Leeds United
Plenty of obstacles on the path ahead
Useful information
Alan Smith, left scored against 1860 Munich, this month, but Dacourt and Viduka failed to shine
Photograph: IAN HODGSON/REUTERS  |
Summer summary: Not for the want of trying has there been a paucity of new arrivals at Elland Road. Expect further developments sooner rather than later, particularly with queues already forming in depth for the treatment table.
Transfers in: Olivier Dacourt (Lens) £7.2m; Mark Viduka (Celtic) £6m; Dominic Matteo (Liverpool), £4.25m.
Transfers out: David Hopkin (Bradford City) £2.5m; Martin Hiden (SV Salzburg) £500,000; Alfie Haaland (Manchester City) £2.5m.
Looking forward to: Harry Kewell’s fiancée, soap actress Sheree Murphy, expounding more of her theories about relativity from behind the bar at the Woolpack near Emmerdale Farm.
Worried about: Workplace absenteeism. Six players will be ruled out of the second leg of the Champions’ League qualifier in Munich next week through injury. A further two, Dacourt and Eirik Bakke, are suspended. For all his detractors, if David Batty has to sit out the season, his steadying influence will be missed.
Liabilities: Soccer Australia and their participation in the Olympic Games and next year’s World Cup campaign. Also a worry is the impending court case that awaits three of their squad.
Tactical profile: A 4-4-2 system that is ignited by Kewell and Lee Bowyer allows players to roam free at will. An inventive midfield who can all score goals is ably assisted by two full backs who are as competent and committed to attack as to defence.
Style: Compelling, fluid, unrelenting. Phew!
Fans’ gripe: As they say about folk in these parts, you can always tell a Yorkshireman, but you can’t tell him very much. If it moves, they are entitled to moan.
Fans’ big wish: Frank Farina, the Australia coach, to retire and stop pestering Leeds.
Manager’s quality: One thinks he doth protest too much about the naivety of his management acumen and the innocence of his young side. David O’Leary is shrewd enough to acknowledge that, in football, maturity must be attained rather more expeditiously than in other professions.
Bogey team: Those who finished above and near to them last season. Had Leeds managed to get in a telling blow against Manchester United, Arsenal or Liverpool when it mattered, the destiny of the title race might have changed dramatically. As it was, they lost all six matches.
Likely disaster: Discovering another three Antipodean players of star quality just in time to release them to assist Australia’s World Cup qualification.
New signings: It was estimated that Peter Ridsdale, the chairman, had around £30 million in the transfer kitty from sponsorship deals and the sale of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. Only £17m of that has thus far been invested ...Steve McManaman, of Real Madrid and West Ham’s Rio Ferdinand are possible recruits.
Potential of their new signings: Debuts do not come much less mundane than those of Dacourt and Mark Viduka against 1860 Munich. Viduka was allegedly only 70 per cent fit, while Dacourt was dismissed for a theatrical dive.
Hollywood actor most likely to star in Leeds United, the Movie: Skippy, the bush kangaroo. Lively, bouncy, superfit, and super-intelligent for a marsupial, the embodiment of the Leeds joie de vivre that is manifested in their technique.
Where it all went wrong last time: The loss of their captain and most accomplished defender Lucas Radebe for the African Nations’ Cup during January and February. The rigours of the ill-fated Uefa Cup campaign only compounded a faltering finale. But then finishing third isn’t exactly failure, is it?
Prediction: A season of anti-climax. Eighth.
DAVID McVAY
Useful information
Squad: 1 Nigel Martyn; 2 Gary Kelly; 3 Ian Harte; 4 Olivier Dacourt; 5 Lucas Radebe;
6 Jonathan Woodgate; 8 Michael Bridges; 9 Mark Viduka; 10 Harry Kewell; 11 Lee Bowyer;
12 Darren Huckerby; 13 Paul Robinson; 14 Stephen McPhail; 16 Jason Wilcox; 17 Alan Smith; 18 Danny Mills; 19 Eirik Bakke; 20 Matthew Jones; 22 Michael Duberry; 23 David Batty;
24 Danny Hay; 26 Danny Milosevic; 27 Alan Maybury;
28 Jamie McMaster; 29 Kevin Evans; 30 Robert Molenaar;
31 Gareth Evans; 32 Simon Watson; 33 Wesley Boyle;
34 Kevin Dixon; 35 Lee Matthews; 36 Warren Feeney;
37 Damien Lynch; 38 Tony Hackworth; 39 Alan Martin;
40 Alan Cawley; 41 Jason Lanns; 42 Tony Lennon; 43 Harpal Singh.
Stadium: Elland Road
Capacity: 40,204
Address: Leeds LS11 OES
Telephone: 0113-226 6000
Clubcall: 09068 12 11 80
Official website: www.lufc.co.uk
The slightly awkward navigation may be put right by yesterday’s relaunch. In case you have lost track of players, you can find them in the special suspension and treatment-room areas.
Unofficial site: www.squareball.co.uk
News, features, videos of goals and poems dedicated to the players. One proclaims: "Harry, Harry, Harry how u make me sweat when u kick that ball into the back of that net."
Manager: David O’Leary
Assistant manager: Eddie Gray
Chairman: Peter Ridsdale
Ticket details: 0113-292 0011 (24-hr booking); 0113-226 1000; 09068 12 16 80 (Ticket Call. Calls cost 60p per minute)
Ticket prices: £25-£35
Cheapest/most expensive adult season ticket: £299/£499
Recommended radio station: Radio Aire 96.3 FM
Programme: £2.50
Fanzine: Square Ball
Cost of adult replica shirt: £40
Training ground: Thorp Arch, Wetherby
Directions to ground: 1.5 miles from Leeds train station. Special buses run from nearby Neville St. The stadium is on the A643, just off Junction 2 of the M621. Parking for visitors at the ground.
Pubs near the ground: The Old Peacock, Elland Rd; The Drysalters, Elland Rd (both mainly for home fans).
