Shorter weekend debate this week as a couple of huge questions could do with answers. Great start to the season last week and I believe we can pick up another 3 points at Southampton this weekend. Transfers seem to be off the table even though most of us feel we need another LB as we don't have one in the club, anywhere? Firpo is obviously it as soon as fit but to not have a back up seems weird. Firpo hasn't covered himself in glory since arriving, so why no back up? We also have a strange situation with a need for a striker. One minute we are chucking £35m at CDK but once he opted for AC Milan we go quiet? We only have Bamford in the club and then we have a raw Joffy. Yes without injuries it could work but I don't see Bamford as fully fit yet and don't see him playing all season, so the club are hoping and gambling which seems idiotic after last season. Are we using a false 9 system with Rodrigo, Aaronson etc? What do we do about Klich. My view is he will leave because it will guarantee him a place in the Poland squad for the WC which is only 100 days away. Always liked him and hope he stays because he showed last week what he's capable of. A good win against Saints looks like being the end for RH as manager and he would win the sack race. Also lots of unrest in the Everton and Villa camps too. Great to see Lampard and Gerrard fighting it out in the sack race So big questions on a LB as we have none in the club besides Firpo and thats strange. Strikers as we only have Bamford and Gelhardt and in-the words of Marsch we can call upon Rodrigo and James plus we have 18yo Mateo Joseph and 18yo Sonny Perkins. Madness in my view and could end up repeating last seasons problem, but just my view?
I see it makes no difference to lazy journalists, even when nailed on replies deny it, they still pump out stories on Mata, Sarr, Pedro, Che Adams etc.
Well I thought Klich would leave, but his agent says: “Mateusz always wanted to stay at Leeds, however he wanted regular playing time before Poland’s World Cup. However, following his game against Wolves as a number 10, as well as his bond with the Leeds supporters, he now feels that he can continue to be a part of the team. Jesse would never block him from a move away from the club, however both the manager and Mateusz are happy to continue at Leeds.”
I don’t think his place in their squad was in question. I read that as he wants enough game time to be match fit for the World Cup.
please log in to view this image Bamford and Doughty: Leeds, Forest, a football friendship and hugging Bielsa goodbye Stuart James Aug 12, 2022 “Was it a rousing speech?” Michael Doughty asks Patrick Bamford as his best friend pulls up a chair next to him at a hotel in the centre of Leeds.“Yeah,” Bamford replies. “I said something like, ‘Remember the position we were in last year and how bad that felt. We’ve worked hard to get to where we are now. After a good pre-season, there are still a lot of people out there who are doubting us. Let’s go and prove them wrong’.” With Liam Cooper injured, Bamford was the Leeds captain last Saturday against Wolverhampton Wanderers and asked to deliver the final pep talk in the changing room. As much as the striker is intelligent and articulate, his comfort zone is the penalty area, not the floor with everyone hanging on his every word. “It’s not just the players, it’s all the staff,” Bamford says. “Speaking in the huddle (on the pitch) is fine, but in the changing room it’s more awkward.” Doughty, who retired from professional football two years ago, at the age of 27 and after making more than 250 appearances, nods. “I used to do it. You’re thinking about it and you want it to be really impactful, then usually the first word is, ‘Blurghhhhh’. I’ve had that a few times when we’re about to play and the lads just start laughing.” As it happens, Doughty is doing that a few moments later when he hears where Bamford’s dress rehearsal took place. “I tried thinking about what I was going to say,” Bamford explains. “When I was in the shower in the hotel, I said it in there.” “No way!” Doughty says, clapping his hands together and howling at that image. “No way! You were actually saying it to yourself?” “Yeah!” Bamford says, smiling. “Out loud?” Doughty asks. “Yeah!” Bamford replies. “Oh no!” Doughty says. Bamford chuckles to himself. “I was like, ‘That sounds terrible!’. I actually thought, ‘I’m just going to wing it when I get in the dressing room’.” In the end, everything turned out fine. Bamford’s team-mates warmed to his speech and Leeds got the new season off to a winning start by beating Wolves 2-1. Bamford goes on to explain Jesse Marsch, Leeds’ head coach, encourages the players to talk in front of the rest of the group because he wants them to be leaders. “He’s a good speaker (himself),” Bamford adds. “He knows what to say.” “I’ve seen him on the (RB) Leipzig YouTube videos,” Doughty says, referring to Marsch’s former club. “He’s very American. He’s got clarity, he doesn’t miss a word, he doesn’t stumble.” “No,” says Bamford, agreeing. “He was practising in the shower!” Cue laughter all around. It is that sort of afternoon in Leeds, where Bamford and Doughty are on good form, talking emotively about one another one minute and sharing a joke at each other’s expense the next as the stories keep coming about their childhood and football. There is the tale about The Muppets at Nottingham Forest, Marcelo Bielsa’s 20-second farewell hug at his home, the agony and the ecstasy of watching Leeds survive relegation on the final day in a dressing gown, World Cup dreams, and what it feels like to play with the equivalent of a three-pin plug in your boot. Perhaps what shines through more than anything is the strength of their friendship and the fact Doughty, whose football career never quite scaled the same heights as Bamford, could not be happier that the man who is godfather to his two-year-old daughter has gone on to enjoy such success. please log in to view this image When Bamford made his England debut last September, Doughty was in tears. “When we were younger we were a little bit competitive, in a positive way,” he says. “But I’ve now moved into a place in my life where… I feel like the guy in the pub who used to play for Middlesex under-13s: ‘I played once and I’ve got a mate who plays properly!’. “‘He’s my friend!’,” Doughty says, chuckling and pretending to point to Bamford on a television screen. Bamford and Doughty have known each other for as long as they can remember. Born 10 months apart, they have followed in the footsteps of their fathers, Russell and Nigel, who grew up around the corner from each other in Newark, Nottinghamshire, and were the closest of friends. The four of them would go to the City Ground together to watch Forest, where Nigel became owner in 1999. “We’d walk from the Lady Bay pub, where our cars were parked, to the Brian Clough stand,” Doughty says. “And there were those two annoying men sitting behind us,” Bamford recalls. “Yeah, Statler and Waldorf we used to call them — that was the two old men in the Muppets!” Doughty adds, his eyes lighting up at the memory. “They used to complain the whole game. We used to turn around now and again and say, ‘Can you just support the team?!’.” Admittedly, that was easier said than done at times. “One of my earliest memories is being in the Brian Clough stand watching us getting beaten 8-1 by Manchester United, and it was very clear that the wheels were coming off,” Doughty says. “That was just before my Dad got involved properly.” There are some terrific pictures of Bamford and Doughty at the City Ground together as children, including one of them lining up against each other as under-11s. Doughty was playing for Chelsea’s academy at the time, while Bamford was Forest’s No 9. please log in to view this image “Trying to get one over him!” Doughty says, laughing. Although they both came through the academy system — Doughty later moved on to Queens Park Rangers — it was the time that they spent together during the school holidays, trying to emulate their heroes, that did so much to shape their footballing lives. “I always think about it, that 10,000-hour rule and why — and I know we’ve had different levels of success — we both ended up playing professional football,” Doughty says. “I think a lot of it is down to those holidays we used to spend…” “… in the paddock until it got dark!” Bamford interjects, smiling. “Yeah, 10 hours a day, playing constantly against each other,” Doughty says. “We were different players, but both left-footed and used to do different drills. I was a bit relentless with it, I wanted everyone to pick a goalkeeper and an outfield player.” “All the boys from the village?” Bamford asks. “Yeah, we would be playing as 12-year-olds against 18-year-olds. Everyone would pick a player, David James in goal, Pierre van Hooijdonk out on the field, and we would play and play and play.” Asked who was the better player at the time, Bamford gives a response that might surprise some people given how their careers turned out: “Michael was always better than me, technically.” “Can you please get that in?” Doughty asks, looking across the table and smiling. “He was just slow,” Bamford adds, laughing. “That’s probably a good synopsis of my career, to be honest — slow,” Doughty says, smiling. “At the age of 17, Pat scored 13 goals in the FA Youth Cup and got signed for Chelsea for a couple of million quid. So it was always clear that he was a pretty special talent goalscoring-wise. You were a little bit underdeveloped physically at that age, weren’t you?” “Yeah, I was like a stick insect!” Bamford says. “I was under-developed but just carried on under-developing!” Doughty says, laughing, before going on to make a serious point about his level. “I played a little bit in the Premier League (for QPR), but my experience of that is you need to be very good at everything and have at least one outstanding quality. You probably drop off one of those ‘very goods’ for each league that you go down. I think my outstanding quality, potentially, was my technique, but I wasn’t very good as an athlete. Whereas when I watch Pat play, he’s got at least one outstanding quality and he’s very good at every aspect of his game. I’d say your movement is outstanding.” Bamford agrees with Doughty’s wider point. “When I first properly saw it (the Premier League) through the lens that I was at, I noticed that people you don’t think are fast, they’re fast. People you don’t think are strong, they’re strong. It’s deceptive.” Some may say that applies to Bamford too. “A lot of managers think I’m slow,” Bamford says. “I don’t know if they (still) do now. But they used to. Hopefully, I’ve dispelled that myth. I think it’s because I run a bit funny.” “You clocked top-10 for sprint speeds (in the Premier League), didn’t you?” Doughty says. “Yeah, I think I got 36 point-something kilometres an hour, which is pretty fast,” Bamford replies. “But I’m not going to reach that over five yards, like some.” If kicking a ball from sunrise to sunset helped Bamford to become a professional footballer, it was a 67-year-old coach from Argentina who was responsible for taking his game to another level. Marcelo Bielsa’s influence on Bamford’s career is a story in itself and one that deserved a much happier ending. “Out of everyone, he’s had the biggest impact (on me),” Bamford says. “Not just in terms of my football ability, but he changed me physically. I was never really a fit guy on the pitch. Even now, in terms of long-distance running, I’m not very good at constant running. But in terms of fitness on the pitch, with what I needed to do with his high pressing, I wouldn’t have been able to do that until he got hold of me and changed the way I was. “He changed everything for me and obviously made me better because he wasn’t just a manager who did the tactical side of things — he was on you every day.” Bamford pauses. “I mean every day. “That caused a fair few arguments. As you can imagine, if you’ve got someone on top of you every day, eventually you’re going to bite back a little bit. But those arguments would last two minutes. And he would be fine the next day. I can’t speak highly enough of what he did for me and I let him know that.” That moment came after Bielsa was sacked in February on the back of a damaging run of results and at a time when Bamford was injured. Managers come and go, and footballers can often be cold and dispassionate about that whole process, but with Bamford and Bielsa it was always going to be different. “When he said bye to the team, he came into where we were all sitting, which was the meeting room, and said he didn’t really want to say bye in front of everybody because he knew he would get emotional,” Bamford explains. “But then he left and that was it. He’d gone. A couple of the players bumped into him outside, just before he left the car park, but I didn’t see him. I was like, ‘I need to find out how I’m going to see him’. “I found out his address and then went around to his house, not that day but a day later, and said, ‘Thank you’. I couldn’t speak Spanish but I could understand him. And he couldn’t really speak English but he could understand me. “What did he say to you?” Doughty asks. “He just gave me a massive hug,” Bamford says. “I mean, like a 20-second hug.” It is hard not to picture that scene and smile. Bielsa and Bamford’s relationship was special, based on old-fashioned values such as faith, loyalty, trust and respect. At the same time, it was never personal — Bamford didn’t even have Bielsa’s phone number and isn’t aware that any of his Leeds team-mates did either. please log in to view this image “Everyone had the utmost respect for him because of what he was doing for us and what he did for us,” Bamford adds. “But even the first-team WhatsApp group, where the basic schedule gets sent, he wasn’t in that.” Doughty listens with interest as he thinks about Bielsa’s impact on not just the club but the team and certain individuals. “I do think there are very few cases in sport where you see a group of players and their level get elevated so, so much,” he says. “And that’s no disrespect to any of the Leeds boys, because who am I to say that? But I played against quite a lot of them in my career because they were knocking around League One. But then they’re playing in the Premier League, but not just playing in the Premier League — they’re playing really well.” Bamford nods. “I don’t think there are many coaches that could have done it.” It is difficult to escape the feeling everything could have been so different for Bielsa and Leeds had Bamford’s season not been ravaged by injury. Ankle, hamstring and foot problems restricted a 17-goal striker the season before to only seven Premier League starts. “It was just one of those seasons,” Bamford says. “One for me to write off.” By his own admission, Bamford was not a good patient. His mood was so low that even Doughty struggled to get a reply from him at times. “I didn’t really want to speak to anyone about it,” Bamford says. “I absolutely hated watching Leeds games. I don’t know whether that was because I wasn’t playing and I couldn’t affect it, but I didn’t like going to watch when we were playing at home. It just made me feel anxious and I didn’t enjoy it.” The nadir came at Wolves in March. Leeds recovered from being 2-0 down to win 3-2 in a game that Bamford should never have started. He broke down after 23 minutes, unable to continue because of a longstanding problem with the sole of his foot, and was in tears in the dugout. “I got to the hotel in Wolverhampton the night before and I knew in my head, but I wouldn’t admit it, that there was no chance I should play,” Bamford says. “I was just trying to get through it. I think the camera panned to me before the game when we were warming up and I was changing my insoles. I was trying anything to see if it helped. I started the game and a minute in I thought, ‘This is no good’. I couldn’t push off or sprint. And then eventually the foot just gave way, which was actually the best thing for it. “The injection that I had, for 90 per cent of people it works. But for the other 10 per cent it doesn’t. And the only way to solve a partial tear (in the plantar fascia), like mine, is for it to fully rupture. About five days after that rupture, the pain just went. It was the first time in maybe six or seven months that I was walking with no pain. The way I described it was that every step before that was like standing on a plug. So imagine trying to play with it like that? It was really unbearable.” Doughty understands why Bamford tried to play through the pain barrier, even though he was never going to do himself justice. “I think it’s more difficult because the team were suffering, and you were such an instrumental part of it,” he says. Bamford nods. “I remember watching Match of the Day and after the Norwich game Ian Wright was saying how much of a difference I made, and I was thinking, ‘I can really help the team stay up here, I’m going to be a big part of it’ — and I wanted to be a big part of it. So I think it was me being stubborn and maybe a little bit my ego, I guess, wanting to be that guy.” Playing in some sort of discomfort, Doughty points out, is not that unusual. “That is one thing that I don’t think footballers get credit for, or it doesn’t come into any of the analysis.” “How many times did you play a match when you felt 100 per cent?” Bamford asks. “It’s quite normal to play at 80 or 90 per cent,” Doughty replies. “But there will be times when I played at 30 or 40 per cent. Loads of times.” “I don’t think any player, up and down the leagues, unless they’re a young lad… you never feel 100 per cent perfect,” Bamford says. Leeds confirmed after the Wolves game that Bamford would be out for a minimum of six weeks. Realistically, there seemed little chance that Bamford would feature again that season but he returned to training in time to be on the bench at Brentford, in the do-or-die game that would decide Leeds’ fate, on the last day. “Then I got COVID, having dodged it for two years and been fully jabbed, and it wiped me out for 10 days,” Bamford says, shaking his head and sighing. “I just thought, ‘This season is not for me’. “I watched the Brentford game (on the sofa) in my dressing gown, sweating.” A new season, a fresh start for Bamford, and a familiar opponent at Elland Road next month. Forest are back in the Premier League after a 23-year absence that stretches back to that 8-1 hammering Manchester United inflicted in 1999. Doughty’s father took over at Forest later that year, saved them from administration and was still the club’s owner at the time of his death in 2012. It is clear Forest meant a lot to Bamford and Doughty during their childhood — at the end of the interview, the two of them are in danger of getting lost in a conversation about the former Trinidad & Tobago international Stern John — but I wonder how they feel about the club now, all these years later, and if they still consider themselves fans. please log in to view this image “It’s difficult because when you’re playing it’s hard to support a different team, because naturally as footballers you’re quite selfish — I’m always concentrating on the team that I’m at,” Bamford says. “But I always check to see how Forest get on. Even though I’m not really supporting them, I grew up following them since I was born and I think that when I finish, I will support them. It’s just difficult now.” “I felt exactly the same, especially when I was playing,” Doughty says. “I guess, deep down, there was part of me that was… not bitter, that’s the wrong word. But I had a bad taste in my mouth after the end of my dad’s tenure — just before he passed away it felt like there was a lot of negativity around him and his ownership. And then just after it, it was the complete opposite and that sort of riled me a little bit because it felt a bit false. But on reflection I know that’s a very small minority of people. Anyway, if we fast forward, my sister has been going every week.” “She’s a die-hard fan!” Bamford says. Doughty smiles. “She was at Newcastle (last Saturday). That’s how I get tickets these days. I went to the play-off final, which was the first game I’d been to in quite a few years. I facetimed Pat at the game, I was a bit emotional because it felt significant and it brought back a lot of nostalgia. Watching them get promoted was more special than I thought it would be. But even now, I’d be lying if I said that I’ll drop everything to watch a Forest game. There’s only one indulgence I’m allowed with kids now and that’s watching Pat. If I say I’m going to do that, my wife backs off a little bit.” Walking away from football is not something that Doughty ever regrets, largely because he feels so passionate about running his own business. In fact, you sense that Swindon Town, where he was nicknamed the “Wiltshire Pirlo”, are missing him far more than he is missing playing. Doughty launched Hylo, a running shoe that is made from sustainable materials, in August 2020, two years after first pitching the idea to Bamford, who is invested emotionally and financially in the company. “It was a difficult balance to straddle where it was like, I’ve got this idea, I think it’s quite important and impactful, and there’s commerciality to that — and also my best mate is No 9 at Leeds. You’ve never comprehended that until now,” Doughty says, looking across at Bamford. “But for me, when you moved from Middlesbrough… Leeds is an iconic club, and we were looking for athletes to come on board and champion this mission, and I know Pat and I, through our experiences, have a similar value stream. I said to him, ‘I think there’s an opportunity to build a sports brand with a different type of legacy and give athletes this platform to drive change’ — a bit like we’ve seen Marcus Rashford do.” Doughty sounds more like a converted Leeds fan these days, such is his desire to see Bamford do well and build on the season before last. The encouraging news for Leeds supporters is their centre-forward is in good shape and, by the sound of things, enjoying Marsch’s brand of football, which plays to his strengths. “The way that we want to play is quick football,” Bamford explains. “‘Get the ball forward quickly’ makes it sound like long ball, but it’s not. The word ‘verticality’ is actually used quite a lot, and not just with the ball but with my runs. “The kind of goals that you get killed for when you’re playing PlayStation with your mates, when you just pass it around the keeper and tap it in, if you are in training and you shoot and there’s a chance to pass it, he’s onto you. Every time, just make the goal simple.” “So he must have loved that goal at the weekend?” Doughty says, thinking about the way that Bamford ran onto Mateusz Klich’s pass before sliding a low centre across the six-yard box for the winner. “Yeah, that was his perfect goal,” Bamford replies. But for a superb save from Jose Sa, the Wolves goalkeeper, Bamford would have got his name on the scoresheet too — something that he will need to do on a fairly regular basis over the next few months if he is to have any chance of getting into the England squad for the controversial World Cup finals in Qatar. Is the World Cup in his mind at all? “If I hadn’t played for England before, I would probably say it’s not in my mind. But the fact that I’ve played, and there is a World Cup around the corner, and I’m 28, I think this is probably my best ever chance to go to a World Cup,” Bamford says. “But, while it’s in the back of my mind, I can’t think of that. I know that the only way to get there is by doing my job for Leeds. So it’s there, and it was something that helped me with coming back from injury in terms of setting a target and being fit for next season. But now that I’m back playing, I don’t have time to think about that because I’m thinking, ‘Where’s my next goal coming from?’.” “It won’t define the year,” Doughty adds. “It would be an amazing honour and an amazing achievement. But, equally, I can imagine that the players who don’t go are probably going to be well-positioned to have a really great season.” “So what are you saying, that Leeds could win the league?” Bamford adds, smiling.
Story around Birmingham is that Ollie Watkins could be up for sale. Seems Watkins is another who has fallen out with Gerrard along with Ramsey who was sent out on loan and the Minger Mings. Anyone see him at Leeds?
NewsNow is full of Watkins falling out with Gerrard stories and all suggesting it’s between Leeds Everton and Palace as to who gets him. If the rumours are right at £26m I’d take him
What a good article I really enjoyed reading it, it gives an insight into football better than I have read before.
Chris Sutton doubles down on Leeds relegation prediction. He said they had a good win last week and will maybe win at Southampton which starts to make my prediction wrong, so going for Southampton today but not sure why Merson did the same yesterday and still says Leeds have nothing, must still be snorting powder
I’ve never forgiven Watkins for the penalty he conned at ER, under Smith’s management in 2018. So part of me dislikes the ****. I reckon he’d fit well into Jesse’s playing system. At £20m think he would be a decent buy, and if so I’d have to grow to like him. Not sure about how he would fit into the group, as on the face of it, they all seem grounded, whereas I thought there were stories in the midlands about him “being the big I am”?
On the one hand we would have 2 England strikers, but on the other hand its only Southgate choices? Or am I being hard on Southgate and Bamford and Watkins are in fact 2 of the best English strikers around?
And we certainly don't want anyone like that, as i feel their is a certain togetherness at Leeds atm, which i havn't seen since the earlier Bielsa days. Good morning all.
