Ive decided to write an article about the dumbfound questions about answers i've so longed for. Once Upon A Time........ The Club As a 29 year old bloke i've seen what the media claim Leeds united to be the biggest fall from grace within my era. Has it made me stronger? absolutely, i've never felt so passionate about who i support since we died and went to hell!! What have i learnt? To respect the lower league clubs i once belittled and didn't care to be educated about when we were flying high in europe! I mean why should i have cared about teams like Carlisle, Oldham, Bristol, Huddersfield, Yeovil, when we were giving footballing lessons to teams like: Roma, AC Milan, Lazio, Real Madrid, Barcelona and of course the scum of red. Why should i have cared about players such as; Steve Morrison, Grant Holt, Richie Barker, Jermaine Beckford, Rickie Lambert, when i was living the dream by watching players such as: Thierry Henry, Marc Overmars, Tony Yeboah, Rivaldo, Totti. These players seem like a figment of my imagination. It's a learning curve my head refuses to accept. Why? Have i moved on? Why can't i accept a complicated transfer fee? Why do we need to spend 7 million on a stand we don't own? The Stand The biggest criticism Ken Bates has had to date is the 7 million pound transfer fee for the redevelopment of the east stand just for the chinese "GREAT" So let me get this straight! we don't own the stand, we rearrange the top tier that we currently don't use, we spend money to redevelop it and we provide better corporate boxes that we have only half sold for the 2011/12 season! All this for 7 million. Oh wait a minute... How could i possibly forget. The hotel & the museum! The hotel is something that amuses me every time i pick up a conversation with anyone who dares to discuss the Ken Bates Hotel of horrors. Ask yourself this question. What does this hotel offer me? A Museum, a mcdonalds and a jct600. Why would you as a customer stay around the ground when surely a plush hotel in the city centre of Leeds would offer so much more than a night in with Ken. You have pubs, bars, restaurants, shopping, entertainment and a jct 600, this is something i would rather take on than sit in a room with pound coins having to use all the facilities like a slot machine "i need to use the toilet" Insert 50p for urination and insert £1.00 for the drop and of course 25p for the one flush. I'd also imagine that the beds are charged on comfort with a little note under your pillow from Ken himself.. Sweet dreams my little pudding pop. Is it a dare your willing to take? Transfers Since January we have all come together and seen the missing links, seen the issue with our defence, seen the gap in our midfield and also seen the lack of leadership that we have all been craving for! What did we need? 1 centre back, 1 left back, 1 right back, 2 midfielders and another 2 forwards to replace Paynter & McDecorator What did we bring in? Michael Brown a 34 year old player with little pace and the ability to play less than an hour with getting subbed within fear of a 2nd yellow. We also brought in Oh'dear Darren wheres ya mummy! Had a mare against the saints but seemed to play ok against boro, even though the lad is a centre back, i still believe this lad was the wrong move and in the end we will probably end up paying his wages while on the bench. What is it with our negotiations these days Mr Harvey? Players like Andrews, Alan Smith, Steve Howard, Gary Roberts, Jermaine Beckford, Bradley Johnson, Kieren Westwood, have all turned us down to play there football elsewhere! Are we scared of upsetting Gradel & Snodgrass? Well clearly we are, but if i was simon and a player with huge amounts of quality became available and potentially on more than the 2 then i'd show gradel & snoddy the videos of there performances this season at the saints and boro! Sometimes you can't improve unless your ready upset the apple cart i say.... Grayson highlights that we need to improve our side and that Andy Keogh & Forsell will be able to do that! So your telling me that 2 players who can't hit a barn door at this moment in time are much more of an improvement compared to a player say like Adam Le Fondre who finds the net the 30 times a season with minimal fuss! And i wont accept this may not be his level, when you have Grant Holt, Steve Morrision, Jermaine Beckford who have all scored from the lower leagues! If you know where the goal is.. then your good enough. In all, its very important that we as fans are able to voice our opinion without being criticised for what we stand for! If we hate Ken Bates then we hate Ken Bates, If we want quality, we will demand quality, If we want bovril, we will get bloody bovril. We pay hell of alot in merchandise, tickets, memberships, our broadband to moan on forums, and of course our computers to keyboard lash, and finally our strong ale to put us to sleep when were all still seething after a bad day at the office. Chin up lads! I hate the business, but it'l take a damn lot to stop me from bleeding Blue, Yellow and white... and of course black & green (away shirt)
we refused to meet his demands of a 2 year deal! we wanted him for a season. 2 years for a player like him would be decent.
Good article Monster-enjoyed reading it. The only thing I would disagree with is your point about Steve Morison and especially Grant Holt-you should never have taken notice of these two no matter how far down the leagues we fell! One is average at his very best and I cant wait to see Holt get found out for the fat waste of space he is in the prem! No matter how bad it gets, I can never stop the love of all things Leeds either!
I'd have Holt at Leeds like a shot, a very good player with an excellent scoring record, can't believe what you've said.
im waiting for him to score the one where he doesn't push someone over to get away/win the header bigfatboab. I'd have him in the championship (not ahead of Becchio mind you) but prem? hell no. If he proves to be a success, and I think a target of 15 goals in the league would be a fair target to gauge success for a striker in a team thats just come up, then I will post on here that I was wrong, and would have no problem doing so. But he wont, so I wont. end of.
actually if memory serves, when we drew 1-1 at carrow road last season, I believe it was fat boy holt that pushed Kasper over to score and steal a point. I could be wrong with that, but i'm fairly sure. defo aint gonna get away with that in the prem
Holt is a good player, old fashioned centre forward, abit like a mobile Kevin Davies. He's the type of striker with age on his side that should make some impact in the Prem too.
for me the players like Holt/Parkin/Howard/Bogdanovic are exactly what this team needs right now! How we miss becchio when it goes tits up is unreal! I just hope that keogh can make an impact. Afterall the lad has come home
