I'd like to listen to that Today Program segment - anyone got a link?
As for Ridsdale and O'Leary, there's plenty of blame to go around: - Ridsdale, for spending money we didn't have on players we didn't need (Seth Johnson, anyone?), and betting the house like a coke-fueled gambler. - O'Leary, for his book, losing the dressing room and moving Eddie Gray upstairs out of his coaching role, and replacing him with Kidd. - The trials. Undoubtedly the absence of Woodgate and the massive distraction of the trials (remember how many of the first team squad were either under suspicion or considered witnesses) cost us at least the couple of points it would have taken to get back into the Champions League places that season. - The editor of the (Sunday?) Mirror - see above, for making us all go through it a second time. - The ref in the game against Man U for (a) not sending off Barthez when he kicked Harte, despite giving us a penalty, and (b) then giving Viduka offside when he wasn't for the own "goal" that would have won us the match and given us enough points to finish in the Champions League that season. (Of course, I could also list Harte for missing the penalty, but that would be too easy.) - A prolonged, multi-season injury crisis that must rival any that a top club has suffered in Europe in the last couple of decades. During O'Leary's tenure (and I'm going off memory here) the following players were among those who missed at least half a season injured: Nigel Martyn, Gary Kelly, Alan Maybury, Lucas Radebe, Danny Hay, Jonathan Woodgate (psychological injury), Michael Duberry, Harry Kewell, Jason Wilcox, Stephen McPhail, Seth Johnson and Michael Bridges. I've probably missed a few, but I would point to the Woodgate, Radebe, Kewell and Bridges injuries as fairly devastating. I'm not convinced, for instance, that we would have bought Viduka, Keane and Fowler if Bridges had stayed fit and continued scoring goals at the rate of his first season. Equally, if Radebe and Woodgate had stayed fit, we might not have needed Ferdinand, and even if we still bought Rio, any two from him, Woodgate and Radebe in central defence would have allowed Matteo to supplant Harte at lef t back. One of the effects of the injury crisis was that we ended up with a huge playing staff, because so many of the squad who might otherwise have been moved on were hurt, and had to be replaced by new, also highly-paid internationals (see Radebe/Ferdinand and Kewell/Wilcox, for example). Anyway, it's all ancient history now. Let's focus on getting back to where we belong (which, in case anyone is wondering, is winning the European Cup four times in a row to best Bayern Munich's undeserved three in a row in the mid-70s). Cheers! Sean -----Original Message----- From: Robert Heath <[email protected]> To: Richard Walker <[email protected]> Cc: [email protected] Sent: Mon, Aug 30, 2010 4:32 am Subject: [LU] Leeds on the Today programme Anybody hear the Today programme this morning? There was a big item about how football has become a closed shop at the top, and they chose to use Leeds to illustrate the point. It was all a rehash of stuff we have all heard before. The best bit was when they replayed commentary of Allan Clarke's goal in the 1972 Cup Final. Reflecting on the item, though, reminded me of my opinion, expressed here before and widely criticised, that Ridsdale was right. More than that, he was a visionary..............he saw the way things were going, and realised that Leeds had to claw their way into the elite group because if they waited it would be too late. The real villain of our collapse was O'Leary...............he was given the resources to get us permanently in the Champions League, but he failed to deliver. _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] MARCHING ON TOGETHER
