The day I met Ken Bates & Peter Ridsdale

This blog is a personal story from my days living and working in London. After I finished school in the summer of 2000, I decided to take some time away from home with my best friend Jonas. Instead of going to India or Australia like everybody else, we decided to go to London. England for us meant football, beers & music – things we both rated higher then cows, smog and surfing. We found jobs on a hotel near Kings cross station, bellboys with a massive £3.20 an hour, but included in that was three meals a day, and a room in the hotels staff house.

We had loads of good times, we saw a lot of football and drank a lot of beer, a perfect ending to three years in business school. Among my favorite moments working in the hotel were the day Bryan Robson came in and asked for directions, obviously I send him the wrong way, another brilliant moment was when Taribo West, the former Inter Milan & Derby player came in and asked if he could rent a room for an hour or three, the fun in the story being the three girls he had brought with him into the reception, we had to turn his offer down though ;)

My very favorite anecdote however includes our current and former chairman. My boss told me that the hotel were going to host an FA conference and that all the Premier League chairmen would attend, so we should be on our best behavior and have complete control. The big day arrived and our hotel was buzzing when the first taxi pulled up in front of the entrance, out stepped Ken Bates (then of Chelsea), I welcomed him to our hotel and was about to show him the way to the suite were the conference were held when he looked at me and said; “Do you know how expensive the taxis are in London, it’s a complete joke”, I was stunned, the man owns more money than I could imagine, and he complains to me, a guy working for £3.20 an hour…Talk about cheap!

Minutes later another taxi pulled up, and the man stepping out from that was way flashier then Ken Bates, the man was Peter Ridsdale. I welcomed him too and congratulated him on signing Rio Ferdinand (Didn’t know at the time we couldn’t afford him), and told him that I was a massive Leeds fan and how pleased I was seeing the team doing so well. He gave me his “Ridsdale million dollar smile” and we talked a bit while I showed him the way to the suite, when we arrived I joked about the Ferdinand transfer and told him that I would gladly have signed for half the amount of Rio, Ridsdale looked at me and said; “Just come to Leeds and give it a go then”, still smiling the Ridsdale way. Once again I was stunned and mumbled something and then laughed and left.

Looking back I think that I should have taken him up on the offer, he paid around £30000 a week to anyone who could kick a ball, and even if my talent is limited I do manage to kick the odd ball around - but then again, if I had been paid that much by Leeds, I would have had part in our downfall, so actually I am quite happy just to tell the tale and not to be at fault for the meltdown that followed Ridsdale.

My days in London were great and filled with fantastic memories, I won’t “bore” you with the rest, but I did feel that the “Leeds” story was worth telling. M.O.T

Is Kisnorbo playing because of reputation or because of form?

I saw this question asked on a Leeds United facebook site and decided to write a blog about it, since it is a thing that I’ve been wondering about for a couple of weeks now.

I believe most Leeds fans were very pleased to see Paddy Kisnorbo take the field in our last game against champions QPR last season; I know that most Leeds fans were annoyed when rumors of his departure from Elland Road started flourishing on various web sites. Crystal Palace among others were interested in taking him on after Leeds decided that they wanted him to prove his fitness before offering him an extended deal. The relief among Leeds fans was big when it was announced that Paddy and Leeds had agreed on a new deal, meaning he could help lead us back into the Premier League this season.

When Paddy came on against QPR I thought he looked slow and a long way away from the player I remembered, but I also knew that he was coming back from a career-threatening injury so I was sure that a good pre-season with loads of fitness would bring him back to the great player he was before the injuries. The question, after 6 games of the season is, will Paddy ever be the same player? I still think he looks insecure, he is slow in both mind and feet, and what we need from a player like him is leading by example, in a positive way, not the way he is doing right now. With a new goalkeeper behind him and two young and very talented backs beside him, him and the other central defender, being O’Dea, O’Brien, Bruce or Bromby needs to show more experience and coolness in their game. The Kisnorbo we saw before the injury was different, he was going after every ball and fighting till blood streamed down his face – maybe he just needs to put his bandages back on? The “new” Kisnorbo is a player that I suddenly feel we could do without, I believe that if Alex Bruce was given a fair chance he would do more good for the team then Kisnorbo is right now – and knowing how Ken Bates feels about high earning players, he must certainly feel that we could do without him too. Next chance for Kisnorbo to find his feet is Saturday against Bristol, followed by Manchester Uniteds visit at Elland Road, hopefully he will be better in that game, otherwise I fear that Rooney/Hernandez will eat him alive.

I sincerely hope that Paddy Kisnorbo will find his old self again, he is a great player (when fit and ready) and is a true fighter, something deeply appreciated at Elland Road – But right now, I am sad to say that I feel Simon Grayson is playing him because of his name and not because of his current ability. 

M.O.T!

Leeds United - Crystal Palace 10th of September 2011

Our guests at Elland Road on saturday are Crystal Palace who is managed by former Leeds loanee, Dougie Freedman, Dougie did well for us in our run in which ended with us losing the play off final to Doncaster. Palace arrive at ER in great shape, having tasted defeat only once, in their first game of the season against Peterbrough, since then four games have given them ten points, even though the have had good opponents like Burnley, Hull & Blackpool among others.

On to the homeside, Leeds United have had a rough start to the season gaining only four points so far, in a season troubled by red cards, own goals and a missed penalty. Four points leaves us in 19th place and three points on saturday would really help boost the team. Luciano Becchio returned from injury in a behind doors friendly against Hull and off course he scored a goal - He will be able to play against Palace, but I think Simon Grayson might rest him for another week. Other striker news is the signing of Mikael Forssell, the finnish international have been in Chelsea & Birmingham, and have spent the last three seasons in Germany, playing for Hannover96, he is also able to play against Palace, and I think that he will get his chance, given his form is decent, he scored in a 4-1 Finland win last friday. Aiden White will miss from the team after being given a red card in the last game against Ipswich, Grayson will probably put Ben Parker or Darren O'Dea on the left back in Aidy's place.

Our last game against Crystal Palace was a Selhurst Park and they won 1-0, which basically meant that they survived in the Championsship, but it also meant that we missed out on the play offs, so revenge is on my mind! I think Leeds will win the game 3-1, coming from behind goals will be scored by Keogh, Howson & Forssell.

Our season so far

Seven games.  Five in the league, two in the carling cup.  Three wins, one in the league, Two in the carling cup plus one league draw, not the best start, actually one of the worst ever. In the 3^rd round of the carling cup Manchester United will arrive at ER, I would gladly have traded that game for another league win and then have gone out in the cup to Doncaster. In the five league games, we have gotten three players sent off, scored own goals, missed a penalty. We were outplayed totally against Southampton in the first game, but after that Leeds United have actually done pretty well, but have paid the cost for taking red cards and not scoring on our chances.

We have just seen a VERY quiet transfer window go by, the only notable thing happening was the departure of crowd favorite Max Gradel, who asked to be sold to St.Etinne, despite promising Leeds fans that he would extend his contract (empty words Max, empty words indeed!!). Other exits included Mike Grella and Fede Bessone. As always Leeds were linked with a lot of players, among them were Henri Lansbury and David Bentley, who both opted to stay in London and signed with West Ham, Sammy Clingan of Coventry was also heavily linked, but a sell on clause from Scott Dann’s transfer to Blackburn meant that they didn’t need to sell. So after the window closed we were left without signings and missing one of our best players from last year in Max Gradel. The loan window is opening soon and once again we are linked with almost anyone who can kick a ball.

Mikael Forsell have been training with Leeds for a few weeks now, and he is expected to sign a deal at the club shortly, so with him and, hopefully, a few decent loan signings from the premier league good times are coming to ER!

Positivity! Keep the faith!!  

Ipswich Town - Leeds United 27th of August 2011

Ipswich Town are saturdays opponents. Ipswich had a great start to the season, opening with a 3-0 away win in Bristol. After that game Paul Jewell's side have failed to win anything, losing three league matches and going out of the Carling cup after at 2-1 home defeat to Northampton. The last two games have been lost 5-2 and 7-1, so it is a team with a hurt pride that will take on Leeds.

Leeds United have done well that last couple of games, smashing Hull, getting a more then deserved point in West Ham, and midweek beating Doncaster 2-1 away in the Carling cup. The cup game gave Simon Grayson a nice dilemma, Ramon Nunez scored both Leeds goals, and have scored in every game he started for the club - so he must be pushing for a starting place. Most of the defence & goalkeeper got a rest on tuesday, which meant that Rachucka, O'Brien & Connolly among others got a bit of playing time. I think that SImon Grayson will chose to recall the back 4 and Lonergan for the game against Ipswich, actually I believe he will put the same 11 on the pitch as started the West Ham game, meaning that Ramon Nunez will have to settle for the bench.
In other news Becchio is back in training and is predicted to push for at spot in the team soon, which is great news

As mentioned Ipswich have had a rough couple of weeks, and I feel that if we can get a quick goal we should be able to break them and add to their misery - but there is always a risk that they will fight extra hard and put up a fight to get back on track, especially in front of their home fans. I don't think that they are strong enough to really hurt us though and I predict that Leeds will win with a margin of minimum 2 goals, actually I think will will win it 3-1, goals coming from Keogh, Gradel and Jonny Howson! Have a good game Leeds fans!

A TRIBUTE TO JAMIE EKINS & SØREN TRAPP

I believe that blogging should be about personal opinions and views, therefore my blog is not a news feed, match reports or copied material from  the web. I am writing about MY Leeds United, the things I have gained from being a fan of Leeds, and my views on transfers, players, chairmen, matches and so on. This blog is written as a tribute to the two men who have the biggest stake in me being as big a Leeds fan as I am. So Jamie & Søren, this is for you!

I grew up in a pretty normal family, mom and dad, older brother and sister and later on a little sister too. We lived in a small town outside Ribe, Denmark – we enjoyed watching and playing football. My dad and brother, and later on my little sister too, were big Manchester United fans, and tried their best to lure me into the arms of the enemy. I have always been a pretty confident kid, and liked to tease my dad so of course he would have no success in his attempts, actually I didn’t really support any team, I just liked playing and watching the game.

That all changed one August evening in 1995, I turned on the sporting news and saw the greatest goal I had ever seen, you guessed it, Tony Yeboahs stunning volley against Liverpool – I was sold! My golf coach, Jamie Ekins, had tried for some years to make me a Leeds fan, and on this evening his quest ended and I’ve never looked back. Becoming a Leeds fan was great, Jamie and I took drives to Esbjerg to watch games on TV and always had loads to talk about after the games – he told me about the great team of the sixties and seventies, and the history of our great club. My dad to this day thinks that Jamie, who is his golf coach too, brainwashed me, but he actually likes that I am a Leeds fan, because we have fun teasing each other (especially on January 3^rd 2010, or maybe that was just me). Oddly enough Jamie’s own son did the opposite switch and became a Manchester United fan.

As I grew older my passion for Leeds grew with me, throughout my school years I might not have paid proper attention to the teachers because I was playing football manager or thinking of the next Leeds game, but I did manage to graduate though, and when I finished school, I travelled to London for six months with my best friend. England opened my eyes for football and Leeds United even further, never have I seen such passion for the beautiful game, I bought everything with LUFC on in that I could get my hands on, meaning that I had to sail home instead of flying due to massive overweight. When I returned from England, Leeds were flying high in the Champions League, finally we were getting what we deserved, or at least we thought so, Leeds United crashed and burned, but my love for the whites just kept growing.

In 2004 I made the odd decision to move to Kolding, a medium size town (by Danish measures) with about 85000 residents, out of those 85000 there were 1 Leeds fan, me. Leeds played some rather boring seasons in the two years I lived in Kolding, and my interest in them seemed to fade a bit, I only checked leedsunited.com once a day and was not longer glued to the screen following the lads on teletext and only very few games were shown on TV. After watching Leeds lose the playoff final in 2006, I was sitting in my living room in Kolding watching the World Cup, and thinking that something had to change, I had outgrown Kolding and felt bored and unhappy there. I started looking for a bigger and hopefully better place to spend my time, and agreed with myself that Odense was it. I quit my job in Kolding a month later and started looking for work in Odense. I quickly found a job, and also quickly found a local pub with loads of football fans – Leeds were going to build on the lost playoff final and get promoted the following season I dreamt. We all know that the season ended up sending us into League 1 for three years. I found out that pub, Kick Off, showed Leeds games rather often so decided that I had to get back to my old self, supporting Leeds in a massive way. The first game I saw on the pub was against Preston in March 2007, I got there a bit late, so Leeds were down 1-0 when I joined the party of 10-15 Leeds fans watching the game.  Robbie Blake equalized and in the dying seconds David Healy got the winner, the following episode is rather blurry, but it is described the way I remember it. When Healy scored I jumped from my seat, up on a table being extremely happy, and suddenly saw the owner of the bar grab me, I remember thinking that I would probably get kicked out, but no, he was even as ecstatic as me, this was the first time I met Søren Trapp. After meeting the guy who, in my opinion, is the biggest Leeds fan ever, I started coming more and more on the pub watching games with Søren, sadly the season ended with me crying on the bar and Leeds being relegated to League 1.

Søren and I agreed that even though it was now League 1 we would just keep being crazy Leeds fans and supporting the lads, and we sure have, and we had our ups and downs as the Leeds song goes. We have had playoff misery (I still remember fondly burning a Doncaster scarf after the final loss), player sales we did not agree with, a at times crazy chairman, but through all this we have supported Leeds United. My biggest and best experience with Leeds came in February 2010 when Søren and I took a trip to Leeds, he had been there a few times, but for me it was a first – It was brilliant, we saw two games, meet all the players and just had fun spending time in the best city in the world. In September 2010 we went back, this time with Søren’s wonderful girlfriend Britt and two other Leeds fans from Odense, Allan & Andreas and once again the city did not let us down – I guess that following a team for so long gives you a sense of belonging even if you grow up thousands of kilometers away. This October Søren and I will once again pack our bags and travel to Leeds to see the mighty whites beat Cardiff and Blackpool, and I am sure that we will have a much fun as we did the previous times there.

So Jamie Ekins, thank you for showing me what it was like to be a Leeds fan and sharing all you knowledge about Leeds with me. And Søren Trapp thank you for bringing me back from “TV supporter” to full blood, life or death Leeds fan and thank you for our wonderful trips to Elland Road and back, I hope there is many more to come.

The money in football and the falls from grace

Look at these two men, do you see the difference?

One had a dream of making the best young british football team to rule the world, the other have got all the money in the world, and is determined to make his new-rich Man City the best team in the world, with or without British players and whatever the cost.

The Peter Ridsdale era in Leeds is known all over the football world, unfortunately not for its success, but for its massive fall from grace – Ridsdale (and manager David O’Leary) decided that they wanted to make Leeds a dominant force in European football, and they wanted to do it with the prime of English talent plus some very good players from abroad. Among the players they signed for the club were: Rio Ferdinand (£18mill), Mark Viduka (£6mill), Robbie Fowler (£11mill), Robbie Keane (£12mill) and many many more, along with the, for that time, very expensive signings the club had a wonderful youth academy, which saw the likes of Harry Kewell, Jonathan Woodgate, Stephen McPhail & Alan Smith come through to the first team. Ridsdale & O’Leary’s biggest problem was the way they financed their player purchases, they borrowed money at a ridicules interests, and the finances of the club exploded between their hands. They paid enormous amounts of money in wages to players who weren’t even in the starting 11, let alone in the first 15 of the team. There is a story going around on Seth Johnson (signed from Derby for £7mill, played 54 games – DOH!), the story goes:  “Seth Johnson went into the boardroom to discuss his contract, him and his agent went in saying "Ask for £20,000, settle for £15,000." So they went in, and they were offered £25,000. "WHAT?" Seth Johnson replied, obviously shocked at how good the deal is. Then Ridsdale replied, "Ok then, £35,000" Thinking Johnson was unhappy at the terms” – This story, if true, seems to sum up the way Ridsdale ran the club perfectly. When the players from the youth academy contracts ran out the club also had to give them new MASSIVE contracts, and suddenly, not unlike Man City of today, we had too many players on to big contracts. Ridsdale and O’Leary had build their dream on quicksand, and they knew we had to get into the Champions League year after year to keep the wheels running, as we all know we only managed to get in there once (2000/2001) and after that it all fell apart. The money we got from playing in the UEFA cup could not pay the loans or the wages and we were forced to start a fire sale in the summer of 2002, and even though we got some money in, it wasn’t enough – actually Leeds continued to pay some wages to former players until 2004 I believe . Players left, chairman left, manger(s) left and in 2004 Leeds left the Premier League and started a catastrophic downfall, which we are still dealing with.

The last two seasons have had a more positive feel about them,  Leeds are after three years in League 1 finally back in the Championship, players are denied massive contracts and transfer funds are spent, very very, rarely. But for those who remember our downfall from the Ridsdale days, I think we should appreciate the fact that we still have a club to support and remember that it takes time to build a team, unless of course you have the world richest man as owner!

This brings me to the reason for this blog; the crazy amounts Manchester City are currently spending on transfers. I have just read that they have agreed a fee with Arsenal to sign Samir Nasri, a player with 1 year left on his contract, the fee is believed to be around £23mill! The signing will take Sheik Mansur’s spending in City to a staggering £370mill – fair play to him, he does have the money, but the wages he gives players to join Manchester City is a joke and is ruining football. Players like Adebayor, Wright-Phillips, Bellamy & Santa Cruz are rotting is the reserves because no one can afford to pay their salaries. And what will happen in Manchester City or Chelsea for that matter when the rich guys get sick of their new “toy” and offload the club? They will most likely do a “Leeds” and disappear into the big nothingness. And when they do, and the other “big” clubs will too, Leeds United will stand on the sideline with a healthy economy and be ready to re-take OUR places at the top of the Premier League.

I don’t know how this situation should be solved, if we should learn from American sports and make a salary cap or if we should just let the money ruin football (even more)?