Leeds boss steering fallen giants to promotion >From Minus 15 to Plus 13, Wise is fighting back after stinging penalty.. and >now he's winning over the fans Dennis Wise has a new equine mascot for Leeds United's defiance of a grievous handicap - a racehorse called Minus Fifteen.
Businessman and lifelong Leeds fan Steven Parkin was so brassed off by the Football League's swingeing 15-point penalty that his two-year-old sprinter has become a four-legged protest. Most pundits thought Wise would be flogging a dead horse this season by trying to mount a promotion challenge after being marooned in sub-zero terrain with no money and few friends on the Don Revie Kop. Greeted with the suspicion of a Trojan horse because of his Chelsea connections with chairman Ken Bates - at Elland Road, they have neither forgiven nor forgotten Ron 'Chopper' Harris brutalising Eddie Gray in the 1970 Cup Final - Dirty Den is the early frontrunner for manager of the season. After Leeds' incredible start - nine wins and a draw from the opening 10 games - every gallop poll says they will win League One despite running the Grand National course while everyone else was doing the Champion Hurdle. Today Leeds could move into the leading bunch if they beat early-season front-runners Leyton Orient: an absurd, yet admirable, vindication of Wise's management. There is compelling evidence of climate change at Elland Road - the temperature rising from minus 15 to plus 13 in just 900 minutes. And melting polar ice caps are no match for the thaw in Wise's approval rating since relegation, administration and that 15-point sanction alienated mutinous natives. The icy reception which greeted Wise's installation a year ago has been replaced by a marked warmth towards a boss who once represented everything Leeds diehards despised. One fan, fearing he was in psychiatric meltdown, even texted Radio Drivel to ask: "I'm starting to like Dennis Wise - does that make me a bad person?" Wise, 40 next month, smiled at the back-handed compliment and admitted: "The supporters have been great and the mood has changed, but they understand what we are trying to achieve now. "When we came in last year it was a bit of a mess. They recognise we are trying to sort it out and take the club forward. "I have a nice rapport with the supporters, but I know how quickly moods can change and I want them to keep cheering. "We probably didn't feel part of it last year, but I think they can see our hearts are in Leeds. "I've tried to build a team based on young, hungry players who are eager to learn. Some old 'uns have their opinions about certain things and they were too set in their ways. "Everyone looked at it and said it was impossible for us to go up, but in a way losing those 15 points galvanised the squad - they knew it was going to be a hard year, but they have shown the strength to cope with it. "I haven't forgotten about the points we were docked - without them I'd be nine points clear. But it's nice to be where we are. "It would be so disappointing if, after 46 games, those 15 points stopped us from making the play-offs, winning automatic promotion or going up as champions. "But I'm not getting madly carried away yet - we are still as close to the bottom of the table as the top, and my first target is to make sure we're safe." Tycoon Parkin's last horse named after Leeds was called Captain Rio, in the days when Rio Ferdinand wore the armband, and it went on to become a champion sprinter. And now Minus Fifteen, written off by vets after a serious injury eight months ago, has shown encouraging signs of beating the odds in solidarity with the team after whom he was named. Parkin said: "The name is my way of demonstrating the club's strength of feeling, and sense of outrage, against the points deduction. If the horse wins nine of its first 10 races, I'll be chuffed." _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist 6 in a bloody row!
