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Confusion abounds at Elland Road as Leeds hammer The Terriers‏

2/2/2014

7 Comments

 

By Mike Courtney

Picture
Where do you start after a weekend like this? And its not over yet. I should have written something yesterday but the news was flying in thick and fast, with conflicting stories emerging from Elland Road that it was hard to keep track of what was really going on.

It all started with talks of takeovers, be they Italian, British or otherwise. It quickly turned into farce with the news breaking just before 8pm that Brian McDermott had been sacked by the club. This came shortly after I sat and listened to our skipper talking live on Sky Sports News about his commitment to the club and manager despite bids rumoured to be as high as £6 million, coming in for him. No sooner had the news about BMAC surfaced and there was Ross back on the phone in shock at the news but still sounding dignified and committed to the Leeds cause, despite the best efforts of the Sky reporter trying to get a sound byte out of him.

Social media went crazy with stories of Italian managers and strikers coming in and reports of mass sackings and sales of players. The sackings may have materialised, even at this stage I'm not sure, but the signings and exodus of players never came to the fruition. Just before taking myself to my bed there were reports of fans gathering at Elland Road and chasing Cellino's taxi from the ground. Police were on standby and Leeds United were making the news for all the wrong reasons once again.

Like most Leeds fans I found it hard to sleep that night. How would the players react to this ahead of a vital Yorkshire Derby. Managerless and confusing about the future of the club it didn't auger well for the team. Reports in the morning news feeds were saying that McDermott was sacked by a lawyer acting on behave of the proposed new owner, GFH were tight lipped and things were going from bad to worse. Our manager sacked by an owner who wasn't even in place and silence from Messrs Haigh and Patel. Elland Road at 3pm would be an interesting place to be. Then it emerged that McDermott was advised to stay away from the ground amid a legal challenge to his dismissal. Talk of Enterprise Insurance and Pelican Land pulling the plug on sponsorship didn't help matters as kick off fast approached.

Nigel Gibbs was informed that he would be in charge for the match. Mark Robins and his Terriers must have been relishing the visit to Elland Road as confusing, anger, shock and disgust reigned at the once mighty Leeds. Thankfully Gibbs kept faith with his players, bringing in Mowatt and Murphy for Diouf and Brown, with our skipper leading the line. Like me, most fans probably wondered if our skipper would be in the right frame of mind after the happenings of the day before. We shouldn't have doubted him. After Ward had given Huddersfield a deserved lead half way through the first half it was a case of here we go again. We were lucky to be heading toward half time just one down. Then it all changed. Ross pounced and the roof was raised at Elland Road. Dare we dream? Why not. Jimmy Kebe clipped home after being fed by McCormack and though Huddersfield nearly equalised Leeds extended there lead when McCormack finished well after being set up by Byram, he then completed his hat trick on 75 minutes after being set up by Cameron Stewart. Alex Mowatt rounded it all off with a cool finish to make it 5-1 and Leeds were in dreamland. There is no doubting who that performance was for.

The question remains though, why can't we do that week in week out. Is this win just papering over the cracks that most certainly still exist. And if that wasn't enough news started to filter through that McDermott wasn't sacked and GFH were actively trying to reverse the decision made by the Italian, who didn't have the authority to make it in the first place.

Where does that leave us now though? If Cellino's takeover is ratified by the Football League then its only a matter of time before he dismisses McDermott and replaces him with Gianluca Festa. In the meantime, will McDermott continue or will Gibbs and Redfearn keep the show running? Most Leeds fans think Brian Mcdermott is the right man for the job and his honesty, integrity and straight talking has endeared him to the faithful. If he walks away now after the way he was treated then who could blame him. If he does go and Festa takes the reins, expect to see a mass exodus in the summer, lead by our top scorer and skipper.

Whatever happens it won't be boring at Elland Road between now and the summer. We are back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. It's a farcical situation at present which has us the laughing stock of English football. An amazing 5-1 win being overshadowed by events off the pitch. It needs to be sorted one way or the other. Most fans don't want Cellino taking over, and after the way they have conducted themselves over the last 24 hours, most fans have lost faith in GFH.

This is only the beginning. Expect plenty more from this saga. As for now, we can bask in the glory of a resounding hammering of our neighbours up the road and pray for good times ahead at Elland Road.

MOT Leeds Leeds Leeds
7 Comments
bobcat white
2/2/2014 01:19:01 am

Good write. Who can honestly say they have any idea what will happen next at ER? Think Brian is the right man for the job but then again until yesterday we were doing awful, I hope and believe this saga has brought the players together (and fans) and we will perform better from now on. Don't think anyone in UK likes this Cellino but if he passes the FA test and shows us the money then who knows?
He's been done for fraud in Italy but how many football people in UK are up to no good but just haven't been caught or punished accordingly? I don't like him but if there's no one else around what do we do? Only certain think is IF we start playing better then we look a a more attractive investment for the right person/group....on n on

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Tyler75
2/2/2014 02:06:49 am

Let's face it there's hardly an owner in Italy that hasn't had some sort of police investigation for alleged political or financial skullduggery - just look at Juve and Milan are owned by the biggest crook of them all - Cellino is small beer in comparison. What is not in doubt is his record of establishing a relatively small club in Serie A and the fact that he has serious financial clout (which GFH have never had). Hopefully Brian will return and be allowed to finish what he's started. Let's judge Cellino on what he does for LUFC, he might not be what we want but he might prove to be exactlyjwhat we need.

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Bluesman link
2/2/2014 03:31:10 am

Coming round to your way of thinking on this Tyler. Don't think there is anyway back for BM though. He would not be able to live with Cellini interfering and Cellino can't keep his nose out! So there we have it. But, it may be a choice between Cellino or Administration.

Bluesman link
2/2/2014 02:47:05 am

Have to say that I was 101%against the Italian until this morning. I would dearly love to go via one of the consortiums, any of them, but not the Italian. Then I read that we are in financial meltdown. £4 million due this month to Bates, we owe Haigh,s consortium £6 million and have running costs of £1 million a month to keep going and GFH cannot service the cash flow. Like many others I don't know the truth of it? Is it a convenient truth, a convenient lie to win us over or not? If we really are in trouble due to GFH incompetence, as has been suggested then why do we still have Ross? None of us know what the truth really is, but the Italian May be our only hope of survival. The problem with all of this is that the vans do not have a voice in these affairs, nor do we have any information to act on. We really do need fans to have more rights at football clubs and to be involved with some executive decision making. In other words we needs fans with a foot in the door, who actually know what is happening. So, the Italian is now on the back burner for now!

Reply
Tyler75
2/2/2014 06:26:39 am

Agreed - if we are in such financial trouble why did we not sell Ross, which in one fell swoop would have sorted out any immediate cash flow problems ? Why is Varney still at the club when a deal looked like it was virtually done ? How come Green didn't go off the wage bill on loan to Ipswich ? Why was BMac allowed to bring in two players from Premiership clubs (with wages to match) ? Doesn't add up.

mike
2/2/2014 05:59:47 am

Amid all d confusion I called it pelican land instead of flamingo land but when I realised my mistake I thought pelican land sounded better so I left it in. Anyway could b v interesting few wk ahead on and off d pitch

Reply
ken
2/2/2014 06:18:15 am

I note that celino only refers to mac as coach not manager
is this subtle wording

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