Well said, Kiwi. I agree. Marko, ever heard of the boy who cried wolf? Or the phrase 'less is more'? Or 'OTT'? If the sad day comes along when you've been proved right, how many will have switched off and not hear you say 'I told you so'?
I totally understand that. But I also like to follow my team, preferably by being there. As do many others who have been priced out. Up until this coming season, I have been a ST holder along with my son. But due to the very high ticket pricing policy and the very low quality player acquisition policy and the very high expenditure policy on loss-making non-football ventures, I have come to the conclusion that the current executives do not deserve to retain my support (the team will always have it) and thus do not deserve me making spending my money at ER as a higher priority than doing other things. This has taken a long time to come to this decision - a few seasons. I never wanted to take this decision, and I would prefer to be spending my time at ER with my son while paying the average that everyone else in the division pays to enjoy their football, and not have any expectations of promotion, thus just enjoy supporting my football team. But when I am forced to pay the 5th highest prices in the country and I continually am bombarded by the drivel about ambition and promotion in order to just get me to part with more and more of my hard earned, I expect the ambition of words to be realised in terms of a quality of player throughout the squad to at least give us a chance for that promotion. At the end of this coming season, I will be happy that I can afford to take my family on holiday, knowing I have missed nothing on the pitch
That makes absolute sense to me. I just think that persisting to moan about Bates' tenure on here and bringing the overall morale of the fans down even further and further is not helping anyone. By all means, if you don't believe the ticket prices are a fair representation of the overall quality of the football (and I certainly agree that they're not!) then that's up to you. But there are people who will still follow the club, and attend matches regardless, and I don't think it's fair that certain people on here preach what we should and shouldn't do as fans. If people want to believe the hype, get optimistic, continue to buy Leeds United shirts and attend their games, let them! We're all well aware that Bates is nothing more than a parasite who doesn't deserve to run a football club, but some fans will continue to spend their money on the club, and regardless of how that affects Bates or anyone else, I don't think any of us have any right to tell them not to. Sorry, but that's just my opinion.
I have followed Leeds since 1965, and as our song goes been through plenty ups and downs. I don't agree with the Bates approach, so I have cancelled my membership, LUTV and matchday programme subscriptions, I drive past the club shop and I don't go to games home or away. If our team is improved in this transfer window and we look like doing something under Warnock, I may attend games again. However, all this constant bulltwang going on and bickering does not make it fun to come on this board. I am positive right now as Colin has a track record, and signing Pearce has been an excellent first move. Let's enjoy seeing our new team take shape, be thankful a bunch of rubbish have gone, and see where we are end of July. Come on lads, it's the beginning of May and transfers really only start happening mid-June!! Patience.
If we stopped moaning about bates because its negative, he'd get his way. Everyone would forget all the bullshit, go back to being optimistic every summer saying "i think well do it this season" and blah blah blah. Pretending its not there and just looking at the positives of everything, that will get us nowhere. People on here and elsewhere find it all too easy to forget that no manager is going to get what they need from bates - every mention I make of the inevitability of an underwhelming summer is met by responses of "but warnock said he's got loads of targets he knows how to build a team blah blah" without any acknowledgment that I never said the manager was the limiting factor. It's all "colin said this and Colin said that why would he say it if it wasn't his decision blah blah". bates gets overpowered ny nobody, just because warnock probably stands up to him, makes no odds when he refuses to back down. If you have failed to notice, no matter what Colin says, it isn't consistent with what bates is saying. Or it wasn't before, more and more they are becoming in sync, and only one of them is changing to accommodate. I'll give you a hint, warnock is the one changing direction. The noise coming from bates is the same noise we heard last summer and in January. Only difference is he isn't trying to deny we plan on selling our best - he doesn't have to, everybody has been sucked in by the "well if we sell him warnock has more money to bring players in" line, and everyone is on board with selling our best. It's madness
See, it's exactly that which is why I don't like coming on here anymore... In case you hadn't noticed, Bates is going to have his way regardless. That's life. You will never get everyone to stop attending games. And I think it's wrong to stop them from going! Obviously some people support your way of thinking, and I'm saying it's wrong. I'm just saying the way you force your theories and negativity upon other people on here is ridiculous. We're all big boys, we can make our own decisions without being told what is and isn't right. Honestly, I think you despise Bates (and rightly so) so much, to the degree where you're simply looking for reasons to believe propaganda is there. I don't see Warnock changing direction at all. And that might well be me being blind, I don't know And about the selling, we're not saying we agree with it! Just some of us, wishful thinking though it may be, are wondering if someone like Clayton does go, does this mean he's searching for a dominant midfielder capable of getting us promoted. Again, you might well think we're being delusional, and expecting the impossible, but it's called optimism, and I'm sick and tired of people like you bringing the optimism down. We KNOW the club isn't perfect, we KNOW Bates is a selfish prick, but maybe, just maybe, we have the right manager to get us out of here, who will make sure he gets every penny out of Bates. I won't tell you to 'wait and just see where we go' because I know you don't agree with it, but just keep the negativity to yourself?
He didn't get his way at Chelsea. He can still be ousted and embarrassed by the almighty fans of Leeds United, it just takes some effort and belief. For the record, I try not to be negative about everything and have a balanced perspective, but even the most balanced person has to say that things are looking dreadful at the moment. Warnock doesn't look like he'll have the money to assemble this swackbuckling promotion squad so many people are sure he has in him, and even if there are a few good 'uns that come in, you know they will have taken the place of just as many existing ones. Then there will be problems with communication, gelling and fatigue throughout the season. That's my verdict anyway. I'm sure we'll be "there or thereabouts" once again, but it still won't be good enough. For what it's worth as well, I was very optimistic at this point last season, as others will attest. If unforseeable circumstances like Grayson's sacking, Kisnorbo's injury and Gradel and Howson's needless departures hadn't taken place, I'd probably have been proven right. Let's hope there are some unforseeable circumstances in our favour this time round!
You see I see this as a much more negative attitude. He's not going to have his way regardless, if he'd had his way we'd still have Neil Redfearn in charge - the magnitude of the unrest that arose from Grayson's sacking and the fannying about with the new appointment caused him to make somewhat of a panic signing to keep us quiet and it's worked. You've resigned yourself to the fact that evil men are going to be able to do whatever they want without opposition and any opposition can't make a difference anyway. This is wrong. 4000 people stopped going to games this season. We've another 3000 on their way out. In the space of two seasons, 7000 fans have stopped going because they can't be assed with the bullshit any more. 7000, that's ~ 25% of our average crowd in 10/11. That's enough to make a massive impact. What you're suggesting is we just all sit back, accept it and forget about it and just focus on the positives. That attitude is negative because it forgets about the long term. "Oh but I just want to enjoy my football" is too short term. I'm 24 years old and I love Leeds United, I have only gotten into supporting religiously in the last 3 years (before I wasn't into football particularly), and I want to be able to enjoy my football for the rest of my life. I don't want to just be able to make the most of the mediocrity we're served before the club goes into administration, gets liquidated, all the debts get written off and bates makes a ****ing massive profit. Giving in and just accepting what will be will be and that this kind of person is going to have his way no matter what is a terribly negative attitude. You're essentially saying "well we can't change it so lets just be grateful for what he gives us". You're looking for positives in a sea of negatives. Generally I will try to see the positives, the signing of Jason Pearce genuinely has me a bit more optimistic about next season. But it's tainted by the listing of Adam Clayton. I genuinely rate Adam Clayton and think at best he was sublime and at worst he was just a little anonymous, much like Howson, yet everybody was up in arms when he got sold. Howson's sale was also "Grayson's decision". What's the difference? It's Warnock and not Grayson. People are STILL getting sucked into the scape goating of Simon Grayson. The only real difference is that Howson had proven himself in a longer term and had made some really big impacts - THAT pass to Jermaine Beckford, that goal against Bristol Rovers, you get the point. What's to say Clayton wouldn't make the same impact over the next couple of years? We'll never know, because we're going to sell him and bring in somebody else who may or may not be as good - based on how much we'll have available and the rarity of a player of that quality without a transfer fee, I'd imagine we'll get someone ****ter.
And also, I was with Loiner last season. I honestly thought our squad had improved and we would do better, I was really getting pissed off by the gloomers, and then we sold Gradel. And I really rated Gradel. His flair, spark, pace, creativity and most of all his attitude to put 170% in for 120 minutes (I like to imagine after a match he has to spend 20 minutes running around to blow off his excess energy) have been so very sorely missed.
