Good Morning. It's Wednesday 5th April. 23 years on, we remember Chris and Kevin. Leeds climb to 13th after roller coaster win Leeds rocketed up to 13th in the table after a roller coaster first half that saw them come from behind to (what turned out to be snatching victory on the cusp of half time. Leeds games are addictive, but should come with a Government health warning. For large periods, the match resembled a game of table tennis with emphasis on full out attack, and last ditch defending, so nobody should have been surprised when the first goal went in, after just twelve minutes. First blood fell to the visitors, courtesy of a fine strike by Mangala. After good work from Dennis, the Belgium International Midfielder picked up the ball on the edge of the area, rode Sinisterra's challenge and curled the ball past the despairing dive of Meslier. The silence that fell over Elland Road was deafening, as they momentarily slipped to 19th in the table (as 82 miles away, Leicester City had just taken the lead against Villa). Undeterred, Leeds rallied, and came up with an equiliser, just eight minutes later. After good work from Harrison, McKennie tee'd up Roca on the edge of the 'D'. His first time effort could only be parried by Navas, but fell nicely back to Harrison, who wasn't going to miss from 5 yards out. Suddenly, the valve on the pressure cooker, (that is Elland Road) exploded, as the hosts, and their contingent exploded into life. They deservedly took the lead on the cusp of half time, thanks to a solo effort from Luis Sinisterra. The Colombian winger found himself weaving in and out of traffic, on the edge of the Forest area, looking for a sight on goal. When an opening presented itself, the £22m Summer signing didn't disappoint. He arrowed a ferocious drive past Navas into the far corner of the goal, sending 36,000 Leeds fans ecstatic in the process. The second half wasn't all one way traffic, but in truth, Leeds should have extended their lead, but were wasteful in front of goal. At the other end, they defended diligently. Forest's only shot on target came from Mangala's first half goal, such was their organisation at the back. In the end, it didn't matter as Leeds collected their seventh win of their campaign, lifting them to 13th in the table on 29 points, please log in to view this image Nine games left With nine games left, and 29 points on the board, it looks like there may be light a the end of the tunnel. With ten points for his seven games in charge, Javi Gracia has hopefully turned the tide. Odds of Leeds getting relegated have now widened to 9/2, though only two points separate them from the bottom three. How many points do Leeds need from their remaining nine games to avoid a trip back to the Championship? please log in to view this image Ridsdale - I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the game in Istanbul Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the Semi-Final match between Galatasaray and Leeds Utd, where, only hours earlier (early hours of the morning), two Leeds fans were brutally murdered by knife wielding thugs. Today, we remember Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight. Yesterday, the Breakfast Debate caught up with Peter Ridsdale, and asked him in retrospect, whether the game should have gone ahead. I have to admit, having had several conversations with Peter lately, I found him to be an honourable man, who in my opinion had best intentions for the club, before it went horribly out of control. The way he acted that night (even rushing to the hospital, handing over his own credit card so the hospital would treat the duo) should at least go some way to making up with the fiasco in the boardroom. Peter explained that he didn't want to go ahead with the match that evening, but after conferring with UEFA, had little choice. If Leeds didn't turn up for the game, the match would have been awarded to Galatasaray. I'm wondering, if Leeds called the bluff, and caught the next plane back to Leeds, whether UEFA would have gone ahead with their threat? Nationally, the public outcry at the time was obviously very much in Leeds favour. According to our former Chairman:- "No I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the game in Istanbul but UEFA said that if we didn’t we would have had to forfeit the game." please log in to view this image
Morning all Leeds fans. It's 10 points from 6 games Elland (Fulham was FA Cup) so his stats are even better. RIP Chris and Kev
Morning all. RIP Chris and Kev. Re Risdale hindsight is a wonderful thing. Im sure he'd have done a lot differently if he'd realised the disaster he helped create at the club financially. Re last nigh, fantastic performance under pressure. Thank the lord we didn't see Jack to Leicester. They likely be where we are now laughing at us at the bottom. You gotta feel a win v Palace will all but ensure safety. Forest have an awful set of fixtures and look sunk with Southampton
Thought we were good last night, though could have been two down after 15 minutes which would have tested resolve. It was also against the worst away team in the league, so it needs a little context. Still you can only beat what’s in front of you. I was happy with the energy and quality we showed. Sinisterra and the much maligned Harrison were top drawer. We tailed off after the substitutions and the last 15 were nervier than they needed to be, but understandable considering the importance of the game. Not out of the woods yet. Palace is still a huge game. A win puts us above them and things look a bit more comfortable. The points gap would still be bridgeable but the number of teams makes it less likely that they’d all do it. As a caveat to all this positivity, We’ve beaten two of the three worst teams in the league at home and pretty much fluked a win at another. It’s a good run of fixtures and the run of ‘winnable’ games continues. The margins are small, and winning and losing can be habits, so hopefully this springboard’s a change in confidence and a run of form to keep us up before may’s trickier games come up.
RIP Chris and Kev. I think People would be less negative towards champagne Pete if he didn’t keep looking to blame everyone else for everything. If he just said, “look I was a kid in a candy store, I wanted to make Leeds great again but carried away and it all went to my head.” We might still think he was an egomaniacal idiot, but it might be easier to empathise
Milky, if you have never read it, you should definitely read Ridsdales book 'United we fall'. Very frank, very honest, takes full responsibility.
Ah, ok. Had to think for a minute there. Is he still on here ? And did he use the word "nope" a lot ?
True fella, though to be fair we hadn’t been able to play forest and Southampton at home and I’m not sure how any manager controls whether the opposition strikers are going to bury every shot or not. Either way, we’re been due some breaks, and last night we played some really good stuff - excepting the usual final ball and finishing!
Maybe I’m doing him a disservice then Ell.. whenever I read interviews from him it always seems to be I accept responsibility… but I’m Probably too lazy to read the book, so help me out.. Does he admit in the book that dvd’s about world’s best football chairman is bit err ‘me me me’ and that a goldfish habit is a bit disrespecting of finances
