Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

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SiMamu
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Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by SiMamu »

Simon Grayson, Ian Baird and Glyn Snodin were at Sherburn white rose Jnrs FC tonight, here's some of their answer in a Q&A according to twitter (so could be false or overdramatized), very revealing:
Adam J ‏@Ken_DeMange 2h
Grayson on Gwyn Williams: "Ken's eyes and ears, a snake in the grass and a w****r"
Glyn Snodin: "A right horrible fat b*****d!" #LUFC
In the transfer window when Leeds were pushing for auto promotion from the Championship, Grayson wanted to sign McAuley, Andrews & Gorkss...
Grayson still very much clued up about LUFC, knows about the following Saturday and Bates' new offices above Subway. Obvs like to return
Grayson's offered the chance to take Snodgrass & Hoolahan on trial at Blackpool, both had reputations for drinking so just opted for latter
Grayson considers Gradel, Kisnorbo and Naylor as his best signings. Worst? Asked about Darren O'Dea: "I've signed f*****g worse than that!"
Grayson on Liam Dickinson: "Now he f*****g s***e!"
Glyn Snodin says they signed a few players who they thought would be ideal but ultimately couldn't handle playing for a club of Leeds' size
Should be added that Grayson and Snodin received the final installments of their pay-outs two months ago, thus the openness
On Gradel: said he was offered wages Bates works never dream
On Paynter (over Charlie Austin): he did say he was the dog's in training...
Not from Grayson, but at the time of the players' revolt (contacting LUST etc), Ross Mc and Snoddy repped, latter tearful about mooted sale towards the end of the 2011/12 season. Talk of selling both to Palace apparently
Choice between re-signing Beckford and Gradel, said Max without hesitation
Grayson says Gradel would love to come back *awaits Twitter explosion*
Grayson to Daniel Jones after Gradel dismissal: "If we don't win, good luck getting off this f*****g pitch!"
Grayson said Howson was sold against player's own wishes. He was promised funds from the sale... (1/2)
2 days later while at Robbie Rogers employment tribunal, Grayson received a text saying the money would be banked. Was fuming, sacked after
Grayson confirmed he turned down two top flight clubs and chance to double his salary while at LUFC
Jon Pearson used to vomit before games as he was so nervous playing for LUFC
Baird: "Mark Aizlewood couldn't fall with the expectancy at Leeds"
Ferguson told Grayson, post-Scum that the pressure was on as he had £3k on LUFC to go up
From what I recall though, Williams would head into the toilets under the auspices of "having a s**t" to listen in on players & report back
Gwyn Williams was also responsible for Nunez's 4 year deal. Grayson was stunned.
Scrambling to remember anything else. Keith Andrews was ready to sign, but club delayed over the weekend & Ipswich offered 3yrs + captaincy
Also Gareth McAuley was available to sign for £100k fee (6 months left on contract) and on £7k p/w, LUFC would only sanction £50k & £4k p/w
Guysley ‏@Guysley_ 2h
"Is Ken Bates a t**t?"
Grayson" I'd use stronger words than that"
Grayson confirmed what we all expected. "Simon's pot" wasn't big enough to piss in.
Gwyn Williams used to use the toilet in the players dressing room, so he could listen to what the players were saying, and report it to Ken.
When Leeds scored, in the directors box, Gwyn never celebrated. Grayson said he enjoyed gloating when we lost.
Ramon Nunez given a 4 year deal, despite Grayson not really wanting him. That's what Gwyn Williams did.
"It's known Ken Bates wasn't at Leeds for footballing reasons." Grayson.
On Nunez Glyn Snodin said: "this is what they were doing with the money. The Money you fans paid. Week in week out"
On his sacking: he kind of touched on it, he fell out with Williams, they wouldn't sign the players he wanted, and Gwyn conspired against hin.
On signing cheap youngsters or Becchio-types: yes, but when it wasn't a player that Gwyn approved of, they low balled the offer to scupper the deal.
Grayson had 2 offers to go to prem clubs during his time at Leeds, offers to double his salary. Turned them down. Wanted to be Leeds manager
Grayson: "I've been sacked twice, once by a big club, the second by a small club down the road"
Some additional, albeit minimal information: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BabpkbSIYAAOsQJ.jpg
Last edited by SiMamu on 02 Dec 2013, 16:03, edited 1 time in total.
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isrodger
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by isrodger »

Nothing we didn't know really, looks like he may be poised to get his fourth promotion - good luck to him. I put a lot of his poorer signings down to desperation.
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by Deleted User 130 »

He wasn't perfect as our manager and I'd wager there are certain situations while he was here which he feels could have been handled better, but the comments about Williams and Bates are not new, as ISR says, and I think it's a sign of certain undue pressures he was under. Still, I do agree that it's all a bit iffy but that's how it is these days, whether it be autobiographies or media 'exclusives'. I like to see PNE doing well anyway but more so with SG at the helm, he is after all the last Leeds manager to win anything since Wilko, even if it was just a div 3 promotion :D
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by Sheepy »

Grayson: "I've been sacked twice, once by a big club, the second by a small club down the road"
:lol: I love you Simon
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by Deleted User 2299 »

onenorthernsoul wrote:He wasn't perfect as our manager and I'd wager there are certain situations while he was here which he feels could have been handled better, but the comments about Williams and Bates are not new, as ISR says, and I think it's a sign of certain undue pressures he was under. Still, I do agree that it's all a bit iffy but that's how it is these days, whether it be autobiographies or media 'exclusives'. I like to see PNE doing well anyway but more so with SG at the helm, he is after all the last Leeds manager to win anything since Wilko, even if it was just a div 3 promotion :D
Aslo the 1st manager to beat Man Utd away in 20 years and won 11 consecutive home games matching a forty-year-old record held by the Don. :D

He wasn't perfect for Leeds but who is? If you are going to sack a manager because he was poor, at least replace him with a better one. Personally i don't believe since his sacking Leeds have had a better manager or team todate.
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

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When Grayson was sacked I thought we were getting a better manager but as it turned out we didn't. Both had their hands tied by Bates in terms of the transfer policy and both had top players sold from under them.

I think McDermott is doing a great job, its too early to compare him to previous managers and its also never a fair comparison, too many variables that affect things. But so far I would say he is well on the way to achieving something.

It may not be an instant thing, but I believe BMcD is shaping the club nicely, he knows every corner of our club and exactly what we need.
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SiMamu
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by SiMamu »

I like McDermott, my only qualm with him is the football we play. Mostly because he said he wanted us to be the best passing side in the Championship last summer - yet we resort to long balls forward an awful lot.
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by Sheepy »

To be fair a long ball is a long ball depending on who describes it, when Harry Bassett says long ball, its a wimbledon style hoof and hope. David Beckham made a career based on playing long balls, its just that his has purpose and accuracy.

At the moment, we are somewhere in between those two descriptions :-)
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SiMamu
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by SiMamu »

Sheepy wrote:To be fair a long ball is a long ball depending on who describes it, when Harry Bassett says long ball, its a wimbledon style hoof and hope. David Beckham made a career based on playing long balls, its just that his has purpose and accuracy.

At the moment, we are somewhere in between those two descriptions :-)
I meant Tom Lees clipping it to Matt Smith/Dexter Blackstock, to knock it on to Ross McCormack to run on to, rather than Neil Warnock send it long to Becchio and hope he wins the header. I'm mostly miffed about how we've gone from playing it out from the back in the early days of McDermott's career to sending it long to Blackstock/Smith. Feels like we've gone backwards, in footballing terms.
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Re: Simon Grayson's Comments About His Time at Leeds

Post by Deleted User 2 »

"We resort to long balls" kind of captures the nature of it though. It's not a plan A - it's what we sometimes resort to when other means fail. I still don't think it was a plan A during Warnock, but I know it's the unpopular opinion. It's all down to the tools in the toolbox though. Warnock probably thought he would have some money to try and emulate the QPR model - a hard working team with a couple of technical players that can make the difference. While he was waiting on the money for the (expensive) skilled people, he assembled the hard grafting crew (which tend to be a dime a dozen), which was all he was left with in the end. Their ideas ran out at the same time with his ideas for anything else to try out did.

We've been constantly trying to evolve since McDermott's arrived. With varying success, but the last thing he can be accused of, I think, is favouring an easy plan of just lumping it forward. Smith was on for 90 minutes today and balls from the back rarely crossed the half way line over shoulder height. Like Sheepy says, there's hoof and there's direct play. And there's also the fact that, if we can't keep the ball in midfield, the centre backs in possession will play it out once, twice, but if the ball keeps coming back within seconds, they will next look for a pass along the touch, or just a big guy down the middle.
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