Times Online - Sport
Duberry cuts all ties with unhappy era at Leeds
BY RICK BROADBENT
FOUR seasons ago, Michael Duberry’s career peaked when he played a pivotal role in Leeds United’s 1-0 win over AC Milan in the European Cup on a saturnine night at Elland Road. Yesterday, he departed for Stoke City, leaving Gary Kelly and Eirik Bakke as the only survivors from a team that was systematically broken up by the club’s penchant for chasing dreams and renting goldfish.
Duberry cost £4.5 million from Chelsea in 1999 but has gone to the Potteries on a free transfer. For many at Elland Road, his will be one of the least lamented exits because the more one-eyed Leeds supporters have not forgiven him for giving evidence against Jonathan Woodgate, his team-mate at the time, when the defender, who is now at Real Madrid, was tried for GBH and affray in 2001. “It wasn ’t a difficult decision to come back to Stoke because I was happy here and always play better when there is a smile on my face,” Duberry said after signing a 2½-year deal. “There was interest from other clubs, but I felt comfortable at Stoke. The fans were a big boost to me after going years without that.”
The appraisal of some Leeds fans is unlikely to be improved by the Yorkshire club having agreed to pay a portion of Duberry’s £23,000 weekly wage for the remaining 16 months on his contract. Leeds have brokered similar deals in the past when offloading players such as Robbie Fowler, Robbie Keane and Danny Mills. Although seen as underlining the financial folly that has ravaged the club, such complex contracts were the only way to tempt suitors to accept players who had been given exorbitant wages in the era of Peter Ridsdale, the former chairman. Only Kelly, Bakke and Seth Johnson are still on big money.
Duberry hopes to put a difficult few years behind him. From the witness box in 2001, he admitted to lying to police and stated that his friendship with Woodgate was over. Despite telling the truth in court, Duberry received hate mail in the aftermath of the trial.
“It’s good news for me to cut all ties at Leeds and return to a club where I enjoyed a great rapport with supporters,” Duberry said. “I felt I did well here on loan, but then I went back into hiding after going back to Leeds. This is an opportunity for me to return to a happy environment and kick on.”
Leeds will also be glad to see him go. It was alleged in a Sunday newspaper that a former director, Simon Morris, had been prepared to take extreme measures to get the club’s top earners, including Duberry, off the payroll. These included hiring hitmen and spiking drinks to provoke grounds for dismissal. The allegations have been denied by Morris. In the end, Duberry’s exit was far more ordinary.
Now 29, Duberry started the season in the Leeds team, but after returning from loan, made only a cameo in the club’s FA Cup third-round defeat away to Birmingham City. The sight of him limping off after 22 minutes proved a sad epitaph to a Leeds career in which he made 77 appearances.
John Rudge, the Stoke director of football, said: “We’re delighted he’s decided to come back. He did very well for us during his loan spell. He’s a player the supporters have already taken to and he fits in well in the dressing-room.”
His move means that only Kelly and Bakke remain from the Leeds squad that reached the 2001 European Cup semi- finals. Duberry played a fleeting but significant part in that success, bolstering a makeshift back four in an injury-hit team against Milan at Elland Road. Of his team-mates that night, two are at the club, five have moved to Premiership clubs, two are abroad and one is in the Coca-Cola Championship.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE O’LEARY LADS?
NIGEL MARTYN: Champions League beckons at Everton, where he is enjoying a revival after a free transfer two years ago.
DANNY MILLS: Continuing to champion the aggressive side of the game at Manchester City.
GARY KELLY: So far resisted Leeds’s attempts to remove the club’s top earner.
LUCAS RADEBE: Part of the tsunami game, but soon on his way out of Leeds.
MICHAEL DUBERRY: Departed for Stoke City amid bizarre claims that the previous board was prepared to spike his drinks with drugs.
JONATHAN WOODGATE: Enjoying a season-long siesta at Real Madrid.
RIO FERDINAND: Most expensive English defender, when he moved to Manchester United for £30 million.
DOMINIC MATTEO: Sold to Blackburn Rovers during club’s boot sale last summer.
IAN HARTE: Dubbed “The Irish Bull” by Spanish fans taken with his attacking style at Levante — let’s forget about his defending.
LEE BOWYER: Has never quite recaptured his goalscoring form. Now at Newcastle United.
EIRIK BAKKE: Who? Played one game for Leeds this season after number of injury problems.
OLIVIER DACOURT: Driven out by Terry Venables to AS Roma.
JASON WILCOX: At Leicester City.
HARRY KEWELL: The regret might lay with Liverpool, who signed the now anonymous Australian.
MICHAEL BRIDGES: At Sunderland via Bolton Wanderers.
ALAN SMITH: Reduced to tears by relegation, so jumped ship to Manchester United.
MARK VIDUKA: Escaped to Middlesbrough.
DARREN HUCKERBY: Trying to keep Norwich City in the top flight.
STEPHEN McPHAIL: At Barnsley.
DAVID O’LEARY: Three years after he soared to the Premiership summit, his Aston Villa team scrape into the top half of the table.
PETER RIDSDALE: Stepped down as Barnsley chairman in December.
GARY JACOB
Duberry cuts all ties with unhappy era at Leeds
BY RICK BROADBENT
FOUR seasons ago, Michael Duberry’s career peaked when he played a pivotal role in Leeds United’s 1-0 win over AC Milan in the European Cup on a saturnine night at Elland Road. Yesterday, he departed for Stoke City, leaving Gary Kelly and Eirik Bakke as the only survivors from a team that was systematically broken up by the club’s penchant for chasing dreams and renting goldfish.
Duberry cost £4.5 million from Chelsea in 1999 but has gone to the Potteries on a free transfer. For many at Elland Road, his will be one of the least lamented exits because the more one-eyed Leeds supporters have not forgiven him for giving evidence against Jonathan Woodgate, his team-mate at the time, when the defender, who is now at Real Madrid, was tried for GBH and affray in 2001. “It wasn ’t a difficult decision to come back to Stoke because I was happy here and always play better when there is a smile on my face,” Duberry said after signing a 2½-year deal. “There was interest from other clubs, but I felt comfortable at Stoke. The fans were a big boost to me after going years without that.”
The appraisal of some Leeds fans is unlikely to be improved by the Yorkshire club having agreed to pay a portion of Duberry’s £23,000 weekly wage for the remaining 16 months on his contract. Leeds have brokered similar deals in the past when offloading players such as Robbie Fowler, Robbie Keane and Danny Mills. Although seen as underlining the financial folly that has ravaged the club, such complex contracts were the only way to tempt suitors to accept players who had been given exorbitant wages in the era of Peter Ridsdale, the former chairman. Only Kelly, Bakke and Seth Johnson are still on big money.
Duberry hopes to put a difficult few years behind him. From the witness box in 2001, he admitted to lying to police and stated that his friendship with Woodgate was over. Despite telling the truth in court, Duberry received hate mail in the aftermath of the trial.
“It’s good news for me to cut all ties at Leeds and return to a club where I enjoyed a great rapport with supporters,” Duberry said. “I felt I did well here on loan, but then I went back into hiding after going back to Leeds. This is an opportunity for me to return to a happy environment and kick on.”
Leeds will also be glad to see him go. It was alleged in a Sunday newspaper that a former director, Simon Morris, had been prepared to take extreme measures to get the club’s top earners, including Duberry, off the payroll. These included hiring hitmen and spiking drinks to provoke grounds for dismissal. The allegations have been denied by Morris. In the end, Duberry’s exit was far more ordinary.
Now 29, Duberry started the season in the Leeds team, but after returning from loan, made only a cameo in the club’s FA Cup third-round defeat away to Birmingham City. The sight of him limping off after 22 minutes proved a sad epitaph to a Leeds career in which he made 77 appearances.
John Rudge, the Stoke director of football, said: “We’re delighted he’s decided to come back. He did very well for us during his loan spell. He’s a player the supporters have already taken to and he fits in well in the dressing-room.”
His move means that only Kelly and Bakke remain from the Leeds squad that reached the 2001 European Cup semi- finals. Duberry played a fleeting but significant part in that success, bolstering a makeshift back four in an injury-hit team against Milan at Elland Road. Of his team-mates that night, two are at the club, five have moved to Premiership clubs, two are abroad and one is in the Coca-Cola Championship.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE O’LEARY LADS?
NIGEL MARTYN: Champions League beckons at Everton, where he is enjoying a revival after a free transfer two years ago.
DANNY MILLS: Continuing to champion the aggressive side of the game at Manchester City.
GARY KELLY: So far resisted Leeds’s attempts to remove the club’s top earner.
LUCAS RADEBE: Part of the tsunami game, but soon on his way out of Leeds.
MICHAEL DUBERRY: Departed for Stoke City amid bizarre claims that the previous board was prepared to spike his drinks with drugs.
JONATHAN WOODGATE: Enjoying a season-long siesta at Real Madrid.
RIO FERDINAND: Most expensive English defender, when he moved to Manchester United for £30 million.
DOMINIC MATTEO: Sold to Blackburn Rovers during club’s boot sale last summer.
IAN HARTE: Dubbed “The Irish Bull” by Spanish fans taken with his attacking style at Levante — let’s forget about his defending.
LEE BOWYER: Has never quite recaptured his goalscoring form. Now at Newcastle United.
EIRIK BAKKE: Who? Played one game for Leeds this season after number of injury problems.
OLIVIER DACOURT: Driven out by Terry Venables to AS Roma.
JASON WILCOX: At Leicester City.
HARRY KEWELL: The regret might lay with Liverpool, who signed the now anonymous Australian.
MICHAEL BRIDGES: At Sunderland via Bolton Wanderers.
ALAN SMITH: Reduced to tears by relegation, so jumped ship to Manchester United.
MARK VIDUKA: Escaped to Middlesbrough.
DARREN HUCKERBY: Trying to keep Norwich City in the top flight.
STEPHEN McPHAIL: At Barnsley.
DAVID O’LEARY: Three years after he soared to the Premiership summit, his Aston Villa team scrape into the top half of the table.
PETER RIDSDALE: Stepped down as Barnsley chairman in December.
GARY JACOB