WALMOT

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/international/scotland-and-leeds-great-david-harvey-tracked-down-after-leaving-orkney-hideaway-2923924 Good read about David Harvey

In his latest column for leedsunited.com, lifelong supporter Jon Howe reflects on how reflects on a memorable season, which will see the Whites return to the Premier League for the first time in 16 years. Howe is the author of two books on the club, 2015 hit ‘The Only Place For Us: An A-Z History of Elland Road’ and ‘All White: Leeds United’s 100 Greatest Players’ in 2012.  It is often said that football works in cycles. In essence, every dog has its day and every club is on a cycle working towards achievement and a period of success. You just don’t know how long the cycle is and whereabouts on it you are, until you achieve success. For some clubs it might be a small cycle lasting two or three years, and success is easily repeatable, for others it is a huge, never-ending cycle. For Leeds United it has been a 16-year cycle, and when you’ve been staring at something from a distance for 16 years, it is strange to admit that you don’t know how to feel when you finally have it in your hands. Elation, exhaustion, relief; it’s all there. But this is a little bit like having your dream car sat on the driveway, but all you want to do is stare at it and sit in it. What do we do now, faced with a strange void of post-climactic emptiness? Well we take the car for a spin and enjoy it, don’t we? But first I think we need a break from this. We’ve gone from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs in just 12 months, and in between there was plenty of worry and uncertainty. Mental fatigue effects supporters too, and a draining experience takes its toll. And that’s because football matters. We’ve lived and breathed this season for a full 12 months, not to mention the warped and pockmarked history of what came before it, and now we need some distance to truly reflect and appreciate it. And now, maybe, we can also appreciate ‘last’ season a little more and enjoy the early development of our love affair with Marcelo Bielsa, and those epic goals and last minute winners, in a new light? These players have now created history, and something that will define the rest of their lives, and our lives. They have now risen above the status of mere mortals. It’s not like they didn’t know this would happen, and that creates a pressure all of its own. Because this is a reminder of what Leeds United once was, and what it has achieved, and now it has woken from a coma to embrace being a statement part of civic life and civic pride, to bring in sporting, commercial and development opportunities that the club and the city deserves. Big players, big plans, big occasions. And that’s why this promotion ‘had’ to be achieved. It had to happen to enable people to think about Leeds United differently; to change everyone’s mind-set – fans, players, managers, opposition, media, civic leaders, commercial organisations – and to move on from a flawed, rudderless and sub-standard identity. And Leeds United have got here through responding to leadership. If you are needing leadership but you don’t get it, you need to either take control yourself or look elsewhere. For many people in this country that’s not possible, but for Leeds United fans, we are fortunate to have had an abundance of leadership in our lives, just when we needed it. On and off the pitch, Leeds United have kept their counsel and responded impeccably to the challenges. Looking back through history it is criminal that you would try to achieve success in any other way, and be content with non-league standards, rancorous belligerence and short-term thinking. Because look what you can actually achieve with Leeds United? In Marcelo Bielsa we have a leader who has delivered everything he promised. But then did he really promise us anything? He came with a reputation; and with a cloak of mystique, complexity and intrigue, but there were no brash statements, no platitudes and no empty pledges. Immediately, everything had meaning and everything meant business, but with a quiet humility and a tender compassion which was a perfect contradiction to the dynamic, flamboyant, ruthless and unforgiving football his team displayed. Never let it be forgotten that this Leeds United rose up from the canvass with a herculean effort and finally delivered. From a point 12 months ago when it felt this goal could never be achieved – if 2018/19 wasn’t a promotion season then what on earth did one look like? – here we are having done it, and done it with style, charm and plenty of room to spare. It feels like this promotion is closure of some sort, and certainly closure that we needed. Now fans can close the book on being the laughing stock of British football; ‘doing a Leeds’ now means something else. We have a release from the purgatory of jokes about chasing spurious dreams, Goldfish, Histon, winding-up orders, watermelons and ‘manager eaters’. And bottlers. Leeds United is no longer an idle plaything; the village idiot wheeled out and secured in stocks to throw tomatoes at. Leeds United has substance, leadership and pride. Leeds United has success. So closure is completing the cycle. And now we’re on a different cycle and it’s up to us how slow and how long we take to complete it. Maybe we’ll never complete it? Because, for now, we have no plans to go anywhere. Other clubs have had their day in the sun, they might be back one day, who knows when? For now it’s our time. It is our time to remind the world what Leeds United is. We’ve known it all along, but it can be futile trying to prove that to anyone else in the tribal playground of football; to our detractors, to our enemies and to those who used us as a plaything and a figure for their own amusement. Now it’s undeniable, and perhaps that’s the best bit? These players have achieved and they have made history, but history is only part of the story. It has been a story of fear, anguish, resilience, absurdity and defiance. It is a story that has aged us, hurt us and defined us. And it might feel like this is the end of the story, but really it’s just the beginning.

Goalkeeper completes permanent move. Leeds United are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Illan Meslier. The French goalkeeper initially joined the club last summer on a season-long loan deal from FC Lorient and the move to Elland Road has now been made permanent. Meslier has signed a three-year deal with Leeds United, running until the summer of 2023. The 20-year-old made 11 appearances in all competitions for the Whites during the 2019/20 campaign, helping Leeds to win the Sky Bet Championship. He made his Leeds debut in January’s FA Cup third round tie with Arsenal, before making his league debut away at Hull City in February. In his 10 Championship games for the Whites, Meslier has been very impressive between the sticks, helping Marcelo Bielsa’s side keep seven clean sheets. After progressing through the ranks with Lorient, the goalkeeper has also won caps with France at Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 level. He becomes the club’s second signing of the summer, after Helder Costa’s loan move also became permanent.

MB's press conference:- Happy birthday! Thank you. How much have you enjoyed the celebrations? Proudest achievement? It’s going to be a memory for the rest of our lives. My best achievement is in the club where I have worked and belong. Everything happened here was very, very beautiful. I will never forget this. Your future? Like to see it sorted quickly? What I talk about is recognising the players. It’s very easy to justify for me. Maybe it’s a little difficult to summarise everything they have done. The first information that is very valuable is how many players were involved in the minutes of the season. Few players for a lot of minutes. Second thing is the tactical process of training they assume. The play of Leeds has been collective. The contribution of every player, if you add these contributions, is what makes the team play like that. The collective play needs to be trained in the same way, the individual unbalanced is less trainable. In our team it was more collective than anything else. That demands physical and mental work very high. We had few injuries. That talks about how the players care for themselves. Also, the capacity of our physical coaches. We had few injuries that had a long period of recovery. That talked about the efficiency of the medical staff. I also had decisive assistants. I execute decisions, but I don’t build just me, the building of the decisions. I don’t want to forget someone because we were a lot of people involved in the process to train our goalkeepers, to create images to help the players to develop, to create training to improve the fitness of our team. Each of them made more than me for the team to grow. Please believe this it is true. There is an example about the evaluation I am doing about my colleagues that confirms what I am saying is not exaggerated: Carlos Corberan has been chosen by one Championship team to be the manager of his first team and it is a team that one year ago was in the Premier League. You can prove what I am saying is true. When will you discuss your own future? Tomorrow we play. Of course, we need time to let this period pass because now all the emotions are high. We need to be, all of us, calm to think more clearly. I wish you help me to feel the objective I am saying. I am trying not to put the focus on me. Put the focus on players and supporters. Players I already explained. Great Leeds supporters. They wait for this moment a long time and now they can celebrate this as they deserve. The sign in our times is we want to make things happen before the process requires. Always, everybody answers, they don’t want to take the time for things to happen as they wish. I think we have to be patient in this moment as well. This is a moment everybody was waiting, wishing and deserving as well That is linked what the players and also with the supporters who are fall in love with the club. For this reason I think the ideal is try to keep this moment as long as we can. After, naturally, this moment will go. Not put another feeling on this moment that is very special. Maybe, I am so happy in this moment I don’t want to make this moment pass quickly. Any presents? A lot and some of them very special. They come from Argentina. British gifts from all the people I met here. Some anonymous and others more personal, but I thank for all of them. My wife, my daughter and all the more close people to me in Argentina and in those days, this link is bigger. Collective effort to make this happen - Corberan - what did you see in him? I don’t have any responsibility about the election of Carlos in our staff. When I had a meeting in Buenos Aires with Victor and Andrea, Carlos was there as well. Carlos was Orta’s election, agreed by the owner. Accepted by me, even if I didn’t know him. He was very important colleague for us, all the contributions the club did in the human aspect, the club cannot improve this. There are people maybe you don’t know, Rob, Rishi, others who work in the shadows. Adam from the academy. Stix, a big man in the club. Maybe a big man just for him. I know I am talking a lot, but there are a lot of people who made a lot for us in the shadows of the club. The ladies in the kitchen are wonderful people. In this isolation period, my wife couldn’t be here with me, I am living alone now and this lady, Bella [?], once a week used to leave outside his door, one container with very tasty soup. Those things are not linked with the football, but the emotional. It’s a big contribution. I can talk also, in the same way, about Bella’s colleagues. People in the nutrition department, Thorp Arch security, the cleaners when they have everything clean in the isolation period, this was very important. The ground staff, they are artists, if you look at our grounds. The same with every person who works in the club, not just TA, but ER. We didn’t meet them every day, but we received their support as we did at TA. I really need to describe all we get from the club. I tell this story about Bella. Maybe I should not because it’s private, but with every person with us in this club, I could say a story as I did with Bella. When we go to the stadium, the competition always, you don’t know what’s going to happen and the driver of our bus, always he had a way of approaching me with a little gift, with a sweet that this little thing made me feel I wasn’t alone before competition. Another thing I would like to explain, in this moment, where I am high on emotion for the success, enjoying a lot for the joy we have produced. I want to say, it’s not possible to make joy to the supporters, what this creates means is the same as now, but the opposite. That means success creates a lot of joy, like sadness, loss of wish. Those feelings that produce the defeat, so if you keep the sensibility, it’s very hard when you know you are making bad feelings to the supporters. Supporters sometimes don’t understand how hard it is know when you are not making them happy, with losses. Everybody knows the money we earn in our job is too big. Finally, players produce what we receive in money, but I always think the justification of what we earn in this job, that is like fair when you receive if you take into account how hard it is to support when you have a defeat, you lose, and know you are making a lot of people sad. That’s hard and it’s like the club pays you for this. Sometimes you can feel people around football are out fo reality and I don’t know if it is fair to think this connect well to the reality. This links with how difficult it is, this life is failure. Enjoy what you receive materially in money. One example: what Phillips suffered last summer and the joy he experiences now, are not linked with his professional condition. He suffered for the pain he equally suffered. I also suffered. Now he is so happy for the joy he provoked to his people and he also is one of them. To summarise, sometimes you lose sensibility, we use to protect ourselves. Players are guilty when they don’t get what they are looking for. To judge them you might consider how much they suffered when they cannot get success. Now the ideal is a good question to be able to give simple answers. Berardi - want him to stay? Berardi, for all of us, he’s an example. Don’t think the fact I say he is an example, I don’t value his football ability. The 30 minutes he played in the last match was one for the best displays he had in two years. In the social life of the team, he is very important and I imagine Berardi is the person you ask what we should do. Sometimes I considered asking him, when I had doubts. Of course my job is make decisions and I had more doubt than certainty. More than once I had this feeling to take advice from him. What is it like for your family in Argentina? Once a week they share the same stress I feel on the pitch. They are used to this. They have a training to support this. When will you take a break? Tomorrow we finish the competition and start the rest period. Charlton expectations - Bowyer has wine for you They are a tough team. They fight for every moment. I feel gratitude in advance for the congratulations. Do you measure success by joy for supporters or through trophies? Always we are ready to compete. Every time we have an objective, but if we have another objective we can get we make our effort to try and get it. For instance, promotion was one objective and be champions another. Of course, the joy we bring to supporters is important, but both things are linked.

No. You won't find Marcelo Bielsa's best-loved dish In Sant' Angelo's menu. They don't serve shredded beef with grilled potatoes, carrots and pumpkin the way the man likes it: separately, so that the juice doesn't spoil the side dish's crisp. But it doesn't matter. You may come across him in that joyful Italian restaurant located in the main street of Wetherby, the small village where he lives, northern Leeds. He will surely wear his dress suit, the same he wears at work. How many jogging sets are there in Bielsa's wardrobe? Which one will he put on to celebrate Leeds' return to the Premier League, the news that the whole county of Yorkshire longed for 16 years? The same one he wore last October, when he flaunted his grey dress in the club's centenary celebration? Nobody cares about the dress code now in this area of England overwhelmed by happiness. He feels that happiness too, but he reserves it for himself. At long last, sports success knocks on the door of somebody who likes defining himself as "a loser"! His last big achievement had lost its luster through the years: the gold medal in the Olympic Games of Athens 2004, the same year when Leeds were relegated. The extremes meet today. Bielsa spends many hours a day at Thorp Arch. Crédito: Leeds United The Argentinian born in the city of Rosario arrived in Leeds two years ago. The city is witnessing a phenomenon that occurred in most of the teams where Bielsa worked after his professional exile from Argentina in 2007. His figure gradually turned into an object of veneration for the fans of a club deeply rooted in the spirit of the place. "When Leeds United go well, it is not an exaggeration to say that you can feel the change of mood in the city at many different levels. Marcelo has captured not just the fans' imagination, but that of the whole city", wrote the leader of Leeds City Council, Judith Blake, in an e-mail. More details in Spanish version: "Un vecino en jogging: Bielsa, la vida ordinaria de un hombre extraordinario" The manager took up the challenge to rebuild a rusty giant, a football reference that had gone through decades without any big wins. After a terrific start, the team unbelievably failed to win promotion by the end of last season, a frustration that almost made the project collapse. In the last moment of Take us Home -a documentary series premiered by Amazon filmed during the entire season and whose first episode is named "El Loco", in Spanish-, the voice of the actor Russel Crowe explains why the project could go ahead: "Bielsa brought back hope and pride to the club and the city. Owners, directors, players and fans are banded together again. The sleeping giant has awoken and the revolution has just began", says Crowe, in an epic tone. Why are walls painted, sculptures chiseled and beers brewed in his honor? The Catalan journalist Guillem Balagué said there is a decisive element: "The rate of unemployment is high in Leeds (4.3% before the pandemic, more than half a point than the rest of the country), so constituents feel left behind and forgotten. Having somebody who puts the city in the international spotlight makes him iconic, it turns him in something more than a manager". Bielsa talks to his players during a game. Now the Premier League awaits them. Crédito: @LUFC His brother Rafael Bielsa, who suffers and enjoys the progress made by the "master" from Santiago de Chile, drew a comparison: "The sense of belonging is a vital aspect that Marcelo values before accepting an offer. There is a common thread in his choices: Leeds, as well as Newell's, Vélez, Athletic de Bilbao or Olympique de Marseille, transmits identity and engagement". When the adventure began, by mid-2018, Balagué, who lives in London, moved for four days to the north of England to follow the phenomenon closely. This experience led to a podcast broadcast by BBC Radio, where he works. "The documentary made a big impact here. We contributed to spread that powerful image. Supporters are loving life with him. His playing style, with such a suffocating and kamikaze pressure, is something never seen before. It offers a halo of hope to a city that is quite depressed and obsolete". In her office, Black goes further: "We have embraced him as one of us", she underlines. Rural Air Why does he like them? Some time ago, in a press conference, Bielsa employed a mental image to explain why it had been so easy for him to adapt to living in the edges of Leeds, a city with a 793,000 population. "Most of the region is rural, and in my heart I'm a rural man", he described himself, without raising his gaze. When the weather is on his side -there have been almost no rains in this unusual end of the season-, the coach puts on his backpack and hikes from the center of the village to Thorp Arch, the training ground remodeled at the request of Bielsa. On the way to training in Leeds, crossing over to Bielsa and having your picture taken can happen any morning. The tramp goes through a lovely green landscape and takes 50 minutes at a steady pace, all alone. He kindly refuses journalists offers for a lift and supporters' company: he has always liked walking alone, be it in Ezeiza training ground, in the family's countryside in Máximo Paz, in Guadalajara, in Santiago de Chile, in the outskirts of Bilbao, in Marseille or in Lille. Due to the virality of social media, the selfies captured along the rural scene by Leeds' supporters became a real internet sensation: at the forefront stands the occasional fan, Bielsa behind, and an open view in the background. That rural life is childhood itself. His brother recalls family memories: "We would spend our summers in the house of our maternal grandmother, nonna Marina, in Morteros, province of Córdoba, and although it was a village, it was quite rural: the colors, the smells, the silence. When Marcelo decided to become manager of Chile's national team, one day he took a walk through Juan Pinto Durán training ground with Harold Mayne-Nicholls, the president of the Chilean Football Federation, and asked his permission to lodge in there. He pointed towards the Andes and said: "I would never forgive myself missing the opportunity to wake up and go to bed looking at this wonder". The coronavirus, a nervous pause in the road map toward the promotion to the elite division, forced Bielsa to change his beloved ordinary neighbor's lifestyle. His fellow nationals who usually chat in the Facebook group "Argentinos en Leeds" amuse themselves by looking for him in the streets of Wetherby, a wealthy area of 22,000 residents where 9 out of 10 people have central heating at home to overcome chilly winters. In the streets of Wetherby, seeing Bielsa became common. Crédito: Twitter @SimoLUFC6 But, for some months, his sweatshirt didn't turn up anymore on a side table in Costa Coffee, where he has an open monthly account; you couldn't see him pushing his trolley in the supermarket Morrisons any longer; and he wouldn't show up so often in Cooplands, the bakery located in Market Place, the main road. He spent the lockdown mainly isolated in the home where he lives after leaving the luxurious Rudding Park Hotel, where he first lived in England. He watched football, of course, as he did in his early days as manager in his home in Rosario, where he had a structure made to support four TV sets, one beneath the other: a lost battle against his obsession for the ball. How did he get to Wetherby? It's an odd story. Bielsa searched tirelessly until he found what he was looking for: an austere apartment over a shop, in the quiet commercial area of the village. His wife, Laura, spends some months with him during the year, as she splits her time between Leeds and Rosario, their family's hometown. Inés (30) and Mercedes (28), their daughters, have their own agenda in Argentina, and their sporadic visits to Leeds are also an excuse to take a trip to a more appealing tourist destination. "Marcelo doesn't know how to enjoy usual pleasures. He doesn't need more than two bedrooms, a living-room, a good bathroom and not much more than that. With houses, cars, watches, tattoos, clothing. He's old fashioned with all that", confirms his brother. and first admirer. Closed to strangers That small story describes just a part of Bielsa's personality, often celebrated by his adepts, but it doesn't paint the whole picture. Who can go so far, dig into his privacy and know his feelings? Very few. In Thorp Arch, the manager keeps his discipline at work, a high level of demand on the footballers and expects total commitment from his staff. But those walls are impenetrable. It is something learned by any outsider to the cause wishing to establish an informal contact: the head coach's assistants raise barriers right away. A worthy detail to note: during the production of this article, LA NACIÓN asked a former member of Bielsa's staff the list with the names of the current staff members: "I must have the authorization from Marcelo and from them all", was the dry answer. The club's official website doesn't publish the names iether. The pursuit of such simple information is useful to understand the closed-door policy governing the manager's land. Bielsas entrance to Elland Road, a match day. Fuente: Reuters The walls of Bielsa -who will turn 65 next 21 July, a day before Leeds' farewell match of the Championship- are impenetrable even for his hirers. In January 2019, Leeds' owner -the Italian businessman Andrea Radrizzani- only knew a couple of minutes before that Bielsa would respond to the famous episode known as Spygate by delivering a press conference in which he would share the information gathered concerning almost all rivals. The decision of opening his Power Point to the world illustrates the way Bielsa relates to his bosses: he respects his own viewpoint until the end, although that may expose him to unbelievable situations. "We would have preferred that those explanations were kept private", is all that Radrizzani could say then. And they kept on working together. Bielsa's circle of confidence includes two of his compatriots: Diego Flores (Assistant Head Coach), from Córdoba, and Pablo Quiroga (video analyst), from Buenos Aires. Both of them have common characteristics: an unknown past and a profound admiration for a manager they fell in love with at a distance. Flores and Quiroga now hold positions that Eduardo Berizzo and Luis Bonini have held for many years. Besides his specific task, this season Flores acts as Bielsa's translator in press conferences; his boss -who never speaks English in public- corrects him if he's not satisfied with the translated passage. In January, after a defeat, Bielsa said that Leeds had had "twice or three times" more goal-scoring chances than his rival; Flores opted to translate that the chances had been "many more". Error: the manager insisted until his assistant translated as he wished. For him, that minimum nuance was worth a live interruption. A loser who opens minds Obsessed with the precise word and always willing to argue, Bielsa could be at a disadvantage, as he doesn't address the footballers in English. Rafael, his transatlantic goalkeeper, doesn't share that opinion: "He would be at a disadvantage if he was one of those managers who become friends with the players. In that case, speaking the language would be more necessary. During the week, his assistants perform the exercises he planned. During the match, he only gives very simple indications to the players. And for the halftime, crucial for Marcelo, he keeps in mind, with an absolute clarity, what he wants to express to the players, so the translation becomes easier", says Rafael. Balagué, on the other hand, is convinced that an intangible of great value is lost on the way: "Bielsa's speech is interesting enough to attract the supporters and make players reflect, but there is a paradox: the poetry of his words, the way he says it, doesn't affect anybody, except those who understand Spanish". Hasn't his English progressed in these two years? "He understands it and he speaks it, but he is shy. Many speak average English after their third whisky, but the thing is that Marcelo doesn't drink alcohol", says Rafael, with humour. The murals with Bielsas image can be seen around the stadium. That language barrier didn't prevent him from appreciating the values he perceives in his players: "I've mainly worked with British players here, and others are Europeans. They have an understanding of professionalism that I find very attractive", he praised them before getting the promotion. "Some of these players are thinking of becoming managers because of him", observes Balagué. Therein lies, maybe, the main strength of Bielsa's career: his capacity to make players follow him as a master, become passionate about the game and -as shown by so many stories- mirror him when they think about their next steps in the sport. It is not his intention, but he teaches. And sometimes a vocation is born. Wherever he goes, he manages to engage the club -and the city, in many cases- in the project he leads. His legacy is worth more for these intangibles than for the sports achievements. Champion twice in Newell's at the beginning of his career as manager, in Vélez in 1998, and in the cited Olympics in 2004, he is often remembered as the manager of the Argentina national team that was one of the top candidates to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but couldn't even make it through the group stage. That is certainly the frustration that affected him most. Passionate, Bielsa screams in the middle of a game. With Leeds, he won his first title in Europe. The "loser" mask he himself mentions was fueled by the incredible final lost to Brazil in Copa América 2004 -missed by Argentina when it seemed won- and the two finals he couldn't win in 2012 with the Athletic de Bilbao in a period of a month. But these two defeats should be perceived as an asset: the strange thing is that he could have gone so far with a team that, by the time he took charge, lived more on its glorious past rather than on its mediocre present. The same happened in Leeds United. Blake, who has headed the city for five years, praises him to the skies: "It is not just the fantastic football style that the team is playing, or how Marcelo has managed to transform it and get a 10% extra from many players. It's his general approach of football as a whole. He recognizes the importance of fans, and how the game becomes nothing without them. It is his passion, his engagement, his meticulous attention to details, and also his modesty", she acclaims. Mr. Jogging Suit There are habits that Bielsa take with him wherever he goes. For example, living far from the spotlight. Wetherby is practical to go to the training ground, but the drive takes more than half an hour from the village to the centre of Leeds or to Elland Road, the stadium. That's nothing new for him: during the two years he managed Athletic de Bilbao -the European destination that touched him most-, the coach lived with his wife close to the beaches of Getxo, at a 25-minute drive from San Mamés Stadium. Even then, his preference for wearing sports uniforms was his trademark, to the point that the Basque press called him jokingly "Mr. Jogging Suit". Bielsa left Bilbao after a very poor second season, but the memory of all he had given prevailed: the teaching spirit, the unlimited dedication, the identification with a cause that he adopted as his own, the enthusiasm to give back the missed glory to a landmark club. Another common point with the experience in Leeds. Of all the tales that circulate in Bilbao even today -seven years after his farewell-, the most picturesque one is as follows: it is said that one Sunday evening, Bielsa was looking for a place to dine in Getxo and found a light on in a small restaurant. Inside there was just the owner, who was about to close the door. Confronted to the untimely question of the celebrated visitor, the man didn't dare to refuse a table on time grounds. And since that night, the owner waited for him on Sundays, and they would also have dinner together. Nowadays, in the massive stadium inaugurated anew some month after the coach's departure, Athletic Museum visitors can admire, amid hundreds of football shirts. Bielsa's jogging suit! Bielsa is very demanding with the players. Crédito: Leeds United The family picture taken the evening of Leeds' centenary proves that, far from fearing memes (does he by chance know what they are?), the habit turned into a mandate in his mind. 69 people, including the squad, authorities and club legends posed for the pictures: 68 of them wore suits or dinner suits. When did he become a fan of jugging suits? His brother, who spends lockdown in the Argentine official residence in Santiago de Chile waiting to take up position officially as ambassador to that country, believes Marcelo's life took a turn when he was appointed Argentina national team manager, by the end of 1998. "He got rid of suits and blazer suits and turned to jogging suits. It was, as is usually the case with him, a drastic decision", says Rafael. Last year, Leeds won the Fifa Fair Play Award for a gesture ordered by Bielsa: letting Aston Villa score to equalise the goal scored immediately before, when a Villa player was down injured. In September, Bielsa didn't turn up at the luxurious awards ceremony held at the Scala Theater in Milan: it is believed in Leeds that he preferred not to exhibit his costume in such an alien and glamorous environment. The smell of the Premier League Gabriel Sadi is an Argentine university professor who settled in Leeds at the beginning of January. Like millions of people around the world, his plans have been affected by the pandemic, not because he had to stop delivering lectures at the University of Huddersfield -he does it online now-, but because his family couldn't leave their house in Buenos Aires and start up a new life in Yorkshire. As he waits for the storm to pass, Gabriel finds in Bielsa's Leeds a reason to liven up his video call with Tomás, his 7-year-old son. A painkiller for an unexpected anxiety and sadness. Gabriel promised his son they will go together to a Premier League match in Elland Road, when he and his mother, Lili, are able to join him in England. "What I have observed during this time -says the academic to LA NACION from Moortown, his new neighborhood- is that Leeds awakens mixed passions: Argentine-like passion in his supporters, and contempt in other teams. In light of these circumstances, the fact that Bielsa has brough the team back into the spotlight has a double effect: it boosts that feeling, and also the image of hero or guardian angel they have of him". With more than a 30-year career, how much stamina does he have to compete in the level required by the Premier League? "He has a lot of energy. As long as he keeps it, and his mind declines slower than the body, I see him managing for a long time", says Rafael, enthusiastic. Recent experiences show that the second season of the Argentine in a club tends to be worse: the players' enchantment and even initial devotion usually lead to mental burnout due to the ever-demanding level of engagement. But Bielsa could break that trend in Leeds, despite the doubts cast by the club itself on how it was all going to end. The second year ended up being better than the first. "Viva Bielsa": Leeds fans wave a flag at the Elland Road gate. Fuente: AFP Now, having gone a long way as a manager, he approaches an unprecedented development in his career. How about managing for three years in a row in the same team? Not even in Newell's did that happen. Should he need a stimulus, there he has it! But being part of the best league in the world sounds like enough motivation to go on managing. Blake knows where Leeds United is heading for, but she doesn't overlook its past: "We have been out of the Premier League for so long, and we have suffered very turbulent times, inside and outside the football field. After so long, Marcelo has given us real hope and the belief that we can have happy times again and emulate our past glories. Balagué, who In the end is a journalist, is already envisioning the next match: "Can you imagine a duel Bielsa-Guardiola? It will be great!", he predicts. Blake expresses a wish that she feels is shared by the majority of the constituents: "I can say confidently in the name of the city that we hope that Marcelo stays and manages Leeds for a long time. We are very lucky to have him". Who knows, maybe the ultimate incentive for Bielsa to go on writing new chapters in Leeds is hidden in a food recipe. By dint of seeing him sit at a table, perhaps the chef in Sant' Angelo learns to prepare the meat and vegetables according to his taste: all served it in two plates, of course, to keep the crisp. In Sant Angelo, Bielsa usually goes to dinner: it is his favorite restaurant. Crédito: Twitter Translation of Jaime Arrambide. Excellant read.

Happy 65th Birthday to 'El Loco' Marcelo Bielsa.

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CHAMPIONS. The weekend keeps on giving.

Pablo the magician to the rescue. Today showed we have moved up a gear and we can grind out results when playing badly. Not sure how MB has turned this squad around but he will be up there with the great Don and Wilko when he gets us promoted. MOT

Rest in peace. Leeds United are deeply saddened to learn club legend Jack Charlton passed away last night at the age of 85 following a long-term illness. Charlton made a club record 773 appearances for Leeds United over a 23-year period as a player, becoming one of the all-time great central defenders in the game. He joined the club at the age of 15 in 1950 as part of the ground staff, before signing professional terms and was handed a debut against Doncaster Rovers on Saturday 25th April 1953 in a 1-1 draw at Elland Road. ‘Big Jack’ was part of the club’s most successful era to date, first helping win promotion from the Second Division twice, as runners-up in 1955/56 and champions in 1963/64. Following this, he was part of the side which won the League Cup in 1968, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in 1968 and 1971, the First Division in 1968/69, the Charity Shield in 1969 and the FA Cup in 1972. He won his first England cap against Scotland on 10th April 1965 and was part of Sir Alf Ramsay’s England World Cup squad in 1966. With the Three Lions, Charlton played in every match during the 1966 tournament which England went on to win, defeating West Germany 4-2 in the final at Wembley- England’s only World Cup success to date. A year later in 1967, Charlton was named as the Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year. Charlton retired from playing at the end of the 1972/73 season, with his final game coming against Southampton on 28th April 1973. Along with his record total of 773 appearances, Charlton scored 96 times for Leeds, making him the club’s ninth highest scorer in our history. He won a total of 35 caps for England, scoring six goals for his country and was appointed an OBE in 1974. Following his playing career, Charlton went into management, with spells in charge of Middlesbrough, Sheffield Wednesday, Newcastle United and the Republic of Ireland. Charlton’s contribution to the game and Leeds United will never be forgotten. He will remain in football folklore forever and his records at Leeds United are unlikely ever to be surpassed. Naturally, our thoughts are with Jack’s family and friends at this difficult time. A statement from the Charlton family said: Jack died peacefully on Friday 10 July at the age of 85. He was at home in Northumberland, with his family by his side. As well as a friend to many, he was a much-adored husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. We cannot express how proud we are of the extraordinary life he led and the pleasure he brought to so many people in different countries and from all walks of life. He was a thoroughly honest, kind, funny and genuine man who always had time for people. His loss will leave a huge hole in all our lives but we are thankful for a lifetime of happy memories. Rest in peace Jack Charlton 8th May 1935 - 10th July 2020 Another Legend gone R I P Jack.

This is a Fulham fans thoughts on Saturdays game:- Fulham hadn’t lost a Championship meeting against Leeds United since March 2015, drawing 5 and winning 2. With good omens on our side in that respect, we were anticipating a spirited reaction after falling short of the mark against Brentford, but we were eventually force fed the usual tripe as Marcelo Bielsa’s table-toppers proved our spinelessness on Sky Sports. I’ll ignore those saying “it definitely wasn’t a 3-0 game”, because it was, unmistakably, a stone walled 3-0 loss. The Bees exposed faults and Leeds drove a whacking great wedge through our chances of gracing the automatics. Even if we do miraculously make the cut, we won’t be deserved of it. This isn’t a sullen, pouting smear session, it’s fact. Fulham is nowhere near ready for a return to the Premier League, not with Scott Parker in charge. We’ve still wounds to lick after the last time we were defaced in the top-flight and now we’ve got to come to terms with another incriminating loss at the mercy of a side that are genuine candidates. I’ll take a few tears now instead of a torrential outburst next year, when we’re completely out of our depth and hung by the boxer shorts. I love our club, but enough is enough. Writing Off Promotion From back to front, top to bottom along with all the detrimental bits in between, Fulham are not ready for promotion and we aren’t even worthy of a place in the Play-Offs at this rate. What we saw, again, was an adverse performance from the Whites but now I’m not even surprised, our abject approach has become an expectation, and we’ve only been back in business a fortnight. Clinging onto the ropes, still bruised from the weekend before, Leeds landed a substantial blow to Fulham’s faltering fight for distinction. Picture it and be realistic, if we were to return to the big-time next term, surrounded by the tactical cream of the professional platform, we would be lured into the beast’s lair and mauled, senselessly. We’ve players that are pathetically despondent, a so-called manager that doesn’t have or understand the concept of a surefire strategic system and we’ve been mugged of our ambition, decency and dignity. I must stress, this isn’t an instant knee-jerk reaction, we’ve been markedly average since the start of the campaign and I’ve next to no confidence in the camp. Maybe it’s far too soon for us to seriously consider our future in the top-flight – I personally believe we need at least another year in the second division to really establish our identity once more, because we’re nothing more than a faceless nonentity in the present day, waiting for another hard lesson to come our way. Two games in after Covid-19 halted proceedings and I can’t identify improvements or rectifications, all I recognise is passive, unassertive subservience. There’s still a lot of football to play and numerous obstacles to navigate, but in the space of 180 minutes, we’ve been stripped of our dignity and robbed of our credibility as a significant contender. Penetration Beats Possession Bielsa, as we know, is regarded as one of the game’s most demanding, innovative masterminds. Revered for his hard-hitting, energetic philosophy, Leeds are without question the Championship’s fittest outfit and it really showed against Parker’s deficient collective. Where Fulham laboured in vain to pass the hosts off the pitch with innocuous sequences across the lower regions of the park, Leeds cancelled out any semblance of an even top of the table clash with devastatingly incisive counter attacks. Penetration, for that matter, definitely beats possession, hands down. We’ve been found out. Brentford compounded our weakness in retreat and so did Leeds, it was an almost carbon copy assault on our creaky back four. The 5 goals we’ve hopelessly conceded since resuming the season have arisen along our left, with Joe Bryan being the weak link. Parker wants Bryan to push on and support our offensive line, I get that, but it leaves us wide open for a pasting once we lose custody of the ball. Bryan is an awful defender at best, but with no cover on the left, we’re our own worst enemy. We openly invite pressure with our predictability, we’re not fortified or equipped to stamp out the slightest inkling of trouble and Saturday highlights just how vulnerable we are. At one point, Fulham held 65% possession but for what? We’re not well drilled or efficient, we’re terrified of losing the ball because when we do, we’re oblivious and pregnable. Leeds presented a faultless tutorial on the break and they weren’t even that impressive, at all. They were slack on the ball, irrational in constricting possession, but they still made a conclusive mockery of our inferior tendencies in every department. Let’s not forget, we have pace, we have power, we have ingenuity, we have vision but as for a cutting edge? A sharpness to our offensive procedure? Impotent, is how I’d put it, a floppy, languid disappointment. “Bielsa ball” isn’t necessarily attractive, but it’s progressive. Parker’s programme is engaging for the best part of 30 seconds, then the thick top layer of concealer rubs off to unveil its hideously tired complexion. All talk, no trousers, mutton dressed as lamb, we’ve been catfished. Harrison Versus Harry Deployed at the base of our midfield as a supposedly solid double pivot, it soon became clear that only half of that partnership was up to the requisite standard. To my left, we have a sturdy, robust, durable competitor in Harrison Reed and to my right, we have a petulant, temperamental, volatile numbskull in Harry Arter. Who’s your money on? On paper, idealistically, Reed and Arter should be dynamic Championship duo but for that to work effectively, the work load has to be shared equally – it wasn’t. Reed was a bright spark centrally, busting a gut to disrupt Leeds on the parameter of our 18-yard box and initiating controlled (albeit futile) spells on the ball. The 25-year-old was outstanding, a majestic enforcer within a grossly mediocre outfit, straying from the task at hand was an absurdity. Arter, in stark contrast, chased shadows that weren’t even there and was a defective hindrance to our already outfought game plan, as per. One’s a Southampton loanee, turfed out of St. Mary’s to gain vital experience and the other’s presumed to be a versed Premier League contender, masquerading as a fully-fledged Republic of Ireland international. The gulf in quality between the two is simply staggering. In all fairness, though, Reed and Arter did begin proceedings positively, but as soon as Arter basically dished up an assist for Leeds’ 9th-minute opener, his head virtually exploded. One error set the tone for the remainder of his afternoon alongside Reed, who remained calm and composed throughout. Which of the two is meant to lead by example? Reed, who’s still learning his trade or Arter, who’s experience at this level should shine through bleak mistakes. Parker must be copping off with his brother-in-law, I can’t see any other reason why he’d start the sulky 30-year-old otherwise. If Arter starts against Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday, I’ll be chucking limbs at drywall. Mitro’s Flying Elbow Aleksandar Mitrovic rocked up to Elland Road with a fresh trim, a bonce plucked directly from Tom Cairney’s stylist, but his slick new look didn’t do him any favours, let’s be honest. Mitro’ hasn’t found his shooting boots and his frustration boiled over in the early stages, after maliciously elbowing Ben White in the chops. Fortunately for the spiteful Serbian, Tony Harrington didn’t see the incident as it happened, but he could face retrospective action, and that’s exactly what he deserves. Steve McClaren evidently detests the hot-headed striker – perhaps he tapped the Mrs – but he’s spot on about his vicious inclination. If we’ve any hope, we have to keep our discipline in the face of adversity and if Mitro’ is to be slapped with a lengthy ban, we’re well and truly shafted. He hasn’t hit the target, he’s been stranded, shackled, but we are not in a position where we can go without his industry up top. We don’t have any other options that even come close to matching his presence. Aboubakar Kamara’s a handful, yes, but his recent absence is troubling. He’s seemingly vanished from Parker’s plans, and that doesn’t bode well for his standing in the club’s pecking order. Mitro’ stung the palms of Illan Meslier, he nodded inches wide from a corner, but he isn’t firing on all cylinders. We count on the 25-year-old so heavily to change games, to be an inspirational spark and maybe that’s distracting him in front of the target. The burden of expectation, recognising he’s our main source of goals, that has to take its toll at some point, right? I’m sure that once he finds the back of the net again, a flurry will follow, but it’s a matter of when and indeed how. He isn’t getting the service he desires and he’s being systematically marked out of games, nullifying his deadly impact in promising zones. He’s a ticking time bomb and now, more than ever, he has to channel his energy for better, not worse. Anyone Seen Cairney? Returning to his formative stomping ground to face his boyhood club, Tom Cairney was a muted element at Elland Road, with very little effect on the game. Off the pace and held hostage by Kalvin Phillips’ midfield insurgents, TC fizzled out and showed no signs of recovering. This is all too familiar, we’ve encountered this before, Cairney’s devoid of confidence and we’re paying the price for it. Can’t be a good thing, can it? Our skipper, at the business end of the campaign where everything is there for the taking, is flatter than witch’s tit. He toils through periods where his poise is rock bottom, a shadow of his potential self, and we rely on his creative flair, just as much as we depend on Mitro’s potency. When he’s running cold, so do the Whites. He couldn’t lodge a firm foothold on Saturday afternoon and he was caught out far too regularly. That isn’t our resident metronome out there, that’s an impostor, a pretender and if he, of all people, isn’t gunning for a last-gasp push for automatic promotion, who are we fooling? He’s been here before in his career, he’s tasted bitter defeat and sweet success at this stage of the campaign but his mind is obviously elsewhere. ‘Aubs FC’ and all that, but I reckon fatherhood is definitely consuming his attention to detail at the office. After spending quality time with the nipper on a daily basis, going back to work must’ve really thrown his routine. Perhaps he doesn’t care that much anymore, could it be that he realises this season’s been particularly underwhelming, along with the rest of us? I’m praying that isn’t the case, but I haven’t been bowled over by his relentless work-rate and application, so I’m guessing he’s already admitted defeat.

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Tom Jennings: The Raith Rovers hero with a voice for opera who became a record-breaker in English football He was the shipwrecked Raith Rovers football hero who was “probably the best Scottish striker never to play for his country”. Tom Jennings made 196 appearances and scored 127 goals at Stark’s Park before going on to break scoring records in England including a straight hat-trick of hat-tricks in the English First Division with Leeds United. White Hart Lane Jennings was Leeds’ first goal machine and the pre-war phenomenon is still the club’s fourth highest goalscorer of all time, behind Elland Road legends Peter Lorimer, John Charles and Allan Clarke. Tom Jennings, a Leeds United player that deserves greater recognition. Better goals to game ratio than Charles, Lorimer and Clarke. 117 goals in 174 appearances. A hat-trick in three successive matches, 35 goals in one season. 3rd highest ever league goalscorer for #lufc pic.twitter.com/SmGjH7Dcg3 — clive howard miers (@clivemiers) April 27, 2020 He might have scored even more if he had not suffered with attacks of blood poisoning. Jennings was born in 1902 in Strathaven and made his name with Cadzow St Annes, a junior football team from Hamilton in Lanarkshire. His progress was not unnoticed and in 1919 he was invited down to London for a trial with Tottenham Hotspur but nothing materialised and he signed for Raith Rovers in January 1921. He made his Raith Rovers debut in the Jock Rattray benefit match on the day he signed and his performance was good enough to retain his place when four days later they played Aberdeen in a league game. Raith won the match 1-0 with Jennings scoring in front of a crowd of 8,500 and he went on to become a first-team regular. In all, he started 23 games from January 1921 and scored nine goals before he made 44 appearances the following season that would turn out to be the team’s greatest-ever final league position when they finished third behind Celtic and Rangers. Jennings scored 25 in all games including the only goal of the game against Rangers at Ibrox and his first ever senior hat-trick which was away from home against Clydebank in a 5-0 win. As one of the leading teams in Scotland, Rovers were invited to tour Denmark where they played three matches in Copenhagen which was the start of the team going on foreign tours. Shipwrecked in Spain In season 1922-23, Jennings played 42 games and scored 18 goals and Raith finished the season in ninth place before the team famously became shipwrecked on Scottish football’s most bizarre pre-season tour. They took up the offer to play a handful of friendly matches on the Canary Islands but problems arose in the Bay of Biscay on the Sunday morning during a violent storm when the captain of the passenger ship struck rocks off the Spanish coast. Many passengers were still in bed when the command was made to don lifebelts and abandon ship and the team spent three days of “trials and difficulties” before they finally reached the Canary Islands where they played in the middle of wire-clad bullrings. Jennings was the top scorer during the tour and was also the stand-out performer in the hotel bar in Las Palmas during the tour when his team-mates suggested he was good enough to join the Carl Rosa Opera Company. Club captain Bill Inglis sent a telegram home to The Courier from the Hotel Metropole following the performance by Jennings and chairman Mr Adamson. “They have a casino here but it was closed down a fortnight before we arrived,” he said. “I understand that someone had gambled away a fortune that didn’t belong to him and the new governor of the island had it closed down, at least for the time being. “Two days ago we had a smoking concert organised by a native of Edinburgh, Mr Kelly by name, who officiated at the piano. “Our chairman, Mr Adamson, sang ‘My Old Shako’ and ‘Tommy Lad’. “The big successes of the evening were our hidden talent, Tom Jennings and Mr Stewart, who is travelling with us on a holiday. “Tommy gave us ‘The Rosary’ and some of the boys suggested that he should be with Carl Rosa.” Raith Rovers club historian John Greer said it was “incredible” that Jennings never received international recognition despite his goal-getting exploits. He said: “He then continued his scoring run going into the 1923-24 Scottish League Division One championship and on October 6 1923, he scored four goals in a 6-1 win at Stark’s Park against Third Lanark in front of a crowd of 7,000. “At the end of the season, it was reported that Millwall made an offer of £50,000 for the whole of the Raith Rovers’ forward line of Bell, Miller, Jennings, James and Archibald. “In Tom Jennings’ last season with Raith Rovers he played 23 games and scored 23 goals, scoring two further hat-tricks. “Tom had seen Rovers’ players David Morris and Bill Collier both capped by Scotland and other team-mates transferred to clubs in England. “When that season, Sheffield Wednesday played Leicester City both team captains were former Raith players, Bill Inglis and John Duncan. Reluctantly sold “On the 20th of March 1925, Tom Jennings was reluctantly sold to Leeds United for £3,000 which was quite a return for the £10 that Raith Rovers had paid to his junior club for his services four years earlier.” Here's my offering for @RuaridhKilgour #RetroChallenge @RaithRovers 54 shirts with some more since pic.twitter.com/fVxZZQ7vpi — John Greer (@johnhngreer) April 4, 2020 “LEEDS UNITED SECURE A CRACK CENTRE – ONE OF THE BEST IN THE SCOTTISH LEAGUE”, was how the Yorkshire Evening Post reported the signing of Jennings on the back page. A correspondent in Glasgow sent a telegram to the newspaper in which he claimed Jennings was regarded as one of the cleverest centre-forwards in Scotland and his wonderful knowledge of the game and everything he did made him a master craftsman. Jennings was the first player to sign for Leeds directly from Scotland and scored his first goal against Liverpool at Elland Road. By the end of a campaign, in which Leeds largely struggled, Jennings had scored three goals in 10 games whilst his partner Russell Wainscoat got four in nine. The following season he scored 26 goals in England’s top flight including his first hat-trick in United colours against Arsenal in February 1926. Leeds escaped relegation by a single point despite his goals. Jennings continued to score goals in a struggling team and they were finally relegated in the 1926-27 season. Jennings appeared on the matchday programme when Leeds celebrated turning 100. He scored 35 times including 22 goals in just 14 games between September 4 and November 20 which included a hat-trick against Arsenal at Elland Road. A week later he went one better by scoring four at Anfield in a win over Liverpool. Another four-goal haul followed when Blackburn Rovers were thrashed at Elland Road, making it three hat-tricks in three games. This was the first time in the history of top flight football, in England, that this magnificent feat had been achieved. Jennings remained at the club and fired Leeds back into the top flight at the first attempt. He scored 21 times over a season in which he suffered from blood poisoning which restricted him to just 51 games over the next three seasons. Curtain call His final Leeds United goal came in his 170th appearance, at home to Sheffield Wednesday, which was the 117th time that he had put the ball in the net in a Leeds shirt. Jennings left Elland Road in June 1931 to join Chester City where he continued to break scoring records. He officially scored Chester’s first ever Football League goal in a 1–1 draw with Wrexham in September 1931. Also on this day in 1932, Tom Jennings, the Chester centre-forward, scored FIVE goals against the sorry Saddlers in our Third Division North clash. We lost 5-1 but soon gained our revenge as we trounced Chester 5-0 the following year. Anyone attending games in 1932?? — Saddlers Stats (@saddlersstats) January 30, 2019 Although Chester had beaten Wigan Borough 4-0 four days earlier, the result was deleted after Wigan resigned from the Football League in October 1931. Later in the season he scored Chester’s first Football League hat-trick, when he scored all the club’s goals in a 5–1 win over Walsall in January 1932. He later managed Bangor City, who he joined in 1933, and Third Lanark from 1934 until he resigned in 1938. Jennings fought in the Second World War and his return to Europe – well over a decade after he was shipwrecked in Spain – appears to have been just as dramatic. There were reports at the time from a newspaper in Chester which suggested he spent a few years in a German prisoner of war camp after being captured by the Nazis. Love affair Marc Bracha who runs the Leeds United nostalgia site Sheridan Dictates said: “In today’s football, there would be no way Leeds would have been able to keep hold of their deadly marksman following relegation but the love affair was not about to end. “Jennings remained at the club and fired Leeds back into the top flight at the first attempt. “Incredibly, the master craftsman never received international recognition during his career but despite that, the man signed from Raith Rovers was box-office. “His exploits of 117 goals in 174 games makes him the fourth highest Leeds goal scorer of all time, behind Peter Lorimer, John Charles and Allan Clarke.” Jennings time at Leeds was celebrated when his picture was on the front of the match programme to celebrate the club’s centenary. The Elland Road club described Jennings as “probably the best Scottish striker never to play for his country”. Jennings was the great-uncle of Sheila Stewart and she said the family are hugely proud of his achievements in football. “Tom was one of nine children and he was from a very musical family,” said Sheila, who is originally from Nairn, but now lives in Glasgow. “I first met him in April 1967 when Aberdeen got to the Scottish Cup Final. “I supported Aberdeen and I was going through to Hampden and I remember my mum told me to get in touch with my Uncle Tommy. “He was working at the time as a sportswriter with the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail alongside Jerry Dawson who was the former Rangers goalkeeper. “I went to the Daily Record office and I discovered he was a classic, nice, warm Glasgow man and we had a really good chat. “He gave me tickets for the press box for the cup final and did the same when Aberdeen reached the final again a few years later. “My family never really talked about Tom’s football achievements and it was only 10 years ago that I discovered what a career he enjoyed in the game.” Huge source of pride She said the family is hugely proud of his legacy and those stories have now been passed down through the generations to keep his memory alive. “He gave so much pleasure to the fans of Raith and Leeds and that’s a source of huge pride,” she said. “Just as important is what kind of man he was. “We’ll never forget him.” Jennings, who was married to Jean and stepfather to Pam, died in Johnstone in July 1973 at the age of 71. He still had a broad Scottish accent despite all his years in England.

From the BBC Football website:- Scottish clubs have been asked if they would be in favour of a 14-10-10-10 league set-up after plans by Hearts and Rangers failed to get enough support. When Hearts were relegated after the Premiership was curtailed, owner Ann Budge proposed the current 12-10-10-10 set-up be changed to three leagues of 14 teams for next season. Rangers suggested they and Celtic field 'B' teams in the bottom tier of a 14-14-18 format, but an expanded top flight is now the only option after clubs gave their views to the SPFL. If implemented, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer would be spared relegation and Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers - the champions of the Lowland and Highland League respectively - would be admitted to League Two. Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who finished second in the Championship, would join the top flight and Falkirk would replace them in the second tier with Edinburgh City then moving up to League One. All 42 clubs have been asked to inform the SPFL by 10:00 BST on Monday if they would support the change, which is expected to be permanent. If there is enough consensus then a formal vote would have to take place at an extraordinary general meeting. At that stage, 17 of the 22 clubs in the Premiership and Championship would need to vote in favour for the plans to pass, and 32 from all four divisions combined. The Premiership season is due to start on the 1 August with clubs free to return to training from Thursday.

The Championship season is set to resume on 20 June, more than three months after it was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The EFL said the date was "provisional" and "subject to the strict proviso that all safety requirements and government guidance is met". There are 108 matches remaining, plus the play-off semi-finals and final. No Championship fixtures have been played since 8 March, with the campaign suspended five days later.

From the BBC Football website:- Hearts owner Ann Budge says "philanthropists" have approached her offering millions of pounds to help lower-league clubs as she expressed her frustration with the SPFL. Budge admits her discussion paper on league reconstruction is doomed to fail, adding: "A number of clubs won't be able to play next season." She says the league has been unhelpful over the offer of financial help. "I'm being asked to put it in writing. It's a nonsense," she said. "It's not quick enough, it's not decisive enough." Describing the offer of help for Scotland's lower-league clubs as "an amazing philanthropic gesture", believed to be worth millions of pounds with no conditions, the businesswoman continued: "They know me because of Hearts. "What they're saying is, 'We would like to help Scottish football', and I can't even get that moving." Budge said that the SPFL's response to the offer was to ask her to "put a paper in and they will discuss it next week". She said: "I'm offering them money! Not my money. I don't think it should be for me to say, 'Here's a pot of money, this is how I think it should be spent'. "This is what is frustrating me more than anything. We are not addressing the right problems at all and people aren't armed with all of the information." As things stand, Hearts will be playing in the Championship next season, having been relegated in bottom spot when the Premiership was called with eight games remaining. "The inherent unfairness of it is why I'm still talking about it," said Budge, who reiterated that legal action is her least favoured option to address what she sees as the Tynecastle club being wronged by their relegation. "I put forward a paper which I want to be viewed as a discussion document. "I'm not precious at all about 14-14-14. What I want to progress is the discussions. We need to start the dialogue. I feel like we have been treading water for weeks and nothing is happening." Responding to claims by the likes of Ross County chairman Roy MacGregor that her proposal is fuelled by self-interest, Budge said: "If it hadn't been Hearts there, no, I might not have been fighting so hard but I can assure you I would have been voting for change. "If I go right back to 15 March, I wrote to the SPFL and said we need to look at this so that clubs don't suffer. What I got back was a letter that basically said, 'Yes, if you would like to do the work and tell us what articles need changed, we'll look at it'. "That is not what I expect from the governing body. I expect them to take more leadership. "I should not be the one who's trying to come up with some solution. I and many others can see a tsunami coming towards us. Certain clubs cannot play behind closed doors. Other clubs don't want to for business reasons. "Everybody knows we have to make a change. Let's make a change proactively rather than waiting for clubs getting into difficulty. It's a nonsense." Budge says that manager Daniel Stendel now "technically does not have a contract," but stopped short of confirming the German will leave the club.

They changed the date from the 29th Feb to the 19th March if i remember right.

If your weekly paid then you have to have paid a minimum of three weeks wages before you can claim. All claims are in arrears as HMRC will check your claim against the weekly RTI submission. Next friday is the third payroll for my company so the next claim will be done online and all being well the following Wednesday payment will be made into the company bank account.

A very rare Lee Chapman interview:- https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/lee-chapman-leeds-united-1990-promotion-bournemouth-howard-wilkinson-2848981

Sudden heart attack going by reports. RIP Trevor.

28 years ago today in a remarkable game at Bramell Lane Leeds won 3-2 to go 4 points clear of Man Utd who had to win at Liverpool or Leeds were crowned Champions, Liverpool won 2-0 so Leeds were the last ever 1st Division Champions. https://video.leedsunited.com/video?playlist=aHR0cHM6Ly9sZWVkc3VuaXRlZC1jbS5zdHJlYW1hbWcuY29tL2FwaS92MS9hZmY3NDdiYy0xYmNkLTQyZGYtOWQ2Yi01NDBhNTcyYzY4MTYvM2djNEpaaFpvVVpqaGNUWEs0TjlHWU5xOFJwd0JvbTdBczE5UDVGY2VLTFc3OUJ3cnYvMTA1MzVkNDEtMGVjMC00NDViLWIxMWEtMTE4YTdlNjgyYmEwL2VuL2ZlZWQvMDJhMzk0ODktZGUxNS00YTkwLTk1MjQtNWM1ZDc3YmJiYmRhL3NlY3Rpb25zLz9zZWN0aW9uPWE4ODUzMWEzLTI0ZjYtNGJiMi1hNzBkLWY5MTIzNzAxODc5NSZwYWdlU2l6ZT04&entry=0_4aws673s

From the OS:- Jon Howe: Norman Hunter- A Leeds United life Weekly column. “What a life…….what a great time we’ve had.” The wistful words of Norman Hunter as he described his life in football and how he and ex-team-mate and valued friend Eddie Gray often looked back on it. As always, Norman meant what he said and didn’t mince his words. It was an honest and convincing picture he painted, not skewed by bitterness at the riches footballers now earn or the celebrity parapet status they now experience, but an earnest appreciation that he had enjoyed a lifetime of security, love and belonging from being on the Leeds United staff from the age of 15 ½ onwards. And he earned every second of it. Such a humility and a fundamental human warmth is at odds with Norman’s public profile. To the wider world he was the cold, cynical and calculating face of a football machine that won no friends, but inside that Leeds United bubble there were deep connections; sincerity, comradeship and a commitment to win together, whatever it took. Once you have that, there is no better place to be, and Norman existed in that ring-fenced pocket of cordiality his whole life. This dichotomy of public perception never left Norman Hunter. Even his name provided a narrative which perfectly described the contrast his existence embodied. ‘Norman’ portrayed a typical Northern conviviality; someone who exuded comfort, tenderness and kind-heartedness. ‘Hunter’ portrayed a scheming predator who prowled the football pitch with menace. So to us he was ‘Norman’ and to the rest of the world he was ‘Hunter’. And once you are within that Leeds United world, it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks. Norman understood that from an early age and it is an intangible power which helped forge the kind of life he would later describe. But beneath all the rancour, the mud-caked combat, the sliding tackles and the veil of intimidation, there was a mutual respect between Norman and his opponents; then and now. The tributes that have poured in from opposing clubs, opposing players, celebrity football fans and rank and file supporters demonstrate that the cartoon hard man image was just that; a convenient identity. It may have been something he couldn’t shake off, even if he wanted to, but underneath all that, everyone knew he was a great footballer, with a great attitude, and someone you wanted with you, not against you. Norman Hunter was the ultimate professional. This schizophrenic mainstream personality is born from the fact that Norman would leave everything on the pitch; not just his blood, sweat and tears and every last sinew of energy, not just a clear conscience that there were ‘no regrets’ in how he had performed, but he would leave his specialist identity too. Off-the-pitch he was Norman, sharing a beer and a laugh with players he was kicking lumps out of half an hour earlier. That is a fearsome commitment to winning. That’s what builds respect. That’s what wins you the first ever PFA Players’ Player Award in 1973/74. That’s what wins you 28 England caps and a place in two World Cup squads in 1966 and 1970. That was no accident and wasn’t built merely on a one-dimensional devotion to hurting people and winning a psychological war, there is far more to Norman Hunter’s legacy. From making his debut as a 19-year-old in September 1962 in a famous game versus Swansea Town, Norman was a model of consistency and a manager’s dream. And this was immediate. He made 41 appearances in that same breakthrough season. He didn’t play less than 40 games in a single campaign until 1975, in fact he played over 50 games for nine seasons running. He played every major cup final for Leeds United from 1965 to 1975; the only player from Revie’s great team to do so. Given the fearless and often reckless manner in which Norman approached every minute of every game, it is a testament to his endurance and his iron-will that he never suffered the injuries that befell so many of his comrades. If a manager knows he is guaranteed that level of service from a player over such a length of time, it is no surprise they become an invaluable commodity. But add to that a fearsome will to win and you have the complete player. In this era, Leeds United would travel behind the Iron Curtain and embark in backs-to-the-wall hostilities with unknown opponents in unfamiliar lands. Carrying the ‘Leeds United’ name in foreign fields, miles from home and away from the cossetted bosom of Elland Road, you needed people like Norman Hunter. This made Leeds United feared in Europe, it made Leeds United’s name for the rest of us to take on. And you can’t create that kind of mentality, you are born with it. Norman was a winner and if he didn’t win it hurt him. He wanted to win matches, he wanted to win sprints on Fullerton Park. He wanted to be the first to the café after training for Sausage sandwiches, he wanted to be first to the bar to get a round in, he wanted to win at carpet bowls in the pre-match lounge. Not because it mattered, but because he was a competitor. Norman saw a target and went for it. And he would always get it. And that’s who you want on your side. Winning was everything, but Norman also valued what being part of ‘Leeds United’ meant. He loved turning up for training with his mates every day and running around in the fresh air, just as much as he loved talking about his playing days to people he’d never met, and kicking every ball on the gantry commentating on or simply watching the Leeds United team of today. That’s a Leeds United life. Many people have referenced the unbearable sadness of the unique circumstances in which Norman’s passing occurred. But Norman was never alone. He knew his family and friends still surrounded him, and he knew the thousands of Leeds United fans that loved him. It feels like Norman Hunter has been around forever. It feels like we all knew him, it feels like we were all friends with him. And that’s why this outpouring of emotion is so widespread. If you ever met Norman you will have been left with a warm glow. If you didn’t, it was exactly how you imagined it. So keep on imagining it. We can still feel that warm glow now, because Norman is still here; indelibly dyed into Leeds United’s fabric. This club will fulfil Norman Hunter’s dream of promotion in his name, because he was a winner and as old friends we owe him that; to celebrate a life well led. And you’re right Norman, what a life it was.

Don Revie’s Norman Hunter tribute. Writing in Norman Hunter’s 1974-75 testimonial programme, legendary manager Don Revie left the following tribute to the great man... ‘Norman Hunter is one of the world’s top footballers- possibly one of the greatest players ever. I used that particular sentence last season when I was talking about Billy Bremner, another one of those superb Leeds players without whom the club would not have been able to chalk up so much consistent success in the last decade. I feel, you see, just the same way about Norman. It makes it very difficult to know where to start when you sit down and write about a player and character like him. It is one thing in football to have that star quality which makes you stand head and shoulders above the rest. It is quite another to have the personal magnetism and leadership that are inestimable qualities in all the game’s great players. Norman Hunter came into Leeds United’s first team some thirteen years ago now... but I remember it well. It was in the days soon after I had taken over as manager. The club were in the Second Division and fighting hard to stay there. Elland Road itself was not the ground you see today. If anyone outside the club had talked in terms of all that’s happened in that decade, you would have thought him a dreamer – a romancer. But it did happen... and one of those reasons it happened was because a man named Norman Hunter was wearing the number six shirt. In 1961 I made the transition from player to manager. In our junior ranks then were a couple of players whose early development was poles apart. A young red-haired Scotsman called Billy Bremner had already won his way into the first team as an outside right. The other was Norman Hunter. But it was a Norman you just wouldn’t recognise today.  His track suit hung on him because he was so thin. He’d been playing at outside left and inside left, but in truth, had hardly blossomed between the ages of 15 and 17. Even so, I was struck by his keenness to work hard and try to impress. It is often the case in this game that when star schoolboy players join a professional club they take time to adjust and often don’t make rapid progress in their first couple of years. But it was always our motto at Leeds to give them another chance... to keep them on for a while longer before deciding whether or not to retain them. So here we had a youngster of 17 from the North-East, obviously willing to learn and even over-eager to try and make the grade. He used to come back every afternoon for extra training to try and improve his bad points. I remember that he was never particularly strong in the air but the thing was, he was working hard to try and compensate. I took over as manager on a Friday... the following Monday morning I called young Norman Hunter into the office. He was probably expecting to be told the saddest of all decisions – that we were not going to keep him. But Norman’s eagerness and dedication had impressed us. Instead of letting him go, we signed him as a professional. It was the spur, the confidence boosting jolt that he needed. We converted him into a left half and, just two years later, I was telling everyone that this boy would play for England one day. It turned out that I was right.  Norman made tremendous strides and, still working overtime at improving, won his way permanently into the first team at the time we were just starting to assemble a young side. The rest is history of course... how we climbed out of Division Two in 1963-64 and finished second in Division One the following season. And from then on, honour after honour both at home and abroad. As I look back on those years I realise how fortunate I was to have the Norman Hunters’ battling it out for the club in the heat of domestic competitions and European finals. The playing records of those players at Leeds will surely never be surpassed. Norman Hunter... 500 games in Football League which have brought a Second Division Championship medal, First Division Championship and runners-up medals... 60 plus FA Cup ties which include four Wembley finals... close on 40 League Cup ties, a Wembley final... more than 70 European games including four finals. That sort of record is still hard to believe but tangible evidence of the player that is Norman Hunter. So what about Norman Hunter, the footballer? For me, he’s the best sweeper that’s ever lived... and if you think that’s an over estimation, name another player who’s won so much and played so well in the past. Many people probably think that all you need to be a good number six is an ability to tackle fairly well and good positional sense. Not true. Great players have more than that... and Norman Hunter is a great player. Norman’s reading of games, his ability to assess situations and dangerous attacks sets him out from the rest. He covers his colleagues with absolute authority... he patrols his area flawlessly because he seems to be able to sense when dangerous situations are going to develop. We often used to think he’d been born with a sixth sense... he used to nip potentially dangerous situations in the bud so often that they never developed at all. A timely tackle, a brilliant interception... that’s part of the Norman Hunter game. And what about his tackling... the facet of his game that has brought that totally unjustified tag of ‘hard man’? Tackling, like goalscoring and goalkeeping, like control in the midfield is a specialised art. I have yet to see a more perfect tackler than Norman Hunter. Anticipation is part of the art of tackling... but the ability to win the ball cleanly is also of prime importance. Norman does both of these so easily it’s no effort. To those who say his tackles leave a lot to be desired I would say that a Norman Hunter tackle is perfection. He wins the ball cleanly, his timing is that of a 21 jewel Swiss watch. It seems no effort when Norman wins the ball. People would say he uses his physique rather than his feet in tackles... that’s not true. One of the hardest things to do in football is win the ball cleanly and keep it under control. If you can do that, you can do almost anything. Norman Hunter has been doing just that for the last 10 years. Norman Hunter has seldom made headline news because of the position he plays. It’s not often you read about defenders. A hungry public would rather read about the hot shots and ace goalscorers. But defensive skills are equally important. It’s said of Norman that he is one-footed... in a sense he is because so perfect is that left foot that he never needs to use his right. But he can... and a telling right foot pass from Norman Hunter has often taken opponents completely unawares.  Ask any member of the Leeds United training staff about Norman Hunter. They will tell you what a fantastic job he’s done for the club over the years. Until this season, he’d only ever missed five games through injury – and what a record that is! He’s played with swollen ankles, with pulls, with colds, with his legs black and blue. He’s turned out with knocks, with strains, with cuts. He’s had just about every normal match injury any player could have. But so determined is Norman that never once has he said he’s unfit. Norman is a player any manager would give a king’s ransom to have on his staff... the sort of player you dream about. As manager of Leeds, I knew that every season I would get 55 great games out of Norman Hunter and only five matches when he was just superb! He thinks deeply about the game and is totally involved in his job out there on the field. I always remember how, if he’d made a mistake that led to a goal even though we probably won by two or three clear goals, he would always be the last man in the dressing room still looking upset about it. That is perfection. I find it somewhat sad that Norman has never been given full credit for his enormous skill. He’s always been prepared in his role at Leeds to win the ball then gave it to a colleague to build up moves. Only in the last two or three years have people started to sit up and take notice of his skills when he gives them full reign. He’s not only a great defender and winner of the ball – but a great passer too. I always used to say his left foot was so accurate, he could open a can of beans with it. Well, take a look when he uses his right – it’s capable of doing a lot more than just being stood on. Someone once said of Norman Hunter that if he had to tell a lie to save his life, his head would fall. That is another side of him... his warmth and honesty as a man. I don’t think he’s ever told a lie in his life. Norman Hunter is the most honest person I’ve ever met. And he has a competitive spirit I’ve never seen before. If you play him at anything – be it golf, table tennis, bowls or snooker—you know you’ve got the match of a lifetime on your hands. This man only plays one way—to win. That’s being professional. It used to be comforting for me as I sat watching Leeds United in the heat of domestic of European games. When the going got tough, when we were under fantastic pressure, winning, losing or drawing, one man was always there. One man could always be counted on to battle it out until the final whistle. That man is Norman Hunter... one of the greatest players ever to have lived.’

https://video.leedsunited.com/video?playlist=aHR0cHM6Ly9sZWVkc3VuaXRlZC1jbS5zdHJlYW1hbWcuY29tL2FwaS92MS9hZmY3NDdiYy0xYmNkLTQyZGYtOWQ2Yi01NDBhNTcyYzY4MTYvM2djNEpaaFpvVVpqaGNUWEs0TjlHWU5xOFJwd0JvbTdBczE5UDVGY2VLTFc3OUJ3cnYvZW4vZmVlZC8wMTc2OWY5MS02Y2NlLTRiMWYtYTc5MS01ODYzMzdkYWFkZDAvc2VjdGlvbnMvc2VhcmNoP3NlY3Rpb249OGU3NmI5ODctMDI3Yi00ZTU0LWI5NTYtNjNlYzZiNmI0MDBlJnBhZ2VTaXplPTg%3D&entry=0_edyftyw6 Two scotsmen talk aboiut Norman Hunter.