In the Press

Leeds United news here, transfer rumours, club affairs, players, fans, etc.
Specific match discussions should go in the category below.
marziale
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Re: In the Press

Post by marziale »

Judging from a lifetime of interaction with Italian, Italians and with the country, I would say that “scientist” here refers first to Bielsa probably not adopting the highly jargonised language subset that characterises almost every profession in Italy. Each job sector tends to enforce its own way of speaking. Politicians talk “politichese”, trade unionists “sindacalese” etc. I don’t know Italian football parlance very well but they do talk in a restricted subset. i suppose it must be an Italian version of the UK managers’ “over the moon” discourse but gone berserk. Secondly it is clear that MB does talk quite ‘scientifically’ about games and performances, and probably it just went down badly.
Just a thought here.
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Re: In the Press

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Re: In the Press

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

Jack Charlton: the survivor who came, saw and left on his own terms

Leeds United's record appearance holder made his debut on April 25, 1953

The beautiful contradiction of a football club is it is always changing, but also, it never changes. Leeds United in 2019 is a universe away from the club which Jack Charlton left in 1973 when he retired at the age of 38, and yet you can still sense him in the wooden seats of the West Stand, lining up for a corner in front of the Kop, or leaning against the crumbling brick wall out on Lowfields Road.

Jack Charlton is in the fabric of Leeds United and Elland Road still, a part of the club’s DNA who will forever bring loyalty, commitment and fighting spirit, but also a sense of mischief which provides that enduring quality of being the outlaws who like to win matches more than they like to win friends.

As an uncompromising centre-half, Charlton was unrepentant in how he went about his business, and in many ways was the walking personification of the methods of fear and intimidation Leeds used to overcome anything in their way. In terms of building a football club, Charlton represents the glue which held everything together, making 773 appearances and spanning generations from when John Charles was about to create his own legend, to when Don Revie was about to crown his.

Charlton came, saw and left on his own terms, typically self-assured and unapologetic, but in between times, he left a legacy which is sewn into the very essence of Leeds United.

It goes without saying one-club loyalty is a concept for a forgotten age of football, but even in the pre-Premier League era, Charlton’s consistent service to Leeds United was astonishing, representing 21 seasons at the club and a full 18, yes that’s EIGHTEEN, as a regular fixture in the side. For most of those, of course, he was a first choice centre-half, but Charlton’s career was not without its false starts.

As many players did at the time, Charlton came into the game with considerable life experience, despite his tender years. Hailing from the North East pit village of Ashington, and a family which presented no less than six players to professional football, he had already spent some time working the coal seams which held the community together, and also did two years of national service before becoming a first-team player at Leeds. He had even dodged an interview to become a police cadet to attend his first trial at Elland Road, and it was Charlton’s brusque manner and survivalist breeding which led to many confrontations with peers and authority alike.

Charlton was famously pinned by the throat against a wall by the great John Charles, after the cocksure youngster had reacted with trademark arrogance when asked to take up a specific position at a corner. It was the kind of audacious confidence which could be channelled one of two ways, but thankfully, the belligerent Charlton learnt how to rein it in and use his wayward antagonism as a positive.

As a player Don Revie had a number of run-ins with the ill-disciplined Charlton, who would often race around the pitch with the ball attempting to do everyone’s job because he had no faith in his own team-mates. Somehow Revie saw a leader in Charlton, however, and as a manager, brought a focus to his game which led to him becoming the enduring stalwart of his great side.

Charlton made his Leeds debut in April 1953 in a Second Division fixture against Doncaster Rovers, and it was his emergence as a reliable centre-half which allowed John Charles to be moved into attack permanently to fully exploit the goal-scoring skills which were beginning to make his name. Charlton was an immovable object from thereon in, using the hard knocks of his upbringing as precious groundwork for navigating the brutal outlands of post-war professional football.

If Charlton was a fierce competitor surviving only on his gut instincts and what God gave him, it rubbed off on others, and as Revie assembled a team around him, Charlton became the experienced head, a veteran of over 500 first-team games before the club had even won a major trophy. It also brought belated international recognition, with Charlton winning his first England cap shortly before his 30th birthday, and winning the World Cup against West Germany just a year later.

That may well give a player a unique standing in the football world, at least until you consider Roque Junior can claim the same thing, and it certainly gave Leeds United a new status in the game, but Charlton was famously unconcerned about the trappings of fame and carried on as a model of consistency as Leeds began to accumulate medals and trophies of their own.

Without doubt Charlton was an ungainly footballer, an over-harvesting of arms and legs. However, he was a committed and fearless player who excelled in the air, but also had an uncanny liking for running forward with the ball. He would baulk at the prospect of being compared to a modern day centre-half, in the ilk of Liam Cooper and Pontus Jansson playing themselves out of trouble via intricate passing triangles, but Charlton was far more than just a ruthless stopper. Indeed, he contributed 96 goals in his Leeds career, albeit many of them were the result of Charlton’s inherent nuisance value at corners and the slightly agricultural practice of planting the ball on his head two yards from goal.

In essence, Charlton did as much as anyone to build the Leeds United we know today, and as a player who respected no-one, was instrumental in carrying out Revie’s mantra on the pitch and instilling a ‘keep fighting’ ethic which took the club into unchartered waters.

Jack Charlton is rightly celebrated as one of the greatest players the club has ever produced, and that isn’t just earned through loyalty or even ability, it is earned from being the kind of character which doesn’t come around too often and is impossible to accurately define. They don’t make them like Big Jack anymore, and you can’t buy players like Big Jack anymore. Players like him just arrive, find their place, do their thing and go. And that Jack Charlton did his thing at Leeds United is something we should be eternally grateful for.

From Jon Howe's article on Leeds Live.
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Re: In the Press

Post by SCOTTISH LEEDS »

From the YEP:-

130 Leeds United fans are flying from Norway to Elland Road in time for the Whites' crunch clash with Aston Villa this weekend.

The special 'MOT1919' flight has been laid on from Kristiansand Airport on Friday.

The flight took off from Kristiansand in Norway at 12 noon local time on Friday, April 26 and landed at 12.45pm in Leeds.

A total of 130 Norwegian Leeds United fans were on board the flight, which had Leeds United club badges on every seat.

Screens in the airport also showed 'MOT1919' as the flight number.

MOT of course refers to 'Marching on Together', the Leeds United anthem, while 1919 is the official year of the club being established.

Leeds United square off against Aston Villa on Sunday in a crucial promotion clash following a couple of disappointing results against Wigan and Brentford.

Depending on results on Saturday, Leeds United may already be all but mathematically unable to snatch automatic promotion by the time the game kicks off.

Earlier this month, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported how many fans had been left out of pocket for the match following Sky Sports moving the fixture date for broadcast.
But it clearly didn't deter these loyal Scandinavians!
IrelandLeeds
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Re: In the Press

Post by IrelandLeeds »

SCOTTISH LEEDS wrote:Jack Charlton: the survivor who came, saw and left on his own terms

Leeds United's record appearance holder made his debut on April 25, 1953

The beautiful contradiction of a football club is it is always changing, but also, it never changes. Leeds United in 2019 is a universe away from the club which Jack Charlton left in 1973 when he retired at the age of 38, and yet you can still sense him in the wooden seats of the West Stand, lining up for a corner in front of the Kop, or leaning against the crumbling brick wall out on Lowfields Road.

Jack Charlton is in the fabric of Leeds United and Elland Road still, a part of the club’s DNA who will forever bring loyalty, commitment and fighting spirit, but also a sense of mischief which provides that enduring quality of being the outlaws who like to win matches more than they like to win friends.

As an uncompromising centre-half, Charlton was unrepentant in how he went about his business, and in many ways was the walking personification of the methods of fear and intimidation Leeds used to overcome anything in their way. In terms of building a football club, Charlton represents the glue which held everything together, making 773 appearances and spanning generations from when John Charles was about to create his own legend, to when Don Revie was about to crown his.

Charlton came, saw and left on his own terms, typically self-assured and unapologetic, but in between times, he left a legacy which is sewn into the very essence of Leeds United.

It goes without saying one-club loyalty is a concept for a forgotten age of football, but even in the pre-Premier League era, Charlton’s consistent service to Leeds United was astonishing, representing 21 seasons at the club and a full 18, yes that’s EIGHTEEN, as a regular fixture in the side. For most of those, of course, he was a first choice centre-half, but Charlton’s career was not without its false starts.

As many players did at the time, Charlton came into the game with considerable life experience, despite his tender years. Hailing from the North East pit village of Ashington, and a family which presented no less than six players to professional football, he had already spent some time working the coal seams which held the community together, and also did two years of national service before becoming a first-team player at Leeds. He had even dodged an interview to become a police cadet to attend his first trial at Elland Road, and it was Charlton’s brusque manner and survivalist breeding which led to many confrontations with peers and authority alike.

Charlton was famously pinned by the throat against a wall by the great John Charles, after the cocksure youngster had reacted with trademark arrogance when asked to take up a specific position at a corner. It was the kind of audacious confidence which could be channelled one of two ways, but thankfully, the belligerent Charlton learnt how to rein it in and use his wayward antagonism as a positive.

As a player Don Revie had a number of run-ins with the ill-disciplined Charlton, who would often race around the pitch with the ball attempting to do everyone’s job because he had no faith in his own team-mates. Somehow Revie saw a leader in Charlton, however, and as a manager, brought a focus to his game which led to him becoming the enduring stalwart of his great side.

Charlton made his Leeds debut in April 1953 in a Second Division fixture against Doncaster Rovers, and it was his emergence as a reliable centre-half which allowed John Charles to be moved into attack permanently to fully exploit the goal-scoring skills which were beginning to make his name. Charlton was an immovable object from thereon in, using the hard knocks of his upbringing as precious groundwork for navigating the brutal outlands of post-war professional football.

If Charlton was a fierce competitor surviving only on his gut instincts and what God gave him, it rubbed off on others, and as Revie assembled a team around him, Charlton became the experienced head, a veteran of over 500 first-team games before the club had even won a major trophy. It also brought belated international recognition, with Charlton winning his first England cap shortly before his 30th birthday, and winning the World Cup against West Germany just a year later.

That may well give a player a unique standing in the football world, at least until you consider Roque Junior can claim the same thing, and it certainly gave Leeds United a new status in the game, but Charlton was famously unconcerned about the trappings of fame and carried on as a model of consistency as Leeds began to accumulate medals and trophies of their own.

Without doubt Charlton was an ungainly footballer, an over-harvesting of arms and legs. However, he was a committed and fearless player who excelled in the air, but also had an uncanny liking for running forward with the ball. He would baulk at the prospect of being compared to a modern day centre-half, in the ilk of Liam Cooper and Pontus Jansson playing themselves out of trouble via intricate passing triangles, but Charlton was far more than just a ruthless stopper. Indeed, he contributed 96 goals in his Leeds career, albeit many of them were the result of Charlton’s inherent nuisance value at corners and the slightly agricultural practice of planting the ball on his head two yards from goal.

In essence, Charlton did as much as anyone to build the Leeds United we know today, and as a player who respected no-one, was instrumental in carrying out Revie’s mantra on the pitch and instilling a ‘keep fighting’ ethic which took the club into unchartered waters.

Jack Charlton is rightly celebrated as one of the greatest players the club has ever produced, and that isn’t just earned through loyalty or even ability, it is earned from being the kind of character which doesn’t come around too often and is impossible to accurately define. They don’t make them like Big Jack anymore, and you can’t buy players like Big Jack anymore. Players like him just arrive, find their place, do their thing and go. And that Jack Charlton did his thing at Leeds United is something we should be eternally grateful for.

From Jon Howe's article on Leeds Live.
Was a brilliant manager with Republic of Ireland too. Gave a huge lift to this country, and regarded as a hero in
this country.
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Re: In the Press

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All at Amazon Books

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PockWhite
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Re: In the Press

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Cracking read that Davycc, thanks for posting it here. :thumbup:
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Re: In the Press

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Re: In the Press

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If not registered for the paper here it is...
“What the f*** is going on?” inquired thousands of Leeds United fans. A rare outbreak of honesty and sportsmanship, that was what was going on, a ray of light in a sport of too many dark arts.

What had gone on was Leeds head coach, the right honourable Marcelo Bielsa, instructing his team to allow Aston Villa to equalise after the home side had taken the lead in controversial circumstances.

El Loco had brought some sanity to the English madhouse.

What happened between the 72nd and 77th minutes at Elland Road will be remembered for many a year, a moment when scruples trumped duplicity, and another day when the beatification of Bielsa intensified. Sanctioned earlier in the season for instructing staff to spy on Derby County training, Bielsa’s moral stock soared here. He did the sport a huge favour, showing that the game can involve fair play, that the only way is ethics.

Grassroots and school coaches will be cheering his name and example. Bielsa will probably be given a Fair Play award by Fifa. Whether Bielsa would have demonstrated such mercy had this game carried more chance of sealing an automatic promotion place for Leeds will never be known. Bielsa’s actions have to be taken at face value, as the appliance of proper values, and deserve saluting.

A remarkable sequence of events began when Villa striker, Jonathan Kodjia, collided with Liam Cooper, and lay in the centre circle, motionless. There was no indication of a head injury, no whistle from referee Stuart Attwell, so Leeds played on, with Tyler Roberts in possession, venturing down the left.

John McGinn and Albert Adomah were close to Roberts, beseeching him to put the ball out and allow their team-mate to be attended to.

Roberts initially shaped to knock the ball out but then stabbed it, half-heartedly, down the line to Mateusz Klich.

The Villa head coach, Dean Smith, was yards away, shouting angrily and raising his arms in protest. His defence half-expected Klich to slow up, but he carried on, curling the ball around the distracted Jed Steer, and sending Villa into apoplexy.

“It went crazy after that,” Klich said later, adding that he did not realise that Kodjia was hurt.

“Crazy” is an understatement, and the FA will surely charge Leeds and Villa with failing to control their players. The Villa retribution posse was led by Conor Hourihane, who grabbed Klich. Ahmed Elmohamady got involved. Neil Taylor ran through the mêlée, nudging Klich on the back like it was a game of tag and carrying on, as though heading off in search of a peace envoy.

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Leeds reinforcements arrived. Patrick Bamford came flying in, wrestling Hourihane away. The huffing and shoving soon acquired a cynical element when Bamford went down theatrically, holding his face with Anwar El Ghazi in close proximity.

Attwell, was of little use, standing there impotently, and stewards stepped on to the pitch. The brawl briefly subsided before flaring again. Over in the dugouts, which had become almost trenches, the dispute between John Terry, Villa’s assistant coach, and Bielsa that had simmered all game intensified, although it was mainly bad-mouthing and
finger-wagging.

Attwell’s involvement, or initial lack of it, will inevitably come under scrutiny by the refereeing overlords. The official who, with his assistant, awarded a “ghost goal” to Reading against Watford in 2008, had been dropped down to officiate Sky Bet Championship games to rebuild his confidence.

By all accounts, Attwell had been improving but he was far too hesitant here, and had already angered Leeds with one particularly bizarre decision when blowing for half-time with their right back Luke Ayling running unmarked into the Villa box. Bielsa became so frustrated with Attwell’s refereeing in the first half that he was booked.

If Leeds and Villa do manage to reach Wembley for the Championship play-off final, the EFL would be well-advised to ensure that Attwell is elsewhere. When tempers finally cooled, Attwell simply raised them again on the Villa side by showing a red card to El Ghazi, which Villa immediately appealed afterwards, and a yellow to Hourihane. Attwell must have raised a smile among those of a Leeds persuasion by only booking Bamford, the master simulator. Bamford could get booked for panto for such theatrics.

The Leeds No 9 is a good player, not quite clinical enough as a finisher but hard-working and a useful focal point. He is certainly too good to stoop to such antics. A distant relative of the JCB chairman certainly dug a hole for himself here.

Negotiations continued between the dugouts. Smith called on Bielsa to allow them free passage to goal. Bielsa had already decided and was imparting instructions to his players. When a semblance of peace was restored, Villa kicked off and Adomah dribbled through, weaving past Leeds players, who just stood there, obeying their head coach’s orders, all except one player.

Pontus Jansson is one of the game’s more forceful characters, a heavily tattooed Swedish centre back who led the Malmo Ultras in a chant when his former team played at Chelsea this season. Jansson was having none of football’s Geneva Convention and tried to close down Adomah.

The Ghana winger kept his composure. These are not the situations that studying decorative finishing and industrial painting at the College of North West London — as Adomah did during his non-League days — prepares you for. At least, the decorative finishing part came in useful as Adomah kept his balance and his footing and placed his shot past Kiko Casilla, who made no attempt to make a save.

Once the Leeds fans realised that the Villa equaliser was approved by Bielsa, they greeted the final whistle by telling the visitors, “We gave you a goal, now f*** off home”. With their team looking more confident, Leeds supporters certainly found their voice after the numbing Easter period of two damaging losses allowed Sheffield United to pass them and take the second automatic promotion slot behind Norwich City.

In thrall to Bielsa, Leeds fans were inevitably here in force. Two hours before the noon kick-off they were congregating in huge numbers at Bremner Square, stretching out their arms in salute to the statue of Billy Bremner. It is 50 years since Don Revie’s team, including the dynamic Bremner, were crowned champions for the first time and one fan even brought his tiny match book of coupon tickets from that season to this game. They cherish their history here, and dream of Bielsa bringing the great days back.

The talk was all of Bielsa, of whether the beloved head coach would stay if Leeds failed to secure promotion. The consensus, certainly the prayer, was that Bielsa would be loyal. As one fan remarked: “He has fallen in love with Leeds.” English football fell a little bit in love with Saint Marcelo today.
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Re: In the Press

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PockWhite wrote:
Cracking read that Davycc, thanks for posting it here. :thumbup:
I enjoyed that also, Thanks Davycc :thumbup:
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