| Leeds United | Middlesbrough | ||
| Hernández Alioski |
24′ 54′ |
Assombalonga | 77′ (pen) |
| Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
43% 12 2 3 13 |
Possession Shots On target Corners Fouls |
57% 10 2 10 16 |
White heat too hot for Boro to handle
Finally what seemed like the longest build up in footballing history came around as the International snoozathon finally ended with Boro having to wait another 24 hours before attempting to build on their three game winning streak. The hype was all about Garry Monk’s return as pantomime villain to a Club that had been lifeless and listing badly but had enjoyed their best ever season in over a decade during his brief stint. Prior to the Kick off the Home fans let their thoughts be known about Boro’s Manager whilst Boro fans responded with the predictable Jimmy Saville taunts.
Initially there was a fairly frantic start to the game with both sides looking up for the challenge. Ayala and Jansson had looked a fairly physical contest in the making as Leeds settled quickest and started to pass the ball about. The Whites escaped a nailed on penalty by Berardi on Britt on 8 minutes as he was gabbed around the waist and literally bundled over in full view of Ref who presumably blinked.
Leeds were having plenty of possession with robust challenges going in and one saw with Jansson elbowing Tavernier in the forehead in a challenge again apparently unseen by the officials with 15 minutes gone. Leeds were certainly up for it whilst the Boro looked a little disarmed and unprepared for the fight ahead.
George Friend was coaching and ushering Tavernier through the opening stages which was great to see but perhaps he would have been better concentrating on his own game because he looked slow in reading the game and was having a torrid opening few minutes. By this stage the Boro plan seemed to be to sit back but we were not finding any balls up to Britt and pressure was building. Then a clearance out of our congested defence on 20 saw Britt break down the right and cross a fierce ball in only to elude the advancing Tavernier and Braithwaite. The resulting corner ironically saw Britt penalised for holding Berardi, incompetent refereeing at its best!
Braithwaite had a run checked into the Leeds box but the Referee saw nothing in it and immediately as if to contrast the pace and power difference, Leeds broke down the opposite end via a series of sharp slick passing. George then failed to cut out the resulting cross with Pablo Hernandez sneaking in at the far post ghosting past Roberts to glance a low header home. Slow starting Boro seemed to be in evidence once again, Leeds were having far too much space, possession and room with Boro merely chasing shadows unable to get out of second gear.
George was struggling, Alioski was twisting and turning him inside out and a frustrated George then gave away a free kick just up from the corner flag receiving a yellow for his troubles. The free kick worrying came in to an unmarked Saiz from a similar area where Hernandez scored previously but fortunately for Boro he scuffed his shot over the cross bar from close range. Roberts wasn’t having much joy overlapping and defensively he had been awol now on a few occasions. As if the Championship debutant RB didn’t have enough trouble Berardi then went scything through him to receive Leeds first yellow of the game as he tried forlornly to break up field.
Tempers and patience were getting frayed and another attempted Middlesbrough break saw Jansson deliberately block off Braithwaite to receive Leeds’ second yellow. A Crossfield ball from Grant to Stewy saw 60 yard back pass to Randolph who had to be quick not to emulate Jason Steele’s fate from a few seasons previously. At this point Boro were clunky again nothing was working for them and little going their way in terms of decisions. A challenge by Friend on Saiz was adjudged to have been a foul as he landed accidentally on Saiz’s ankle. It seemed very harsh although no doubt painful in fairness to Saiz but there was neither malice nor intent.
Garry Monk will have been the happier of the two managers to see the end of the first 45 minutes as his side never really got going or looked remotely likely to unlock the Leeds defence and indeed as the half ground to a close Boro looked likely to concede a second. In the last few seconds a nailed on corner for Assombalonga was denied by the assistant who bizarrely saw it as a Leeds goal kick. It wasn’t going to be an easy second 45 for Boro as the Officials had shown signs throughout the first half of being influenced by the Home support. That aside Boro bereft of any attacking fluidity were unlikely to score unless it was handed to them on a plate. For a game that meant so much to so many for different reasons the Middlesbrough side looked decidedly uninterested and well below par.
Boro were first out for the second half with neither side making any changes. I had thought that GM might have removed George and replaced him with Fabio to add more pace and energy and the fact that George was walking a tightrope. Leeds started the second half camped in Boro territory passing it around with ease and class whilst the Red shirts chased more shadows seemingly unable to read or anticipate the second phase of play. Boro looked confused, weary and pedestrian in comparison to their opponents; we were witnessing once again the pre gelling Boro from earlier in the season. For a trailing side only one attempt on target in 50 minutes told a very damning tale.
If it were possible the second half actually started even worse than the first half had ended. Whatever half time team talk had taken place it was clear that it was ineffective as there was no change in fortune from Monk’s charges, not even an increase in desire or passion. A 51st minute corner was woefully hit by Braithwaite and couldn’t clear the first man. A Downing cross on 53 saw our first opportunity of the second half fall to Tavernier on the edge of the six yard box that was skewed high and wide. Once again we immediately were made to pay for it as Roofe ran through a teflon Boro defence to set up Alioski to hit a second for Leeds.
In a bewildering attempt to address the lacklustre almost dismissive performance from Boro Monk hauled off Tavernier and brought on Johnson and Leeds immediately hit the upright with Randolph beaten. Under the circumstances Monk needed to radically alter both the shape and the tactics of his side but incredibly he just made a like for like change. Did he honestly believe that his sides’ woeful showing was because of Tavernier, seriously? If that was all that was wrong with Boro this afternoon then I must have been watching an entirely different game.
A rare Roberts rampage saw a cut back cross to Braithwaite who brought out a near goal line clearance albeit more by accident than design. The resulting corner saw Boro pass the ball straight into trouble on the edge of the Leeds 18 yard box with Howson almost tackling his own player as the misplaced ball was played into open ground setting up Leeds. The ex-Leeds favourite then took a yellow for his trouble and the resulting free kick saw Leeds miss a glaring header in on an open Boro goal. The arrival of Johnson had made absolutely no difference, the slow, predictable, poorly passed
build up continued. On 64 minutes George made way for Traore who went wide right with Downing switching flanks with Johnson dropping to LB we thought although it seemed to be Stewy after a while. My immediate thought was what was GM previously thinking with his first Substitution by replacing like for like and then taking off a struggling LB for a Right Winger? Did he have a cunning plan or was it as it appeared, just making it up as he went along.
Assombalonga had the touch of a baby Elephant all afternoon and absolutely no service to boot yet GM seemed oblivious with his revised game plan, the Championships most expensive striker isolated. On 70 minutes Britt had his first effort, a curling shot from outside the 18 yard box. The next stoppage in play saw Monk withdraw Grant and put on one of his favourites in Fletcher, presumably in a “proverbial” or bust tactic as the game now seemed totally beyond his comprehension or tactical nous.
An unexpected and undeserved lifeline was given to Boro as Ayala grabbed Ayling by the face at a Boro corner strangely unseen by the incompetent officials, stupidly Ayling reacted by grabbing Ayala’s ankle as he ran back out of the Leeds box. As play continued the Assistant informed the Ref of the incident which resulted in play being brought back and a Boro penalty awarded which Assombalonga rather too coolly for my liking converted under a barrage of redundant flag poles raining down onto the pitch.
The game then descended into a scrappy uncultured affair as Christiansen introduced Ekuban for Roofe to hang on to what he had. Although the game was petering out Leeds work rate looked 70% faster, sharper and keener as Boro just meandered through their predictable slow passing game. A late Adama cross found Braithwaite who done well to bring it down then swivel and turn to see the ball go wide. Frustrations grew as Britt for Boro then Kalvin Phillips both received the next Yellows as the game was slowly expiring. O’Kane came on for Saiz with two minutes of normal time remaining as Christiansen continued to keep what his side had deservedly earned.
Seven minutes then came up on the board as Boro pushed men up the pitch far too late in the game leaving themselves exposed to a counter on the break and but for a poor decision by Alioski it should have been ended as a contest. Hernandez then increased the card count for a mistimed tackle on Traore. Pennington then came on to further beef up the Whites rearguard for Alioski and of course to wind the clock down. An Adama won corner saw Ayala head the ball over the roof of the net in the final minute with the game concluding with a last chance Boro assault terminated as a result of a push in the Leeds box.
After so much pre-match hype and hope, a clueless, heartless and spiritless performance from Boro saw Leeds deservedly collect all three points and serious question marks raised again about an abject lack of in-game management from Garry Monk. Three games forward and one game back as it were but the nature of today was the most disappointing aspect. Boro MOM was Adama Traore, he changed the game for Boro and gave us some desperately needed impetus in a side that looked to be devoid of belief and creativity.
Today we desperately missed Cyrus Christie, George had a really poor game as did Roberts on the opposite side and apart from a few Downing passes and flashes of Braithwaite close control we were simply awful all over the pitch. Absolutely no positives to take from this afternoon, all that expensively assembled talent but zero attacking force and intent. Nowhere remotely near good enough as the fickle finger of fate now points away from Christiansen and back onto Monk.
Monk vows to silence old order on return
Boro head to Leeds on Sunday with renewed belief after pulling off three wins in the week before the international break that has seen Garry Monk’s team move up from bottom-half under-achievers to fifth spot promotion hopefuls in the Championship. What a week it was for the under pressure Boro manager who less than a month earlier had faced the prospect of sheepishly returning to his old stomping ground with the Elland Road fans in full gloating mode as many expected the game to be a top-six promotion-chasing Leeds against his struggling mid-table big spenders seeming less than value for money. Instead, a more settled solid-looking Boro will fancy their chances against a side that is struggling at the bottom of the form table.
Normally when a former manager returns to his old club he’s greeted from the terraces with rows contorted animated faces as they chant “Who are you! Who are you!” though at Leeds that is usually more of a genuine question that should instead be “Who are you? Who are you?” Fans gathered in the Revie Stand often squint to see if they recognise the man in the opposition dugout as possibly being one of their plethora of former managers – some of whom lasted barely a couple of months. Sadly for Garry Monk his distinctive golfing apparel will probably jog a few memories, especially if he finds himself shouting ‘four’ as Boro improve on their goal scoring feat at Hull against an under par United. However, it’s possible the Boro manager will just be a blurry figure at Elland Road on Sunday as the Leeds Managing Director declared “With regards to Garry Monk returning, it’s not something we’ll focus on.”
There is a semantic argument of whether Monk resigned from Leeds or whether he just decided not to continue being their manager. He had a 12-month rolling contract with the West Yorkshire club but decided not to take up the option to extend the deal for a further year. There were also reports that he’d turned down a three-year contract when the new owner Andrea Radrizzani Tweeted: “Shocking news from GM. We were keen to do 3 years deal. We never receive any request from him and his agent. No regrets, we did our best.” – that only seems to imply that perhaps a long-term deal would have been offered to Monk if he’d got round to asking for one, which he didn’t.
| Leeds United | Middlesbrough | ||
| Thomas Christiansen | Garry Monk | ||
| P16 – W7 – D2 – L7 – F24 – A19 | P16 – W7 – D5 – L4 – F21 – A13 | ||
| Position Points Points per game Projected points |
10th 23 1.4 66 |
Position Points Points per game Projected points |
5th 26 1.6 75 |
| Last 6 Games Brentford (A) Derby (H) Sheff Utd (H) Bristol City (A) Reading (H) Sheff Wed (A) |
F-T (H-T) 1:3 (0:1) L 1:2 (1:0) L 1:2 (1:1) L 3:0 (2:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 0:3 (0:2) L |
Last 6 Games Sunderland (H) Hull City (A) Reading (A) Cardiff (H) Barnsley (A) Brentford (H) |
F-T (H-T) 1:0 (1:0) W 3:1 (2:0) W 2:0 (1:0) W 0:1 (0:0) L 2:2 (1:2) D 2:2 (0:1) D |
Anyway, Leeds have moved on and have drawn a line under Garry Monk by declaring “we have stopped thinking about him” – though whether they’ll soon also stop thinking about his replacement Thomas Christiansen will depend one whether he can turn around their recent run of poor form, which has seen them lose six of their last seven games. That is in stark comparison to the start of the season, when Leeds were unbeaten in their first seven games with five wins and only two goals conceded. It seems the defence of the West Yorkshire club is now struggling with 17 goals conceded during the last nine games.
Initially, it’s hard to see how a team that contains such famous names like Ronaldo and Viera is having difficulties but on closer inspection it turned out to be U20 England international Ronaldo Viera. Talking of famous names, many of the Elland Road faithful could only dream of seeing Harry Kane in a Leeds shirt, but as they glance towards the pitch their mouths may open in homage to the Spurs striker’s trademark demeanor in the disbelief that the new owner had pulled off a major coup – but instead it turned out to be just a look-alike called Samu Sáiz from Spain. Incidentally, it was revealed recently that Kane was almost sold to Leeds in January 2014 after failing to break into the team but the then Spurs boss Tim Sherwood refused to let him go.
Whilst Leeds call themselves the ‘Mighty Whites’, it’s their reputation as a hard physical team under one of Middlesbrough’s famous sons Don Revie that earned them the equally well-used nickname ‘Dirty Leeds’ or now more commonly just ‘The Dirties’. It was the superstitious Revie who was actually responsible for getting rid of their existing nickname ‘The Peacocks’ (named after the pub on the Elland Road site) as he deemed birds were unlucky, which also led to him removing the Owl from the club crest too – though given that belief it’s not entirely clear why he then went out and bought Alan Peacock from Boro in 1964.
Revie was also responsible for changing the Leeds kit to the now familiar all-white one when he became manger, from the previous blue and yellow halved shirt, which he did in an attempt to emulate the great Real Madrid. His attention to small details probably helped him become the most influential figure in the club’s history as they went on to have over a decade of success under his stewardship. Incidentally, although most managers generally have a plan he actually had a plan named after him as a player – whilst at Man City he was integral in introducing the new role of the deep-lying centre forward to English football, which became know in the game as the ‘Revie Plan’ and it was copied from the successful Hungarian national team of the time.
OK onto the game this weekend, in terms of team selection Garry Monk has to decide on who will replace the suspended Cyrus Christie – I would expect Connor Roberts to be given the opportunity to show that he can repeat the form displayed in his EFL Cup appearances, as although in theory Fabio could play there, it would send the wrong signal to a player who’s done OK with his limited chances. Whether Fabio will return at left-back is hard to say, George Friend still doesn’t look the player he was but perhaps still needs game-time like Ayala did to gain match fitness – in addition, Marcus Tavernier has played better when having the left-footed Friend behind him but competition is increasing with Marvin Johnson looking to have improved after a dip in form and may get the nod instead of the youngster. There were reports in the press that Everton and Arsenal are ready to pounce in January for Tavernier after only playing a couple of first-team games – rumours I’m sure the youngsters agent will be pleased to hear have found their way into the media as he negotiates his client’s contract extension. At least Darren Randolph got plenty of shot-stopping practice on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, which gained him much praise despite shipping five goals against Denmark.
It’s likely that Monk will continue with Leadbitter and Howson in central midfield if they’re both fit but the Boro manager has indicated Clayton still has an important role to play at the club despite his recent absence from the matchday squad. With three games in six days it may be a stretch to pick an unchanged side for these coming games – how Monk decides to manage his resources will be pivotal to the success of his team, perhaps we’ll see Leadbitter subbed around the sixty minute mark to preserve him for the midweek game. With Christie missing, Boro will miss his pace on the right side of the pitch and you wonder if Adama will be introduced at some point – though Downing appears to have made that side his own under Boro’s recent revival. I don’t think we’ll see too many shocks with the front two of Braithwaite and Assombalonga as they have started to have a productive partnership together – though one wonder if Big Rudy Gestede will get a place on the bench now that he’s back to being two-legged.
So will it be a welcome return to Elland Road for Garry Monk as his team clean-up the points at The Dirties? Or will Victor Orta demonstrate that he doesn’t have feet of clay as his latest recruits on his new patch leave Boro with mud in their eye. As usual give your predictions for score, scorers and team selection – plus will Ronaldo Viera turn out to be twice the player his name suggests?
How the mighty [whites] have fallen
Twenty years ago, Leeds supporters sensed they were about to once again become a force in English football, they had new seemingly ambitious ownership who were financing the building of a squad to challenge at the top of the Premier League. What they didn’t know at the time is that the decisions made then would have long-lasting consequence for their club and even threaten its very existence. The story of how the Mighty Whites have fallen and how Leeds United came to be owned and sold many times over would probably make a worthy degree course at the city’s university. It’s a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly side of football ownership – at one point the club was apparently owned by the men with no name for six years.
The supporters have witnessed 21 managers under six different owners in the last 21 years – perhaps recent owner Massimo Cellino has probably best summed up their feelings with one of his random utterances when he said of the Leeds fans “they’re tired of eating shit and shutting their mouths” – in fact many aspects of the financial dealings at Leeds have left an unpleasant taste in the mouth for those involved. So here is the story of how money and power collided with the dream of wanting a successful football club. It’s about fans in the boardroom spending money that they could never pay back and how impatient businessmen arrived looking for a return or even a project to massage their egos but could never quite impose their will to satisfy their demands.
Dreams turn into nightmares
In 1996, Leeds was taken over by a small media rights company called Caspian, who paid the former owners lead by Bill Fotherby around £16m for the club. Caspian’s chairman, Chris Aker and his business partner Jeremy Fenn were traditional businessmen who planned to grow the club slowly with minimal risk by creating new revenue streams off the pitch with a stadium development plan to expand it into an entertainment and leisure complex with hotel and conference facilities. Shortly after buying the club they decided to follow the recent trend of floating clubs on the Stock Market to raise further investment, which they did under the name Leeds Sporting.
Manager Howard Wilkinson was given modest funds to improve the team for the following season but a poor start saw him dismissed and replaced by former disgraced Arsenal manager George Graham for his first job since his ban for accepting a bung. The season ended with Leeds finishing in mid-table playing boring uninspiring football that saw the club score just 28 goals – a record only recently beaten by Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough last season. Long-time director Peter Risdale was then appointed as Chairman with his outgoing personality seeming to have a persuasive manner on those around him. The following season saw Leeds unexpectedly play a little more adventurous under Graham and the club finished in fifth to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Caspian were beginning to anticipate a quick return on their investments on the pitch, but the 1998-99 season was suddenly disrupted in September when George Graham agreed to become manager at Spurs, leaving his assistant David O’Leary to take charge of the team. Unlike Graham, O’Leary was not afraid to blood young players and Leeds became an entertaining young side that finished 4th in the league.
It was at this point when Peter Risdale appeared to get impatient as he sensed Leeds could become a major force once more, a desire that was understandably supported by manager O’Leary. Though Caspian’s plan was meant to be based on steady growth and the cautious chief executive Jeremy Fenn took umbrage at stories leaked to the press that the club were being held back by his reluctance to open the chequebook – after which he decided the public attention was not for him and he moved on to leave Risdale free to push forward as he was also appointed CEO of the plc.
There was a problem however, a small matter of raising extra finance to buy new players as the club already were at their maximum overdraft facility of £11m from HSBC and unless a club had a rich benefactor, which Leeds hadn’t got, there was normally no other source of cash. It was at this point that Risdale had an interesting idea proposed to him by former Man City defender Ray Ranson, who had moved into insurance after his playing days had ended. Ranson idea hadn’t previously been tried before in football, if for example a club bought a player for £4m then that money would be lent to them by a financial institution and then paid back with interest over the length of the player’s contract – the investor’s risk would then be insured by a third party to protect their return. This innovation meant that a club could increase their borrowing by many times the amount which was normally possible. The theory was that it was just improving cash flow as more money was now coming into football each year, together with rising transfer fees, so the money should be easily repayable.
In the summer of 1999, Risdale sanctioned the first three deals financed by Ranson’s method and it seemed to pay dividends as Leeds finished in third to qualify for the Champions League – plus they also reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. As revenues increased by £20m on the back of this success, this spurred Risdale to push even further and he then sanctioned deals totaling £18m on three more players including Mark Viduka. However, further success in qualifying for the second stage of the Champions League encouraged Risdale to go to the next level and Rio Ferdinand was purchased for a record £18m. However, all this spending had pushed Leeds to the limit of what they could actually afford to pay in the quarterly repayment fees. Risdale overcame this problem by proposing to restructure the payments by paying only half of the transfer fee over the player’s contract, with a single lump sum paid at the end of the players contract instead. While this reduced the quarterly payments to the club it basically kicked the can down the road by deferring the repayment.
A new solution to the problem of Leeds financing further player purchases came from a merchant banker called Stephen Schechter, who had come up with an idea of tapping into the income of football clubs with consistently large fan-bases. Basically, it involved having a once a year payment over a period of around 25 years that an investor would be allowed to withdraw from a ‘locked box’ account into which the club paid their season ticket receipts – the club themselves couldn’t gain access to the money in this ‘locked box’ account until after September, leaving investors to first withdraw their agreed payment. First to take up this new scheme were big spending Newcastle, who borrowed £55m and Leeds soon followed by signing up to £60m, the biggest loan ever signed up to by an English club. This debt was on top of that previously borrowed through Ranson’s earlier scheme.
Although income had risen quite considerably to over £80m as the TV money had now doubled and merchandising also increased, wages had also grown to nearly £40m. Leeds soon used up their new debt facility following three more player purchases that included the two Robbies, Keane and Fowler, which came in at nearly £30m. Everything came to a head in the 2001-02 season as rumours that O’Leary had lost the dressing-room as Leeds form slumped and they finished the season ten points adrift of 4th spot and the lucrative Champions League income that Risdale had literally been banking on. The club now had a debt of over £80m and a wage bill exceeding £50m and were losing £1m a month.
Risdale decided to sack O’Leary after he had spent £100m on players with no trophy to show for it. Terry Venables was appointed as manager but Leeds had no choice but to sell players to keep the club operating and Ferdinand left for Man Utd for £26m but with each sale the squad became weaker and the team began to slide down the table as they attempted to service the spiraling debt. Venables resigned eight months later with the club just eight points above relegation after growing tired of his chairman’s unkept promises on player sales – ten days later Risdale quit after growing pressure from the supporters. His and the club’s dream was over after pursuing it with reckless abandon – though this was just the start of the fall.
Fire-fighting to save the club
After Risdale left he was replaced by non-executive Director and major shareholder Professor John McKenzie, who was a trained economist and he was scathing of the excesses and the lack of understanding of the consequences that the club had exposed itself to. McKenzie attempted to keep the club solvent by continuing to sell players, obtaining additional funding and ultimately striking deals with creditors to defer payments to avoid Leeds being the first Premier League team to go into administration. Meanwhile, Peter Reid had taken over as manager and Leeds only just avoided relegation in the 2002-03 season. Then after a poor start to the next season Reid was dismissed in November and Eddie Gray was installed as caretaker manager at the troubled club.
Off the pitch, former Liverpool apprentice and Shrewsbury player Trevor Birch was appointed as Chief Executive of Leeds for the purpose of overseeing a takeover of the club. Birch retired from professional football at 24 and then gained a first class degree in Accountancy at Liverpool Polytechnic before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst & Young. He left the firm in 2002 to become Chelsea’s Chief Executive in order to lead the sale of the Blues from Ken Bates to Roman Abramovich.
John McKenzie resigned from the board in an attempt lure one of China’s richest men, rumoured to be Xu Ming, a petrochemicals businessman and owner of a Chinese first division club – though sadly the Ming dynasty never materialised at Leeds. Also showing apparent interest was a Ugandan property tycoon, who claimed he had £90m of funding available to put into the club – again that never came to anything either and some even suspected that this unbelievably generous offer may have even been received as an email that required Leeds first to send their bank details.
In the end Leeds were subsequently taken over by a consortium of local businessmen, lead by insolvency specialist and Leeds fan Gerald Krasner – they embarked on the sale of the club’s playing assets, including senior and emerging youth players who had a transfer value as the club struggled to even pay the wages. With little control over which players were left at his disposal and morale pretty low as the reality of the situation started to bite, Eddie Gray’s team were unsurprisingly relegated at the end of the 2003–04 season.
Leeds had accumulated debts of over £100m and still had a wage bill that exceeded £50m – the urgent task of Krasner and his management team was to reduce this figure considerably to avoid the club going into liquidation. The consortium borrowed £15m from former Watford chairman Jack Petchey on the terms that it was to be repaid within 12 months from the sale of Elland Road. This sum would be used to reach a settlement with the two main creditors – the bondholders of the £60m borrowed on advanced season ticket sales over the next 25 years and the insurers on the players bought through the Ray Ranson scheme, which amounted to around £21m. After weeks of discussion between the various legal representatives, the bondholders received 20p in the £1 giving them £12m and the insurers had to settle for just 10p in the £1 to get around £2.1m.
In the autumn of 2004, Leeds sold both Elland Road and their Thorp Arch training ground to raise around £20m. Kevin Blackwell was appointed manager but the bulk of the players who remained were either sold or released on free transfers in order to slash the unsustainable wage bill. Blackwell was left to rebuild practically an entire squad through free transfers. Krasner had saved the club for the time being by reducing the debts to around £20m and extending the repayment periods – in addition, the directors of the consortium also loaned the club nearly £5m too to keep it operating. However, the club still needed further investment if it was to have a viable future as it was still losing over £1m each month.
The unknown owners
In January 2005, a 50% stake in Leeds was bought through a Geneva-based company the ‘Forward Sports Fund’ for an estimated £10m, it was lead by Ken Bates who declared he wanted “one last challenge”. Bates had left Chelsea 10 months earlier after selling the heavily indebted club to Roman Abramovich for a reported £140m, from which he personally pocketed £17m after having originally bought the Blues for just one pound!
The arrival of the controversial Bates (who just to clarify was the one in the hotel not the motel trade) was not greeted with much enthusiasm by the Leeds supporters as he had a less than fan-friendly reputation. He famously made the quite literally shocking decision to install an electric perimeter fence around the pitch at Stamford Bridge to prevent pitch invasions, but thankfully the local council refused him permission to turn the electricity on and it was subsequently dismantled. Bates also called the Chelsea Independent Supporters Association “parasites” in one of his often barbed program notes, which actually resulted in one fan suing him and the matter was settled out of court without Bates accepting liability – though I’m not exactly sure on what grounds he could defend calling paying supporters parasites.
His outspoken attacks were not just reserved for fans, in a Channel 5 documentary to commemorate the death of vice-chairman and club benefactor Matthew Harding in a helicopter crash, Bates declared “He [Harding] never had a chance [to take control of Chelsea] once he revealed himself in his true colours. I don’t believe evil should triumph and he was an evil man”. He added that Chelsea was a “much happier ship now that he’s not around” – though Bates had seemed more than happy to accept the £26m his late benefactor had pumped into the club. I suspect on viewing the programme many of his associates may have been tempted to hastily include a clause in their wills to ban him from offering a eulogy at their funerals – though the pair had been having a long-running feud up until Harding’s death and Bates had subsequently banned him from the boardroom.
On the pitch Kevin Blackwell’s cobbled together bunch of free transfers and loans managed to finish in mid-table respectability. The 2005-06 season saw the manager given some real money to spend with Richard Creswell and Robbie Blake arriving on fees over £1m. Also brought in was promising youngster Liam Miller from Man Utd plus the experienced Steve Stone – ten new players arrived in total with ten departing. Blackwell’s upgraded team rose to the challenge that had been set by Bates of achieving promotion – they sat in third spot in March but just one win from the last ten games meant they had to settle for the play-offs. Leeds got the final to take them on the verge of returning to the Premier League and redemption after the financial implosion – however, they lost the game 3-0 against Watford and the opportunity of a return to the big time for Ken Bates was gone.
The following season, after losing five of his first eight games Blackwell was sacked by the board and John Carver was appointed as caretaker, who lost four of his five games, before Bates appointed his former Chelsea captain Dennis Wise as manager with Gus Poyet as his assistant. Bates plan to take Leeds out of the second tier was now coming close to fruition – albeit at the wrong end of the table. As Leeds ended up in the bottom three their relegation was all but certain with one game remaining and the club was put into administration by Bates, incurring a ten point penalty that confirmed they would finish bottom.
It was suggested that if the club had not voluntarily entered administration, then they would have been forced into liquidation by the end of June by HM’s Revenue and Customs unless a £6m tax bill had been settled – though others speculated that the timing was a ploy to take the ten points deduction in a season that the club were all but relegated. KPMG Restructuring were appointed as administrators of Leeds United and within minutes of entering administration the club was sold to Leeds United Football Club Limited. This ‘new’ company had some familiar faces as the three named directors – Ken Bates, Mark Taylor (Bates’ long-time legal advisor who oversaw the sale of Chelsea to Abramovich) and Shaun Harvey (former CEO of Leeds United and for ten years managing director at Bradford City, who twice went into administration under his stewardship).
This rather expedient sale by administrators didn’t go down well in some quarters as other bidders were waiting in the wings to make alternative offers for the club. One such bidder was Don Revie’s son Duncan, who announced that he was in the process of forming a consortium to buy the club by declaring “I’ve tried to ignore my feelings for a long time as I know the aggravation needed to put things right. But when things get this bad, I can’t ignore it. My feelings run too deep. I am interested in trying to get Leeds back where they belong, which is in the top six of the Premiership.”
Though before any sale is ultimately approved, the buyer needs to issue a Company Voluntary Arrangement or CVA, which spells out to existing creditors the terms of the bid, which then requires to be approved in a vote by 75% of these creditors. When former chairman Gerald Krasner saw the terms being offered by Bates (just 1p in the £1 with a promise of a ‘substantial’ yet unspecified increase if Leeds were promoted to the Premier League within five years) he offered to represent the creditors free of charge – presumably they still included the three partners of his consortium who had loaned the club £4.5m and as the offer stood they would receive just £15 grand each. In the end Ken Bates’ offer received 75.02% approval (later revised up to 75.20% after a recount) from the creditors vote and the deal went through, which was then subject to appeal for a period of 28 days. One day before the appeal period was due to end Bates upped his offer to 8p in the £1 and offered that would rise to 30p in the £1 if Leeds were promoted to the Premier League within ten years.
However, with only a few minutes remaining before the deal could be appealed HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), who were owed £6m, stepped in and challenged the sale. This meant KMPG had to formally put the club up for sale, which would allow other bidders a further 28 days to make offers. With several bids on the table, KPMG revealed after assessing them that once again they had chosen Ken Bates’ bid. The Football League eventually sanctioned the sale to Bates without the club needing to go through a CVA process again under the “exceptional circumstances rule”. Though they instead imposed a 15-point deduction (which applied to the new season after relegation) on the grounds that the club had not followed football league rules when entering administration. Finally, on 31 August 2007 HMRC decided not to pursue any further legal challenge and accepted Bates’ final offer, confirming him as the owner of a debt-free Leeds United.
Though this was not quite the end of the story, Phil Willis, the Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, signed an early-day motion in the House of Commons which urged law-enforcement agencies to mount inquiries and called for greater transparency in the ownership of football clubs – plus he urged HM Revenue and Customs to challenge in court the conduct of the administrators of Leeds United.
The MP’s motion centred on the fact that three offshore companies, whose owners were unidentified and essentially had control of the club, which decisively influenced the administration process where creditors, who were in total owed £35m, were offered just 1p in the £1. The majority of the shares in Leeds before it went into administration were owned by the Forward Sports Fund, a trust registered in the Cayman Islands and administered by a company in Switzerland – the identities of the shareholders of Forward are unknown. Ken Bates declared as Leeds chairman that neither he nor any other director personally owned shares in the club.
The largest creditor to whom Leeds owed money was Astor Investment Holdings, registered in Guernsey, which claimed to have loaned the club nearly £13m. Krato Trust Limited, was registered in the West Indies island of Nevis, claimed to be owed £2.5m. Both of these creditors only supported offers made by Bates, which resulted once more in the club being owned by the Forward Sports Fund, which Bates claimed he had no financial interest in.
The administrator, Richard Fleming of the accountants KPMG, stated that neither Krato nor Astor had any connection to Forward. Since the three offshore funds’ claims amounted to nearly £18m, representing around 45% of the total owed to creditors, it meant no other deal could ever reach the required 75% approval needed if they voted as a block – even though they had offered to pay creditors a much higher amount.
However, former Leeds chairman Gerald Krasner pointed to a declaration in Leeds’ 2006 accounts that Astor investments “has an interest in Forward Sports Fund”, which meant that in fact the two entities were connected and that should then disallow them from voting on the administrator’s proposal. Mark Taylor, Bates’ co-director and solicitor, clarified that Astor and Forward had indeed been connected in June 2006 the previous year but he had ensured that they were disconnected by the end of that year. The administrator said he had been assured in writing by Astor, and in sworn declarations from Bates and Taylor, that the offshore entities were not connected. Incidentally, a quick search of the Panama Papers online database, states that the Krato Trust became a shareholder in Astor Investment Holdings in 2009.
As you might imagine, this particular episode drew the attention of several investigative journalists, including David Conn of the Guardian, who for his troubles was banned from Elland Road along with the Guardian and the BBC (with whom he also made a documentary about the issue). Bates also challenged the MP who raised the issue of Leeds ownership by saying “We challenge Phil Willis to repeat his allegations outside the House of Commons, and we will see him in court if he does.”
As for who were the identities of the shareholders behind the Forward Sports Fund? In 2010, the Football League brought in rules that required any individual who owns 10% or more of a club to be identified. When they asked Leeds to inform them of such individuals they replied that none of the shareholders of the Forward Sports Fund owned 10% of the company so their names don’t need to be declared.
In a 2011 Select Committee report that was investigating ownership in football, it stated that evidence from Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey declared neither he or “to his knowledge” Ken Bates knew who the owners were. The Premier League chief executive, Richard Scudamore also gave evidence to the committee and stated if Leeds were promoted to the Premier League they would require them to say who the owners were. Several days after the report was published, it was announced by Leeds that Ken Bates had bought the club from Forward Sports Fund via an offshore company registered in the West Indies island of Nevis. So after six years of owning Leeds through troubled times and with a prospect of the club being promoted to the Premier League in the near future, these at least 11 unknown shareholders (given it was declared by Leeds that none held 10%) decided to sell their investment to chairman Ken Bates. It’s unlikely that anyone will now ever know who ‘they’ actually were that apparently controlled the club during the period 90% of its debts were written off.
On 21 December 2012, Bates completed a deal to sell Leeds to a Middle East-based private equity group GFH Capital – previously known as Gulf Finance House – who are an Islamic investment bank with headquarters in Bahrain. Bates remained as chairman until the end of the 2012–13 season before taking up the position of honorary president. So in what was “one last challenge” for Ken Bates, the sale of Leeds United finally boosted his personal bank balance (wherever that may be) by the less than shabby sum of £52m.
Meanwhile, on the pitch the story was one of nearly but not quite as Leeds spent three seasons in League One under Bates. Despite the 15 point penalty after relegation, Leeds went top of the league on Boxing Day under Wise before he surprisingly decided to jump ship in January and take up an offer by Mike Ashley at Newcastle to be Director of Football, with the then manager Kevin Keegan less than pleased – Gus Poyet also left to become assistant manager at Spurs. Bates installed former fans favourite Gary McAllister as manager and he ended up losing in the play-off final to Yorkshire rivals Doncaster – the following season he was sacked in December after less than one year in charge after a poor run of games. Simon Grayson then took over in the manager’s chair but again lost out in the play-offs – then Leeds got off to their best-ever start to a season in 2009-10 before stuttering and eventually getting automatic promotion by finishing in second spot.
Leeds return to the Championship saw them mount a challenge for promotion to the Premier League in their first season back, but they fell away towards the end of the season and finished seventh. The news in 2011 that Bates had bought the club brought fresh protests from Leeds supporters over lack of investment in the team – to which the new owner responded with his usual charm by calling the fans “morons”. Grayson was then sacked in February for failing to mount a promotion challenge and he was replaced by Neil Warnock who became Bates’ final managerial appointment before he sold the club. However, Bates was not quite finished yet as he had remained as chairman after selling the club to GFH but the 2012-13 season didn’t go according to plan and Warnock eventually resigned with six games left to play as Leeds hovered just above the relegation zone. In came former Reading boss Brian McDermott, who managed to win enough games to avoid the drop back to League One.
The maverick calls the tune
The Leeds supporters were generally glad to see the exit of Ken Bates from the club but they had little idea of what was to come next. Owners GFH Capital were looking to sell a 75% stake in the club with a group backed by current managing director David Haigh and the club’s main sponsors in a consortium called Sport Capital. However, some of the backers involved with Sport Capital had problems coming up with the finances required and GFH invited a rival bid from Serie A Cagliari owner Massimo Cellino. The protracted sale fell into farce when Cellino’s legal representatives summoned McDermot to inform him he had been sacked – only for him to be reinstated by the Football League as the Italian had not been yet been approved as the owner and therefore was not in a legal position to dismiss the manager.
Leeds then announced that they had exchanged contracts with Cellino’s family consortium Eleonora Sport Ltd. The deal involved 75% ownership of the club that was subject to approval from the Football League, which the Football League subsequently rejected in March 2014 after stating that Cellino failed the owner’s test due to having an Italian criminal conviction. Cellino appealed the decision and the Football League decided in his favour stating “Cellino’s recent conviction did not involve conduct that would reasonably be considered to be dishonest based on information available to him at the time” – in other words an honest mistake made in ignorance.
Leeds had just got themselves a new owner, albeit a somewhat eccentric, superstitious, impulsive chain-smoking, electric-guitar playing one with pretensions of being a rock-star. After Cellino had inheriting his father’s agricultural business, he bought his home-town club Cagliari in Sardinia just over 20 years ago and has subsequently sacked an incredible 35 managers in his time as owner. He even moved the club to a stadium 500 miles north after problems gaining a safety certificate following the electrocution of a member of staff and only returned back to Sardinia after his players threatened a boycott – but they instead returned to a stadium temporarily constructed out of metal scaffolding poles that requires a safety certificate on a match-by-match basis.
Not afraid to speak his mind, Cellino said of the former Leeds owners “You can see what’s been happening here – it’s been done by people who knew they weren’t staying. And now I have to clean up the shit…GFH made big mistakes but not on purpose. But the men who were here in GFH’s name did a really, really bad job. That’s not GFH fault. They trust people they shouldn’t.” He then tried to connect with the Leeds fans by declaring “they’re tired of eating shit and shutting their mouths” before continuing “I’m the richest man in the world with these fans and I can challenge anyone, everyone.” – something he went on to try and prove in his tenure at Leeds.
Despite McDermott being reinstated, he must have known his days were numbered – apparently his card was marked by Cellino after he failed to allow his close associate and former Middlesbrough defend Gianluca Festa to sit on the bench to observe matters before he had bought the club. He then questioned manager McDermott’s decision to take a holiday and declared that “Leeds have no manager, who’s managing this club? Brian? Where is Brian?” OK not quite as popular as ‘Where’s Wally’ but this particular game ended in May 2014 as Leeds reached a mutual agreement with manager Brian McDermott to end his spell at the club.
Cellino’s choice for his first Leeds manager was a rather surprising one in the mostly unknown Dave Hockaday, who was previously manager of Conference side Forest Green with a less than impressive track record. In his first season the team were relegated but were reinstated after Salisbury City were demoted for financial irregularities. His second season ended with Forest Green avoiding relegation on goal difference and the next two seasons saw his team finish in tenth both times, despite the club having the largest transfer and wage budget – he finally left the club by mutual consent in his fifth season after seven defeats in eight games. It’s not clear what Cellino saw in him that merited giving him a chance to manage in the Championship, though him agreeing to take charge on an annual salary of £80 grand, just a tenth of what McDermott was paid, could have been a factor. His Leeds career at just 70 days was short-lived even by Cellino’s standards with only one win in his first six games – against you’ve guessed it Middlesbrough.
Next in the hot seat hoping for a bright future was Darko Milanič, who signed a two-year deal after Leeds bought out his contract from Sturm Graz but he didn’t go down a storm at Elland Road and was dismissed after only 32 days for not winning any of his six games in charge. In November 2014, Neil Redfearn was promoted from his academy role to head coach of Leeds on an initial 12-month contract with the option of a further 12 months and a clause meaning he could return to his original role if it didn’t work out – probably a wise decision given the brevity of the previous two incumbents.
In December 2014, Cellino was disqualified by the Football League and asked to resign from the club. The Football League took the decision after obtaining documents from an Italian court, where he was found guilty of tax evasion. This spell of detention was later extended to beyond the end of the season due to Cellino’s failure to hand in his homework and present the League with the court documents himself. The controversial Italian returned as chairman in May 2015 with the apparent approval of the Football League and decided shortly afterwards to replace former hardened midfielder Redfearn, claiming in the press his head coach was “weak” and “a baby”. In came former Man City striker and former Wigan manager Uwe Rösler to take up the challenge, the German had taken up coaching after being diagnosed with lung cancer at the age of 34 whilst playing for Norwegian club Lillestrøm – following chemotherapy, he recovered successfully to return as their manager two years later. However, his time at Leeds was short-lived and he was sacked after just a dozen games and just two wins, which left Leeds in 18th place in the Championship
That day in October was quite a busy one, not only was Rösler out but Cellino was again banned by the Football League for a second time after it was discovered he was in breach of Italian tax legislation and therefore failed their suitability for club ownership test. Though before he stepped down he appointed former Rotherham manager Steve Evans as head coach. Cellino appeared to have had enough and announced he would sell the club but only to a Leeds United Fans Group – he declared “100 per cent I will sell to the fans, if they want to buy it and look after the club. The fans are the only asset the club has.” Though the Italian was not popular with elements in the crowd and soon after decided not to attend games any more due to the vocal criticism he received from the terraces.
This falling out with the Leeds fans seemed to extend to the supporters group who he planned to sell the club to after his lawyers informed them the deal was no longer on the table. The response by the group, Leeds Fans Utd was the following statement “Our insistence on him confirming his verbal offer of exclusivity in a legally binding agreement has forced transparency on his motives. It is much better that we identify this insincerity now before we spend our shareholder’s money.” Cellino’s reply was with typical bravado “They say a lot of fairytales, they really are like kids in a sweet shop. They talk too much. It is dangerous, this kind of publicity.”
Following, Cellino’s successful appeal to the Italian tax authorities on his failure to pay VAT on an imported Range Rover his ban was lifted at the end of the season. Though Cellino was not happy and revealed “he had regretted buying the club” and would sell to the right offer – he was also not happy with Steve Evans, who became his sixth sacking, though the head coach may have suspected his time was up if he had read Cellino recent remarks in the press “He [Evans] talks too much, he has to learn to shut his mouth. I’ve told him so many times to stop, you have no idea. But he doesn’t.”
Cellino problem seemed to be that his head coaches wanted to be managers and revealed “I cannot work with English managers. I never want to learn. I give up. When am I going to find a manager in England who is actually a coach? They want to control everything. But it’s wrong because when they go you have to start all over again” He may have actually had a point with that statement but in June 2016, Englishman Garry Monk was appointed as head coach by Cellino on a 12-month rolling contract – which would be his seventh and final appointment before he sold the club to Andrea Radrizzani in May 2017. His departing words to the Leeds fans were “If you can survive working with me, you can survive anything” – though only time will tell if that turns out to be true.
A chance encounter
Now Leeds find themselves with another new owner in what appears to be the consequence of a random event – not quite in the same league as a Chief Executive holding an impromptu interview of the future manager after a chance encounter in a service station toilet but definitely a bit of a butterfly wing-flap in the grand chaotic world of football. It occurred in a pre-match dinner ahead of the Champions League quarter-final game between Man City and PSG, where Italian sports media rights specialist Andrea Radrizzani found himself sitting besides football legend Kenny Daglish. After some general conversation, the subject of potentially buying an English club was raised by the Italian – to which the reply from the former Kop favourite was just two words: “Leeds United”. A few weeks later Radrizzani got hold of Cellino’s number from a business contact and pretended to be an agent representing a client from Singapore (which as it later transpires was not entirely false) interested in investing in the West Yorkshire club. A few days later Radrizzani made the suggestion of investing himself, to which the controversial FA ban-serving Leeds owner seeking an exit-strategy seemed keen and offered to sell him an initial 50 per cent stake – with the prospect of selling the other half if Leeds weren’t promoted. At the time of the deal, Leeds were sitting in third spot but thanks to a collapse in form by Garry Monk’s men they fell away and ended up finishing in seventh – which subsequently presented Radrizzani with the opportunity of full ownership.
As usual ‘ownership’ in football is never quite so simple – LUFC is registered as being 100% owned by Greenfield Investment Pte Ltd, which is an ‘acquisition vehicle’ that is 100% owned by the Singapore registered company ASER Group Holding Pte Ltd, which is in turn 100% owned by Andrea Radrizzani (The letters ‘Pte Ltd’ denotes a private limited company in Singapore). Radrizzani has made much of his wealth selling media rights of sporting events around the globe through the London-based company Media Partners & Silva Ltd, which he co-founded in 2004 with Riccardo Silva. They initially started by gaining exclusive media rights to distribute Italian Serie A games and have since expanded into other sports to become media partners to FIFA, the Premier League, Formula One and the French Tennis Open to name but a few.
It’s too early to say whether Radrizzani will be the white knight that the Mighty Whites have been searching for – though he’s gained popular support from the fans by buying back Elland Road for £20m and has claimed he has already invested £100m in the club with the aim to gain promotion to the Premier League within five years.
Epilogue
This Radrizzani deal may finally work out for Leeds supporters but football clubs have long since become the commodities of the super-rich to buy and sell on a whim or a chance business encounter in what continues to be an inflationary bubble where many will fail in their ambition to become a successful top-tier club. The danger is that they over-extend themselves and their ‘investments’ then invariably turn into debts owed by their disposable financial vehicles that have taken the supporters on a white-knuckle ride that can often risk the very existence of the club themselves.
What is clear is that those in charge of regulating football are probably incapable of ensuring that they protect the supporters from the risk of losing their clubs to the failures of judgement that wealthy risk takers are prone to making – especially when many can ring-fence their personal wealth through organising their business affairs through a whole series of offshore holding companies and investment vehicles. In a world of offshore anonymity it’s almost impossible for anyone to prove who the owners are and therefore those making accusations against the rich and powerful must tread carefully to avoid being taken to court.
As for some of the protagonists in the Leeds story – Peter Risdale went on to become vice-chairman at Cardiff City under Sam Hamman and finally chairman in 2006 when the owner stepped down. It was claimed Risdale had once again brought a club to the brink by trying to build a promotion winning team that left Cardiff fighting off four winding up orders. After stepping down in May 2010, Cardiff’s debts were nearly £70m – more than double what was estimated at the time and the club was subsequently sold to a Malaysian consortium as it faced yet another winding-up order. In 2009, Risdale’s sports consultancy business, WH Sports Group Ltd, which offered advice to football clubs failed with debts approaching £500,000 – Risdale was subsequently disqualified from being a company director until 2020 after an inquiry by the Insolvency Service discovered he had diverted payments from football clubs totaling nearly £350,000 into his personal bank account that were paid to his consultancy business.
After Ken Bates sold Chelsea he banked £17m after previously buying it for just one pound and then running up debts of £80m – he seemingly didn’t invest any of that money ten months later in the anonymously owned Forward Sport Fund consortium that was used to give him effective control over Leeds United for six years – he claims not and there is no proof to say otherwise and besides he’s not shy of taking legal action. He also maintained he didn’t know the identity of the shareholders of which none held 10% according to declarations made. Bates and his legal representative Mark Taylor also declared that the two main offshore entities that voted for his bid when the club went into administration had no connection to the club owners – despite them admitting that they were connected one year earlier and much better offers on the table were available to them than the 1p in the £1 offered by Bates.
KMPG and the Football League both accepted their explanations that they knew nothing about the people who had essentially employed them for six years – it could have been Kim Jong-un and his ten brothers for all they knew. Whoever they were, they agreed to sell him Leeds United for an undisclosed amount a few days after a Select Committee report into football ownership seemed to suggest those running the game would demand more transparency. Bates subsequently sold Leeds to an Islamic investment bank based in Bahrain. Whilst many people had lost a considerable amount of money over the years investing in the Leeds (including the tax payer and reportedly the St John’s Ambulance) it appears Bates is a man who can look after himself quite nicely – the 79-year old currently resides in tax haven Monaco, where his next project is presumably working out how to pass a camel through the eye of a needle.
You may remember earlier Shaun Harvey, who was one of the three directors of the ‘new’ company fronted by Ken Bates, who also claimed he had no idea who their shareholders were when it bought back Leeds with a controversial deal to minimally compensate creditors after it had gone into administration. In addition, he’d previously been managing director of Bradford City who had twice been in administration during his time at the club. Well it seems his talents were just what the Football League were looking for and having been elected on their board of directors he was duly appointed Chief Executive in July 2013. He is now the man ultimately in charge of ensuring clubs are owned by fit and proper people and is also responsible for growing the EFL brand by signing off deals with those looking to invest – such as a certain Mr Carabao and his invisible cup draws amongst others.
As for former manager David O’Leary who spent the £100m that ended up causing the financial meltdown – well after three years managing Villa following his departure at Elland Road, he had a brief return to football as manager of United Arab Emirates side Al-Ahli Dubai in 2010, but he was dismissed after less than a year in charge but managed to get FIFA to help him gain compensation of £3.3m for the remaining two years of his contract in 2012. It was announced this week that the now 59-year old has been invited by the new owner of Leeds to Elland Road for lunch and to take in a game – with Leeds currently dropping down the table after a good start, surely Andrea Radrizzani is not contemplating starting the whole cycle again?
Fascinating stuff.
Myself and a friend bought shares in Leeds ( Caspian Holdings) plus shares in Nottingham Forest and Millwall. We thought that with all of the money coming into football it would be a wise investment.
The returns?
Nottingham Forest, lost everything, Millwall, lost everything. And from Caspian? A cheque for the princely sum of 10p.
A cautionary tale indeed.
You and me both GHW. In the mid nineties I invested a grand in a football fund because of all the Sky money, Champions League and shares in clubs becoming available to investors with talk of massive returns. There was a promotion campaign for the fund with Souness as the credible face of football fronting it. I ended up with £127 ten years later!
RR
Never forget the gamblers golden rule.
Never bet on anything that talks.
The only time I was ever persuaded to invest in shares was by a work colleague during the dot.com boom – I didn’t understand how these shares were deemed to be worth so much but since he’d already pocket several thousand from previous floatations I thought why not. Anyway, I bought £500 worth of Last-minute.com shares – thankfully they were massively oversubscribed so I only got a third of what I signed-up for. For some reason still unclear, private investors weren’t allowed to trade their shares for several days after flotation and that left the big institutions to sell up first as the price initially rose by 30-40% as I remember. By the time us private investors were allowed to sell the price had dropped to about 20% of what we had paid. I think I threw away the certificates at some point as the value fell to about £8.
The price of football….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41914171
The fans keep shelling out, but at these prices the traditional fan can no longer afford it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41482931
Thank you for a fascinating article. I had been roughly aware of some strange movements behind the scenes but had never really put it all together. It seems to be perfectly summed up by Shaun Harvey seeming to fail upwards until he ends up in charge of the whole three ring circus.
I know that no club can be assumed to be as pure as driven snow in these matters but it does seem that Steve Gibson seems to operate on a totally different plane from some of these chancers. I wonder if we all actually realise how much we owe him for the air of relative decency that seems to attach to Boro.
Anyway, to come back to the football, this is a key moment in our season. A defeat would be a crashing blow to our recent renaissance. A win would actually suggest that this could turn out to be a very good season indeed.
I have been a bit out of touch with the blog over the international break but did want to return to some comments about our last three wins having been somehow of less value because of the opposition. This Championship is a very strange division this year with teams going on good runs but others hitting really poor runs.
Here is the form table for the last five games showing the points won along with their total points and goal difference
............... Last five ... Total .... GD
BRENTFORD ......... 13 ....... 22 ....... 4
WOLVES ............ 12 ....... 35 ...... 14
SHEFF UTD ......... 12 ....... 33 ...... 10
DERBY ............. 12 ....... 25 ....... 4
BRISTOL CITY ...... 10 ....... 30 ...... 10
MIDDLESBROUGH ..... 10 ....... 26 ....... 8
NOTTM FOREST ....... 9 ....... 24 ....... 4
READING ............ 9 ....... 18 ...... -1
BOLTON ............. 9 ....... 11 ..... -16
BARNSLEY ........... 8 ....... 19 ....... 1
QPR ................ 8 ....... 21 ...... -3
CARDIFF ............ 7 ....... 31 ....... 9
ASTON VILLA ........ 7 ....... 26 ....... 7
SHEFF WED .......... 7 ....... 23 ....... 2
IPSWICH ............ 6 ....... 24 ...... -1
MILLWALL ........... 4 ....... 17 ....... 0
HULL ............... 4 ....... 16 ...... -2
NORWICH ............ 4 ....... 22 ...... -5
BIRMINGHAM ......... 4 ....... 12 ..... -17
BURTON ALBION ...... 4 ....... 13 ..... -21
LEEDS .............. 3 ....... 23 ....... 5
SUNDERLAND ......... 3 ....... 10 ..... -11
FULHAM ............. 2 ....... 19 ...... -1
PRESTON ............ 1 ....... 21 ....... 0
The form team in the Championship is Brentford with 13 points from 5 games. However, that means that after 11 games they only had 9 points and have somehow turned it round. I have no idea what magic has happened. Similarly Reading have nine points out of fifteen with a loss to us being one of the defeats. They have doubled the nine points that they managed from their first 11 games. Equally impressive is Bolton who had managed 2 points from 11 games and have then also added nine from their last five. Looking the other way, Preston have managed 1 point out of fifteen after pocketing 20 from their first eleven games. Did someone run over a black cat? Similarly, Leeds were sitting pretty also with 20 from 11 games and have managed 3 out of fifteen. All of this suggests that position in the table could still fluctuate a great deal and there are a lot of changes to come. Anyone care to guess who will be the form team over the next five games?
With regard to the team for Sunday, as long as Randolph is recovered from his heroics behind a leaky sieve of defence, the only change may well be an enforced one with Christie suspended although I wonder if Tavernier will be rested from what could be a pretty ferocious game. Does Roberts get his chance at right back?
UTB
🔴 Just to be on the safe side in case any legal people stumble across the blog I’ve substituted your word used with ‘chancers’. I did find it quite ironic how Shaun Harvey with three club administrations under his belt and his inability to provide the names of the people he was employed by made him a suitable choice to run the Football League. Incidentally, Peter Risdale also tried to become a member of the Welsh FA when he was director at Cardiff but he came bottom in the vote and never got accepted. BTW I fixed your table layout for you too! – Werdermouth
Thank you. Should I have saved if as an image?
No, the trick is to place the whole table inside ‘code’ tags in your comment – this make anything inside them display in a monospaced font (i.e. every character has the same width)
For example
<code>
Table Content
</code>
Don’t forget to include the ‘/’ character in the closing tag.
In order to align your columns use the ‘full stop’ character as neither tabs will work or multiple space characters – two consecutive spaces or more are ignored inside the code tag and are just displayed as a single space – I usually just place a single space before and after the numbers in the column for readability. You can see what I mean by looking at your table.
I should add if you are using Windows then the easiest way to create your table and align the columns using this method is by doing it in ‘Notepad’ as this is a program that displays the content in a monospaced font by default.
I hope all that makes sense!
A superb and very informative account Werder. Sombre reading for any Leeds supporter and a lesson for every football fan, to be careful what you wish for. Thanks for all the time and effort you put into that one above and beyond your usual effort.
Thanks Powmill, I wasn’t planning on writing such a long piece but once I started I made quite a few notes while reading the various sources, organising the chain of events and filtering out the padding that it got way too big to be a match preview piece. I tried to make it into a summary that would interest the general supporter and not just Leeds fans – but it’s still quite an incredible story and it’s not clear the lessons have been learned by those involved in football.
Weirder
The frightening thing is, this stuff is perfectly ok.
There must be plenty of people, who, on reading your blog have a light bulb moment and realise that they have wasted their time on this earth being a criminal.
The biggest joke was after Risdale was found to have ‘diverted’ £350,000 of payments meant for his business that ultimately went out of business with debts of nearly £500,000 he got a slap on the wrist and was basically told he wouldn’t be allowed the chance to do it again for the next ten years. I imagine if most people had diverted a lot less than that amount of money from an employer they’d be invited to be the guest of Her Majesty for some considerable time.
Indeed an incredible story brought to life by your tour de force Werder.
A salutary tale for some other clubs how things could have gone wrong but for the grace of God.
Great read Werder,
I had forgotten how bad it was at Leeds, Newcastle normally hog the headlines for this type of stuff.
The international break must have been a women’s idea, I have been completing assigned jobs for the best part of two weeks.
The bordem was relived a little last night as the Aussies qualified via the play off against Honduras. That should keep the Aussies interested in football for a while.
On to Leeds, we will do well to finish with eleven players if history is anything to go by.
Boro, after a tired start and lots of cranking cannot get the engine firing and are trailing 2-0. they wake up at half time and come back to draw 2-2 after calling the AA. Ayala and Assombalonga.
The RAC could not respond as they had drowned their engine in Ireland with too much choke (Randolf and Christie).
Thanks Old Billy, I’ll probably save the Newcastle story for next year 🙂
Werder,
My goodness, the caveat here is be careful what you wish for and the financial dealings remind me of that character in the bar The Fast Show.
Wonderful forensic work there, I’d take it on for a PhD. In all seriousness money men accountants and their scams, meanwhile the poor fans. I’m no lover of Leeds United but that really is some serious dodgy dealings smeared with a complex layer of pseudo respectability. The Emperor’s suit of clothes indeed.
I think that the Diasboro Christmas Annual is getting better with each chapter. Put me down for a virtual copy!
UTB,
John
Thanks John, I think they should make the story of Leeds financial history into a course that requires mandatory attendance by anyone who wants to be a director of a football club – then again it might give them some ideas…
The financial history at Leeds is a cautionary tale to all of us and well done Werder for pulling it all together. A major problem is that those who are global wheeler dealers in markets and investments unsurprisingly are five steps ahead of those trying to keep tabs on them. HMRC cannot keep up with them and end up being fobbed off by those whose expertise is in making money and avoiding paying for it.
The Footballing authorities themselves have had their share of some questionable behaviour from individuals within their ranks letting the side down. Locally the simple purpose of the FA and League is to “manage” the domestic league and cup competitions and to promote the game not to be investigative undercover accountants. They were never intended to deal with this type of complex and specialist set of circumstances and still are ill equipped. Maybe they should be better at unravelling these complexities but I would guess that a bloke on £45K a year trying to unravel the financial affairs of a billionaire with a team of personal accountants on salaries ten times greater will always come last.
It has been and still is rife in the business world and has been for decades but its only when Football became a “business” instead of a sport that the vultures started to hover. In doing so realising that there are some rich pickings to be had from the naive and vulnerable ruled by their hearts rather than their heads. Wheeling and dealing in property, commodities or simply speculating with inside information is a way of life for many, the Football or the jobs affected by those in a Corporate takeover is totally irrelevant. As frustrating as we sometimes are with SG we need to be careful what we wish for.
It appears that the Football League still seems to run the game like it was an English gentleman’s club and merely asks for assurances and written declarations rather than requiring actual evidence. In 2004, the fit and proper person rule for club ownership came into being but when in 2005 they were told by Leeds that they didn’t know who owned the entity Forward Sports Fund and that seemed to be accepted.
I’m not even sure if they are actually interested in who actually owns a club as it appears more to be about being a fit and proper person to be a director of a club. Cellino was only told to step down as a director and not sell the club when he was barred – therefore they seemed happy with Bates and his co-directors not knowing who the owners were.
Though I think you are right that the football authorities simply don’t have the resources or even the legal entitlement to discover who are the people behind the offshore financial vehicles that own clubs. Perhaps it should be a requirement to set up a UK-based company to hold ownership of a UK-based football club, so that there is transparency and the financial dealings should be available to see at Company’s House.
Great piece Werder.. great to see Bahrain get a mention. GFH have now changed and cleaned up their image as at that time they were well suited for the Leeds saga so to speak. I believe there has been talk of litigation and custodial retitribution in this part of the world in that respect.
About investment, there was talk in the troubled 80’s about raising funds for Boro prior to SG bailout and at the time I had considered contributing some of my oil money – in the end it happened so quickly as without internet and communications in those days news always came a week too late. Considered shares in other northern clubs but in the end there was only ever Boro for me.
Well on to Sunday and yes – lets give Dty Leeds a thrashing!!! 3 nil to the Boro!!
Thanks Allan, always good to give Bahrain a mention – though it seems odd that GFH bought Leeds as it appeared they weren’t really interested in owning the club and looked to sell it on pretty quickly.
Regarding clubs raising funds, I think we forget before these financial schemes were introduced to clubs they were pretty much living on a year-to-year basis with an overdraft facility dependent on their projected income. Windfalls generally only came with player sales to big clubs and if you didn’t have a rich benefactor then it was down to having a good season. It’s why Steve Gibson’s money in the early days had so much more clout and Boro were able to buy the likes of Ravenelli and outspend most clubs. Today our chairman’s money is just enough to smooth over the rough times when we’re outside the PL and give us that extra edge in the second tier – especially with financial fair play restricting the amount allowed to be pumped in.
I have been delving into Football League Clubs who have gone into liquidation, resigned or have not been reelected. There have been only 12 clubs who have actually resigned including Ironopolis, and some of these clubs did so to merge with other clubs, and some such as Stalybridge Celtic in 1923, Wigan Borough midway through 1930, and Thames FC in 1932 to fold completely.
A staggering number of 46 clubs, including Boro, have gone into liquidation but retained their status, 33 of whom didn’t receive a points deduction including Boro, Charlton, Bournemouth, Palace, Portsmouth, Hull, Leicester, Derby and Ipswich.
In December 2004 it was decided that clubs going into liquidation should be penalised with a points deduction, which happened to clubs such as Leeds and Southampton. In fact, both Bournemouth and Palace went into liquidation a second time, and Portsmouth a third time.
However, only ONE club has actually been EXPELLED from the Football League, and that was LEEDS CITY in 1919 for “financial irregularities”.Leeds United were formed in October of that year and for the following season, not only took the place of Leeds City Reserves in the Midland League, but also took over its ground, Elland Road. They were elected to the Second Division of the Football League the following season.
It would seem that Leeds United didn’t learn anything from its former club.
Interesting stuff Ken, it appears going into administration is mainly used by clubs to get rid of their unsustainable debts and there always seems to be someone around to find the cash to keep them in business.The question to me is how is it that they are able to borrow and the spend money without any meaningful controls – it seems to be the job of the club’s board to do the right thing when they’re been ‘encouraged’ by thousand’s of supporters to spend money they don’t have.
Werder
Do you ever sleep. An intriguing read.
And people criticise Steve Gibson. He may get things wrong but not from ill intent.
In some ways Steve Gibson made similar mistakes to those made by Risdale by running up a massive debt but he was spending his own money and ultimately had to take the personal hit himself and sort it out. There is always a risk of being a fan in the boardroom that you go further than is advisable when it comes to spending – However, Steve Gibson knows his limits and learned the lessons from relegation that too much debt is not helpful to running a club. Risdale still maintains his spending was not the cause of Leeds problems but instead blames David O’Leary for buying the wrong players. He repeated the same mistakes at Cardiff and they also nearly went out of business.
I see Phil Hay has done a splendid investigative journalist piece for the YEP by warning GM to expect a load of abuse. Wonder if he considered doing a piece on Orta arriving and how GM would just have to accept who and what was being signed for him in terms of players and that just might have raised a question mark in his mind about staying. A YEP piece balancing things and even providing some insight for the Leeds fans about the internal workings of the their club may have been of more merit.
I’m not saying that Radrizzani’s preference with Orta is wrong for their club but it would make any Manager worth his salt think twice and even three times. Had the Club seriously wanted GM they should have secured a long term deal way before they did but they wanted to keep their options open, gambled and lost.
As it happens I suspect they didn’t secure a long term Monk deal because of ongoing discussions with Orta and how they would work going forwards. I personally don’t have any faith in Orta and how he works but that is Leeds problem now and consigned to Boro history. I do however grasp that a club that goes through Managers at the rate of knots Leeds do would consider a structure literally independent of any Manager making some sense. Just seems to me however to be addressing the symptoms rather than the cause.
0 0
OFB,
A pair of spooky eyes are watching us all.
UTB,
John
At first I thought it was OFB’s prediction of Sunday’s score, a goalless draw.
0 0 was my prediction I didn’t have much time for a comment so did a quick forecast and ticked the box for responses so I would get all the new comments
I’ve tweeted and posted the new blog on twitter and Facebook and it has been retweeted by Leeds Chatter and our own followers
I have nothing against Leeds fans in general, but two instances spring to mind which I had the misfortune to witness. One was the Rugby League Cup Final at Wembley in 1972 when Leeds fans threw empty cans of beer after St Helens had scored a try. They landed on the row in which my wife and I were sitting.
The other occasion was at Acklam Park when Yorkshire were playing. The Boro and Leeds fans were wearing their respective football shirts, and fighting each other with fists and feet flying. I don’t know which fans started it, but I couldn’t believe it considering we were all supposed to be supporting Yorkshire.
I do know that black cricketers always seemed to get abuse at Headingley, especially Viv Richards – banter maybe in those days, racial abuse nowadays.
Naff Sock Tags 0 Proper Tie Ups 2
A very impressive piece werder,
You Tube has a similar probe from a number of years ago, were it asks ” who actually owns Leeds United ” or something to that effect Ridsdale and Bates are featured.
It brings me back to the Boro and our present situation.
When we got promoted two seasons ago ,I was more pleased for Steve Gibson more than the club itself and a chance to watch top teams each week, because he stuck around and took the hit season after season.
I’m now going to upset many fans, because my feelings have changed some what, I still support Steve and the club, but I now find myself shrugging my shoulders and thinking it’s his reputation and finances on the line so be it.
I say this because ,he seems to be still trusting some within the club ,who have been around forever to make decisions ,pertaining to the field of play,I for one am not impressed,
A major investment was made, and we should be running away with this league ,but not only are we not, we have struggled for the most part.
I’m hoping it all comes together ,and would be delited to eat crow.
Thanks GT – BTW I found that video you mentioned on YouTube – it’s the David Conn programme I mention in the piece that got the BBC banned from Elland Road for investigating who owned Leeds United. Anyway, I’ve just watched it and left me pretty incredulous as David Conn and the contributors don’t mince their words.
Here’s the link for anyone wanting a view, it’s well worth a watch – though I should warn it contains some explicit content of a Ken Bates statement talking about Leeds ownership in a gratuitously sexy manner…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkcVIrwZk6s?rel=0
Brilliant, Werder, and as informative for Leeds fans as it is for us. Thanks for all of the time and trouble this will have taken.
Thanks Len, much appreciated – though the time was taken instead of watching endless 0-0 games during the international break but trouble will come if Mrs Werder ever finds out how long took…
WERDER
You just keep getting better and better at this !
We all appreciate your hard work
Many thanks
OFB
I must say that Werder’s pre-match build up piece kept me glued to my screen this morning and made me 20 minutes late leaving the house for work. It got me thinking on the way in, about just how big a fish really is Leeds United and how does their record as one of the giants of English football stack up against the Boro. So, I have done a bit of digging and delving on the internet to see if I can find some data to crunch.
Leeds United, of course, only came into being following the ignominious demise of Leeds City around 1920. So this means that there are only 90 completed seasons for them in the league to compare against the Boro’s 107. 1-0 to the Boro on my statistical measures then, and proves we have considerably more tradition than Leeds.
Taking all of the football league as one ranking, Leeds’ average position at the end of a season has been 19.5. Boro’s average has been 21.1. Not a lot in it there, but rather grudgingly I will concede that Leeds have been marginally better placed than Boro over the years, which makes it 1-1 on the statistical score card.
Leeds have also spent 55.5% of their seasons in the top tier, 41.1% in tier 2 and 3.3% in the third tier. Boro on the other hand have had 57% of their time in tier 1, 41.1% in tier 2 and 1.9% in tier 3. Therefore Boro fans have had relatively more time to enjoy top flight football than their Leeds counterparts. 2-1 to the Boro!!!
Talking of supporters, Leeds’ average attendance over the years has been 25,421. It’s maybe not as big a number as some might have expected, but it still is considerably more than the Boro’s average attendance over the years of 20,255. Back to even stevens in my statistical world.
What happens though, if you consider attendance at the match as a proportion of the overall population of each town. Well, Leeds average attendance represents a paltry 4% of the average population of Leeds since 1921, whereas the Boro over the years have drawn a hugely creditable 15% of the average population of Middlesbrough to the match. In the post war years crowds were averaging over a quarter of the town’s population. Amazingly in 1974/75 that measure hit 29% as the 1971 census shows a marked dip in the town’s population. Last year we measured 22%. Even at their peak Leeds have never been able to draw more than 6% of their town’s population to Elland Road
.
Emphatically then, 3-2 to the Boro in my (selective) statistical measures of relative success.
I think I will take that as my prediction for the game on Sunday. A thrilling encounter of two historically well matched teams but with victory coming our way 3-2.
My take on which club is bigger than another is the current league situation, not historical situations. So in that regard one would have to say that currently Bournemouth and Brighton for example, are both bigger clubs than Boro or Leeds. However that is flexible being something that changes every year.
Just look at the clubs in the last century and just before. For example, both Bradford Park Avenue and Bradford City were First Division clubs until the former were relegated in 1921 and the latter the following year along with Manchester United. Bradford City even won the FA Cup in 1911.
Bury were in the First Division from 1894 to 1912 and won the FA Cup twice during that period in 1900 and again in 1903 when they beat Derby 6-0, still the biggest victory in the Final.
Huddersfield Town were the biggest club in the early 1920s finishing 3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 2nd and 2nd in successive seasons.
Preston North End won the inaugural Football League Championship in 1888/89 and the FA Cup without conceding a goal, won the League again the following season, and were then runners up in each of the next 3 seasons.
Oldham Athletic were a First Division club for 13 seasons until they were relegated in 1923, and Grimsby Town have spent 10 seasons in the First Division in the late 1930s.
Manchester United, after entering entering the Football League in1892 were relegated two years later and spent 12 successive seasons in the 2nd Division, and in fact up to the Second World War had spent only 23 seasons in the First Division and 21 in the Second. Most of their success came postwar. Chelsea were a “musical hall” joke before winning their First Division Championship in 1955.
What I’m trying to convey is that some of the above clubs were BIG clubs once, but are no more. As Powmill has alluded to, Leeds United are not a big club now, and certainly not a bigger club than Middlesbrough despite its successes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The trouble is that in the foreseeable future there would appear to be only 6 or 7 clubs that can be called big.
Sometimes I wonder what is the point of being promoted to the Premier League just to grind out the occasional win against the big six. We used to deride other European Leagues such as Spain, Portugal, Holland, Belgium and even Germany that they were 2 or 3 horse races, Scotland now even a one horse race, so I suppose the Premier League being a 4 or 5 horse race to some might feel more acceptable, but not for me it ain’t.
Abolish the Champions and Europa Cups, but create a European League for the 20 best teams in Europe with promotion and relegation between the European League and Domestic Leagues. In my opinion it will eventually happen in 20/25 years time, long after some of us have expired. Then we would have a competitive Premier League like the old First Division had been postwar with past Champions such as Aston Villa, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Ipswich Town, Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and Wolves, plus Premier League Champions Blackburn Rovers and Leicester City. Yes, some of them are no longer in the Premier League, but others such as the Boro might have a fighting
chance to be called “League Champions of England”.
Until that happens I’m undecided about the relevance of Boro getting promotion, but as I say, a European League will eventually happen, but not in my lifetime.
Have to say Werder , what a brilliant article once again. Superb read . A big thank you.
With no British TV here, I’ve started watching “The Manageress” on YouTube. This was a series first broadcast on Ch4 in 1989/1990 starring Cherie Lunghi as the first female to manage a Second Division football club, and the late Warren Clarke as the chairman. It portrays the corruption in football at the time, so is appropriate viewing following Werdermouth’s splendid article on Leeds United which I think would probably make a good soap opera on TV in the future.
“The Manageress” is a bit dated in some respects, with only one substitute allowed per team, no internet or mobile phones, players not arriving at matches wearing iPods or Walkmen, heavy drinking sessions, unfit players, players having sex with underage girls, and most people smoking in restaurants. In general, what life in general was like nearly 30 years ago.
Up to now in the series I haven’t heard the word “gay”, either in its original meaning describing a lighthearted carefree person, or its current meaning. Neither have I heard the word “selfie” used, either in today’s jargon, and certainly not during my National Service days when “having a selfie” had an altogether different meaning. Nevertheless, the series does bring back memories of what football, and life, was like just 3 decades ago and I’m quite happy watching its rerun.
I see media speculation that Everton, Arsenal, Bournemouth and Villa are all apparently chasing Marcus Tavernier. I wonder if journalists just sit and make stuff up and then others simply copy, expand and exaggerate the story on quiet news days?
Wondering how much cash Villa have to spend, why we would want to sell to them and why would he want to go? The lad hasn’t even broken through yet, he is getting close but stories like this are plainly ridiculous and I’m pretty sure that scouts watch reserve, U18 and U21 games and are well aware of who to watch rather than wait until their stock has increased 100 fold.
Will he start on Sunday? Will GM risk him in a hostile environment, surrounded by big burly flag waving, tea drinking Yorkshire men, creating an intimidating atmosphere with their “Together” mosaics all booing his manager or will Garry figure he done OK against Sunderland so why not?
Werder – that is a superb read. Genuinely fascinating and well-researched stuff. Top class writing, and as we know awards are available for blogs etc I would have no hesitation in entering this as an example of the quality of this blog.
As an accountant of some years standing it still intrigues me how these arcane and sometimes devious structures are put together. All with the apparent aim of hiding the true beneficiaries and creating a tangled web of tax optimisation and avoidance. (only the authorities ultimately decide when avoidance becomes evasion).
I often wonder whether some of the ridiculous deals in football (1p in the £1!) are allowed to pass without serious fraud investigations because almost all of the players in the tale are ultimately as compromised as each other. Unfortunately it is often the taxpayer, represented by the poor benign HRMC (well, benign to those with means) who lose the most.
Leeds weren’t the first and sadly, they won’t be the last to suffer footballs booms and busts. As for the on-pitch action, well, the form book says we should get something from the game, but to be perfectly honest I’d take a 0-0 draw right now, as I think Leeds will be well up for this.
Thanks for that – It does seem odd how a club or even a company can go into administration when nearly half the amount of those who are owed money are unknown offshore entities that have apparently ‘loaned’ them money and therefore unable to be verified. Though you’re probably right that these offshore entities main purpose is to disguise the identity of the owners, with often the laws of the places they are based make it illegal for the banks to divulge those identities.
I still don’t know why the UK government doesn’t just pass a law making it a legal requirement to have owners of clubs registered in the UK – it’s not as if they can move the actual club offshore, a club is a physical entity. Plus all transactions should be carried out through accounts based in countries that can reveal the identities of the owners.
Tax for the very rich has become voluntary – I also read due to the propensity of those with wealth to hoard it in banks offshore it also means that this wealth is also not available to the banks in the UK and Europe to invest and grow economies. I wonder how much of that contributes to the general stagnation of economic growth that we’ve seen in the last ten years or more.
I’d certainly take a draw on Sunday as I can’t see either Leeds losing 4 successive home matches, nor Boro winning 3 successive away matches. Leeds, despite their recent poor run of form, have still scored 3 more goals than Boro and I would expect them to score at least one on Sunday especially as Christie is suspended. I’d settle for a 1-1 draw, but fear if Leeds score first and with Boro having to chase for an equaliser, we may be caught on the break. I have great forebodings about this match finishing 2-0 to Leeds but hope to be wrong.
Great read Werder as always. I thought SUnderland were a basket case as far as owners/managers were concerned but your Leeds expose tops even them.
As many have said before, thank goodness for the stability and cash input that SG has provided.
I am not feeling comfortable about Sunday’s game and would take a draw now but like .Ken cannot see them losing four in a row or us winning four away in a row. I too fear that it will be Leeds 2-0 Boro but hope the pessimists amongst us are wrong.
Fly back to North East on Tuesday and looking forward to seeing the Birmingham and Derby games. Not looking forward to the cold weather!
COB 😎
I agree with your logic Ken. I’d settle for 2-2 (or any draw for that matter).
Belated congrats to Werder for yet another brilliant article. He’s too good for this place (as a certain comedian used to say).
Ken
I also agree with your earlier post re- a European Super League. I’ve been saying to my mates for years that I wish the self styled top teams would b…..r off into a European League and create a level playing field for the rest but I guess some new “pretenders” would probably fill the void.
Also noticed that plans are afoot for yet more televised games at ridiculous times, so Saturday 3 o’clock kick offs will be a rarity,
This is what happens when you sell your soul to the devil.
Glad that more than half of my years as a fan have been spent watching “proper” football. I fear for the future of the game which has lost touch with its roots.
Great read Werder, lovely contributions from Ken as well. And the rest of you as ever.
If ever anyone wants to look at the hows and whys of our own decade of financial acumen leading up to 1986, I’d love to read it. Where on earth did all the money go from our fire sale of young talent in 1981(?). I was 10/11 at the time and remember hearing about a non-completed sports hall but even then details were sketchy. In other news I see Marton Country Club has gone bankrupt.
And should we ever play Rangers in Europe, then Werder will have his work cut out unpicking that mess.
2.1 to the boys in red on Sunday.
From today’s press conference
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/football/15668371.MIDDLESBROUGH___It_s_not_about_me____Garry_Monk_ready_to_return_to_Leeds_as_Boro_boss/
Many thanks for all your responses to my Leeds feature, as usual they are very much appreciated. I’ve actually just posted up a match preview for Sunday’s game, which got superseded by my research into the ownership of Leeds. I would have posted it earlier this afternoon but I got unexpectedly ambushed with a compulsory attendance to my son’s class Christmas party that was organised by the parents – apparently I was told last week but I didn’t pay attention to such a notion happening in mid-november – don’t even ask how anyone expected to get away with that early treat, though my rather sarcastic ‘Happy New Year’ departing greeting seemed to have been somewhat lost in translation. Anyway, he’s the match preview…
https://diasboro.club/2017/11/15/championship-leeds-v-boro/#MatchPreview
I think that it would be good for the squad for Roberts to get his chance. There’s always a danger of certain squad members being seen as ‘second class’ if they don’t get a chance when their legitimate position comes open. It happened to Husband under AK.
Having spent some time looking at the form guide for the Championship, I was interested to then see that tonight Preston (1pt/15) are playing at home to Bolton (9pts/15). It’s 0-0 at half time. Will form win out and Bolton take this one? If so, Preston would see it as a big loss. 1 point out of 18!
UTB
I see Chris Coleman has been appointed as the new Sunderland manager. I seem to recall he spent 4 years as a centre back partner with Gareth Southgate at Crystal Palace in the early 1990s. As the Wales national manager, I think he has performed with great credit the work started by the late Gary Speed, but must have been bitterly disappointed that Wales didn’t make the playoffs in the World Cup.
Anyway I for one wish him all the best at Sunderland.
I don’t share the same anxiety as some it would appear regarding Sunday. I see it as a single solitary game and one that current form and squad strengths should see Boro on top. The problems Leeds are experiencing are in no small part down to many players having little to no affiliation to or with the club, the championship, their fans or even each other. They won’t see this as a derby type game or even know or care who GM is other than what they have been told. Same game specific apathy applies to Christiansen who I suspect will be under enough pressure of his own to be remotely concerned about whipping up atmospheric hype.
Most of Orta’s signings have underachieved (that could have been cut and pasted from here 12 months ago) and underperformed. Who picks their team, is it Christiansen or Orta? Will Christiansen be forced to play Orta’s boys or will he be free to select his own choice of poison. All Boro have to do is keep calm and play to their strengths and over 90 minutes class should tell. I struggle to see where the fire in the belly is going to come from from those adorned in white.
Team spirit, camaraderie and importantly belief is currently in short supply at Elland Road. Ironically four or five weeks ago the same could probably be levelled at Boro but timing is everything in Football. We played Preston at their zenith, had we played them now I suspect we would have bettered a home draw and I doubt Bolton will play as badly again this season as they did against us. Poor runs as well as good runs have to come to an end sometime but I just don’t see Typical Boro turning up at Elland Road. Stewy, Ben, Grant etc. all know exactly what this game means. Leeds will be suffering the same Latin malaise as we recently experienced, all theoretical skill but with little end product. Roman candles the lot of them, bangs, sparks, squeals, bright lights then quickly fizzle out and fade.
Garry Monk, booooooo, hisssssss is unlikely to be a game plan to victory in itself any more than the flags and mosaic the home fans will be displaying/demonstrating with. Other than that I don’t see what Orta and Christiansen have in reserve.
Just hope tomorrow’s game doesn’t turn into a pantomime !
Ref the press conference today , do you think GM was a bit over the top ref to his time at Leeds ?
Vintage Cloughie, talks about his sacking at Leeds.
Part One.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lGgM1JoEEes
Part Two
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qJOxz6wauFg
GHW
What a man, pure gold, the gift that keeps on giving to any interviewer.
I sat here and enjoyed the chat.
The audience were riveted by it, thanks for the treat.
Great link GHW. I recall at that time being more convinced in the “old big’ead” label and that the man was just motormouth. Being a bit (a lot !!) longer in the tooth now and listening to him again, he really did talk a lot of good sense.
Like his friend Geoff Boycott, they both irritated me when I was younger, but as I got older I realised that both of them talked a lot of sense. Clough was self-depricating, even calling himself “old big head”.
Thanks for those excellent pieces Werder.
It does beggar belief the way that the game is run by those old farts in their county FA blazers. I seriously doubt they could run a church fete raffle, never mind overseeing the running of the most watched sports business in the country. ”
Fit and proper person test! Yer jokin aren’t yer?
I suppose owners have always taken money out of clubs but at least in decades gone by it was their money going in and out of the club they owned. As long as the paid their dues to the treasury of course, ahem ahem.
Onto the game tomorrow (it seems like an age!). I’m of the same opinion as RR in that it’s one game with one team on a bad run and the other on a decent one. Hopefully Randolph is able to put their World Cup play off exit to one side and carry on his so far impressive league form, and I’d like to see Connor Roberts given a chance at right back. I’d like to see the following starting 11 tomorrow:
Randolph
Roberts Ayala Gibson Friend
Howson Leadbitter
Bamford Braithwaite Downing
Assombalonga.
On the bench I’d have:
Dimi, Fabio, Fry, Clayton, Traore, Tavernier, Fletcher.
I know young Tav has been excellent since coming in but imo Bamford must be in the starting line up and Stewie is a class act whichever side he plays on.
We need to put our poor scoring record of late against the Dirties to bed, 3 goals in 5 games all coming in 1 game, if we’re to come away with all 3 points. I’m going for a Boro win tomorrow, a good performance in front of the sky cameras doesn’t concern me, so I’ll take a boring 0-1 but I’d be more than happy to blow them away 0-3.
Ken
Your “having a selfie” comment made me chuckle, my ex matelot sense of humour will be with me til the day they carry me out feet first. Didn’t dare try and explain that one to Mrs FAA!
Yes, let’s just leave it to one’s imagination.
FAA, I lIke your team selection.
Tomorrow will be a good yardstick on whether Monk is finally getting a grip. It is a game that Boro should win based on form but Leeds will be up for it encouraged no doubt by Orta and by Monk’s return. Lose and questions about Monk will resurface. Win and all will be positive. Draw and Monk might just get away with it.
I’m going for a 1-1 draw in an uninspiring performance with Ayala the scorer.
Apparently there is a smartphone out there that all you have to do is ask and it will do a selfie for you. I would however urge caution if enquiring in your local high street retailer and definitely stay clear of auto focus and flash performance!
Or you could be overexposed…….
Looking at today’s Championship squads, you could make up a decent team from ex Boro players.
Prediction time I reckon that this has 2-2 all over it. Mind you I’ll be completely wrong as always.
Sadly we are heading to Aberdeen from Norwich Airport for my wife’s brother’s funeral on Monday so, selfishly, I would say that a Boro win would cheer up the proceedings considerably. Even for the Boss.
Meanwhile,
UTB,
John
Because of the dreaded international break, there has been so much hype about this game. Which really has become a bit boring in the social media sites. I have no idea really how it is going to pan out but hopefully we will be absolutely up for it and show no mercy. A battle it is and I hope that Boro have the strength and passion to make a Sunday afternoon a great day for us all.
The results this weekend didn’t totally go against us as we are still in the play-off spots but Wolves, Cardiff and the Blades all collected three points and are looking like the group most likely to break away from the chasing pack.
Tomorrow can go some way to help to cement us in the play off spots with a slim chance of making up lost ground should one of those three slip up. Or, show us as fragile and just one of the also rans. The gelling needs to start now and the belief that comes with that needs to be in evidence and on show.
I don’t think that this game is one of those infamous ‘must-win’ games as there will be 29 more games to come. However, I do see it as a ‘must play well’ game. We’re too far into the season for mediocre performances to be acceptable from a squad as strong as we have.
If Boro play well and are just pipped by a Leeds side showing their early season form, then we can dust ourselves down and carry on but GM and the team must show how they react to a high intensity game.
I’m hoping for a clean sheet and with that a narrow win.
UTB
I am with Powmill, it is a 3-3 banker today.
What I hope though is that we come out without a red card. I won’t want to have Ben nor Ayala suspended for a match or two. It will be hostile as always but hope we can come away with a decent performance, a point in the bag and no suspensions.
Up the Boro!
Can’t see 3 goals in either direction
It’s going To be settled by one goal
I reckon a sending off as well
You had me doubting myself for a minute there Jarkko. I predicted 3-2, so I suspect you are suffering a bit with fat finger syndrome.
I go along with the calls to see Roberts given his chance in for Christie, and I would give Friend the nod at left back. Otherwise I hope to see us lining up as we did against Hull.
I expect Leeds will be well up for this today, but Leeds taking the game to us should play to our strengths on the counter. A brace for Britt, with Downing. 3-2 it is.
I’m with Selynoz in regards it’s not a must win but a must play well game, and if we do play well then I’m of the opinion that we should have enough to come away with all 3 points. Our 3 wins on the bounce has given a bit of wiggle room but we do need to hang onto the coat tails of the leading pack going into the new year.
Next door neighbour is a dirties fan, he’s from that way, and when they were flying earlier on he said to me one Sunday with a big grin on his face ” I had a look in the top 6 but I couldn’t see you”. At the time we were about 10th I think. Now I’m not a vindictive person, usually, but in this case I’ll make an exception. Our paths haven’t crossed much as he works offshore but he’s back home at the moment, so I’m keeping my powder dry until after the game. Hope the lads don’t let me down and put in a typical Boro performance.
As they say
Revenge is a dish best served cold
In AV’s review of Gareth Southgate’s first season as Boro’s manager, he also remarks on the fact that it was the same time that Boro changed the club badge. He goes on to state that a million tattoos of the original badge would now be made obsolete. Gosh, I didn’t realise that we had so many fans. Perhaps it’s time to build a larger stadium!
I had the badge tattooed when we won the Carling Cuo in 2004 and wasn’t best pleased when it was changed. I said I’d have the new one done when we win something else. I’m 62, they’d better get a move on…
TWO brilliant articles Werder…..journalism at its best. You must stay awake at night or dream about the forthcoming headliner.
As others have said, the odds of us winning four on the bounce AND Leeds losing four, ….well the odds are just toooooo high. Normally we would all be happy with a point. However the top two, Wolves and Sheff Utd appear to be a pair of runner-way trains, with Cardiff still coupled up as the tender. Can they be stopped, I do not think Wolves can. 12 or 11 points behind if we lose or even draw. Even Mr Monk must be aiming for a victory.
It certainly appears now that only the playoffs will be available to us, To achieve those comfortably, we would probably have to continue winning at two points average and those above to start dropping them.
Today it will be a late “brunch” and a nervous match watching. The weather is nice, so a couple of San Miguels to calm the nerves before the ???????????
I’ve just had a look at fixtures for the Championship up to Jan 1st. There are plenty of games in there that are lose-able for each of Wolves, Blades and Bluebirds. So, I’m not so sure it is certain just yet that only the playoffs are now available to us Pedro.
Also, I forget who mentioned it in here a week or so ago, we have the quality in depth that will see us through the long winter when injuries and suspensions begin to take their toll, but other teams don’t have that strength in depth.
All to play for for some weeks and months to come I think.
I take it back Pedro. It doesn’t matter if any or all of Wolves, Sheffield United or Cardiff drop back. We don’t look capable of taking advantage if they do. Unless and until we start to see Boro playing with some conviction from kick off, then truly the play offs will be beyond us this season.
Many thanks Pedro – There is no distinct creative process but a few ideas tend to get gestated while doing the mundane tasks like cooking and washing-up ahead of the writing process – sometimes I just start with a blank screen and do a bit of random research to see if anything catches my imagination and then once the article is started it takes shape as you try to tie the ideas together. Sometimes I have no idea what to write before starting other than what has happened or is happening on the Boro front.
So not long to wait now – just seen the team selection and the only change is Connor Roberts for Christie with Friend retaining the left-back slot.
On the bench: Dimi, Fabio, Fry, Forshaw, Johnson, Traore, Fletcher – so no Clayton or Bamford in the squad again!
I think I’ll go 2-0 to Boro with Braithwaite and Howson scoring
Werder
Hope you are correct.
My butterflies have already started.
CoB 😎
Our defence being run ragged by a faster team, and apart from a penalty appeal and a Downing shot, a pretty woeful display so far by Boro. No cohesion in attack and fearing a trouncing now.
Right now at half time a strong team talk from GM is required and a couple of changes for the second half. Hate saying this but Leeds well on top.
Poor first half and I think Friend needs to come off.
Come on BORO.
The ref is having the worst game.
Leeds have more pace, everything coming down our left.
Think George Will get sent off if not subbed.
Nothing sticking up front.
Pretty depressing really.
We have waited two weeks for this!!!
A few will complain that decisions have gone against us and should have had a penalty…..was it???
But…Boro have been poor once again and now playing a better club than of late, are a goal down.
What do they do during the week, practice long hopeful balls, cos that’s all they have done this first half. And is Roberts playing CB, because I keep missing him out on the line or tracking his wide man.
I just do not see any way back against the performance in the first 45. Get some width and some support to Britt. We used to talk about Negrado. This is Groundhog Day
Awful first half.
Game over unfortunately.
Come on BORO.
So what did we learn from the game
Leadbitter is still injured with his sciatica and is not the player he was
Howson was poor alongside him and we need to change the midfield
Braithwaite was not up for the fight and was largely anonymous
Britt had two shots on target one of which was it penalty not good enough
George has to be dropped and is not the player he once was
Ayala Downing had reasonable games
The test poor amd we missed having Christie at right back
No passion from Boro . Leeds wanted it more. Unacceptable performance . Now GM has more problems than Theresa May.
I´ll second that braveheart
Clayton must have both legs in plaster if Downing and Howson get in the team before him.
Totally inept and bereft of ideas from midfield. Yet another disorganised shambles, a total lack of cohesion. Too many players are static and this preoccupation of playing the ball backwards is driving me to distraction.
The manager doesn’t seem to have a set way of approaching the game from the off and is relying on the players to make it up as they go along.
Time for a change methinks.
What can I say about that.
CLUNKY.
Too slack at the back.
Nothing going forward
Terrible first touch all over the pitch.
Leeds are an average team but were much sharper today and had pace going forward.
We get the ball over the half way line and then play it backwards.
Same old!!!!
9 corners and I cannot remember an effort on goal until Ayala in stoppage time.
Who was Boro’ s man of the match???
Over to RR to pick the bones out of the latest debacle
Worst away display of the season. Boro lacked confidence whilst Leeds certainly didn’t. The penalty was a lucky award, because Ayala had been hanging wrestling with his arms for most of the match and was lucky not to have given away a penalty on several occasions. After the fortuitous goal, we rarely looked like scoring.
I think the score line flattered Boro as Leeds should certainly have scored at least three more. More displays like this, and I now fear we won’t even make the playoffs because we don’t seem able to break teams down, and no wonder with our laboured passing which doesn’t auger well either for our home games.
GHW
If Clayton has both legs in plaster then Bamford must have all limbs in traction and a sweet nurse giving him a bed bath.
This team needs an enema or maybe a difibrillator.
Leeds is always an accident waiting to happen.
A player transfusion would help as they don’t seem to want to give blood.
I would give MOM to Ayala for his X ray ted performance. At least he looked up for the fight and Downing played Ok
The rest must take their medicine.
The fans who travelled have swallowed the bitterist pill.
Boro must come out of this coma soon or I fear our season is terminal
That was a pretty poor performance, which lacked spark and drive with Boro short on ideas. Not exactly sure what it was Garry Monk had been working on in the international break but didn’t see any sign of it on the pitch. Leeds knew we would try to build from the back and didn’t give us time on the ball and we should have brought on the quicker wide players earlier to try and supply the forwards who looked isolated – what was it again Assombalonga only had one touch in the opponents box in the first hour?
A few Interesting subs though – Adama for Friend, Fletcher for Leadbitter – still not sure where the creativity is going to come from though and perhaps we may see some changes in January as despite £50m worth of attackers we don’t look like creating too many chances on the evidence of the last two games. Even Reading wasn’t a good performance so Boro still not convincing but somehow still in a play-off position.
Have we sacked the manager already? Are all the knives out already.
We are only in the play off position. Must be no hope then.
Up the Boro!
That was a poor performance by any measure from Boro.
Some poor individual displays adding up to a bad team display.
We showed a complete lack of energy and determination until we were two down, the penalty was lucky as thelinesman clearly missed Ayala’s foul which came first.
Nothing in the Boro display today to suggest we are progressing or that we are contenders.
Jarko
Understand your reluctance to draw knives but we spent 50m on players that look no better than bargain basement players.
Have we miss judged their value or is the manager not getting the best out of them.
I think a bit of both.
In London. 1 0 down as we headed to the tube. Got back to sons flat for last quarter of the match. If that was an improvement on what went before I am glad I missed it.
Poor performance again today. When was the last time we saw what could be described as a convincing display? Bolton? Apart from that there have been none, and Monk can have no excuses any more.
All he seems capable of is making a sow’s ear out of resources that should be made into a silk purse. He is taking our team nowhere.
Well that was a right let down after the the last three matches on which I had hoped we would build a challenge for the top two spots.
That being said I did agree with Ken’s pre-match prediction that we would lose but I still expected a more dynamic and cohesive performance. In fact what we got was an early season Boro who made an average team look good.
I was looking forward to my return for many years to the Riverside on Wednesday but now I am not so sure as to what is going to be served up. By all accounts the food in the restaurant should at least be good!
I am now convinced, based upon this and similar performances, that automatic promotion has gone and we will be lucky to maintain/gain a play-off spot given that the wins we have achieved have all been against teams at the lower end of the table.
I can’t think of any positives to take from that display and the rest of the season could well be a slog unless some new blood/ideas can be injected into the team/management.
KP
If you have time walk along the corridors to the Fenton Lounge table 6 and I’ll be pleased to see you
OFB
The food is excellent by the way !
Bob
I am in the Riverside restaurant and not sure where that is in relation to the Fenton Lounge. I would certainly like to meet up if time permits.
I’m usually in there at leat 1/2 hour after the game ends
Go back out Riverside main doors on first floor
Keep walking past all the boxes on right and PST the directors lounge on the left until you come to a door at end of corridor
It should be open but if stopped say you are meeting Robin In the Fenton Lounge and you have travelled from overseas table 6
I have just watched GM’s post match interview and if he really thinks the team did enough to take a point from the game then he is deluded. Either that or he was watching a different game to me!
Don’t go down the stairs keep on the first floor
Werdermouth, that amazing piece was far more composed, passionate and interesting than the performance I saw today. It looked a lot like a Julio Arca benefit match, with so much backwards and sideways passing you would have thought Boro were 3-0 up, not 2-0 down.
I’ve just left the heat of the kitchen to post up Redcar Red’s match report to feed the appetites of those who are gluttons for more…
https://diasboro.club/2017/11/15/championship-leeds-v-boro/#MatchReport
Five star match report RR on a no star match
That’s exactly how I saw it and I’m afraid it’s back to talking about our manager
It’s about time Garry Monk, and I have to say most Boro fans, take a reality check on what we have here, an average side in the poorest Championship for several seasons. Monk is losing all credibility now saying Boro defensively never looked in any trouble today and that we deserved something from the game.
Let’s lay it on the table, our defence looked like rabbits in car headlights. Friend was beaten time and time again, Roberts had no positional sense as a defender, and Ayala wrestled with the Leeds attack frequently pulling and tugging and was very lucky not to have conceded several penalties. We’re so slow in building up attacks, passing backwards and sideways looking for openings, no pace whatsoever, and most of the passing was woeful.
How is it that opponents’ corners and free kicks seem to cause us concern, yet ours are easily dealt with? Where is the variation of short corners and when was the last time someone tried a shot from a set piece? As many on this forum have written, when have Boro played well this season, certainly not at home? Apart from the matches at Bolton and Hull, we have been unimpressive.
A lot of rubbish has been written that because we’ve just won 3 successive matches, the corner has been turned. Apart from Wolves, Sheffield United and perhaps Cardiff, no team in this league has sustained a long winning sequence. Derby recently won 4 in succession, then no win since (probably saving that till Saturday), Leeds started the season with a winning sequence, but the very nature of this league suggests that once a team wins 3 or 4 matches, they’re likely to lose the next match, and similarly when a team goes on a losing run, unless they’re so bad like Rotherham were last season, they’re likely to win when least expected. This season there is little difference between most teams in this league, so little likelihood of a team going on a long unbeaten run like Brighton and Burnley did two seasons ago.
Leeds were certainly up for it today, just like Wolves and Sheffield United are every match; they both play on the front foot from the start, whilst Boro play too cautiously. I’m sick of hearing the Gazette reporters saying that we haven’t reached our potential yet; how do they know? This might be our potential. We may have a large squad, but I’ve never been convinced that it is potentially the best squad in the league just because we have spent, or should I say, wasted millions on mostly average players.
I’ve never expected Boro to “smash” the league, nor indeed gain automatic promotion this season, but did expect a playoff place, but that seems a pipe dream after today’s performance. Even if we do, can anyone seriously see our beating Wolves or Sheffield United unless better players are bought in January? I don’t think this team is any better than Mowbray’s. On paper we might have better players, but collectively as a team in my opinion we are so overrated.
We have a nervous defence and apart from a couple of strikers, a team that can’t score goals. Not a good recipe for success, is it?
Great post Ken, succinct and hits the nail firmly on the head.
Quite where we go from here is difficult to say.
It has been a poor start indeed from Garry Monk, made worse by a raft of woeful signings that, as with AK, have done little more than create a bloated and aimless squad.
Randolph seems a decent keeper and Britt has promise certainly (albeit he should have scored more goals…) but that’s it. The rest sadly are duds and will not contribute much.
Braithwaite scored a good goal indeed at Hull and there was a nice touch in the Sunderland goal, but as a contribution over 17 games has not done anywhere near enough. Yes he has been injured but the bottom line is that he has given very little indeed. It may change, hopefully, but this is a bog standard Championship player (and I doubt many of us had heard of him prior to signing) who is not in the same league as Patrick Bamford when it comes to speed of thought. But he is Monk’
man and will continue to play for some time.
The rest don’t even have any promise, Johnson will not make sustained difference and is a League One player only, who on earth thought there was any sense in buying Shotton (this summer’s Adlene G) and so on.
But we have so many players that cast aside the dross and there is a good team in there. It is possibly too late to challenge for a top two slot but the play offs will lend a shape at least to this season.
I wish Gibbo hadn’t said his ‘smash it’ comment but he was within his right to do so clearly and it made sense given the money we’ve spent, still does.
But he needs to reassess and quickly. Monk has had a poor beginning and I doubt anyone knows what to do next. There is little point in a managerial change unless there is a better option lined up.
I would hope Gibbo gives Monk the mother of all bollockings and implores him to use his best players irrespective of how and when they arrived at the club and offload a good few in January without buying any more. It will be a slur on Monk’s transfer market judgement but we are close to replicating the AK approach of a vast and average squad.
All good teams are basically a solid core of 11 or 12 with a few trusted extras. Extra cover just brings extra problems, if we’re ever light then promote from within (Fry, Tavernier etc). Every Boro promotion side over the years has been this way and this year must be no different.
But was it Monk’s transfer market judgement? I get the impression the “recruitment team” provided him with the players.
We should be told GHW, then we know who to point the finger at. May be Gary Gill should be the first to be sacked??
We all saw it, or at least the ones who did, saw it,
It was pub football from us, totally disorganised and honestly embarrassing.
Why as Ben Gibson gone from a future international to average,
If I’m Assombongo I’d want out.
Fletcher who?
It would take me all-day to get off my chest what I’m thinking.
Clean house forget promotion!
We all remember that AK had the team playing very well after the international breaks. They hoped and honed the system and came out more honed after two weeks on the training pitch.
We apparently do things differently now as we saw a bit more entertaining tactics. At least that is the plan to play different kind of football under Monk.
I am disappointed with the result yesterday but I won’t panic just yet. We definitely have a chance to be there among the others by the end of the season. But of course we should do more and better.
I did not see the match because of personal commitments. I relay on the report by RR. Interestingly BBC statistics give that we had 57 % of possession, nearly as many shots as Leeds and exactly as many shots on goal as them in two shots. And seven more corners than Leeds had.
So statistically we matched Leeds. But as often said the possession does not tell much. But we did have some shots anyway. Just saying, like.
When is the next match to fix this mess? Is it Brum at the Riverside?
Up the Boro!
Remember my deciding to adopt statistics to fabricate a 3-2 to Boro prediction Jarkko. Can’t rely on statistics. I looked at the stats after the game as well and it is clear that they don’t tell the real story, even if as bare statistics they might be irrefutable. Dominating possession is worthless if you are not intent on dominating the opposition.
I was surprised when I saw the Stats on possession. Then thinking about it every time we were in possession we were being chased and harried by White Shirts swarming all over us. We were hurried, hassled and rushed into passing the ball before we were closed down again so in theory we did have lots of possession but it was like a grenade with the pin removed being passed around. Leeds never let us settle into our monotone slow build up, working it up the pitch.
They anticipated who would be next in Red to receive the ball and were onto them like a flash. In contrast we chased shadows as they passed quickly and slickly on the move, making the ball do the work. So we had possession but done nothing with it except panic in the best “Dads Army” tradition.
What is “funny” about Boro (perhaps tragic would be more apt) is that we seem to shoot ourselves in the foot time and time again with player recruitment and organisation.
We now find ourselves in a distinctly average Championship where AKBoro’s very effective system would be the perfect answer to our promotion hopes, and yet we’ve now abandoned this in favour of something more fluid (if you’re an optimist) or chaotic (if you’re a pessimist).
Added to this we have spent a significant sum and ended up with, well, what exactly? Let’s compare us to the AKBoro promotion season. 3 of the back five are the same – we have a new goalkeeper who is an upgrade (and wasn’t expensive) and a new right back who is probably an upgrade on what we had (and wasn’t expensive either).
In midfield our middle two are probably still better off being Leadbitter and Clayton, so we haven’t really upgraded at all, despite spending a lot of money on Howson. At right wing we have, er, Downing who is now 2 years older than the underwhelming version from our promotion season and isn’t anywhere near the threat of Adamoah. Two years ago we also tried out Stuani and sometimes Ramirez in the wide positions.
Up front we have upgraded Rhodes/Nugent for Assombalonga and Bamford, which is arguably where you can argue we are stronger than we were. Braithwaite, I would argue, is a stronger left-sided forward than that promotion season, and Traore is definitely a much stronger threat than Adamoah, although that unfortunately is a threat in both boxes. In short, a lot of money spent for not much difference to the promotion season, with Shotton and Howson in particular not looking as though they offer too much. And don’t even start me on Fletcher who doesn’t even enter my thoughts when it comes to a first 11 or even 18.
Personally, I would go back to the AKBoro way and would change the team as follows:
—————Randolph—————-
Christie–Gibson–Ayala–Friend
——–Clayton–Leadbitter——–
Traore——Bamford—-Braithwaite
———–Assombalonga————-
Granted, it’s probably way more attacking than Monk would ever countenance, and we wouldn’t get much tracking back from either Traore or Bamford, but we saw yesterday that if you’re front players are quick to the ball and quick round the side or back of you that you can cause damage. Isn’t it time we tried the same?
Leadbitter can’t play every match he was anonymous in the Leeds game
Bob
There was more than Grant anonymous in the Leeds game unfortunately, too many of them for it to be a mere coincidence or just a bad day at the office.
As a “team” they just didn’t look up for it or have belief. Only Ayala showed some fire in his belly and it wasn’t until Traore came on that we looked like we wanted some! I can’t understand why that would be the case? Was it misplaced arrogance, over confident or simply not believing in what was requested of them?
AV has done an interesting piece today contrasting what we discussed on here briefly before the break about how the three game run was against bottom quarter sides and perhaps flattered. He compares our results against top half sides and the lower half sides and it confirms that we can beat the dross but Sheffield Utd aside drop points against all the top half sides. That is a very worrying stat considering the experience of the squad and the abilities within it.
When we look at that “expensively assembled” squad there are a lot of shadows loitering around that cost serious money yet are seemingly now surplus which would perhaps be fine if we were storming this league. Some peripherals probably deservedly so but some questionably as there is nothing obvious to rationalise their exclusion over those who seem more favoured. I get that in training some may excel but they certainly know how to subdue and suck the life out of a crowd when they venture onto the the pitch with anonymous or below par performances.
It gives the impression of a lot of expensive parts and components shoehorned in that are either incompatible with each other or with the schematic diagram (or maybe both).
Whilst I don’t want to point the finger at players I made the case for Grant being anonymous because I know he is still suffering from sciatica and should be nursed through the season
Picking Tavernier as a young lad against a giant of a CH Was poor management in my opinion and we should have had more players who were up for the fight and yes I would have played Fabio instead of Friend. That is not hindsight I have not been impressed with George since the start of the Prem season and would let him go in Jan.
Other players who didn’t perform were Braithwaite who was hit and miss and didn’t like fighting to get into the game.
OFB
Many thanks to Redcar Red for his usually high quality match report that unfortunately captured the unimpressive display by Boro (and the officials) in words that many may have been tempted to embellish with much stronger ones.
Again it’s hard to see why Garry Monk’s team continue to look so tentative and lacking in ideas, with the tendency to be content with trying to just retain possession in safe areas where it both fails to pose a threat and allows Leeds plenty of time to organise their defence to easily nullify our belated attacking moves.
I’ve some sympathy with Ken’s post where he’s asked the question of whether indeed the players are indeed as good as their price tags could suggest – The clear answer at the moment would appear to be no.
I’d also have to agree with RR, that on his actual impact on the game, then Adama probably would have to be Boro’s MOM (with a low bar set) yesterday as he seemed the only player wanting to take the game to Leeds.
Boro will no doubt face a Birmingham team on Wednesday who will know that if they press Boro and frustrate the crowd, then there’s every chance we’ll see another disjointed performance that they may even nick a goal.
I hope Garry Monk really didn’t believe that Boro deserved a point against Leeds and there is some shake-up and not more of the same. I wouldn’t have minded so much if Boro had lost the game trying to win it but they actually lost it by trying not to lose it instead.
Wednesday nights game against Birmingham is perhaps timely in that hopefully we will see a response. Problem is I’m not sure if what we are witnessing is as a result of poor players or poor organisation and managerial tactics. My personal hunch is I suspect its the latter.
A storming 4-0 win on Wednesday and all will be swept under the carpet once again until Saturday at least when we play Derby whose fans currently are almost a mirror image of our own in terms of being underwhelmed and frustrated with the season to date. If Reading, Hull and Sunderland are any kind of benchmark we do seem good at beating teams at the bottom so there should be no excuses come Wednesday.
The recruitment has been a mixed bag but bizarrely at two extremes with Randolph, Christie, Braithwaite and Assombalonga delivering (I accept that Britt looks awkward and dysfunctional at times but he does have 9 goals with poor service in a mediocre side). The other incomings seem questionable at best and one ponders why as they are certainly not an upgrade on what we have/had.
RR
Do you really believe this team/squad can score 4 goals against anyone in this league playing with the players we have and the way we set out to play?
This is the Boro we are talking about and people seem to forget that when they make their predictions each week.
I can just as easily see us losing on Wednesday and Saturday as we did against Norwich and Cardiff.
I hope I am wrong as I will be there to see it first hand!
KP
Unfortunately I can’t see us scoring four goals and I too can see us losing Typically Boro style on Wednesday and Saturday. Optimistically rather than realistically I hope however that the players have enough about them to show some pride and determination. I didn’t see or hear anything from the bench to make me think that its going to spark from there.
RR, the problem is the number of times this season we have hoped for “a response” after a dismal performance. Surely the requirement for a “response” should be the exception rather than the rule.
I think a big part is style of leadership, a shrugged shoulder, disappointed philosophical response to losing tends to get you the same on the pitch. A fired up, motivated even mis placed egotistical “driver” tends to invoke the very same from his playing staff even when their individual abilities are less than adequate, hence cup upsets.
Of course if the quality isn’t there motivation only goes so far and lasts for so long but when the quality is there and there is no positive mental drive, belief, ambition and focussed determination you get what we witnessed yesterday a *drippy performance.
* Drippy is far worse than clunky!
It is now time for some serious questions to be asked, (albeit behind closed doors) by Mr Gibson. The performances to date have been on the whole totally unacceptably. At the season start we were going to smash the League and I accept that SG got carried away somewhat and probably regrets that phrase. But he did also say we would play with more pace and flair.
None of this has happened and does not remotely look like happening. As others have pointed out, the recruitment has been underwhelming, Randolf, a good buy and an upgrade, definitely a yes. As RR says Christie for his fee, a yes. Britt and Braithwaite, for all the lack of service, I am yet to totally convinced especially given the fees. The latter looks pretty and has a decent pass, but when we are up against it like yesterday, he does not get into the game.
The midfield once more failed miserably and just could not compete against their opposite numbers. Howson has been generally poor and Grant just does not have the legs any more despite his passion and endeavour. I am not sure Clayton would improve us as he now has been indoctrinated into the sideways and backwards system of keep possession.
The squad is far too big in certain areas, especially upfront and how SG could sanction 6/7 mil or whatever for Fletcher is beyond belief. I almost forgot that he had come on yesterday, that´s how insignificant he was and has been in the majority of his games. We have Shotton, the man nobody can remember his name, and Bamford who look to be now have no part in Mr Monks´plans. That is 12 mil that we would probably have to more or less write off.
In fact taking into the performances to date, how much would we get in return now if they were all put up for sale. We have sign players that in the main increase their value on the market……most of what we have would be only worth half of what we paid, with some not even that. This looks like it could become another almighty disaster alongside the Strachan era, and where did that end up?
As I posted previously, is the problem with the recruitment and therefore Mr Gill should be relieved of his duties, or were these players on Mr Monks wish list?
Somebody has to answer for this debacle that is happening and looks to continue. Mr Monk, certainly by yesterday’s after match comments is now grasping at straws. I honestly do not believe he will be able to change things round. The answer I do not know, but Mr Gibson has to try and change what is obviously not working.
Remember he sacked poor Gareth, and he had just beaten Derby at home.
Who do we play Saturday??
Werder can you dig out my last post from the Spam Box please…..the curse has struck again. It must be what I have written??
In a local sports magazine I saw that Stuani has scored six goals for Girona this season. He is above Christiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid in the ranking but well below Leo Messi (12 goals).
I haven’t heard Ronaldo is injured. So not all players AK bought were useless 🙂
Up the Boro!
Indeed. He was not so effective at Boro because AK played him in the wrong position to accommodate Negredo.
I remember putting money on Stuani when he first signed to finish top scorer in the Championship. What I hadn’t factored in was that he would be played as a wide player rather than a Striker. He scored a brace from memory in the early stages of the League cup against Oldham I think and I thought I was on to a sure fire winner but I hadn’t factored in the idiosyncrasies of AK. Shame, he could and should have been a great asset to us.
I may be wrong but I can’t remember anyone on this forum saying that Stuani was useless, just that he was not chosen to play in his rightful position. In fact AV and many others thought he was the best striker on our books, which I tended to agree with.
I meant that some AK players were criticized over here. Especially the Orta ones.
Yes, I agree Stuani was good and no trouble like some Uruguayan players in midfield. I rather liked him. Pity he left.
Up the Boro!
As many said at the time Jarkko…..play him upfront and he may just score you some goals. I do not think anybody doubted his ability if played in his best position. I guess he is not playing outside right for Girona??
Great report RR sums it up perfectly.
Looking through the papers today on the reports of the game , it does not make good reading for anyone connected with Middlesbrough Football Club. Even the Gazette lads and in particular our friend AV are having a right old moan !
Here we go again, wednesday and saturday big important games, dare not lose situation perhaps.
Ref players, it is early in the season but a big clear out in January beckons. Some of the players out the door for me would be Friend/ Howson/Fletcher/Shotton/Baker/Forshaw/Leadbitter/Johnson…..
Has anyone outside the UK been able to buy a video stream from the Birmingham site? I visited their matchday centre but there was no link I could find to buy iFollow.
Please help if you know how. Up the Boro!
Jarkko
Its on live Bluestv rather than iFollow but apparently despite its “TV” title is only an audio commentary service on Wednesday.
I was looking at the match centre where they are usually with other clubs.
Looks like one has to subscribe a whole month for one match. But quite frankly that is only 50 % more than just one match in iFollow.
I would have been so much easier had Boro supplied a service like iFollow. UTB!
Jarkko
I have been onto the blues website and they are streaming matches live to overseas subscribers but it appears you have to pay £15.99 per month which might secure you 2/3 BCFC matches in a month. This pricing is similar to the iFOLLOW match day pass but more expensive when you only want to watch one match.
Clearly as you only want to watch the Boro game its £15.99 effectively for that match.
Fulham also have their own TV and charge £10 for a single game.
You will need to register on the BCFC website and pay £15.99 and will then be able to watch the match which will be streamed from the Riverside with just one camera and no commentary.
When on the BCFC website if you click on fixtures/first team it brings up the list with Boro being shown as the next match. Then click on Match Centre you will see a greyed out button which states “WATCH LIVE – BROADCAST TO BEGIN AT 7.15PM.” If you have registered and paid your £15.99 then this button should become active at 7.15pm on Wednesday.
Hope this is of help.
I am at the Riverside on Wednesday and hoping to meet up with Bob Tait, Head of Digital Marketing & Development and hopefully obtain an update on what plans if any for Boro TV/iFOLLOW which I will share with DIASBORO upon my return to Spain.
KP, I found that when looking. Actually I paid the montly fee – now I need to cancel the subsription next as it will continue also after December 20th. So if I forget to cancel, I pay City for the rest of my life. Not handy to watch just a match at Riverside!
Up the Boro!
Apart from the bizarre team selections and the dispiriting tactics, what really bugs me is the insipid and lacklustre approach of most of the players to matches. Where is the fire, the passion, the energy, the drive, the enthusiasm, the pride in playing for the Boro and the overriding will to win?
None of it was there yesterday and the blame must lie at Monk’s door. What has he done to the players to make them look and behave as if they couldn’t care less? Something is very wrong and needs to be put right pretty quickly or we will quietly subside into the lower half of the table with barely a whimper.
Time for SG to step up to the plate.
Strangely even Grant seemed subdued and below par yesterday, only Ayala seemed psyched up for the game. It did give the impression that something isn’t quite right behind the scenes whether it be personality clashes or belief in the tactics or simply poor preparation.
It could have something to do with a lack of homegrown players. Think back to the Boro Babes under Bruce Rioch.
Ken, many other teams lack homegrown players but they seem to be able to rouse themselves from comatose to compete in matches.
Leeds had more than a few imports in their side and it didn’t stop them from “wanting” the game.
Couldn’t agree more Boroexile. I can deal with getting beat, but not when the team as individuals don’t give their all. It is the manager’s job to motivate the team and if they are not motivated to absolutely impose themselves on the opposition from kick off then you have to ask why.
When you play one up ,the idea is , when you knock it into him, you have fast players ,running beyond him to flood the forward areas.
We have tortoise’s ,
The one who can ,we are told is still learning the game.
Ok Steve ? It’s your money being wasted😏
Jarkko
Re Match on Wednesday – please see my post at 3-06 above.
Before we burn Steve Gibson at the stake, let’s consider what he actually said.
“We want to smash the league, we want to go up as champions.“
He didn’t say we would smash the league.
Now there are a lot of things I want in life, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I will get them.
We never tried to keep our run going.
Five in midfield,
Both full backs purely defensive
traore in the middle of the field, on the shoulders of the central defenders.
In the middle he can go four ways, on the wing they push him over the touchline(not an offence to championship refs.
Another massive question mark over the manager, again the (traditional ) substitution, twenty into the second half(the match safely lost)
Previously I said that if we were to play well I expected us to take all 3 points. Unfortunately aside from a couple who were average we were rubbish so got exactly what we deserved. Nowt!
Slow, predictable build up. Nothing sticking up front. Defence all over the shop, with George having an absolute mare. And as for agent Howson, he couldn’t have done less if he’d sat down in the centre circle reading a copy of the Yorkshire Post. Anonymous would be overstating his contribution. The only one who carries no responsibility for that display is, imo, Randolph. No chance with either goal and the one that hit the post wasn’t one he could’ve gotten to. Also Traore looked a threat at times and put in some good crosses from the dead ball line, just our forwards and other attacking midfielders didn’t have the nous to try and get in the box to get on the end of one of them.
I wholeheartedly agree with the posters who think Monk must’ve been having a laugh if he thought we deserved anything from that game. When we have a poor game, stop trying to spin your way out, grow a set and try telling the truth for a change.
As for the officials pathetic doesn’t do them justice. How the ref didn’t think the rugby tackle on Brit wasn’t a penalty, and the linesman thought it was a foul on Ayala, who body slammed their lad to the ground first, was a penalty just beggars belief. Those were the stand out shocking decisions, but throughout they managed to make some truly awful ones.
And this is a referee who was bigged up in the gazette by Jeff Winter as being able to handle the pressure of a “big” game.
2 steps forward and 1 back with performances like that will not get us too far in the promotion race I’m afraid. In this division you have to be fully committed from the off all the way through to the final whistle. Unfortunately as a team/squad/club we just don’t do that anywhere near enough.
Only positive from yesterday was the lovely Black Sheep I was drinking while watching that shower.
On to Wednesday and I’m afraid we are back in must win territory. You wouldn’t bet on it though would you? I know I wouldn’t!
AV wrote in his report that the organised pr-match flag display and PA announcements urging Leeds fans to be “together” had a hint of desperation, but conceded that it worked.
Maybe it was over the top but not unusual at Elland Road. In case folks aren’t aware the song “Together” is a Leeds anthem, and is always played and sung as well at Leeds Rhinos home matches at Headingley before the match and at the commencement of the second half.
I suppose it is like “You’ll never walk alone at Anfield” .Many clubs such as Birmingham, Southampton, West Ham and England RUFC have songs sung by supporters; perhaps Boro should have one that folks can sing. Any suggestions anyone?
Why are we playing Wednesday, it’s not like we played on Sunday.
Ian
Originally we were due to play Tuesday but the powers that be decided we could have an extra day off. Nice of them.
Just realised what you meant Ian😀
Nice one! Very drole.
I see everyone is enjoying themselves with no over reaction. Sometimes I think I have stumbled onto the Gazette comments site.
Come on BORO.
Exmil
After yet another awful performance I think most have been quite restrained.
I’ll be there on Wednesday hoping for “a reaction” and with PB at least on the bench. Don’t hold out much hope for the latter with Monk in charge, absolutely expect the former.
Unfortunately I don’t think too many enjoyed themselves after Sunday’s performance – as for comparisons with the Gazette comments site, well I don’t think we get that many on here having a dig at other people’s opinions because they don’t agree with them – but I guess there are always one or two…
Apparently the full title is “Marching on together” with lyrics written by Les Reed and Barry Mason to an old original tune, and first written for Leeds United prior to the 1972 FA Cup Final and sung by the players and was in the UK record charts for almost 3 months reaching a high of 10th place. As I mentioned before it has been adopted as a Leeds anthem and also used by Leeds Rhinos RLFC.
Some consolation Werder, at least Bremen won their first match of the season and 4-0 at that.
It was a bit out of the blue for many over here, from what has been yet another grim season for Werder Bremen supporters – when I first arrived the club was challenging at the top but it’s been many years of relegation struggles in recent years.
Their Finnish player Moisander, ex-Ajax, announced to retire from the national team yesterday. He was our captain since about 2013. Up the Boro!
Typical Bremen!
Werdermouth could you possibly move the “comments” link to the top of the page to save having to scroll for ages to get to read comments on days after reading the article please.
Come on BORO.
I have been thinking the same. UTB!
The navigation and page structure is all based on a WordPress template, so not much I can do to change the comments link – However, if you press the ‘End’ key (or even ctrl + arrow down) on your keyboard it usually takes you to the bottom of a web page – likewise the ‘Home’ key (or ctrl + arrow up) takes you to the top of a page.
Not available with an iPad nor mobile phone. They are really annoying in that way. Skrolling nightmares. UTB!
I think we are coming to the point in the season where GM has to ask himself a couple of questions. If the season continues in the same vein then we are probably a 60/40 chance of making the playoffs but wouldn’t be a stand out candidate to win the Final. Does GM see that as having a successful season and if yes I am sure he will settle in and create few waves for the rest of the season. If by chance he wants to go up automatically then he must look in the mirror and make significant changes to his starting 11. I personally think there is a winning team in the squad we have but it’s going to take some bold decisions which have the potential to take us to glory but alternatively could put a playoff spot at risk, I think it’s a risk worth taking.
Downing is a classic example, can’t fault him he doesn’t give the ball away cheaply but he doesn’t try killer passes anymore. If we are to go on a winning run then gambles on players and formations have to take place and if we change personnel and tactics and it doesn’t work straight away don’t go back to the safety of the previous stick by your convictions and hopefully they come to fruition .
Do we now think that we have come to the end of the road with Monk? I’m afraid I can’t see any way that we will gatecrash the top 3 in this league, never mind the top 2, under him. In the last two Championship seasons under Karanka we had the best record of the top eight sides when playing each other, viz :-
2014/15————- H—A——–P.14 W.8 D.2 L.6 Pts.26
1st Bournemouth 0-0 0-3
2nd Watford——- 1-1 0-2
3rd Norwich——- 4-0 1-0
5th Brentford—– 4-0 1-0
6th Ipswich——- 2-0 0-2
7th Wolves——- 2-1 1-2
8th Derby——— 2-1 1-0
2015/16————- H—A——–P.14 W.8 D.4 L.2 Pte.28
1st Burnley——- 1-0 1-1
3rd Brighton—— 1-1 3-0
4th Hull————- 1-0 0-3
5th Derby———- 2-0 1-1
6th Sheff.Wed—–1-0 3-1
7th Ipswich——– 0-0 2-0
8th Cardiff———- 3-1 0-1
However, strangely we struggled against lower opposition.
Does anyone think we’ll have a similar return at home under Monk?
Would we have done better under Karanka?
Has Karanka learned from past mistakes?
Is it too late to reappoint him as manager?
Open for discussion!
I’ve just realised that my first line “end of the road” might not what we’ll want to hear tomorrow night, for if we happen to be losing, the Brummies fans might start singing their anthem “Keep right on to the end of the road”. Heaven forbid!
I have only watched the highlights but taken on board the many comments.
Pretending to be a neutral I would ask a Boro fan why they start so slowly, how are you trying to play, does your striker have halitosis?
The whole is not better than the sum of the parts, even the sum of the parts doesn’t add up!
Now for the game tomorrow, the squad will be well rested after a gentle work out on Sunday,
Having waited for George to come back to add balance on the left it is lokely his sieve like tendencies will be replaced by Fabio. The problem is Fabio is not water tight.
Right back will see Christie return.
What to do with centre midfield? I saw Brum at Derby and Gardner was the best man on the pitch, Brum swamped the middle of the pitch and most of Derby’s window wiper passing came to naught. In part that was due to movement or lack of it up front.
The problem we have is that if Clayton comes back will he just drop in between Ayala and Gibson? Should we re instate the Grant/Clatys axis?
Up front we need some support for Britt. Braithwaite looks good in flashes but I would be tempted by Bamford just behind Assombalonga. Braithwaite in the three alongside Stewie.
My logic, other logic is available, is that Bamford does make for the box given half a chance. Whilst Britt may not be a perfect Drogba clone, if somebody is close enough they can benefit from bits and pieces. As we saw earlier in the season, he can play that role behind the striker(s) with his deft touch.
We will see.
Ian
I was thinking of a 4213 with the full backs providing the width and service down the flanks. Downing in front of Grant and Clayts pinging balls through to Braithwaite on the left, Britt centre and Paddy on the right. It would mean that we couldn’t afford to start slowly and would look for meaningful possession in the opponents end of the pitch instead of our own 18 yard box.
To me we looked particularly poor at full back and in central midfield to me, where had very little forward thinking play, albeit partly due to Leeds decent pressing.
I’ve mentioned it before and, though I’m not wholly convinced of it myself, I would like to see Downing tried in central midfield to make use of his passing and give us a more attacking outlook. Perhaps as a counterbalance, we would need to restore Clayton alongside him:
Randoplh
Christie Ayala Gibson Friend/Fabio
Clayton/Leadbitter Downing
Traore/Tavernier Bamford Braithwaite
Assombalonga
What I want to see against Brum is a committed team performance, full of energy and determination and intent. I didn’t see any of that on Sunday except maybe flashes in the last 70 minutes when the game was gone.
Birmingham haven’t won an away game all season although they did manage to draw one so they haven’t lost all of their away games, what could possibly go wrong?
Pulls pin out, walks away briskly, whistling loudly!
Time to revert to the tried and trusted 4-4-2
Randolph
Roberts Gibson Fry Christie
Leadbitter Clayton Forshaw Howson
Braithwaite Assombalonga
Before I hear cries of where’s the width? Just remind me how many crosses into the box have come from wide positions?
Whilst I can understand your four in the middle to a degree….as we keep getting over-run there, Roberts did not impress me either defending or going forward on Sunday. If you are going to play wing backs???? then it has to be Fabio.
It appears you are settling on the FB´s to provide the balls up to the front two as I cannot see the mid4 providing them.
No, not wing backs . Just old fashioned full backs.
The team moves up and down the pitch as one unit. This eliminates the gaps we have been seeing from front to back.
Hello all!
New Talking Point coming next Tuesday. For now I’d like to give you a quote for the day, as I regularly do. It’s from, I think, a football fan in the aftermath of the Paul Clement sacking that Derby have never quite recovered fully from.
“I’m sorry. But when you’re one of the bigger Championship teams, spend a fortune on players and regularly mix it with the top six, there’s absolutely nothing else to do but prioritise promotion.
“(Derby) led the league at one stage in 2014-15, for crying out loud. It’s a fear of success. The ‘I want to be sure I’m ready for it’ mentality that stops you from ever getting what you want, as you never quite feel prepared, so you’re frozen in time while everyone else goes for it.
“Bournemouth weren’t ready for the Premier League (off the pitch), but they went for it anyway and are now (and still – Si) learning on the fly. Blackpool… were almost ‘accidentally’ promoted – a late surge into the play-offs from a mid-table team who had no right to do what they did… but they had a good go. Likewise, (Little) Hull – the team you can’t ‘colour in’ mixing with the big boys.
“It’s like (Derby) are still suffering PTSD from their last attempt at the Premier League… Man up. Get promoted… Next year will be even tougher…”
I read that and suddenly it dawns on me that the time and transition I’ve repeatedly pleaded for in the past is alternatively a means of absolving a club of failure just because others do well. Garry Monk may well take us up in the end, patience may well pay, slow and steady might win the race… but eventual success shouldn’t permit the failings to be excused or forgotten about.
Redcar Red
If we play 4213 against Brum I would expect them to fill midfield and kill the game. We would end up with Gibson playing (hoofing) balls down the channels being gobbled up by the deep lying Brum defence.
There again, if we set off like an A35 with a dodgy distributor expect a performance.to match.
Brum will be rubbing their hands at the thought of our pedestrian football.
Something just doesn’t sit right, we are 37% of the way through the season and have little structure, guile or gumption to our play. I am sure everyone is working hard to get the season going but to no avail.
It almost seems they don’t quite believe it is going to happen but are going through the motions hoping something to change.
Finally, a word of support for Cyrus Christie. No place for cowards making racist and abusive comments.
Ian
It was a little tongue in knee jerk cheek but if we did and Brum did flood the midfield a few long hoofed balls up to those three would certainly give them problems at the shaky back they have conceded 25 goals and only scored the same amount as Britt.
Just imagine balls played forward (hoofed or otherwise), its like a nice chilled lager in a frozen glass on a Mediterranean beach. Drooling at the very thought of it, then think of a mucky glass filled with luke warm slops at Mayfair prices. Know which one I’d rather have but suspect I know which one will be served up!
GHW
I wouldn’t be tempted to play Fry just yet. Ayala will likely get some retrospective punishment because it was live on “Greed is Good TV” plus he doesn’t play for Manchelskiarsepool. You have Roberts at RB surely that was a Typo after Sunday? The lad looked OK in the League Cup games against tin pot opposition but offered nothing offensively and even less defensively against Leeds and you can’t possibly mean Christie at LB? I’m hoping you don’t have Mejias, Fletcher and Shotton on the bench? 😉
No typos RR.
I don’t rate Friend or Fabio and a professional footballer should be able to function on either side of the pitch. (Mick Mills, one for the oldies there). Christie and Roberts can just concentrate on defending.
Sunday was a prime example of what is wrong with full backs today. All this modern talk of wingbacks and overlapping is to the detriment of what the full backs primary role is, and that is to defend. Worry about stopping crosses from coming across and marking the far post, those are the priorities.
Fry should never have been dropped.
Loading up the midfield with solid players will stop us being overrun, and let’s not forget both Clayton and Forshaw are originally attacking midfielders.
Braithwaite’s guile alongside Assombalonga’s strength should be complimentary.
At least we would start the game solidly and move forward as a unit, as opposed to the disorganised mess we have witnessed so far.
Considering Mr Monks post match comments when he said that we deserved something from the match and we did OK……..except Christie for Roberts, then same team again it is…
Nothing will change with Mr Monk and confusion will continue at the fore.
GHW
Whilst I do not support your choice of full backs I do agree entirely with your view of their primary role and have commented similarly in the past.
They end up trying to do two jobs and do neither fully effectively.
Play Christie on the right and Friend on the left but restrict them to mainly defending and supporting the wide midfielders may just work.
It is certainly worth a try as the present system is not working.
We need passion, speed of movement including the ball, total commitment and a dominant display.
Back in the cold and damp North East and can’t wait to get to the Riverside!
CoB😎
Watford changed their manager , I think four times in twelve months,and got promoted,
What you see is what you get.
Either we are trying to get promoted or pretending?
Looking at it right now, we will not even make the playoffs,let’s not kid ourselves, the team is not functioning ,it’s disjointed ,we have too many centre backs and too many midfielders,the midfielders are too alike, so the opposition can focus on one game plan, because we have nothing other than Traore to bring on if we need to change things .
I don’t think we will sign anyone in January, probably one or two of ours will leave ,maybe on loan,but the wages we pay could be an obstacle for that.
For me , it’s been just one big disappointed ,so far and if anything ,you just scratch your head?
I’d go back to the 433, we tried at the start of the season, ease up on obsessive possession get the ball forward into dangerous areas , don’t have strikers stuck in one place on the field making it easier to mark have then switching around constantly,
I’d try if fit Gestede Fletcher and Assombongo together upfront, Braithwaite behind them and Clayton and Howson holding, the backfour pick any?
Get after it ,and attack with intentions!
UTB
Come on!!!!!!!!!!!
Just a thought on the level of coaching with this management.
I watched Watford(yes yes, I know, that’s my opinion too )
But in the general kicking and elbowing people which went on during the match.
Watford had a plan for scoring goals, and it worked, every one of their shots on goal was the classic curler into the far corner.
Result two goals, one shot clipped the outside of the post and three more just missed with the keeper stranded.
I know a team that has never (big word) knowingly tried a curler into the far corner the shot of choice for our heroes is of course the near post(the keeper will never expect anyone to be that dumb) our success to date nil points.
I’ve just got round to posting up the Birmingham match preview in what should be a game where Boro can gain all three points to avoid us having the blues…
https://diasboro.club/2017/11/21/championship-boro-vs-birmingham/
In my opinion there is no way that Boro will get automatic promotion this season, so let’s just forget about it, because if by some fluke we do manage to get there by the playoffs, this team will be even more of an embarrassment in the Premier League than Sunderland were last season unless we rebuild completely. That would mean getting rid of Baker, Fletcher, Friend, Guedioura, Leadbitter, Johnson, Roberts and Shotton, plus anyone else who wants to go which might include Bamford, Traore and even Gibson.
I advocate SG has an urgent talk with Monk, and also a “no holds barred” meeting with the players to find out what are the problems that seem to exist behind the scenes. If performances don’t improve by January and we are merely mid-table, get rid of either Monk or as many of the non-performing players stated above as possible, and start again to build a team to get promotion the following season, but let’s do it properly by changing our recruitment staff.
Before Southgate’ s appointment SG resisted having a foreign manager, then after Mowbray he changed his mind by appointing Karanka and an influx of foreign support staff and players, only to sack Karanka and get rid of the majority of foreign players when relegation looked certain. Then he said he wanted to find a position for Agnew; could this be the problem behind the scenes because the players seemed to like him? SG must decide quickly which path he now wishes to take. He once stated that Allardyce was not the sort of manager he would appoint, so would that rule out Pulis?
We have spent £M on overpriced players, and if SG doesn’t get it sorted soon he will find that our remaining parachute payments will have been wasted. The clock is ticking!
Ken
I would also add Downing and Gestede to the list of those to be disposed of.
Yes the clock is ticking but given SG’s previous track record he is more likely to wait until all is lost before taking decisive action.
To me that means until we are unable to clinch a play off spot. Not the right way to go in my mind given his stated objective was to “smash” the league!
I am of the view that unless their is tangible evidence before Christmas that we are likely to sustain a play off spot ( I have already posted that I believe automatic promotion is beyond us) then GM has to go.
I was one of those in favour of his appointment but to date have been decidedly underwhelmed by his achievements. He is a likeable and personable individual who presents well to the media but I question his man management/motivational abilities.
If we fail to go up this season then I believe that SG needs to appoint a specialist review team to look at all aspects of MFC and ascertain why other clubs of a similar or even smaller size can obtain and sustain promotion or if relegated bounce back first time. If they can do it then why not MFC!
I’ve met our manager and he seems a really nice guy
The problem is that in all managerial positions nice guys don’t win all the times
A steel streak needs to be in the make up and perhaps ‘‘tis is what we are lacking
A good friend of mine who is a Swansea supporter said that Gary Monk great player and the first season as a manage he was great too
However the team went on a downward spiral amd he didn’t seem to know how to control it and he left the club. My friend said he wished us all the luck but thought it would end in tears.
Now I’m not being pessimistic but hope my friend was wrong
OFB
I think he comes across as a genuinely nice guy and was in the main positive towards his appointment. As the days and weeks have rolled into months and now 17 games soon to be 18 plus the energy drink cup games I really struggle to see what he is trying to build. I have seen Managers stick doggedly to their principles and beliefs and either come through it and win the argument or stubbornly refuse to change and fall on their sword. In GM’s case I really have a difficulty in buying in to what he is trying to achieve as it seems to have little semblance of shape logic or balance.
The three game purple patch was as a consequence of going back to what many had said on here which is fair enough but then on Sunday it was as though the entire side were strangers and the only impetus came when Adama came on and done his road runner impersonation. The Subs that he made were too late and baffling with Johnson a like for like switch for Tavernier and then ending up at LB. As much as want Boro to succeed and by default that means GM to be a huge success all I see is something that is reminiscent of Strachan’s chaotic tenure except with far better players and less bizarre press conferences.
I’m very much minded that its always darkest before the dawn and that things do get worse before they get better but by now there has to be something on which to hang our hopes and beliefs upon. SG will no doubt be of a similar mindset and keen not to knee jerk too quickly but the clock is ticking and supporters are not fools albeit many of whom can indeed be fooled some of the time. History is full of near mutinies just before the cry was bellowed from the Crow’s nest above “land ahoy” but if the tide doesn’t turn in GM’s favour soon the crew will be getting restless. I shudder to think what will happen tonight if it goes pear shaped.
There are already urban myths about Players not being spoken to and out of favour. These may of course be wide of the mark and I hope that they are but are early tell tale signs of what happens just before things turn ugly. Rumours start and then rancour starts to surface, it spreads and then used as a weapon whether true or not because it fits the individual narrative. Right now we are halfway up the stairs and our points tally sees us more or less equally likely to fall into the trapdoor as climb back into the Play Offs.
When AK arrived at first this would have been seen as a foundation building year and progress being made. With the money spent on the squad in the summer and a second 11 most of whom would walk into Championship sides sat in the stands it is difficult to be so generous with patience and time especially when bereft of obvious progress to date. I think we are now hoping that things fall into place rather than see a definitive plan plotted and taking shape.
Downing dumped then resurrected, Shotton courted then stood up, Baker the mercurial play maker or was that wide player, Tavernier from nowhere to first choice whilst Johnson withers on the vine, Grant reintroduced, Clayts ignored with Forshaw now back in favour (of a kind) and as for the Bamford/Fletcher debate lets not go there, everything just seems a mess. Its all about opinions but we haven’t really seen anything truly convincing that tactics and selections are improving. Of course with all those riches maybe it needs this length of time to try everything and everyone but meantime the promised land seems further away as we drift on a tide of fate. On Sunday it looked like the Players had reached that same conclusion.
I think the next two home games will be a marker and will be closely observed by SG
Their should be there!
My concern is if we get promoted through the playoffs, in my opinion a big IF, I don’t want Boro to be embarrassed in the Premier League, and that is why I would rather get promoted next season. Naturally I want Boro to win matches, but preferably with flair even if that has to be subdued in the Premier League, but to be relegated again would be too hard to bear.