Well, that didn’t take long. Rosler sacking was always going to happen before Christmas, it’s the Cellino way. His policy for hiring managers/coaches is pathetic … get in those who are cheap and will take rolling contracts, then sack them fast for little compensation when things inevitably go wrong. It’s been a very, very long time since we had a manager capable of driving Leeds on, and please don’t bring up Grayson because he was pathetic once Leeds got to the Championship. Cellino, or whoever takes over at Leeds next, must get a manager in who is capable not just of getting us into the Prem, but also keeping us there. This club needs to raise its standards and start signing players and backroom staff capable of working at a big club, coping with the pressure and expectation, and thriving at Prem level when we get there. While we keep signing clowns like Hockaday and Evans, we will continue to be a circus. Over time Evans will prove to have been another uninspiring choice, and after taking three steps forward we’ll have taken six steps back. It must be difficult for the Leeds players, asked to perform for such a massive club on the big stage that is Elland Road, yet being given below average managers to work with. This is how it is under Cellino, a conveyor belt of ridiculous managerial appointments and constant failures. This is Leeds Fcuking United, not Aldershot!! While our owners, and I include the fool Bates in this, behave like cheapskates with almighty egos, then we will continue to struggle on the pitch. Yes, we have a much better and more talented squad than under Bates, but the leadership and coaching off the field is not there to bond them together and give them the confidence to succeed. Then there are the Cellino convictions, and cry as he hard as he might, these were passed down in a court of law, so he is guilty. Why the FL don’t simply ban him from English football for life is beyond me. The man has been proved to be dishonest, and we really don’t need a trigger-happy person like him running our club. He can say what he wants, but his actions affect our club. Leeds United can’t keep talking about a six place jump up the table from fifteenth as improvement, this club needs to start every season with just one expectation … promotion. While we keep setting ourselves low standards, all we will achieve are these low standards. Rosler was totally wrong to talk about tenth as progress, because it not only creates an atmosphere of resignation in the stands, it also removes responsibility from the players to perform at their best every game, and finishing one point above the relegation zone becomes success. Leeds United needs progressive ownership with a genuine desire to succeed, someone who rejects failure and excuses, and who sets about building a team on and off the pitch that is genuinely representative of this great club. Until this happens, Leeds United will continue to wallow in the bottom half of the Championship with false dawns season after seasons. Get the Cagliari out of Leeds!!
I don't really understand how you can say we have a better team now than under Bates. We always always had at the very least one genuinely good player who was better than this division and would create excitement for fans. For the most part a number of them. Now, we have spent a lot more money and we have players who have the potential to be very good but aren't yet, and we have a lot of bang average players making up the numbers. We were also capable and willing to appoint managers who were genuinely regarded as top managers for the division. We appointed Grayson at a time when he already knew League 1 and was more than capable of promotion. We appointed Neil Warnock (who I ****ing hated long before Leeds and genuinely struggled to get interested when he was here), but he was seen from most football fans as a manager more than capable of promotion from this league. Same with McDermott. Now we appoint Hockaday who has no experience past sunday league, Darko who no one has ever heard of, Redfearn who is someone with no experience of managing the first team, Rosler who failed at Wigan (who eventually got relegated with the team he assembled them) and Evans who is a lazy fat **** with again no real experience of doing well in our division. They aren't the appointments you'd expect a top club in the division to make, they are recipes for disaster really. I still claim and will continue to claim that a top manager can get any team promoted from this league on a reasonable budget. I do think we were almost right in appointing McDermott, he was just clearly lacking something.
Agree with Billy's assessment but unfortunately we're all going to grow very old waiting for the knight in shining armour to arrive. Not so sure about players not able to perform either at a massive club. There's nothing massive or particularly intimidating about Elland road with 15k empty seats at home games
Agree with most of what you say Billy although Josh does make a good point about are we really much better, more importantly good to see you posting again
good to see you back Billy, great article as always We arent going to fluke our way out of the division and everytime I feel we are making progress the mad man opens his gob rather than his wallet and were two steps back. I agree with Josh about getting a top manager in, but who in there right mind would work for Cellino? The bait is getting to manage one of the top teams in status within the division, but surely after another season in charge all we are going to be able to attract is the likes of evans and Hockaday. I dont know the answer, lets just hope the Italian justice system can help us out and that Cellino walks rather than running the club through contacts or relatives.
I'd comment on this, but I'm too depressed Most of the above rings true to me I'm not in the 'careful what you wish for' camp. We won't ever get the club I want with MC in charge. I'd like to think the FL will grow some but don't expect MC to be forced out On Evans, I'm trying to pretend he might do the trick but in my heart I don't believe he will, indeed not sure who could in this setup It's customary to finish by saying what could happen to sort this boogers muddle out ..... Erm ..... Feck me if I know the way out of this
I think we all know what we need, the issue is what we are likely to get. There are very few altruistic, rich business people who would invest in Leeds Utd for the sake of the club and the fans because once, or twice, we were a great club. It's either going to be charlatans, out to milk the club and fans (re: Portsmouth), prudent owners who run the club on an even keel, happy to make some money for themselves but who will only achieve promotion by luck when they hire a gifted manager who picks up a core team of talented players on the cheap, or erratic entrepreneurs fueling an ego trip (re: Cellino) who again, will only achieve success by a lucky combination of assets and are more likely to sink the project and walk away in search of another plaything. Our best bet is that a corporate vehicle or a rich arab/corrupt Russian decides that investing/laundering a modest sum now will pay off in the medium term. Unfortunately there isn't a queue of them outside Elland Road last time i looked. As nutty as he is, Cellino isn't the worst thing that could happen to the club. He has realised that last year's approach was a disaster and he has reduced the wage budget, got rid of the useless deadwood and bought better players. If the FL ban him and he just sells to the highest bidder, it will be an asset stripper (re: Blackpool) who comes in.
Hey all, good points made ... Josh, the key for me is that managers like Grayson and Warnock are not big club managers ... they can thrive and look good at clubs where expectations are low, where if they have success they are lauded as geniuses because nobody expected THAT club to do something ... the biggest problem playing for Leeds and managing Leeds is the weight of expectation ... this expectation may not come from Leeds United supporters, but it definitely comes from the rest of the footballing world ... regardless of what we think, the rest of the world still regards Leeds as a sleeping giant, one of the great clubs in the game, and as such every season people expect Leeds to make a run at promotion ... just look at what every new signing or manager has to say about joining Leeds, how in awe they are of this club and its history ... the only way Leeds can move forward is by getting in a manager who understands working at a big club, and players who have the temperament to cope with the pressure of wearing the Leeds shirt, because the pressure is the same whether Elland Road is empty or full ... the ghosts of Bremner, Charles, Strachan all still walk along the tunnel on every match day, and the players feel the responsibility of being THE team that gets Leeds promoted back to where the footballing world believes the club should be ... unfortunately for us, Cellino is not the right chairman to take Leeds forward a billionaire investor went and bought little Man City, a Russian bought second rate Chelsea, a German billionaire bought Southampton and they have been run very well indeed all the way from Lge One ... Swansea's investors have worked to a well executed plan ... even Norwich are superbly run off the pitch, as are Bournemouth, and now these clubs are banking stacks of Prem cash which benefits them tremendously even if they get relegated
Without the stability and significant investment, we will continue to dwell in the Championship and the 1st Division. Sadly I can't see any progress to the Premiership being made over the coming years. Let's face it the finances and assets buried off-shore prevent any decent take-over. If we were an attractive option it would have happened by now - we are not. The fan base is already dwindling, supported in the main by a generation who related to the 70's and 2 generation's to the Wilkinson and O'Leary era. Thereafter for many young fans it's about supporting Premier teams who are successful - Manure, City, Chelski etc. After Premiership teams, more kids are interested in Barca and Madrid shirts than Leeds.
All very true. Id imagine most investors would want a nice clean deal. How much do you want for the lot? OK, thats fair enough and well agree to pay that amount in stage payments. Thats not the case with Leeds, skeletons all over the world and God knows how much due to, GFH, Bates, investors, Santa Claus if we ever fluked a promotion. Im afraid, there are more appealing and simpler clubs than us to buy
Absolutely. Without the clarity in what is being bought and owned outright why would you take the risk with so much money. I wonder why any prospective owner would not just build a new stadium and training facilities elsewhere - if these are two of the biggest problems (hidden ownership assets). City got a foot in the door with the commonwealth games stadium and then new owners. They then invested in a new training ground/academy. And so now we see West Ham gaining a new stadium. Leeds has an opportunity for a venue for city events/concerts and other hosting opps for sports like rugby. Perhaps the fan base is not strong enough to warrant this afterall?
Problem is we've long term leases signed on Elland road and the training ground. Cellino tried to break it and couldn't. Another problem for any new owner to sort
Not necessarily. Fans group collecting a few bob from anyone gullible enough to give it to them. All set to dethrone Massimo when the timing is right. Chin up
Morning Eire. I thought the fans group were trying to buy the GFH share? Great post by Billy, agree with nearly all of it but not sure the players are any better than teams before. Also agree that people will soon forget our big club' tag the longer this malaise continues. My son is 13 years old and has never known Leeds as premier league team and doesn't think of us as one
Sadly, with each passing year we lose out on more and more young supporters, and if it continues we will end up struggling to get 12000 to a home game whilst facing Cambridge in Lge Two ... any brand that isn't at the top table for a long while will suffer ... Forest won two European Cups, now they are a struggling Championship club whose fan base definitely isn't growing, and they will never again scale those heights unless someone sticks a billion in and buys a squad of galacticos ... Leeds have suffered since dropping out if the Prem because of one single thing, awful owners Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
