Where does a year go? This time 12 months ago Leeds fans
were coming to terms with another wasted season as a play-off bid that had
looked nailed on for months spectacularly hit the buffers. It was with a
mixture of pain and frustration, but at least an element of pride, that we
waved the season off in a seventh-placed position that ultimately brought us
nothing. One year on and we’re battling exactly the same disappointment, except
the pain and frustration came a lot earlier and there was absolutely no element
of pride.
To say the 2017/18 season has been disappointing is a
monumental understatement, not just after last season’s near miss but also
after the positivity of last summer. Let’s face it, mistakes have been made and
performances have been nowhere near good enough. You can point the finger in
various directions because there isn’t one solitary reason for Leeds United’s
failures this season; football isn’t always as simple as that and there aren’t
many individuals at the club who can look at themselves and say they performed
to an acceptable standard throughout a campaign that brought such little cheer.
So yet again, Leeds United face a huge summer of
re-building. We do believe there are some elements of a decent side within the
first team squad, but that only amounts to about half a dozen players. However,
with a raft of promising youngsters emerging and three or four key additions,
things can very quickly look a little more positive, as long as we can clear
the decks of a lot of the dead wood that habitually ends up hanging around
Elland Road.
A key ingredient of any successful team is to build some
camaraderie and team spirit and that seems to have been badly lacking all
season. This team isn’t a ‘team’. There hasn’t been much evidence of fallouts
or visible ructions within the squad, but equally, they don’t look like a squad
of players that would die for each other, who know exactly what each other’s
role is and who are organised and well-drilled. It doesn’t help when nobody
knows from one game to the next who is going to be playing, and while a lot of
this is down to coaching and management, a major reason why the team is so
fragile and afraid to perform at Elland Road is also down to personality, and
for that reason character, attitude and experience is as important in this
upcoming transfer window as ability.
One thing that we can’t complain about at the Old Peacock is
the crowds at Elland Road this season. Even when it became perfectly clear that
the season was going down the pan, the attendances for home games rarely
wavered. I guess we were helped by the league leaders Wolves visiting in
midweek and a couple of Yorkshire derbies, but all the same it is impressive to
maintain an average home crowd of around 30,000 when you’ve won only three
games in four months and are spending yet another season achieving absolutely
nothing.
Home games at the Old Peacock have continued to be special
occasions and our resident house band The Snapp have again proved to be incredibly
popular. So much so that they have warmed the crowds before the two Leeds
Rhinos games recently and we hope they will be providing plenty of tunes and
getting you all geared up for the Josh Warrington world title later this month,
and for the England friendly versus Costa Rica in June.
Speaking of Josh Warrington, we are very much on the
countdown to May 19th and we are getting prepared for what is going
to be one hell of a day. With the Elland Road gates opening at 4pm and an
undercard that includes the darling of Leeds – double Olympic champion Nicola
Adams – we are sure to be having a busy afternoon in the pub. Add to that the
Royal Wedding, the FA Cup Final and Leeds Rhinos v Castleford Tigers in the
Magic Weekend at Newcastle and this is all building up to a quite unique day
that will certainly be keeping our bar staff occupied.
Ticket sales for a chance to see the crowning of the first
World Boxing Champion from Leeds are looking pretty good and we are certain
there will be a very special atmosphere awaiting the current title holder Lee
Selby as he enters Elland Road on the night, and we will be doing our best to
add to that, so get yourselves along early for what promises to be an amazing
sporting occasion in Leeds.
Before all that though, don’t forget there is one Leeds
United home game remaining before the players head off for the summer, or if
they are really unlucky, to Myanmar. Queen’s Park Rangers are our visitors on
Sunday May 6th, which is a bank holiday weekend, and as we have a
12.30pm Kick-Off we will have The Snapp performing after the game, and not
before as normal. So as to keep noise to a minimum we can’t have the band on
too early, so why not make a day of it and join us after the game? Early
indications suggest the weather should be pretty good too, so what better way
to toast the end of the season than a glorious sunny afternoon in the Old
Peacock beer garden listening to some quality tunes?
And of course, if you are not satisfied with just the one
bout of ritual disappointment and humiliation, England are heading to Russia
next month for the World Cup, so in our next blog post we will be telling you
all about our plans for the month-long football jamboree, that fingers crossed
might retain some home interest longer than a fortnight.
But for now let’s raise a glass to the 2017/18 season, wish
it good riddance and party on to the sound of good things to come.
