Leeds United truth lost in fierce Victor Orta debate as fans and board served timely reminder - YEP 8/11/22

Anyone who spectated at a junior football match on Sunday might have felt a pang of empathy for Leeds United director of football Victor Orta.

By Graham Smyth

The FA's Silent Support Weekend asked supporters to keep schtum during matches in order to reduce the pressure on youngsters and, by happy coincidence, referees.

As one sage nine-year-old voice proclaimed to his father at full-time of his game, won handsomely in the complete absence of parental advice: "You don't need to shout ever again."

But while adhering to the FA's request for an applause-only approach made a certain amount of sense, in order to allow children to make in-game decisions for themselves, it felt unnatural. There was a lot of lip biting.

Football is a sport that elicits noise from us, in the form of opinions, criticisms and celebrations. That will never change at professional level or, one suspects, at junior levels, regardless of the FA's admirable intentions and schemes.

In the same way, Orta will never be able to sit on his hands and bite his lip as a squad he is so personally and professionally invested in goes about its business at Elland Road. His vow to try and keep his emotions 'in check' following a confrontation with West Stand supporters on Saturday will be a difficult one to keep, because he is human. It's not just his professional reputation wrapped up in the fortunes of this team, not simply his pride at stake, but the fortunes of those with whom he shares personal relationships. No one can argue that he doesn't care, because it's written all over his face from minute one to 95, and beyond, on a matchday.

On Saturday, reacting to something said, Orta mockingly chanted 'sack the board' and put his finger to his lips to silence some criticism that had, presumably, followed Leeds slipping to a 3-1 deficit during the Bournemouth game. The dramatic comeback and 4-3 victory evidently drew from Orta a verbalised form of some vindication he must have felt and, as night follows day, the publishing of mobile phone footage sparked wild debate and an apology from the Spaniard.

On social media, Orta was decried as a flop who should be fired, if not placed in stocks outside Leeds Town Hall, and he was hailed as a genius who did nothing wrong whatsoever. The truth, as ever, stood lonely in the middle ground.

When it comes to any analysis of Orta and Leeds, nuance is vital, but the very first point that should be universally agreed is that no one, no matter how you judge their performance, deserves abuse. There isn't a recruitment mistake Orta could make that would justify abusive phone calls or angry confrontations in front of his family.

Beyond that, just about everything is up for discussion because there are very few absolutes in football and despite the increasingly polarised nature of debate, more than one thing can be true at once.

Orta's work cannot be judged solely on his Jean-Kevin Augustins, no more than it can his Raphinhas. There have been flops and diamonds, over-priced additions and bargains.

And even when it comes to the individual transfers he has and has not brought to completion, there are mitigating factors that often evade the debate, like the influence of a head coach or the financial limitations of an ownership group.

There are signings that can't really be shoehorned into the good or bad categories because the jury remains out. There are signings who don't appear to have been the wisest of additions and yet they still retain value. Take Rodrigo. The evidence so far does not prove that £27m was the fair price Orta claimed at the time, and the forward is still yet to convince everyone he's the right man to lead the attack 75 games into his time at Leeds, but he's got seven goals in 12 this season, five of which were the difference between no points, one point or all three.

And if you point the finger of blame at Orta for spending too much on Rodrigo, or Daniel James, you also have to acknowledge that Pascal Struijk cost nothing to bring in from Ajax and that Illan Meslier set Leeds back just £5m. Orta's work is not black and white and it's not all rainbows - but he has never claimed an ability to get each and every signing right.

Any director of football will come in for some criticism when a squad's deficiencies show up under pressure, as Leeds' have already this season, and a reasonable critique will note the net spend he had to work with and the fact that had Orta been holding the purse strings and not simply the shopping list, then a forward and, most probably, a left-back would have been added.

What fans have to accept is that, like it or not, the subjects of their criticisms might just reply.

What Orta and the board have to accept is that not everyone is going to bite their lip and count the blessings bestowed on the club since Andrea Radrizzani arrived, when the on-field results of boardroom decisions are poor. A smash-and-grab comeback at home to Bournemouth maybe vindicated Orta's belief, but did not vanquish concerns over this squad. The story was the win, it should not have become anything else. Happy days, take the points, start the car and live to fight another day. Don’t pick a fresh fight, though. One day Orta will leave Elland Road and if, on that day, the club is in a better place than when he arrived – as it is right now – he will have all the vindication he needs.

In the meantime what everyone needs is a little nuance and, now and again, a reminder that despite the rift that has developed between board and fans since last season started to go awry, they all want the same thing. That rift may never close over entirely again but the less barbed the interactions between both parties, the more lips bitten in tough times, the better for Leeds United. You're all Leeds, aren't you?