(Photo: Action Images)
By Glenn Moore
Dirty Leeds. The Damned United. The self-proclaimed Last Champions. There are plenty within the game who will have relished Leeds United‘s Icarus-like fall into mediocrity and chaos following the implosion of Peter Ridsdale’s high-risk attempt to ‘chase the dream’. The hubris of Elland Road, the goldfish, the Bowyer-Woodgate court case, the plummet from Champions League semi-finals to League One, the parade of unsuitable chairmen.
Instead of putting Leeds on TV every second week, Sky should commission a docu-drama series.
If they did, it seems there could finally be a happy ending. The chairman is banned, the club, to quote one recent report, is ‘hollowed out’, but the team is doing just fine. Leeds celebrated Christmas Day fifth in the Championship, as high as they have finished in a decade. Newcastle and Brighton may prove out of reach, but a play-off place is very much in the grasp of Garry Monk and his men.
The plot did not look like taking such an upward turn in the autumn.
Two months into the job and just three games into the season, Monk was, according to one usually well-sourced journalist, on the brink of dismissal. He was on the cusp again a month later. It would not have been a surprise. Owner-chairman Massimo Cellino had already worked through six managers in his brief tenure.
However, Monk’s team developed the useful habit of snatching results just when he needed them. The mood stabilised, and Leeds began to prosper. From 21st in September, they rose to fifth in November and have remained in the promotion frame.
Elland Road is still a third empty. Unusually, six Championship clubs attract higher gates. This reflects how many supporters are weary of false dawns and wary of Cellino. A stadium that hosted England internationals and FA Cup semi-finals in the 1990s is now badly dated. TV coverage and relatively high admission charges also suppress attendance. But, if Leeds continue to thrive through the Spring, the doubtful and despairing will return and Elland Road will rock again.
There are few more atmospheric grounds in the country when the Whites are flying. I’m not a Leeds fan but I lived in striking distance in the mid-80s and often joined the throng on The Kop. It was another period when Leeds were struggling to live up to the glories of the Don Revie era.
Gates often dipped below 15,000 and there were some dire matches, but the emergence of players such as Scott Sellars, John Sheridan and Terry Connor provided hope and, when the likes of Arthur Graham or Peter Barnes got on the ball and started driving forward, the place came alive. It is that potential that keeps luring managers to Beeston, even under Cellino. The manager who gets it right knows he will be feted like a king.
The same potential has attracted a string of owners, with a fourth in five years apparently poised to buy from Cellino. Leeds is the fourth biggest city in England with only one club for its folk to follow. As with Newcastle, the possibilities are alluring.
But due diligence will reveal plenty of caveats. A once-outstanding youth programme has been badly run down. Neither Elland Road nor the Thorp Arch training ground are owned by the club. The team are finally marching on together, but Cellino’s successor will be buying a fixer-upper with work to be done.
Still, £100m-plus Premier League TV money would cover much of it and Monk may be the man to get them there. He is smart, well-organised and clear-headed. Swansea have certainly struggled to find an upgrade. At Leeds he has built a promising team from old lags, young guns and largely unheralded imports.
Does the Premier League need a club of Leeds’ stature? Arguably, but the same could be said of Newcastle or Villa, Forest or Derby. League status is decided on merit, not history. Nevertheless, who would begrudge Leeds fans some overdue joy.
*This article originally featured in The FLP‘s 27 December 2016 edition.
