Eddie Lewis interview: ‘That’ free kick, how he’d love to play for Bielsa and why the Watford performance still hurts - The Athletic 19/7/21


By Richard Sutcliffe

Eddie Lewis, one-time Leeds United player of the year, takes barely a moment to answer.

“I’d have enjoyed playing for Marcelo Bielsa,” replies the 47-year-old. “A lot of running, sure. But it is fun when you are running forward!”

Lewis, looking not too dissimilar to those days he spent patrolling United’s left flank in the mid-2000s, is speaking to The Athletic via Zoom.

The original plan had been to meet up in London, only for on-going COVID-19 travel restrictions to scupper his trip across the Atlantic to promote the opening of a new business venture, Toca Social, at The O2.

He had been looking forward to returning to the capital, where his eight-year stay in English football had begun with Fulham in 2000 before taking in spells at Preston North End, Leeds and Derby County.

Along the way, he enjoyed two stints in the Premier League and was part of the Preston side that came within a whisker of bringing top-flight football back to Deepdale for the first time in 44 years after reaching the play-off final. It is, however, his time at Elland Road that resonates the most all these years on.

“I reflect now and think those years at Leeds were probably the ones I enjoyed the most,” says the former USA international with 82 caps to his name. “The club wasn’t in the best shape it has ever been in.

“But I do think what makes a club and the experience is the fans. I loved the fact the fans were either extremely happy with you or extremely frustrated. The bottom line is they cared. Cared deeply, no matter what.”

Watching Bielsa’s side in last season’s Premier League brought back memories of his own time, both good and bad, playing in front of those same supporters.

“This feels easy to say in hindsight,” he adds. “But I honestly did believe Bielsa was the perfect manager for Leeds United. Like every Leeds fan, you are always hopeful the next manager or the next signing is going to be the one who helps turn the tide.

“It has taken longer than everyone would have hoped. And it is still early days in the Premier League, too. But, at the same time, you cannot help but feel there is a real foundation being established. This feels like a squad in it for the long haul.

“I watched the games last year and the biggest thing I enjoyed was how the team played. Knowing those fans and knowing how much that spirited football means to them, Bielsa has been the perfect squad manager for that stadium and those supporters.”

Pressed on what it is that would have made being part of a Leeds side under Bielsa so appealing, Lewis adds: “You can see the togetherness of the squad on the players’ faces. When you have that, it can give you an extra 20 per cent of juice.

“Just look at the pace Leeds have on the break. It is incredible. They are enjoying it.”

May 5, 2006. Elland Road. Sixteen minutes remain in a tension-wracked Championship play-off semi-final first leg and visitors Preston hold a precious 1-0 lead.

Despite the bumper crowd heeding manager Kevin Blackwell’s pre-match call to revive the cauldron of noise that five years earlier had helped United reach the Champions League semi-finals, the home side are yet to truly get going.

Preston deserve to lead through David Nugent’s stunning individual goal early in the second half. It is clear, as referee Paul Crossley blows for a foul on the edge of the North End penalty area, that Leeds need a hero. Cue that trusty Californian left foot.

“The biggest thing for me about that goal is how it got us back level,” says Lewis, as he modestly bats away compliments about the quality of a strike whose true value became evident three days later as goals from Rob Hulse and Frazer Richardson clinched a 3-1 aggregate triumph.

“What we couldn’t afford was to go back to Preston for the second leg down in the tie. We had to be at least level. To me, we were a better team than them but had started nervy and gone behind.

“Even then, though, I honestly felt if we got level then we’d be the ones going to the final.”

Asked if he’d had to pull rank over Robbie Blake and Liam Miller, who were also standing over the ball as Carlo Nash lined up his defensive wall, Lewis laughs before replying: “I was always taking that free kick, it couldn’t have been placed in a better position for me, as a left-footer.

“Afterwards, I just wanted to get the game restarted. But I remember Greegs (Sean Gregan) coming and grabbing me in the celebrations. He grabbed me so hard he literally took my breath away. I felt like I was going to pass out.”

The sweetness of that strike from 15 years ago brings us neatly on to Lewis’ new business venture, an interactive dining experience that promises visitors to The O2 an opportunity to test their football skills in a private booth hosting up to a dozen people.

Bearing in mind how this interview was originally supposed to be in-person at a venue due to open on July 29, The Athletic is suddenly relieved at not having to try to emulate that play-offs strike against Preston when up against the man who pulled it off with 30-odd-thousand expectant fans watching on all those years ago.

“It’s designed for all ages, abilities and sizes,” replies Lewis, clearly somehow sensing how yours truly used to trundle up and down the right flank for the Polytechnic of Central London’s 3rd XI in the early ’90s.

“The technology was originally designed for training purposes (Lewis’ company Toca Football runs 14 soccer centres in North America). But the truth of the matter is, from the very beginning, if a young player was coming in to train then we would often hear the parent say, ‘Do you mind if I jump in and have a go?’.

“That engagement made us think, ‘There might be more here than just a training comp’. Basically, Toca Social is all the best parts of football — bringing the ball down out of the air, finishing, volleying.

“It doesn’t matter who you are. If you make clean contact and watch it go — what a feeling!”

A bit like that Preston equaliser?

“Oh, yes. That was pleasing because it helped us go through. Though I still have a hard time to get past our failure in the final.”

Indeed. That abject 3-0 loss to Watford at the Millennium Stadium saw Leeds produce their worst 90 minutes of the season.

Lewis adds: “I had been in the final the year before with Preston (who were beaten 1-0 by West Ham United) so losing two in a row was tough. Given that the stakes were so high, on both occasions I was surprised how players you consider really stable were overwhelmed by the occasions.

“It would have been one thing to walk away and say, ‘We gave it our best shot’. Maybe the West Ham game with Preston, I can say that a little bit. But definitely not for Watford.

“I could have accepted losing to a team who were just better than us. But to just play poorly and give away an opportunity like that, I’m not sure if that sting will ever go away. It still hurts.”

That last sentiment is surely one shared by Leeds fans, not least because of what happened next as the club went from chasing a Premier League dream to the nightmare of landing with a thud in the third tier less than 12 months later.

Worse was to follow as a failure to exit administration to the satisfaction of the Football League led to a 15 point deduction that meant victory in what proved to be Lewis’ final league game for Leeds — a 2-1 triumph on the opening day at Tranmere Rovers — still left the Yorkshire club cut totally adrift at the foot of the table.

“It is almost impossible to go from the verge of promotion to being relegated,” he adds, that familiar wide Californian smile having briefly disappeared. “But that hangover sometimes hurts so bad. The group could never really get past it.

“Once things had started to go wrong, it was hard to recover. We had a lot of things that compounded it, such as financial complications, the change in manager (as Dennis Wise replaced Blackwell) but you’d still think it was possible to fix some of those challenges.”

Wise, having been brought in by chairman Ken Bates in September, was not a popular appointment among fans. He was also unable to stop the slide towards League One at a time when Lewis believes the weight of the Leeds shirt was proving unduly heavy for some.

“It is a bit like how England, in the past, maybe should have performed better in certain competitions,” he says. “But the expectation was really high. It means the shirt can be heavy as hell sometimes.

“The crowd is compounding the problem by beating up on you and telling you how bad you are doing, meaning it requires even more to get up and out of it. Those, though, are the standards that are set.

“Interestingly, for all the grief he (Wise) got, I didn’t mind him. He knew the game well. Obviously, he had been a great player. At the managerial level, a lot of it is communication. Managing players, basically.

“In some respects, he was still young. Although the success was not there and there were challenges based on the relationship with the chairman, I did like him as manager.

“He definitely wasn’t a terrible manager. Just that he probably made some decisions on players — or how he motivated some players — that maybe he would do slightly differently if he had the opportunity again.

“I did really enjoy his assistant, Gus Poyet. He was fantastic. An amazing footballer and a really great brain.”

Lewis being named player of the year for 2006-07 after winning more than 50 per cent of the supporters’ vote was the ultimate bittersweet moment. Undoubted pride at becoming only the fourth winner at Elland Road from outside the British Isles but also deep regret at the club’s relegation.

Fourteen years on and with Leeds back where he believes they belong, the American can look back on not only that award but also an ultimately bruising season in a philosophical mood.

“Leeds will always have a place in my family’s heart,” adds Lewis. “I’m proud of the award, even if it wasn’t by any stretch the best of times for the club. Really, footballers and clubs are like ships passing in the night. You are there for a few years but that is it.

“I always tried to stay as connected as I could. I was only out there for 90 minutes, whereas these people had spent their whole lives supporting this effort. The least I could do was give everything I could for 90 minutes.

“I’ve always prided myself on that. It didn’t always end well. But I always gave my best. As for that year (2006-07), it was a wild one. Again, though, as bad as it was at the time, there is also part of me that looks back and sees a great experience. Something really powerful.

“I remember one game we were locked into our own changing room by the Leeds staff because they didn’t think it was safe for us to leave. As crazy as this is, at the same time, that is still pretty cool in that it matters so much to the fans.”

 

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