I recently asked the question about when was the last time the 3 promoted clubs managed to stay up in the Premier League. Well it now looks like it’ll happen and Southampton Leeds and Leicester get relegated.
When the final whistle blew on the 21/22 season to jubilation and relief, most Leeds fans were looking forward to a fresh start for the 22/23 season. Most of us had accepted the demise of Marcelo Bielsa and knew there needed to be a clear out of tainted talent and with a full pre-season, impetus and a new plan. We saw plenty of fringe players going out as well as £100m in talent. We saw the reinvestment of that £100m and on paper we felt we were going to see a competitive Leeds living up to their potential.
On paper after looking at the squad valuation it was plain Leeds we’re going to finish the new season between 12th and 9th, which would have been another step in the planned improvement project. Indeed many of us were of the opinion that in the summer of 23 the takeover is completed and further £100m+ invested in more talent enabling us to stand a shot at the minor European places for season 23/24. All very, very positive stuff. Then we saw private jets sent for Cody Gakpo who failed to get on it, we saw that jet sent to the south of France and a striker refusing to come. We also saw weeks spent chasing CDK who told the club he wanted to go to Milan not Leeds yet they refused to listen. A bad start to the summer.
Things carried on in this vein and Jesse Marsch demonstrating that he was out of his depth. The money invested in new players was an absolute joke as 90% of said players were also out of their depth. Everything seemed to be going wrong even in the scouting department, where it looked like Del BoyTrotter had taken over from Victor Orta. Injuries yet again ravished the squad and yet again proved that the players who got us promoted were past it and not able to help much. Another year of injuries and barn door misses for Bamford, another year of injuries to Cooper and Forshaw and another season of waste.
The football was shocking and it became obvious that a new coach was required, yet the board missed another open goal and waited too long to replace Marsch. Then an embarrassing search for a new coach ended with the 5th choice Javi Gracia and now we are in the unenviable position of having our 4th head coach in one season with Big Sam. Indeed the reality is 4 managers within 15 league games, massive mismanagement. We look certain to be relegated and the mood amongst many Leeds fans is black. 2 seasons of shoddiness, 2 seasons of decline after Bielsa had rebuilt the clubs foundations. All the work done by Bielsa for the future was thrown away on an American gamble that failed miserably. Leeds inside 18 month went from a team superbly coached and drilled by Marcelo Bielsa to a Sunday League team now coached by Sam Allerdyce.
Dallas out all season and may not get back to full fitness. Forshaw out yet again for the whole season only to come back for the last few games yet again. Cooper the captain missing most of the season, Struijk not good enough was used as a LB when the actual LB was fit but ignored. Ayling yet again with injuries and mistakes. However a couple of high points have been Rodrigo who has shown not only plenty of goals but heart, which was sadly missing by most of the squad. Tyler Adams was also a success but an injury curtailed his season and right when we least needed him out. Wober a late plus to the squad also injured and missing when we least needed it, Sinisterra a player who was bought to replace Raphinha has also been missing for most of the season but has shown glimpses of what could have been. Besides Rodrigo as player of the year candidate one player who also deserves plenty of credit and maybe player of the year is Willie Gnonto. Gnonto a steal at £4m and on the other hand another kid in Rutter costing £35m not used by Marsch or Gracia. However Sam may change that as he and 4,000 Leeds fans watched Rutter’s exhibition for the U21s on Monday. Sam must have been impressed and thinking about the possibilities the kid gives him. Every match report of the 21s play off highlighted the performance of Rutter and spoke about the gulf in class between him and the rest of a very very good intake of players on display.
Lets not sugarcoat this season, it’s been the worst season for years, made worse because in the bad times we expected more bad, but this time we expected huge progress after the disappointment of last season. We have a boardroom imploding with Del Boy Trotter being sacked, and said Trotter has been responsible for Marsch, £100m wasted in one season, the Big Kev fiasco, refusing to sack Marsch when asked by the owner. Sacking Marsch too late and then panic buying Gracia. Refusing to sack Gracia and threatening to resign. Well he got sacked but in some respects this board of directors should be in jail. They have squandered a business plan, huge amounts of cash, seen reputational damage to the club. In any “real” business, heads would roll, an independent regulator would step in to investigate as stock market valuation plummets. Leeds have been the Gerald Ratner of the last 2 seasons and deserve to fail. On top of this it looks like Victor Orta is walking straight into another top job in Seville, as Monchi is going to be sacked and Orta to take over next month. Seville are still playing in Europe comps….
When the final whistle blew on the 21/22 season to jubilation and relief, most Leeds fans were looking forward to a fresh start for the 22/23 season. Most of us had accepted the demise of Marcelo Bielsa and knew there needed to be a clear out of tainted talent and with a full pre-season, impetus and a new plan. We saw plenty of fringe players going out as well as £100m in talent. We saw the reinvestment of that £100m and on paper we felt we were going to see a competitive Leeds living up to their potential.
On paper after looking at the squad valuation it was plain Leeds we’re going to finish the new season between 12th and 9th, which would have been another step in the planned improvement project. Indeed many of us were of the opinion that in the summer of 23 the takeover is completed and further £100m+ invested in more talent enabling us to stand a shot at the minor European places for season 23/24. All very, very positive stuff. Then we saw private jets sent for Cody Gakpo who failed to get on it, we saw that jet sent to the south of France and a striker refusing to come. We also saw weeks spent chasing CDK who told the club he wanted to go to Milan not Leeds yet they refused to listen. A bad start to the summer.
Things carried on in this vein and Jesse Marsch demonstrating that he was out of his depth. The money invested in new players was an absolute joke as 90% of said players were also out of their depth. Everything seemed to be going wrong even in the scouting department, where it looked like Del BoyTrotter had taken over from Victor Orta. Injuries yet again ravished the squad and yet again proved that the players who got us promoted were past it and not able to help much. Another year of injuries and barn door misses for Bamford, another year of injuries to Cooper and Forshaw and another season of waste.
The football was shocking and it became obvious that a new coach was required, yet the board missed another open goal and waited too long to replace Marsch. Then an embarrassing search for a new coach ended with the 5th choice Javi Gracia and now we are in the unenviable position of having our 4th head coach in one season with Big Sam. Indeed the reality is 4 managers within 15 league games, massive mismanagement. We look certain to be relegated and the mood amongst many Leeds fans is black. 2 seasons of shoddiness, 2 seasons of decline after Bielsa had rebuilt the clubs foundations. All the work done by Bielsa for the future was thrown away on an American gamble that failed miserably. Leeds inside 18 month went from a team superbly coached and drilled by Marcelo Bielsa to a Sunday League team now coached by Sam Allerdyce.
Dallas out all season and may not get back to full fitness. Forshaw out yet again for the whole season only to come back for the last few games yet again. Cooper the captain missing most of the season, Struijk not good enough was used as a LB when the actual LB was fit but ignored. Ayling yet again with injuries and mistakes. However a couple of high points have been Rodrigo who has shown not only plenty of goals but heart, which was sadly missing by most of the squad. Tyler Adams was also a success but an injury curtailed his season and right when we least needed him out. Wober a late plus to the squad also injured and missing when we least needed it, Sinisterra a player who was bought to replace Raphinha has also been missing for most of the season but has shown glimpses of what could have been. Besides Rodrigo as player of the year candidate one player who also deserves plenty of credit and maybe player of the year is Willie Gnonto. Gnonto a steal at £4m and on the other hand another kid in Rutter costing £35m not used by Marsch or Gracia. However Sam may change that as he and 4,000 Leeds fans watched Rutter’s exhibition for the U21s on Monday. Sam must have been impressed and thinking about the possibilities the kid gives him. Every match report of the 21s play off highlighted the performance of Rutter and spoke about the gulf in class between him and the rest of a very very good intake of players on display.
Lets not sugarcoat this season, it’s been the worst season for years, made worse because in the bad times we expected more bad, but this time we expected huge progress after the disappointment of last season. We have a boardroom imploding with Del Boy Trotter being sacked, and said Trotter has been responsible for Marsch, £100m wasted in one season, the Big Kev fiasco, refusing to sack Marsch when asked by the owner. Sacking Marsch too late and then panic buying Gracia. Refusing to sack Gracia and threatening to resign. Well he got sacked but in some respects this board of directors should be in jail. They have squandered a business plan, huge amounts of cash, seen reputational damage to the club. In any “real” business, heads would roll, an independent regulator would step in to investigate as stock market valuation plummets. Leeds have been the Gerald Ratner of the last 2 seasons and deserve to fail. On top of this it looks like Victor Orta is walking straight into another top job in Seville, as Monchi is going to be sacked and Orta to take over next month. Seville are still playing in Europe comps….
