OK, so this time last month we were just coming to terms
with Leeds United’s late-season slide out of the play-off zone. The season
wasn’t quite officially over, but it was for us, as Leeds United had snatched
despair from the jaws of probable impending despair a few weeks later. Finishing
seventh and watching the play-offs unfold without us did have its benefits
though. It’s true that football fans have a natural passion for schadenfreude and
we certainly revelled in the misfortune of others during the month of May, as
the shattering impact of a play-off defeat hit home with the force of a ten
tonne truck for three of the four clubs who just a couple of weeks earlier had
taken great delight in our miserable displacement into seventh spot.
Did it make up for Leeds United failing to reach the
play-offs after spending most of the season in the top six? Well, it certainly
helped, and you like to think that having reacquainted ourselves with the
fraught and precarious nature of the play-offs after five years away, we might
just be better prepared for them next time around. But the truth is that
nothing can prepare you for your whole world collapsing around your ankles at
the mere stroke of a penalty kick, and maybe the lesson to learn is that it’s
never wise to get too cocky about the play-offs until you have actually won
them. Or perhaps the lesson is that life would be a whole lot easier if we just
marched majestically towards the top two with no such worries? And that should
now be our aim.
Of course a month ago we felt pretty confident that the
2016/17 campaign would act as a platform to next season, and Garry Monk would
continue the fantastic work he had started. The reception he and his staff were
afforded at Wigan away on the last day of the season certainly suggested a
strong bond had formed and we would at least enjoy some continuity in the
transition from one season to another, for the first time in many years. Alas,
it was not to be and in the space of just a few days the whole scene changed at
Elland Road. Again.
The full 100% takeover of Andrea Radrizzani was a badly kept
secret for many months, and that went through swiftly and cleanly in May, and
we all settled down to enjoy a summer of building on the strong foundations in
place. On his first day in office, Radrizzani managed to secure a new 4-year
contract for midfielder Ronaldo Vieira, and in an instant managed to change the
club’s outlook and reverse the short-termist methodology that had seen a stream
of young stars leave for next to nothing. Now we have a clear message that we
see our future with blossoming talents like Vieira staying with us, but even if
he improves at a rate far greater than the club does over the next couple of
season – as many others have in recent years – then at least we will get a fair
market price for him now he’s on a longer deal.
If Day One of Radrizzani’s reign had us dreaming of a corner
finally turned, Day Two presented us with an upturned rake around that bend,
which soon hit us squarely in the face as we attempted to make more positive
steps forward. It all seemed set up for Garry Monk to extend his stay at Leeds
United for another season and hopefully agree a longer term deal over the
coming months, but for whatever reason he decided his future wasn’t with us.
The news came as a body blow, and it was hard to get away from the feeling that
last season now counted for nothing, but as the days pass you learn to deal
with it and move on. As I write, there is no concrete news about who the next Leeds
United manager will be, but it is clear that a more professional set-up is
being built behind the scenes at Elland Road and the club is stepping up a
level in terms of modern football, a whole business outlook and a quality of
recruitment, and there is more expectation rather than simply blind hope, that
the next manager will be a considered and measured appointment with a longer
term view.
Certainly the early days of the
Radrizzani era point towards exciting times and Leeds United looking more like
a 21st century football club. That isn’t necessarily a good thing in
some respects, when you look at many aspects of the modern game, but there is
at least the impression that Radrizzani has his head screwed on, is surrounded
by good advice and has made a success of pretty much everything he has touched
in the past. We don’t need wild promises he can’t keep – although he has
already claimed he will buy back Elland Road in the summer, like every other
owner – we don’t need soundbites, charisma and celebrity stunts, we don’t even
need him to pop over to the pub on an afternoon for a photo opportunity,
although he is more than welcome to sample our lunchtime menu and a pint of
Yorkshire Blonde between meetings, any time. We just want the owner of Leeds
United to be a respectful guardian, to listen to and embrace our massive
fanbase, to appoint the right people to run the club in the right way and to
release the huge potential we all know Leeds United has.
At the Old Peacock, we are
certainly excited about this new era, and if we look out across our front car
park we can already see scaffolding up on the West Stand, and a long overdue
facelift for certain areas of our beloved ground. If we’ve learnt one thing in
recent years it is that actions speak louder than words, and Radrizzani appears
to be wasting no time in making an imprint at Leeds United, and let’s hope that
continues.
We will certainly keep an eye on
the old place over the summer, for any of you Leeds fans exiled away from the
city, and there is plenty going on at the Old Peacock too as we take a step
back and a breather from the madness of our Leeds United match days, and make
our own plans for next season.
Your match day enjoyment doesn’t just happen by
accident and we have already started discussing what we can change and improve on
for next season. So just like Leeds United and Elland Road itself, rest assured
the Old Peacock will be back and looking better than ever in August.
Enjoy your
holidays.
