I can just picture it - we sign 10 player who we all agree are 'quality' ...... except you don't agree..... You're such a pessimist, Marko. You find fault in everything.
well actually I'm not, considering if you look back 12 months there was a thread on here that grouped the members of our great forum based on which category they fell into. I fell into the optimistic group. Don't believe me? I can dig it up if you like. I am pessimistic currently because I have been given no compelling reason to be optimistic. If we start signing good players I will be cautiously optimistic - I will have hope for the season but will still be aware that bates is eating the club alive from the inside. At the end of the day I do not enjoy boycotting Elland Road, I just enjoy going to Elland Road even less while there is a negative atmosphere. Some decent players coming in through some miracle may be enough to drown out the constant hum of negativity spreading out from the board of directors like a virus, courtesy of their negative business practices and ****ty attitude towards the footballing side of the club. I have recently read there is an offer with membership whereby members get 3 £5 discount vouchers for home matches - this has me feeling a bit more optimistic. I can't help but question the motives and manner in which this concession has been made, but a concession is a concession - we asked for change and no matter how reluctantly, the club appears to have given in. I am just waiting for a few players to come in to give me an excuse to start going to matches again. I will enjoy my football while continuing the crusade to get bates out of our club. I don't see why feeling optimistic about the teams chances while actively partaking in getting bates out of the club have to be exclusive - but one generally won't gather pace while ever the other is present, which is where my inner conflict comes into play. My desire to go to football matches is in one hand, my desire to secure the long term future of the club by doing whatever it takes to get rid of this horrible man from our club is in the other. One comes complete with "pessimism". I'd call it realistically accepting that positive, affirmative action needs to be taken to affect change, expressing my frustration at having to do this is perceived, wrongly, as pessimism.
well, the point being is that if I am going to go to any matches I'd primarily want to go to away matches. The membership price puts me off this due to it effectively costing the price of another match ticket and then some. If I get a membership, I will go to home matches, it's inevitable as I can't help myself. I enjoy football too much. Provided there are no stupid, strict T&Cs that limit the vouchers to category C only, or specific matches, or specific areas of the ground, this offer has somewhat enticed me - it essentially reduces the price of the membership by £15 and brings it more in line with other clubs. £27 to have my name put in a computer is still absolutely scandalous, but baby steps. Look it up, I am one of the optimistic bunch. You can imagine how bad things are that I've been turned into this grumpy bastard, or "dreary" as I get called by the ever-******ed eric onion on ja606.
Well no, 12 months ago you were optimistic. There is definitely no optimism left now. It justs interests me to see what the turning point for people were. Because decisions that were made that people disagree with weren't necessarily wrong (i.e. selling gradel) rather just disappointing.
Max Gradel was contracted to the club and made his desire to renew quite clear. We shouldn't need to sell players to stay in business but were constantly given the impression that sales of such players are urgent and necessary and we can't possibly survive without. Theres no reason we couldn't hold onto gradel, hes just that good. Since our attacking flair dried up after he left it could be argued selling him was the main tipping point of our decline. You already know I was a big fan of max and that was my tipping point
Well I was placed in the 'mercurial' category by Leeds 18, so just shows how accurate that thread was!
LOL, he meant I'm fickle, changeable and up and down in mood, and I think he hit the nail on the head!
Wow. from a 5 paragraph contriution you pick an issue with one word. You seem to be getting a little tetchy WJ, calm down. BTW, I use the term "blindly" to describe those who I suggest are ignoring the wider facts and realism of the situation. Note, it is an opinion, it is not being claimed as a fact.
I come at it from a slightly different view I don't care what division we are in, as long as we have a club. Ridsdale tried to kill us off, then Bates stated he would kill us off permanently unless he was allowed to buy us back out of the admin he caused. He now claims to be the saviour. I see him as a cancer. I don't believe that Bates holds the long-term future of LUFC in high esteem. He certainly is not interested in providing a vfm product that entices the the customer (ie the fans) to spend more (which is surely the aim of any business). The more customers that are happy to spend money at LUFC, the more profitable and happy the place will be. If the only strategy is to squeeze more and more money out of a smaller, diminishing population, you are only going to piss off everyone in the end and be left with nothing. This is exactly what is happening. I am optimistic that the more that people become disillusioned and see the light with regard to Bates, the earlier that the day will come where he realises there is no more money for him to make out of LUFC, and that forces the decision to sell. There is an altrnative - he changes his attitude. This has not happened and there is no suggestion it will. The walls are starting to crumble around Bates and his empire - the money flow is faltering. Long may this continue. Hurrah - I am very optimistic there is a way forward, a light at the end of this tunnel.
You can relax, Elmo, I'm more tetchy about the weather than anything else. I personally am an optimist, and I'm looking forward to next season like a kid looks forward to Christmas. I'm not blind to all that has gone on in the past (and continues ...), but I do set it aside as much as I can. If you like, a poor analogy might be that I'm in terrible pain from terminal cancer, but am still genuinely happy to play with my grandchildren and enjoy the moment whilst it's there. I think a lot of us feel like this, and share the close season anticipation enthusiastically, but unfortunately, there are those who invade this happy throng with mesmerically regular postings proclaiming "we're all doomed", in the parlance of Dad's Army's Pte Fraser. Let us kids enjoy outselves! We were all used to not getting what we wanted for Christmas as kids, but hey!, we still enjoyed the run up, the day, and repeated the same routine the following year. Why shouldn't we enjoy this close season?
Doomed, we're all doomed! WJ, here's a different analogy: You go to your local hospital for a routine appendicitis, then you come out having had your left leg chopped off for no reason other than medical incompetence. But everyone keeps telling you to look on the bright side because a) you got a right good load of compo, and b) everyone else says they don't want to hear about how the **** hospital screwed you up anymore, they now want to be able to continue using it without being constantly warned of the dangers and lack of governance.
More like having terminal cancer but looking forward to spending time with your kids, expecting them to show up despite them having abandoned you years ago and showing no signs of caring
Well now we have established that Marko & Elmo are definably anti-Bates warriors more set on depressing us all. Does anyone else have a feeling that next season is going to be a good one for Leeds? I can even see us sealing promotion back to the Premiership at the Reebok (hopefully at Bolton's expense).
True, but the ones we have are quite good & we are chasing good young players not the old Warnock brigade that I expected. Plus players like AOB & Connolly will still be here next season, hopefully hungry to prove themselves when they realise no one wants them.
