Betty, The trials (plural, thanks to the Mirror and the Crown Prosecution Service) were a huge distraction, because of the number of players either initially under suspicion or involved as witnesses. Just imagine all the meetings with lawyers etc. combined with the anxiety many of the players felt. There is no way anyone can convince me that if the trials hadn't happened, we wouldn't somewhere, somehow, that season have picked up the couple of extra points which were all we needed to get back into the Champions League.
But there were other factors: - the massive, lengthy injury crisis that cast a shadow over O'Leary's entire tenure. This also was a factor behind the financial collapse, in that we'd have a (potentially) world class player like Radebe, Woodgate or Kewell on big money get injured for half a season or more, buy an international (Wilcox, Ferdinand, Matteo) on even more big money, and then sometimes see those players get injured as well. Count the number of players who spent a half season or more out injured under O'Leary and it's massive. Now they weren't all in the Champions League season, but off the top of my head I remember Martyn, Woodgate, Radebe and Bridges missing a lot of that campaign, and there were probably numerous others. If we'd just had an "average" number of injuries, we would have qualified for the Champions League and might even have won it that season. (Remember that the PL game prior to Valencia away, with the tie balanced on a knife edge, was against Arsenal and O'Leary was hardly able to rest anyone because the squad's depth had been completely eroded by the injury crisis.) - The referee in the game against Man U not sending off Barthez for kicking Ian Harte (thus giving Barthez the opportunity to subsequently save Harte's penalty) then - incorrectly, as slow-motion replays proved - giving Viduka offside when Brown scored what would have been the winning own goal for us. If the ref had got either of those decisions correct, let alone both of them, Leeds would have been back in the Champions League the following season. - O'Leary's decision during the season to boot Eddie Gray upstairs and make Brian Kidd the coach. After this happened, the effervescence that had characterized our play over the previous two or three seasons slowly evaporated. Cheers! Sean -----Original Message----- From: John Boocock IFA <[email protected]> To: leedslist <[email protected]> Sent: Tue, Apr 10, 2012 2:46 pm Subject: [LU] Discussion Point The failure to qualify for the CL in 2000-2001 was because of a poor autumn and winter; how much of that was ascribed to playing CL matches as well as league matches, and how much was the distraction of the trial? _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] PETE CASS (1962 - 2011) Rest In Peace Mate
