! "Can anyone please explain why all these transfers are falling through ? Is it because of the so called salary cap & if so what is the point if we are the only club with a policy like this ..... if it is because we are honestly financially compromised , skint , broke , out of mullah , brassic etc etc etc it would be nice to know then we could all understand .... However, if it's just Master Bates & the Admin making a stand against high salaries then, although admirable as it maybe, it's no ****ing use whatsoever when no one is willing to sign because they can get higher salaries elsewhere as standard !!! Who does Bates think he is Dave Whelan ?!! "
Rodz...you may just have hit the nail on the head mate. It probably is Bates living in the past and not willing to "give in" to agents and wages. Now, I absolutely agree that there is too much greed in the game, but sinking your club to prove a point makes no sense whatsoever. The first two games have shown us that Leeds are standing still under Grayson, and that is not good. If we continue this way then we will be back in League One in two seasons, guaranteed. This Championship is bloody hard, and you have to improve all the time just to stay in this division. The relegated clubs are never guranteed of instant promotion, so each season we have at least two clubs left behind that are still getting big parachute payments, and if we refuse to compete we will just fall way behind before we know it. Is the only solution for Bates to go? Why is he in football anyway? Is he another Deadly Doug Ellis, hanging on to the bitter end while his club is hamstrung and failing? Aston Villa should be a club challenging for a top four place each season, but when the Premier League started Doug Ellis couldn't see the winds of change coming and continued to play his power game, and that meant Villa were left way behind and so missed out on lots of cash and the potential to become a great club. Now Bates is behaving the same way, and his myopic approach is slowling strangling the life out of Leeds. All I see coming is a desperately difficult season ahead, a string of poor results, mid-table mediocrity and the end of Grayson. Now, if Grayson can't anticipate this, if he can't see that other clubs are strengthening while we fall behind, if he can't see that this "do nothing" approach is threatening his job then he is the prat of all prats!!
