Charlton Athletic v Leeds United: Capital loss sparks fears of relegation
YEP 8/4/13
By Phil Hay
This is not the situation as Leeds United saw it last Monday. Re-read the statement announcing Neil Warnock’s departure and note the complacency of a club who thought their season was over, bar the formality of actually completing it.
A week later, the luxury of time is less apparent. The state of play is too malignant for Leeds to say without argument that delaying the appointment of their next manager is the right or prudent course. Relegation might not be in Neil Redfearn’s vocabulary but the squad thrust into his hands are fighting it all the same. And fighting it badly.
It would take an unimaginable collapse for Leeds to stumble into the graveyard but a collapse of sorts is already underway. The club were beaten for the fourth game running at Charlton Athletic on Saturday and have been trapped on 52 points for four weeks. So often the benchmark for survival in the Championship, 52 points might not suffice this year. The stakes of Redfearn’s second coming as caretaker will be dangerously high until something brings relief.
Redfearn – United’s likeable academy manager and a reluctant stand-in for Warnock – denied that relegation was on his mind or the minds of his players after they lost to an injury-time goal at The Valley. “We’re not speaking about it,” he said. “There’s no point. It’s a bit like promotion – you’re never promoted until you’re promoted. You don’t talk about being relegated either.”
For all that, Redfearn’s body language gave away his anxiety. It was not his choice to take temporary control of an under-performing squad and it is plain to see that he would rather Warnock or another coach was carrying the can. “It’s not an ideal scenario,” he said, “and I thought Neil would have seen the season through.” Is a swift appointment now in United’s best interests? “That’s a question for the club,” Redfearn replied.
And where the club are concerned, you never can tell. Representatives of United’s owner, GFH Capital, come and go on Twitter so how greatly they share the concerns of Leeds’ wide support is difficult to say. There was an underlying confidence in the suggestion last week that a new manager might not arrive until the summer, “dependent on the availability of the club’s preferred choice.” Relegation did not figure seven days ago.
For GFH Capital in particular, there is more to this than the selection of Warnock’s successor. The company remains in discussions about sizeable investment though, on the balance of probability, the proposed sale of a 51 per cent stake to Yorkshire-based businessman Steve Parkin will die a quiet death in the next few weeks. Each passing day casts more doubt on that deal. A tame end to the season in that respect but the risk of delay to the club is evident. Even Redfearn seems to think so.
Leeds have Brian McDermott, the former Reading boss, at their mercy and it was suggested over the weekend that talks with Owen Coyle took place on Thursday. But on Thursday, a six-match run-in looked manageable and straightforward. Once Jonathan Obika won Saturday’s game with a header in the fifth minute of stoppage-time, the need for direction, authority and a grenade in United’s dressing room was multiplied. The same could be said of their boardroom.
Redfearn scarcely deviated from Warnock’s modus operandi, naming a team with eight of his signings in it, but marked deviation is not the remit of a caretaker with no designs on the job. A new manager gives you that. Redfearn’s time in this post will do nothing more than divorce him temporarily from the astute work he is doing with the academy at Thorp Arch, his passion and his strength. There are few people at Leeds who deserve this albatross less.
The thing about Warnock’s squad is that it was built in his image and with his philosophy. It will take a close-season and money to properly alter. Charlton’s pitch is the closest match to a farmer’s field in all of central London but you question how this United team would fare on centre-court. Found wanting on the finer points of football all season, the ability to fashion results in other ways has escaped them too. Obika’s 95th-minute header was typical of United’s brittle backbone since the turn of the year. Prior to that goal, a low-key contest ebbed and flowed. The first half was a non-event, littered with fouls and a few half-chances, but Charlton broke Leeds with their initial attack after half-time. Andrew Hughes, the former United midfielder, met a dropping ball with a sweeping shot which struck the heels of Jason Pearce, bounced kindly to an onside Johnnie Jackson and gave Charlton’s captain the time he required to hack a volley into one corner of Paddy Kenny’s net.
Chris Powell’s players are largely unfamiliar with the sensation of winning at home and Leeds refused to go quietly. Steve Morison, a weak presence for so much of the afternoon, cracked a shot off the outside of Ben Hamer’s left-hand post and Michael Tonge’s volley found the feet of Dorian Dervite on the goalline.
Redfearn plucked Luke Varney from the bench in the 66th minute and, with only nine minutes left to play, the winger stabbed a deflected effort beyond Hamer’s reach after a Lee Peltier caused havoc with a high free-kick into Charlton’s box. The equaliser was United’s cue to turn the screw but instead, Charlton found their second wind. Chris Solly, their energetic right-back, prodded a volley wide before drawing a desperate block from the excellent Peltier. Peltier succumbed to injury soon after, bringing Rodolph Austin into the centre of defence, and United’s marking failed them at the death as Rhoys Wiggans picked out Obika with a delivery which the Charlton substitute nodded past Kenny.
“We were unlucky with how it finished,” Redfearn said, “and it was a good away performance without being spectacular. It’s not been an easy week for the lads.”
The consolation at full-time was a table showing Leeds five points clear of serious trouble, just as it had before kick-off. To look at it, the situation is redeemable. But Obika’s winner felt like creeping death.
By Phil Hay
This is not the situation as Leeds United saw it last Monday. Re-read the statement announcing Neil Warnock’s departure and note the complacency of a club who thought their season was over, bar the formality of actually completing it.
A week later, the luxury of time is less apparent. The state of play is too malignant for Leeds to say without argument that delaying the appointment of their next manager is the right or prudent course. Relegation might not be in Neil Redfearn’s vocabulary but the squad thrust into his hands are fighting it all the same. And fighting it badly.
It would take an unimaginable collapse for Leeds to stumble into the graveyard but a collapse of sorts is already underway. The club were beaten for the fourth game running at Charlton Athletic on Saturday and have been trapped on 52 points for four weeks. So often the benchmark for survival in the Championship, 52 points might not suffice this year. The stakes of Redfearn’s second coming as caretaker will be dangerously high until something brings relief.
Redfearn – United’s likeable academy manager and a reluctant stand-in for Warnock – denied that relegation was on his mind or the minds of his players after they lost to an injury-time goal at The Valley. “We’re not speaking about it,” he said. “There’s no point. It’s a bit like promotion – you’re never promoted until you’re promoted. You don’t talk about being relegated either.”
For all that, Redfearn’s body language gave away his anxiety. It was not his choice to take temporary control of an under-performing squad and it is plain to see that he would rather Warnock or another coach was carrying the can. “It’s not an ideal scenario,” he said, “and I thought Neil would have seen the season through.” Is a swift appointment now in United’s best interests? “That’s a question for the club,” Redfearn replied.
And where the club are concerned, you never can tell. Representatives of United’s owner, GFH Capital, come and go on Twitter so how greatly they share the concerns of Leeds’ wide support is difficult to say. There was an underlying confidence in the suggestion last week that a new manager might not arrive until the summer, “dependent on the availability of the club’s preferred choice.” Relegation did not figure seven days ago.
For GFH Capital in particular, there is more to this than the selection of Warnock’s successor. The company remains in discussions about sizeable investment though, on the balance of probability, the proposed sale of a 51 per cent stake to Yorkshire-based businessman Steve Parkin will die a quiet death in the next few weeks. Each passing day casts more doubt on that deal. A tame end to the season in that respect but the risk of delay to the club is evident. Even Redfearn seems to think so.
Leeds have Brian McDermott, the former Reading boss, at their mercy and it was suggested over the weekend that talks with Owen Coyle took place on Thursday. But on Thursday, a six-match run-in looked manageable and straightforward. Once Jonathan Obika won Saturday’s game with a header in the fifth minute of stoppage-time, the need for direction, authority and a grenade in United’s dressing room was multiplied. The same could be said of their boardroom.
Redfearn scarcely deviated from Warnock’s modus operandi, naming a team with eight of his signings in it, but marked deviation is not the remit of a caretaker with no designs on the job. A new manager gives you that. Redfearn’s time in this post will do nothing more than divorce him temporarily from the astute work he is doing with the academy at Thorp Arch, his passion and his strength. There are few people at Leeds who deserve this albatross less.
The thing about Warnock’s squad is that it was built in his image and with his philosophy. It will take a close-season and money to properly alter. Charlton’s pitch is the closest match to a farmer’s field in all of central London but you question how this United team would fare on centre-court. Found wanting on the finer points of football all season, the ability to fashion results in other ways has escaped them too. Obika’s 95th-minute header was typical of United’s brittle backbone since the turn of the year. Prior to that goal, a low-key contest ebbed and flowed. The first half was a non-event, littered with fouls and a few half-chances, but Charlton broke Leeds with their initial attack after half-time. Andrew Hughes, the former United midfielder, met a dropping ball with a sweeping shot which struck the heels of Jason Pearce, bounced kindly to an onside Johnnie Jackson and gave Charlton’s captain the time he required to hack a volley into one corner of Paddy Kenny’s net.
Chris Powell’s players are largely unfamiliar with the sensation of winning at home and Leeds refused to go quietly. Steve Morison, a weak presence for so much of the afternoon, cracked a shot off the outside of Ben Hamer’s left-hand post and Michael Tonge’s volley found the feet of Dorian Dervite on the goalline.
Redfearn plucked Luke Varney from the bench in the 66th minute and, with only nine minutes left to play, the winger stabbed a deflected effort beyond Hamer’s reach after a Lee Peltier caused havoc with a high free-kick into Charlton’s box. The equaliser was United’s cue to turn the screw but instead, Charlton found their second wind. Chris Solly, their energetic right-back, prodded a volley wide before drawing a desperate block from the excellent Peltier. Peltier succumbed to injury soon after, bringing Rodolph Austin into the centre of defence, and United’s marking failed them at the death as Rhoys Wiggans picked out Obika with a delivery which the Charlton substitute nodded past Kenny.
“We were unlucky with how it finished,” Redfearn said, “and it was a good away performance without being spectacular. It’s not been an easy week for the lads.”
The consolation at full-time was a table showing Leeds five points clear of serious trouble, just as it had before kick-off. To look at it, the situation is redeemable. But Obika’s winner felt like creeping death.