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Another year in the mad house - Interview
Monday, 4th Apr 2016 17:42 by Clive Whittingham

Author and Leeds fan David Watkins returns to LFW with a detailed assessment of the Elland Road circus ahead of QPR’s visit on Tuesday night.

Assess Leeds' season overall for us. More nonsense…

DW: Well, not as much nonsense as there could have been. We are only on our second manager of the campaign (although rumours are rife that the second one has only a few weeks left), we look like finishing the season comfortably in mid-table and only Sam Byram of our crop of decent youngsters has been sold.

Behind the scenes Massimo Cellino has continued to come up with a few ridiculous manoeuvres and we are all awaiting the outcome of his ‘rule K’ appeal against his latest Football League ban but in general he’s been, by his standards, relatively quiet. He does of course have a list of legal actions outstanding against him and the club as long as a very long arm! In summary, most fans regard this as another wasted season with no progress either on or off the pitch and with the rumours that Steve Evans is likely not to be retained for next season we are all prepared for yet another fresh start that will likely mean next season is a work in progress too.

In essence, we have the nucleus of a good side with three good full backs in Berardi, Taylor and when needed Lewie Coyle; Liam Bridcutt and “Dave” Diagouraga look to be what we need to protect our over generous defence in midfield while Lewis Cook, if he can just improve his final ball, would be a world class attacking midfielder. We are very light up front and Chris Wood appears to be nowhere near as good as his £3 million price tag suggested and in any case is rarely fit enough to play. Antenucci and Doukara, on a good day, are a decent combo up front but whether they could get us promoted is doubtful even if we could stop conceding sloppy goals at the other end. But it is that very porous defence that has been our Achilles heel this season, as last; far too often we gift goals away through individual errors.

Seems Cellino's stock is pretty low now, is he universally wanted out? Leeds fans seemed quite optimistic about him at the start considering his history, how's he spent all that credit?

DW: There are about a couple of thousand Leeds fans now actively campaigning to get rid of Massimo under the #MassimoTimeToGo banner and they have come up with numerous inventive ways of advertising their case including a mock funeral mourning the death of the club at the ground, projecting slogans onto the fabric of the East Stand at Elland Road and even a light aircraft pulling a banner over the ground during a game.

Equally though there are a couple of thousand Leeds fans who are actively supporting Cellino in their #InMassimoWeTrust campaign. I have to say that even this second group in their heart of hearts knows we’d be better off if he went but they believe that a) there is no one out there willing to shell out the £100 million that we believe it will need to buy him out, repurchase Elland Road and Thorp Arch, and have a bit left to invest in the few quality players we still need to complete the squad and b) they believe that given time and a bit of cash Steve Evans could possibly get us moving in the right direction and they know he’ll be out if Cellino goes. As it happens it seems likely he’ll be out either way.

The vast majority of Leeds fans are in neither camp and tent to ignore the extremes though my guess is they, like me, also understand that the combustible nature of Cellino means that while he’s in place we will lurch from crisis to crisis. He is still too close to some of the players and rumours have resurfaced that it is a few of the players who have now dissed Evans to Cellino and have rekindled the memory of the so called sick note six, the group of players who allegedly claimed they were injured and refused to travel to Charlton last season.

As to why Cellino has run out of credit with all Leeds fans, it’s all of the daft things he’s done — introducing a pie tax (an extra £5 on a South Stand ticket in return for the offer of a pie and a pint but mandatory not voluntary), threatening to limit away tickets to 2,000, refusing to let Sky TV in the ground to set up for a TV game, the appalling way he treats and then sacks staff etc. etc. — the things he promised to do like repurchasing Elland Road and Thorp Arch that he has failed to do, and the way he gets involved in the playing side. Aside from that it is the knowledge that he has all these court cases outstanding that detracts from getting the club straight.

Any potential alternatives? Any way back for him?

DW: As noted, most fans now consider that Cellino has too much invested in the club for him to give it away and no one will pay his price tag for a club that has very few assets other than the playing squad. His only way back would be rapid success on the pitch and him being banned and leaving things to others at the club which no one believes he’s capable of doing.

Steve Evans has lasted longer than anybody else with him, how's he managed that? How much longer has he got?

DW: Steve Evans is a character not dissimilar to Cellino who indeed called him a “motherfucker” when he appointed him. We believe he’s lasted so long by improving our fortunes on the pitch (although not by much) and through some excellent recruits in the form of Liam Bridcutt and Diagouraga and to a lesser extend Muzzy Carayol. Few would argue that Leeds may well have been relegated without the arrival of Liam Bridcutt and we all have our fingers crossed he will be signed permanently in the summer.

Evans saw this job as his big chance to make a name, it is a job that he probably could not have landed under any other owner — we don’t think there are many managers that could work successfully under Cellino — and he has been so desperate to hang on to it so goodness knows what he has put up with to keep it. My guess is he has put up with a load of interference from Cellino — we know he was told to stop talking to the press after the hammering at Brighton and for a bloke like him who likes the sound of his own voice that must have been hard. If the rumours are to be believed, accommodating as he has been, Cellino is still going to wield the axe soon.

Fabio Cannavaro mentioned as an alternative?!

DW: Who knows…the only certain thing is that as long as Cellino is here, any head coach will not get a full season if the results are not perfect. And, the way he got rid of Steve Thompson just when things appeared to have improved…he sacked him, starting rumours that he will not tolerate staff becoming more popular than he is.

Three straight wins, with a thrashing at Brighton and another at home to Huddersfield either side of them, why is this side so inconsistent?

DW: If I really knew the answer I’d probably be the manager. For what it’s worth I think there are two aspects. Firstly, we are still a very young side. Any coach will tell you that youngsters will be inconsistent, they need miles on the clock to be able to “manage” games and know how to play in all scenarios. The second problem though is this defence of ours. On paper, it should be decent but we are constantly making poor decisions and giving away soft goals. On a good day, when everyone plays at the top of their game and when we make no mistakes and get a bit of luck we are capable of beating anyone as we have done by beating the likes of Derby, Hull, and Cardiff at their place, even Blackburn when they were on a decent run. Even those thumpings we got at Brighton and last week v Huddersfield only looked bad because of short spells in the game where we conceded all the goals; during the balance of those games we matched or bettered them!

Strongest players and weakest links in the current side?

DW: IMO we have a weak link in goal with Marco Silvestri. On a good day he’ll look good if he gets a few long shots to stop but he is very young and inexperienced and does not command his area as a more mature keeper would. We have a choice of three centre backs all of whom — Cooper, Bellusci and Sol Bamba — have a mistake in them lurking just under the surface; none of them is consistent enough. Up front too, we are weak with Antenucci the best out of Wood, Doukara and he, yet on occasions you wouldn’t know he was playing.

Our best players currently are Charlie Taylor (LB), Liam Bridcutt (defensive MF), Lewis Cook in MF (although again very young and often fails with his final ball) and, on a good day, Antenucci who is one of the best finishers around when he can be bothered!

Short, medium and long term aims for the club?

DW: Short term we still need a few points to be sure of Championship football next season. The boys in the bottom three (apart from Bolton) are just starting to pick up points, especially Rotherham under Neil ‘Red Adair’ Warnock. Our medium and long term aims are hard to define as it all depends on Cellino. Ignoring his influence, then IMO the club should be looking to add 4 or 5 top quality players to the current squad, jettison a few who are clearly nowhere near good enough and keep Steve Evans to give it all a bit of continuity and to go into next season with a bit of a run rather than starting over again. Long term doesn’t exist in LS11!

David Watkins is the author of several Leeds books including Leeds United, The Kids Are Alright; Leeds United, Fiasco and Leeds United, In Pursuit of the Premiership.

The Twitter @DaveLUFCWatkins, @loftforwords

Photo: Action Images



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TacticalR added 15:01 - Apr 5
Thanks to David.

It's one thing to have incompetent owners that drag down the league position of a club, another to have malevolent owners that drag down the reputation of a club. Given that, I am quite surprised to hear that there is a pro-Cellino faction at the club.

On the playing side, it sounds like the club is furiously searching for a formula, without really getting anywhere. At Loftus Road earlier this season they tried to play long ball football which even the Leeds fans got fed up with.
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