Leeds live and kicking
Dennis Wise’s side is being driven back towards the Championship by the perceived injustice of a 15-point handicap
There are still issues, but the supporters of Leeds United – the sane majority, as opposed to the handful of morons the club has never been able to shake off, who pelted the officials with coins at Gillingham last weekend – again turned out in scarcely credible numbers at Elland Road yesterday.
Among them, as he has been for more than 30 years, was Paul McManus. The secretary of the Harrogate branch of the Leeds supporters’ club has been taken aback by the number of phone calls he has had this season. “We’ve had people who haven’t been to a game for five years booking seats on the coach,â€
McManus said. “It could be just wanting to see their club winning games, or to go to grounds they’ve not been to before. But what it really comes down to is they’ve seen half the world having a go at their club and the other half laughing about it. They want to show that, right or wrong, it’s still their club.†Maureen Gibbons, a season ticket-holder since the 1960s, makes a similar point: “When the league gave us the 15-point penalty [for failing to agree a company voluntary agreement with creditors] there was a sense that this was personal, and the queues for the first home game [against Southend] were all about solidarity. I haven’t been this excited about coming to games for years.â€
It is almost impossible to overestimate the sense of injustice felt by everyone connected with the club regarding the missing 15 points, or to avoid the conclusion that it is fuelling the recovery. The match programme does not print the League One table, it prints the “real†table, in which Leeds stand well clear at the top. It does not have a page 15, it has page -15. No player is listed as wearing 15. You get the picture.
Notably, however, most fans continue to emphasise that support for the club is not the same thing as support for the chairman. Few fans appear to trust Ken Bates, although they are warming to the manager, Dennis Wise. With all that happened at the end of last season – the voluntary administration, being unable to buy new players, and above all that 15-point handicap – the feeling is that it would have been understandable if Wise and assistant Gus Poyet had walked away.
Wise is regularly asked to “Give us a wave†these days, although the request is always followed by the reminder that “we hate Chelseaâ€. And if several of the wins in their unbeaten run have been fortunate, the job they have done is a thorough one. “Even the most subjective supporter would have to admit Leeds have been outplayed by several teams for long periods, sometimes badly,†said Richard Sutcliffe, the Leeds United reporter for the Yorkshire Post. “But they’ve hung on in there and, above all, been F***er than every team they’ve played. Somehow they’ve kept scrambling late winners, and now you can see the belief and confidence in the team.â€
Wise confirmed that fitness was key. “It’s easy to make excuses about the level of expectation, or every match being the opposition’s cup final, but we won’t allow that,†he said. “Yes, the players have coped well, but mental strength boils down to physical fitness. We work hard with them. I’ve had to make a lot of changes. Last year’s group wasn’t strong within, it wasn’t together, and that had to be sorted out. I wanted hungrier people and I’ve got them.â€
And that the points deduction? “Perhaps it has helped us in a way,†Wise said. “The fans realise they have a group of players and a manager and staff who could have said, ‘Sod you lot, we’re going’. But that was never going to happen. Before, the fans weren’t sure, they didn’t understand what kind of people we had here, that they wanted to achieve something for the club. Not that the others didn’t, but when the club was on the floor, who stuck around?â€
Peter Lorimer, whose presence on the board last season gave the supporters an impression of continuity, however illusory, thinks there should be more acknowledgement of the fact that Bates, too, is still involved and is “taking the club forwardâ€. Financially, however, the picture remains opaque.
Administration may have cleared the worst of the debt, but having to pay substantial rents on the stadium and training ground – both of which were sold after relegation from the Premier League – means it will be some time before the club is in a position to spend big. But Wise (who says his second consecutive manager of the month award, coming from the Football League, means nothing to him) has always thrived on his lack of popularity. So, to some extent, have Leeds. With the benefit of hindsight, the moment in 1999 when the club was in danger of becoming popular, when a young, gifted team was playing good, attractive football under a personable manager, was when it all started to go wrong. They couldn’t cope. Leeds contra mundum, however, they understand.
The Sunday Times
