What price for success?

By Keith Ingham

I'm a big believer in Brian McDermott, I like his honesty and he definitely calls a 'a spade a spade'. After a long time where the truth was forgotten, this middle aged man brought some back into our club. The strange thing about the t word is that although it's refreshing it also shows when the strain of working with limited resources can be blatantly obvious, during  his latest post match interviews with the local journalists. His body language after the last two games, in my opinion shows a man totally committed to the cause but struggling with the tools at his disposal.

The Burnley display wasn't good, apart from two ten minute spells we were awful and it wasn't until Matt Smith brought his six foot frame to aid the attack we looked like scoring. We were passed off the park and a few questions were asked of players who usually thrive in the Elland Road cauldron. El Hadji Diouf was widely tipped to add something, but apart from one brilliant free kick he was 'missing in action'. I'm not blaming him for the defeat, a few went the same way, content in not putting their bodies on the line. The reason for this article is to ask the majority if they feel like myself that this squad, although a good bunch of professionals just isn't good enough at all to challenge the teams around the top.

We saw on Saturday a player who joined Birmingham from Salford, score four goals in his first outing for them. I'm pretty certain the scouts are watching players but as the loan window shutting gets nearer we, as a club need to show the manager that although we are not going to go the silly route we are going to provide him with what he needs. It would be absurd to do different, we have, again in my opinion the best manager we could have at this time and although Ireland wasn't right for him another club may well be. His conviction of being, as he said 'a massive club with brilliant supporters' may well be tested if his frustrations grow.

I met the man as I was leaving the ground, he signed my programme but the weight of the last week was definitely on his shoulders. He wasn't a happy man.

We definitely need a smiley face from a certain Director on Twitter.

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