McAllister urges revitalised Leeds to finish the job - Independent 24/5/08
By James Mariner
A season which began with them 15 points adrift at the bottom of League One, following their controversial points deduction, could end in a remarkable triumph for Leeds United tomorrow.
The League One side climbed from there into the top three, then slipped back after Gus Poyet, the assistant manager, left for Spurs and manager Dennis Wise, headed to Newcastle.
Gary McAllister came in and boldly changed the playing style. After a stutter as the team adapted, Leeds recovered in time to reach the play-offs and now stand 90 minutes from a return to the Championship.
Leeds are favourites but fans will warily recall the 2006 Championship play-off final which ended in defeat to Watford, followed by relegation the next season to League One.
Now, as in 2006, Leeds finished fifth in the regular season and their opponents third. McAllister is hoping for a different outcome this time. "I'm proud of taking the team to Wembley, but the proudest moment will be if we get the right result," the 43-year-old, who spent six seasons at Elland Road as a player in the 1990s, said. "We have worked hard so as much as we have to enjoy it we have to realise Wembley is a place of work."
Ticket sales for tomorrow's match were suspended at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium this week as Leeds supporters attempted to buy tickets in their opponent's section after the Elland Road side's 36,000 allocation quickly sold out.
Doncaster chairman John Ryan believes his side were allocated too many tickets and feels Leeds should have been issued with more. "They've got a fantastic fanbase," he said.
"We sold 24,000 tickets, which is a good effort with us only having average gates of 8,000. I would gladly have given Leeds the balance but the Football League wouldn't let us because of segregation issues. It's a shame because part of Wembley will be empty when it should be full of Leeds fans, really."
Doncaster are hoping to continue their own impressive revival. Four years ago they were in the Conference playing at their old Belle Vue stadium.
Gareth Roberts (hamstring) and Ritchie Wellens (groin) are doubts for Sean O'Driscoll's side, while Alan Sheehan returns from suspension for Leeds.
Times 23/5/08
Premier Leeds? You're having a laugh - it's great in League One
Rick Broadbent
Yorkshire has always been funny in a sick joke type of way. It is like living with the Ant Hill Mob. You sense that something is going on underneath the bonnet, just out of sight and touch, but life lumbers on and you never win. London is Penelope Pitstop, Manchester is Dick Dastardly and we are the makeweights, the little men with sore feet and comedy cameos.
And now Leeds United are going to Wembley. God help us. What happened to sooty black buildings, sledgehammer subtlety and a bag of scraps? What happened to Alan Bennett saying that life was generally something that happened elsewhere?
You see I do not want success. I am a Leeds fan, but I do not crave a rise through the ranks. I do not want to be the tenth best team in a league we can never win because - and I mean this - I have enjoyed this season in Coca-Cola League One every bit as much as the one when we made it to the Champions League semi-finals.
We are constantly told that the Barclays Premier League is the best in the world and that the Champions League is the apotheosis of lip-balm wearing playboys with shin-pads. It is not true. Most neutrals watched Chelsea play Manchester United on Wednesday with a passing interest. The best league is the one with your team in it. Like many, I just felt that it was a shame there could be only one loser in Moscow.
The big game this week is Leeds versus Doncaster Rovers. I will not cry like a baby if we lose. After all, most Leeds fans expect it.
The previous time Leeds went to the play-offs, in 2006, it took about 90 seconds at the Millennium Stadium to realise that we were not as good as Watford. When we went to Wembley ten years earlier, we were stuffed by a mediocre Aston Villa team. Savo Milosevic looked a world-beater.
But what a lot of newcomers to football's bandwagon do not understand is that football is all about pain and suffering. It is the struggle that is addictive, not the success. Read about the Beatles and the most intriguing bits are the days spent swanning around Hamburg with a quiff and a dream. When the dream is realised, they soon become boring old hippies and start writing songs about Rocky Raccoon.
Leeds fans have never had it so good, but where will it end? I can live with the Championship, but why would any club aspire to the Premier League? Why would you want to be Bolton Wanderers or Fulham or West Bromwich Albion? Teams with no chance of anything other than regular thumpings and survival.
This year Leeds have won a lot of matches and I cannot tell you how good that feels after the previous seven years. Get Didier Drogba to come round and fall over in my rockery if you want, but the Premier League is boring. I do not aspire to high-class mediocrity. I would rather be a big fish in a small pond.
And life in League One is like a throwback to the 1970s. You even have local players in your team. One of ours, Jonny Howson, scored twice to win the semi-final against Carlisle United. You could identify with him because he has not spent pre-season on a yacht in the Algarve or leaving his Bentley in a disabled parking space. This is a world beneath hype.
Football down here is more real. The fans do not ring up radio stations and demand that Rafael BenÃtez gets sacked because Liverpool came fourth. It is about getting through, plugging away, avoiding administration. It is about the love of the club, not the belief that the world owes you a Champions League final because your season ticket costs a lot.
The best day in my football-watching life came when Leeds won away to Bournemouth in 1990 and clinched promotion. The league title followed two years later and, sweet as it was, confirming Manchester United's continuing loser status, it was not as good as Dean Court.
I recommend it to all of you depressed fans in the Premier League. Have your club go bust and get a reality check and a cup of Bovril down in the lower leagues. You may just remember what football is all about.
