Leeds United: Kenny’s happy now the cloud has lifted

YEP 22/11/13
Paddy Kenny says United is a better place on and off the field this season and Is hoping to extend his career at the club. Phil Hay reports.
Ross McCormack took the match ball home after Leeds United’s victory at Charlton Athletic but an overshadowed Paddy Kenny held legitimate claim to one of the spares. His fingertip saves were a subplot to the tale of a rampant Scottish striker.
It is arguable whether McCormack’s moment in the sun would have come without the earlier interventions of his goalkeeper, and 80 yards apart on a woefully sodden pitch they contrived to send Leeds into the international break with tails up and optimism renewed.
United’s manager, Brian McDermott, talks relentlessly of collective endeavour – the full story of Charlton away – and Kenny sees more of it at Elland Road now than he did in his first season with Leeds. A cloud has been lifted, Kenny says, which might explain why his performances are largely beyond reproach.
The keeper was a steady cog in United’s machine last season but a maligned one too; prone to criticism which often seemed excessive. It sounds simplistic to say that he was one of Neil Warnock’s men but that strong association did little for his popularity, despite his consistency in a mediocre side.
Now, you struggle to remember Kenny’s last notable error. “Don’t say that,” he jokes. Tomorrow’s game against Middlesbrough is around the corner and Kenny would rather not jinx himself. But while it is going some to say that he is in the form of his career – this a player who won a Championship medal in 2011 – Kenny feels happy. United feel happy. It tells in his football and that of the club.
“There was a lot going on last year,” Kenny says. So much so that this week in 2012, Leeds were effectively sold by Ken Bates to GFH Capital. “It was a difficult place to be last season I thought. It was a hard season as a whole, up and down, and we didn’t get the right results when we needed them. That affects how people think of you and how they look at the team.
“But this season it feels like a completely different club. The expectation’s still there but there seems to be a bit of a buzz too. It’s a good place to be.
“A big cloud has been taken off the club and we all feel more settled. That’s rubbing off on the pitch and all of a sudden we’re right in the mix.”
Their 4-2 victory at Charlton saw to that, the first time this season that Leeds have pieced two league victories together. The club sat a point beneath the play-offs at full-time. McCormack’s four-goal spree was the talk of The Valley but Kenny did his bit with three immense saves, and two in particular.
His point-blank parry from Simon Church in the first half denied Charlton an equaliser which came regardless when Cameron Stewart beat Kenny on 45 minutes with the mother of all volleys. The keeper’s reactions to shots from Callum Harriott – one a clever flick off the outside of the forward’s boot and the other diverted by a huge deflection – were crucial, top-draw reactions. In amongst so much discussion about McCormack, he was mentioned in dispatches by McDermott afterwards.
“I was more pleased with the second save (from Harriott) than the first,” Kenny says. “I had to move my feet quickly and I’ve not got the smallest of frames, have I? I was going one way but managed to get back.
“The first one was more about instinct. It’s a reaction and the ball just comes at you. The second one was better. But any save you make you’re happy with. The last one you make is always your best.
“The way the game went – for us to take the lead twice and for them to come back twice – we could easily have let them take the upper hand in the end. But we managed to dig deep and Ross pulled a few tap-ins out of the bag.”
McCormack’s raking finishes were tap-ins in the same way that Kenny’s full-stretch parries were easy reaches but McDermott’s biggest achievement in seven short months as manager has been to bring some humour to his club and his job. There was little to laugh about at Thorp Arch last season, before or after GFH Capital’s takeover.
The irony of an easy-going mood is that McDermott is presently omitting some major players from his squad – Noel Hunt, Luke Varney and Paul Green to name three. El-Hadji Diouf has a stomach complaint but was not involved in the trip to Charlton and had little chance of starting tomorrow anyway. Michael Brown and Danny Pugh are expectedly ahead of others in the queue having bided their time.
“I’m pleased for a lot of people,” McDermott said after the win over Charlton. “Danny, Michael, lads like that. Paddy’s two saves were terrific, truly terrific. As a group, the players are growing.”
How much more Kenny can grow as a footballer at the age of 35 remains to be seen. Keepers are increasingly inclined to push on towards 40 and he has played every minute of this season, 18 competitive games back-to-back, without causing McDermott sleepless night. It as well for McDermott since Jamie Ashdown, his most established reserve, has a long-standing foot injury.
“I feel good,” Kenny says. “There’s not much time to rest but that’s the way it is in this league and you get used to it over the years. I’m pleased to have played in every game. I’m not getting any younger and sometimes it’s better that you just keep playing rather than miss the odd game here and there. It’s better for you.”
Periods of this season asked questions of Leeds but they kick off against Middlesbrough this weekend two places beneath sixth; as prominent as McDermott might have expected them to be after 15 games when the season began against Brighton in August.
United pulled in a crowd in excess of 30,000 for that fixture and are quietly hopeful of doing the same tomorrow. Kenny can sense impetus behind them saying: “We’ve won the last two games and it’s the first time we’ve won two in a row in the league,” he says. “So we’ve got momentum and we’ve had a bit of a break, got a few injured players back. There’ll be a big crowd there tomorrow and we’re going out to win. “Win this game and, well, not many people have spoken about us yet. But we’d be right in there, pushing the top six.”

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