I was in the ESL last night and at half time there was a guy spouting off to his mates about the chants in the SS. Rather foolishly (he was a big lad!), I entered into a rather loud argument with him (bet you're surprised, Marko & Sheldon!). Didn't change his mind, but he left the argument with a lot more facts than he entered it (courtesy of this forum!), and some food for thought. His mates seemed to come around, funnily enough. He wasn't the only one, btw, but I couldn't take them all on - not enough time. I must confess to being very surprised by the attitude to the protest in the ESL. Funny thing though - they all hated Bates! It's a funny old game .... I must pass some personal comments on the protest I viewed from the ESL. I don't know what it sounded like in the SS, but at the halfway line, it just sounded pathetically weak. To the casual observer, it must simply look like a tiny minority of crackpots. It doesn't help that Bates loudly encourages this perception. I truly believe that this & similarly divisive protests are doing us no good whatsoever: water off a duck's back for Bates (in fact, he's probably still laughing at the attempt); causing arguments among fans instead of uniting them (ironic for a team called UNITED); and spectacularly failing to present the true depth of feeling out there. I think Loiner & I are in violent agreement that the best form of protest is for us all to turn up for a match and simply not go in (ideally a cup match). Voting with your feet in this manner is much more effective in getting the message across.
If there were a lynchmob of 5,000 bloodthirsty Leeds fans outside the East Stand for the duration of the Everton game, it would send a proper message. It may have sounded pathetically weak, but how much noise are 200 people expected to make? Everyone around me was singing their face off, and we all know how poor the acoustics at Elland Road are at the best of times. The only way we can grow this movement is if people on the sidelines throw themselves into the action head-first and scream for Bates' head till they have no voice left. We need that Leeds passion back, and I think last night was a small step towards aiming for that. The rest of Elland Road, on the other hand, was a fanaticism-free zone (except for WJ's small part of the East Stand obvs!) Like being at an away game in your own ground with the way some of the Bates lovers were scorning our efforts (which the ****ing pussies would never dare put in themselves).
Another defeat on Saturday and we could find ourselves in the relegation zone - I think sentiment and anger towards Bates might change then.
If you wanted to hear pathetically weak you should have watched the scum scum game last night. The Turkish scum outsang the whole of Old Trafford & the only time you heard the red scum was when the school kids tried to start of a chant of united, united. Imagine 80,000 Leeds fans in Europe? The place would errupt!
Not much noise from a lot of ours at Elland Road either, but then, theres not a lot to shout about. Remember scum chelsea champions league final in Russia. Worst atmosphere ever at a footie match. Sounded like a humming sound for whole match, pathetic
