The Leeds Thread

[Tony Ferrino]

Really like Brentford as a club. Good day out if you get the chance to go.  Shame they have to play some shite teams though.

[Crawford Bridge]

[Rab B Nesbit]

4 minutes ago, Crawford Bridge said:

Watch yourselves boys you’ll have marshmallow following you round the forum giving you red dots for the next 5 years . 

[D'Jaffo]

Watch yourselves boys you’ll have marshmallow following you round the forum giving you red dots for the next 5 years . 

He’ll be watching Leeds in this division for the next 5 years as well.

[Crawford Bridge]

12 minutes ago, Rab B Nesbit said:

Watch yourselves boys you’ll have marshmallow following you round the forum giving you red dots for the next 5 years . 

Oh aye, they're a sensitive bunch.

I got the treatment a while ago for calling Don Revie a match fixer.

[Bohemian]

Saw Leeds play at old Trafford once, absolute dregs of society and made old firm fans look like well behaved boy scouts

[jamamafegan]

Leeds won’t win the play-off. They’ve absolutely fucked it. Can they blame it on injuries? They seem to have been plagued with them this season.

 

Aston Villa will deservedly go up. Shame because it would have been great to see Leeds back in the top flight. Only thing to hope for now is that Sheffield United steal the title from the Norwich gimps.

 

[repeat_offender]

23 hours ago, Bohemian said:

Saw Leeds play at old Trafford once, absolute dregs of society and made old firm fans look like well behaved boy scouts

 

Which season?

[repeat_offender]

22 hours ago, jamamafegan said:

Leeds won’t win the play-off. They’ve absolutely fucked it. Can they blame it on injuries? They seem to have been plagued with them this season.

 

They looked totally shot following the Wigan game, their form since the turn of the year has been pretty much that of a mid table side.  Even pre Wigan / Brentford I didn't fancy our chances in the play offs, perform there like was have in the last 2 games & it's a case of goodnight Vienna for me.

Re your comment on injuries I think going into the Brentford game only Barry Douglas of the 1st team regulars was injured.

@Bedford White A change from the  usual seats for me for the Villa game will see me up in the rarefied East Stand Upper for a change with you, better take the Vertigo tablets pre match.

Edited April 23, 2019 by repeat_offender

[Bohemian]

39 minutes ago, repeat_offender said:

 

Which season?

A good few years back now mate, it was the year I think Arsenal went unbeaten under Wenger because the Leeds lot had Arsenal jerseys and flags ha.. One of the last games of the season. My mate and I hung around to watch the Leeds fans bused in, tough looking bunch ha. One lad had an old metal army helmet with a swastika on it and the biggest shinner I have ever seen 

Edited April 23, 2019 by Bohemian

[Rab B Nesbit]

On 22/04/2019 at 19:35, Crawford Bridge said:

Oh aye, they're a sensitive bunch.

I got the treatment a while ago for calling Don Revie a match fixer.

Can’t beat lathering up the mallow ex Leeds fan . 

[WALMOT]

Jack Charlton: the survivor who came, saw and left on his own terms

Leeds United's record appearance holder made his debut on April 25, 1953

By

Jon Howe

 

Jack Charlton of Leeds United circa 1970 (Image: Don Morley/Allsport UK/Getty Images)

 

The beautiful contradiction of a football club is it is always changing, but also, it never changes. Leeds United in 2019 is a universe away from the club which Jack Charlton left in 1973 when he retired at the age of 38, and yet you can still sense him in the wooden seats of the West Stand, lining up for a corner in front of the Kop, or leaning against the crumbling brick wall out on Lowfields Road.

Jack Charlton is in the fabric of Leeds United and Elland Road still, a part of the club’s DNA who will forever bring loyalty, commitment and fighting spirit, but also a sense of mischief which provides that enduring quality of being the outlaws who like to win matches more than they like to win friends.

As an uncompromising centre-half, Charlton was unrepentant in how he went about his business, and in many ways was the walking personification of the methods of fear and intimidation Leeds used to overcome anything in their way. In terms of building a football club, Charlton represents the glue which held everything together, making 773 appearances and spanning generations from when John Charles was about to create his own legend, to when Don Revie was about to crown his.

Charlton came, saw and left on his own terms, typically self-assured and unapologetic, but in between times, he left a legacy which is sewn into the very essence of Leeds United.

It goes without saying one-club loyalty is a concept for a forgotten age of football, but even in the pre-Premier League era, Charlton’s consistent service to Leeds United was astonishing, representing 21 seasons at the club and a full 18, yes that’s EIGHTEEN, as a regular fixture in the side. For most of those, of course, he was a first choice centre-half, but Charlton’s career was not without its false starts.

Leeds United team pose for a group photograph at Elland Road. They are left to right Back Row: Paul Madeley, Mike O' Grady, David Harvey, Gary Sprake, Jack Charlton and Norman Hunter. Middle row: Albert Johanneson, Rod Belfitt, Mick Jones, Terry Hibbitt, Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer, manager Don Revie. Front row: Paul Reaney, Terry Cooper, Johnny Giles, Billy Bremner, Jimmy Greenhoff and Mick Bates. July 1968.

As many players did at the time, Charlton came into the game with considerable life experience, despite his tender years. Hailing from the North East pit village of Ashington, and a family which presented no less than six players to professional football, he had already spent some time working the coal seams which held the community together, and also did two years of national service before becoming a first-team player at Leeds. He had even dodged an interview to become a police cadet to attend his first trial at Elland Road, and it was Charlton’s brusque manner and survivalist breeding which led to many confrontations with peers and authority alike.

Charlton was famously pinned by the throat against a wall by the great John Charles, after the cocksure youngster had reacted with trademark arrogance when asked to take up a specific position at a corner. It was the kind of audacious confidence which could be channelled one of two ways, but thankfully, the belligerent Charlton learnt how to rein it in and use his wayward antagonism as a positive.

As a player Don Revie had a number of run-ins with the ill-disciplined Charlton, who would often race around the pitch with the ball attempting to do everyone’s job because he had no faith in his own team-mates. Somehow Revie saw a leader in Charlton, however, and as a manager, brought a focus to his game which led to him becoming the enduring stalwart of his great side.

Charlton made his Leeds debut in April 1953 in a Second Division fixture against Doncaster Rovers, and it was his emergence as a reliable centre-half which allowed John Charles to be moved into attack permanently to fully exploit the goal-scoring skills which were beginning to make his name. Charlton was an immovable object from thereon in, using the hard knocks of his upbringing as precious groundwork for navigating the brutal outlands of post-war professional football.

8th April 1972: Leeds United manager Don Revie presents Jack Charlton with a bottle of champagne and the Footballer of the Month trophy in the changing room after a match. In the bath behind them are fellow Leeds players Clark, Billy Bremner (1942 -1997), Bates, and Gary Sprake (standing). (Photo by E. Milsom/Evening Standard/Getty Images)

If Charlton was a fierce competitor surviving only on his gut instincts and what God gave him, it rubbed off on others, and as Revie assembled a team around him, Charlton became the experienced head, a veteran of over 500 first-team games before the club had even won a major trophy. It also brought belated international recognition, with Charlton winning his first England cap shortly before his 30th birthday, and winning the World Cup against West Germany just a year later.

That may well give a player a unique standing in the football world, at least until you consider Roque Junior can claim the same thing, and it certainly gave Leeds United a new status in the game, but Charlton was famously unconcerned about the trappings of fame and carried on as a model of consistency as Leeds began to accumulate medals and trophies of their own.

Without doubt Charlton was an ungainly footballer, an over-harvesting of arms and legs. However, he was a committed and fearless player who excelled in the air, but also had an uncanny liking for running forward with the ball. He would baulk at the prospect of being compared to a modern day centre-half, in the ilk of Liam Cooper and Pontus Jansson playing themselves out of trouble via intricate passing triangles, but Charlton was far more than just a ruthless stopper. Indeed, he contributed 96 goals in his Leeds career, albeit many of them were the result of Charlton’s inherent nuisance value at corners and the slightly agricultural practice of planting the ball on his head two yards from goal.

In essence, Charlton did as much as anyone to build the Leeds United we know today, and as a player who respected no-one, was instrumental in carrying out Revie’s mantra on the pitch and instilling a ‘keep fighting’ ethic which took the club into unchartered waters.

Leeds players Bobby Collins Billy Bremner Jack Charlton April 1965 come home to Leeds Central station after their victory over Manchester United The Sun James Milne

Jack Charlton is rightly celebrated as one of the greatest players the club has ever produced, and that isn’t just earned through loyalty or even ability, it is earned from being the kind of character which doesn’t come around too often and is impossible to accurately define. They don’t make them like Big Jack anymore, and you can’t buy players like Big Jack anymore. Players like him just arrive, find their place, do their thing and go. And that Jack Charlton did his thing at Leeds United is something we should be eternally grateful for.

[WALMOT]

Really interesting press conference from MB saying the players wont replicate this season again and also how the team have created 300 chances against 200 for Norwich ans Sheffield Utd:-

Disappointment on Monday - how have you managed that this week? Hard to pick everyone up?

You can feel only one way and we feel this way.

Tough to get players back up? They were flat after the game

What happened was unavoidable. The way the player feels is normal, if they didn’t feel that way, we would worry about it.

Still thinking about top 2 or is the play-offs the focus now?

Whatever the reality says.

What expecting from Villa? Win give important mental edge?

Of course we need to play a game to rebuild our optimism and winning Sunday would be positive in that aspect.

Any new injuries?

Apart from Roofe and Alioski, all the other players are available.

What's wrong with Roofe?

He has a problem with his hip and can’t use his maximum speed.

How long out for?

It think he will be available sooner [than the end of the season].

Bad luck with injuries?

As an average we miss four players for each game this season

How are you feeling yourself, Marcelo?

I already said how I feel in the last press conference.

And I don’t think it’s necessary to repeat.

How do you lift yourself? Take yourself away from it or anything?

I think when you receive a blow, to ignore the consequences is not the right path.

Pain has a natural process for disappearing and if you want to force or hide this process, it is meaningless.

Supporters want your work to continue here regardless of how the season ends - what would you say to that?

It’s not up to me and I don’t have any more response to that.

It’s not a decision that we have to take now and it’s not the right time to give my opinion.

How confident you can recover your best football?

We don’t need to recover this football because we haven’t lost our football. When you lose, you lose. It’s obvious. But we can’t ignore the way these losses happen.

When you lose you don’t always have the same message. When you lose at a specific moment it’s not always the same message that comes out.

I am going to give you some figures that are not taken into account, but for me have a lot of value.

Our team this season has had 300 chances to score. And we had 100 chances more to score than the first and second teams in the table.

And we have 14 players who played this whole season. To give you an example, Douglas, Alioski and Davis, our three left-backs of the team, all of them have three knee injuries.

So when you take into account this reality, you must have to take into account what the players have done at the right level.

If only 14 players have played the whole Championship. If we need six changes to score to score one goal and our rivals need only three., the only feeling I have towards our players is respect and consideration.

The game that decided our fate was the game that we lost at home to Wigan.

In that game we have 15 chances to score and we have more than 70% of possession. The final result was a decision of God. I know that what I am saying, people will deduce it with irony, sarcastically. No one wants to miss a chance to score and you don’t evaluate teams by the goals they score, but by the chances they create. But of course teams that are efficient make a difference. We were not efficient.

But then when you play a competition with a small number of players and also the injuries we have had that are muscular are to do with luck, so we were not helped by destiny in that sense. I am very happy with all that I received from the club and the sporting director but there are things we obviously couldn’t get and I always describe myself as responsible of the situation. I know what I’ve done to find solutions and I didn’t find solutions. So this is the story. But what we can’t say about our team is that they couldn’t assimilate the pressure.

Because you don’t asmiluate the pressure only when you don’t use the skills you have.

Remember what I say now, as you will be able to verify it.

You won’t have one single player in our team that would be able to reproduce the same level of performance in another season, because we have been very demanding with them and they give everything and they have the figures that I am checking all the time that show what I am telling is true. The players won’t be abel to reproduce the levels they have shown in another season.

We can say that you can’t support the pressure and undergo the pressure only if you know you say that and you know what the pressure is. If you say in the last X games you lost 5/10 games because you couldn’t handle the pressure it’s not only about the team who wins can stand the pressure. It’s about how you win and lose the game.

You mentioned things you couldn't get - transfers?

I don;t have any criticism to anyone. Everything that cold be done was done. You know that James was going to come and didn’t come in January. I’m not underlying the importance of the absence of James, I’m underlying that the club struggled to get James. The club did everything, more even, that they could do to find solutions to the needs of the team.

But with James or without him we should have finished first or second without any doubt.

The game against Wigan illustrated the trend that the team has had all season. We had many games we deserved to win and didn’t win.

But the game of Wigan was an example of this. Obviously it was not our destiny to finish 1st or 2nd and we couldn’t explain it. Or maybe we could have an explanation. We need to have twice as many chances to score as our opponents. But you can’t say a team that has 15 chances to score and 75% possession that they didn’t deserve to win.

If I was a fan listening to this, I would say that this is not enough of an explanation. It’s not enough to heal the dissolution. Our state of mind is not linked to a personal matter, the personal pride of reaching something. But it’s just because we were not able to give a response to the hope of the fans.

Those who are in the world of football give us possibility that the vast majority of people don’t have no matter what they do.

It’s the possibility of producing happiness and hope.

Football is a proportionate element. And someone who listens to this press conference will say this man is talking about a big loss like he is talking about a big loss that you couldn’t heal. The fact we’ve not finished first or second is not something you can’t change and we feel that. And the fans more than us.

SO you can’t hide the fact that people suffer because of this. When I say what I’m saying I always think how people will evaluate what I’m saying.

And people feel indignation because I feel like that. They have more important issues than this. Football is like that. I make comments on football and I also look at what life is, that’s why what I say is strange.

What are your options at left-back?

Dallas.

How well are Aston Villa playing at the moment?

It’s a team with an offensive skills that are different to other teams. Many offensive players, many wingers, offensive spirit and many are playing at a high level.

Have you known a season as drastic as this in terms of ill fortune?

I would say that my results link me more to defeat than to success. In my personal career.

[Bedford White]

Scando Whites on the way. Was chatting to a few in The Scarborough pre Wednesday game- like their ale.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/leeds-united-latest/130-norwegian-leeds-united-fans-take-special-mot-1919-flight-to-elland-road-for-aston-villa-clash-1-9734396?fbclid=IwAR2T0tEOWNFwryQ6RHOUB9quXWJn7Hhwsb_bg-QEThTZLW808gU6rq-cXbY

[Tony Ferrino]

Sheffield > Leeds imo anyway. 

[The 49Bus]

Can't believe we let Villa score an equaliser when their players didn't play to the whistle,  Although it proves Bielsa has morals in is pinkie than John Terry will ever have in his lifetime.

Horrendous refereeing performance again though, that was the real cause of it kicking off,  Mings should have been red carded as well, horrible person.

st least we saw fight from the players after the last two defeats, more confident for the pay-offs than I was before the game today.

 

 

[Bedford White]

32 minutes ago, The 49Bus said:

Can't believe we let Villa score an equaliser when their players didn't play to the whistle,  Although it proves Bielsa has morals in is pinkie than John Terry will ever have in his lifetime.

Horrendous refereeing performance again though, that was the real cause of it kicking off,  Mings should have been red carded as well, horrible person.

st least we saw fight from the players after the last two defeats, more confident for the pay-offs than I was before the game today.

 

 

Just back. That was fun for a dead rubber. Villa diving first half and a terrible ref performance by Atwell really deserved that Klich goal. 27 shots again and 70% possession. Quite clear what we need to do to go up-hopefully we will have found our shooting boots for FFDC. 

[cameron2000]

Leeds fans appear more deluded than the average fan base. Seem to think there is a conspiracy for everyone decision that goes against them. The ref really should have got his card out sooner because every time Grealish got the ball he was fouled basically, no wonder he feels the need to go down softly.

[Jim McLean's Ghost]

Watched the Leeds/Villa skirmish. Why the hell are the stewards on the park?

 

[repeat_offender]

1 hour ago, Bedford White said:

Just back. That was fun for a dead rubber. Villa diving first half and a terrible ref performance by Atwell really deserved that Klich goal. 27 shots again and 70% possession. Quite clear what we need to do to go up-hopefully we will have found our shooting boots for FFDC. 

Long shot, were you or were you with a guy in a white Leeds track suit top in the East Stand Upper today?