Sloppy Whites hit record low
Yorkshire Evening Post 30/4/12By Phil Hay
They say charity begins at home. For the past nine months it has begun too often at Elland Road.
History will remember this as the season when the stadium’s hostile reputation collapsed like a house of cards.
It will remember certain others things too: the non-event that was Leeds United’s stab at promotion and the impotence of the transfer window preceding it. Eleven league defeats at home – a total never before seen in 90 years of existence – is not the only legacy of a wasted year but few are more symptomatic of the club’s spineless struggle.
United’s players embarked on what is generally described as a lap of honour at full-time on Saturday but their walkaround was nothing of the sort. Between driving rain, a 2-1 loss to Leicester City and a final league position of 14th, the stands were half-empty by the time it began.
A glance at the Championship table said it all: 27 points shy of automatic promotion and 14 below the play-offs. Perhaps as prominent as Leeds deserved to be.
Neil Warnock wore a bemused smile as he paced around the pitch, wondering why it was that more than 25,000 spectators had been willing to endure more of the same. “I just can’t believe the support,” he said.
Leeds lost to an injury-time goal, possibly offside but just about deserved on the part of Leicester. On an afternoon when nothing mattered beyond reaching the final whistle, they made professional work of sweeping up the points and signing off with a flurry.
Their own season has been abject, a poor return for the many millions of pounds thrown at their squad, but City’s manager, Nigel Pearson, saw shoots of potential in his side. Debutant and academy graduate Harry Panayiotou won the game with a fortuitous goal, countering a late equaliser from Danny Webber.
For Leeds and Warnock, the time for hiring and firing has arrived. If United’s manager gets his way there should be plenty of both. Beset by ceaseless showers and their own deflation, Saturday’s defeat set the scene for a post-season massacre. No conviction in midfield and no clout up front; no obvious encouragement for a coach who will try to complete an ambitious project of renovation before August arrives.
Leeds’ chairman, Ken Bates, pointed fingers at others in his programme notes, asking if the failure of this season was down to “fitness, lack of dedication, poor tactics or just too many players.” He also asked the club’s supporters to be forgiving, saying: “Let us not dwell too much on the past.”
Bates should be so lucky. The events of the past year are stacked against him.
He has the manager he wants but one reliant on immediate financial support. Warnock’s ideal squad will not come easily or cheap but United’s board are under pressure to deliver it. The expected signing of Jason Pearce from Portsmouth would be a good start. There was nothing to be read into United’s line-up on Saturday, aside from the absence of left-back Paul Robinson. Omitted for the last game of his loan from Bolton, it was an admission from Warnock that a permanent deal would not be in the post. His impact in 10 previous games failed to merit one.
Leeds are at the stage where lockers will be cleared and shirt numbers handed back.
Two of the players fielded by the Foxes have been in this situation at Elland Road before, and the rousing reception given to Jermaine Beckford as he prepared to kick the game off was as warm a welcome as he could have imagined.
Popular still, two years on from a memorable goodbye, his appearance on Saturday ended at half-time. A post-match lap of honour involving him alone would still have been as well received as that which United’s players took part in later in the day.
Kasper Schmeichel on the other hand was jeered; pantomime jeering more than open hostility. It petered out as rapidly as it started and did not distract him when City’s suspect defence caved in twice in the first five minutes.
The goalkeeper dived to gather a sliding shot from Robert Snodgrass after Ross McCormack dinked the ball towards Leicester’s box, and he was well-placed snatch a weak chip from Luciano Becchio when Adam Clayton fed a pass through another gaping gap.
With Sol Bamba shoehorned into the centre of their midfield, City’s performance was never likely to be flawless and for a while it was anything but.
Paul Konchesky’s casual attempt to run the ball out of play in the 11th minute gifted Snodgrass possession and almost handed McCormack an easy finish from 10 yards. In the meantime, Beckford was marshalled strictly by Alex Bruce, allowed no more than the sniff of a rebound when Andy Lonergan gathered Ben Marshall’s volley at the second attempt.
Beckford’s trick in his more productive seasons at Leeds was to produce goals when none seemed likely. So limited was Leicester’s hold of the ball initially that he struggled to touch it. He was far from the thick of the battle when Danny Drinkwater threw his body in front of Clayton’s goalbound strike, and a cynical foul from Danny Pugh halted him back when he threatened to run clear in the 26th minute.
There were other chances too – a header from Wes Morgan which Lonergan punched off his line and a Snodgrass volley which Schmeichel waved safely over his crossbar – but it was, as Pearson said later, a mediocre game.
Leicester’s first goal six minutes before half-time materialised from nothing, beautifully gift-wrapped as ever.
Michael Brown caused trouble by slicing a clearance behind Pugh who dithered over his header before losing his footing and leaving the ball at the feet of Martyn Waghorn. The striker advanced and forced Lonergan to commit himself before slipping the ball into the net. Half-hearted boos were heard when half-time arrived soon after.
Beckford failed to reappear for the second period, making way for Darius Vassell, but Leicester’s flow was unabated. Waghorn lashed a volley into Lonergan’s midriff and a Drinkwater shot deflected wide as City passed the ball around freely.
Then Lloyd Dyer was allowed to run the full length of the pitch before Clayton intervened and diverted his attempted finish into the crowd.
City’s repeated counter-attacks prompted Pearson to introduce David Nugent from the bench and Leeds became stretched, unable to retain the ball or do anything with it until the 82nd minute brought a hard-earned equaliser. Snodgrass’ persistence on the left wing gave Clayton and sub Mikael Forssell the opportunity to pick City’s defence open, and when Snodgrass chipped the ball over the diving frame of Schmeichel, Danny Webber ran in to slot it into an empty net.
That should have drawn a line under the threat of an 11th home defeat but Leicester pressed forward relentlessly and Marshall – the biggest threat on the pitch – conjured a winning goal in the third minute of injury-time when his shot struck the boot of Panayiotou and deflected past Lonergan.
Warnock stood soaked to the skin, rain lashing into his face; a depiction of Leeds’ entire season if ever there was one. “I’m relieved it’s all over,” Warnock said afterwards. He was not alone.