Always Leeds Always Loyal!
Issue No 2. Bristol Rovers 30/08/08
A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five! Groucho Marx
Todays Opponents Bristol Rovers
Rovers arrive with a similar record to Leeds in as much as they have won 1, drawn 1, and lost 1. They are above us by virtue of the fact that they tubbed Hereford 6-1 in their last league game. We won the corresponding game here last year by 1-0 with an own goal 6 minutes from the end of the game. The return game is scheduled for Sat. 7th March 3 p.m. but I am sure it will change to 2.30 a.m. on a Thursday in Reykjavik! Rovers are currently playing at the Memorial Stadium in Bristol
David Coleman
1. Don’t tell those coming in the final result of that fantastic match, but lets have another look at Italy’s winning goal!
2. For those of you watching who don’t have television sets, live commentary is on Radio 2
Branch News
Griffin
Birthday greetings belatedly to Andrew McDowell for the 25th August and Mick Devine on the 28th. Special mention to Elaine Wilson, our member from Belfast, who celebrates her birthday today. Let us hope the lads provide her with a perfect present of three valuable points.
Members are reminded that the next Branch meeting will be held in The Old Peacock on Tuesday, September 9th, with an 8 pm kick off.
Hellenic
We welcome our good friend from Greece, Fotis Foltopoulos who is Chairman of our Hellenic Branch. Fotis has been over for just over a fortnight and arrived late Friday night before the Oldham home game. He watched the reserves play at home to Huddersfield on the following Tuesday. Much to his relief he managed to chalk up a victory with the fine performance against Crystal Palace in the Carling Cup earlier this week. Today will be the last game for Fotis this time as he heads back to Salonika early on Monday morning. We look forward to his next visit in the New Year. Best wishes from his good friends in the Griffin Branch, especially Phil and Chris Beeton who have been making sure his time in Leeds has been enjoyable.
Peacock News
The recent race night at the OP raised over £550 for St. Gemma’s Hospice, and an enjoyable day/evening was had by all those who attended! Look out for more events.
On the sporting side the pub now runs 2 pool teams as well as an 11 a side football team. News of their (hopeful) successes will be posted here. Remember food is still available at lunch times, good value and tasty too, so if you are in the area on business, socially, or whatever, drop in and try it out.
Ratticus - just says what he sees!
Old Ratty was just settling down to his hibernation spell, when he got an almighty poke in the ear from the rumour mill. Seems some of our folks have resurrected the idea that had it not been for the 15 point deduction last year we would be plying our trade in the Championship now. Well it is a valid point, but if we had started even, would we have got off to the start we did? Between 26/12/07 & 23/2/08 we played 12 games taking 11 points from a possible 36! If we had taken a further 6 points, that would have given us 17 out of 36, still a poor return for a side hoping to go up! Those extra six points would have got us up. Why the mid season slump? Well it would not have been anything to do with ‘Brains’ Poyet taking a job with a Premiership outfit would it? He was closely followed by chirpy cockney Dennis Wise realising that on his own he would soon be rumbled, so baling out and taking his high profile job at Newcastle. You remember Dennis? He was here for the long haul! There was also the little matter of the play off final! All we had to do was win one game, and we blew it, again! So as far as last seasons 15 point deduction is concerned, if you are still carping on about it, get over it and move on!
As far as this year is concerned we have to go straight up! I don’t think anyone wants another ticket sale fiasco like the last two. Has anything been done about this by the way? I believe we were promised an investigation when the dust had settled. Let me just remind you. Many fans who queued up for over 20 hours did not get a ticket, even though they were counted through into cages and were asked how many tickets they wanted, they were still allowed to progress and believe that they were going to be fortunate until the ‘sold out’ signs went up! Photographs appeared in the local paper of fans being pressed into cages and left for up to 10 hours. If the photos had shown dogs or horses instead of Leeds fans there would have been an outcry. Some of the fans that were dealt with early were praising West Yorkshires finest, saying the police had supplied bottled water. I spoke to some fans who were further back who told me yes the police did supply some water but it was about a case of 24 between about 60 to 80 supporters and those in the middle could not move to drink anyway! The consistent issues I seemed to hear was that there was no information coming through, people in the queue were ringing me and asking if I could find out what was going on! A number of people observed that some late comers at the back of the queue were being ‘lopped off’ and told that they would be no tickets for them, they merely walked around the ground in through the back of the Kop and up the west stand to tag on the back of the short queue that was on the last leg so to speak, job done! When I arrived at Elland Road at about 5 p.m. people were coming away from the ground and openly handing out tickets for cash. From the way these meetings were held it was fairly obvious that most of the ticket recipients were not family or friends! So how is the investigation proceeding? How many people have been interviewed? When can we expect the findings? I won’t hold my breath! It is the second time we have had a complete ticket fiasco! Have any lessons been learned? I think if some people spent less time spouting off about things the average Leeds fan has no interest in and more time trying to ensure that we are not treated like cattle the happier a lot of us will be! As far as the investigation is concerned, I predict a shortage of brooms (sweeping under the carpet for the use of!) and whitewash in certain parts of the City.
As a footnote! In mid June a train carrying coal was hijacked near Selby, we believe somewhere in the region of 200 police officers, some armed, plus a helicopter. What did the police do? Well they made sure that these criminals, because that is what they are, were given plenty of water during the negotiations as it was hot. So its official Leeds fans rate lower than criminals!
Good to see that last year we made a ‘small operating profit’, what went wrong? We were told some time ago that the club budgeted to break even with gates of 22,000. Our gates last season averaged 26,500, an increase of 4,500. Even taking a modest £20 per ticket, that is slightly over £2m in increased revenue, excluding additional programme sales etc. In addition was there any compensation for the disappointing loss of Poyet, and the subsequent baling out of Wise when he realised he was on his own? In the 3rd Div. (cos that is where we are!) ANY profit is to be lauded!
Good to see that young players are being given their head a little more, but I hope it is not to be at the expense of bringing in quality players (remember we have not paid a penny piece in transfer fees yet this season, despite an increase in season ticket prices, and we are told that season ticket sales are buoyant!). Will it herald the disposal of players who are worth a bob or two, to be replaced by inexperienced teenagers en masse? I hope not! Can I go back to sleep now?
Ratty
BBC Radio Leeds
A belated welcome to our friends from Radio Leeds and Adam Pope in particular. The station is now using the ‘Members’ Room to broadcast from on matchdays.
250 Draw
28/08/08
£20 - No 23, £15 - No. 28, £10 - No 161
On this day
30/08/08
30BC Cleopatra tops herself! Clasping an asp in her grasp
1797 Frankenstein author Mary Shelley born
1887 Lord Walsingham kills 1070 grouse in a single day (bad day to be a grouse then!)
1893 Huey P Long US Senator born (I put him in because I love the name!)
1924 Our first First Division match 1-1 home to Sunderland. Swan scoring our first top flight goal
1926 0-0 home to Cardiff.
1930 2-2 Portsmouth (h) Left half Wilf Copping makes his debut playing 183 games and scoring 4 goals
1939 lose 1-0 at home to Charlton, results for the season were aborted due to outbreak of war
1947 Won 2-1 at Southampton
1950 Won 1-0 at Coventry
1952 Drew 1-1 at home with Plymouth
1954 lost 3-0 at Rotherham
1955 lost 1-0 at Bury
1958 drew 1-1 at home to Burnley
1961 drew 1-1 at home to Brighton
1967 Leeds lose 2-0 at Dinamo Zagreb in our first ICFC Final (first leg)
1968 First record on apple label released (Hey Jude)
1969 Lost 3-2 at Everton
1972 Won 1-0 at home to Southampton
1975 won 2-0 at Sheff Utd
1980 lost 2-1 at home to Leicester
1986 lost 1-0 at home to Sheff. Utd
1993 beat Oldham 1-0 at home
1994 won 2-1 at Crystal Palace
1995 Drew 1-1 at Southampton
1997 Lost 1-0 at Aston Villa
2003 won 3-2 at Middlesbrough
...and in Gibraltar it is a Bank Holiday
Apologies to all you die hard newsletter fans out there but there will be no issue for the Crewe game! I’m on me hols! Taking a well earned break…….somewhere! You will just have to talk to each other!
If you have picked this up and are not a member of LUSC and wish to join, please see any of the LUSC Officials, usually around the pool table or email contact@leedsunitedsupportersclub.co.uk. or write to Chris Hall, 2 Heath Crescent, Leeds LS11 8UN Tel. 07725189056, email Luscsecretary@aol.com
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