Jackie Harrison isn’t a new toy but he’s always shiny - The Square Ball 30/1/23

MAMBA MENTALITY

Written by: Rob Conlon

Even when Jackie Harrison is the story, he never gets to be the story. Facing the LUTV cameras after Leeds’ win over Accrington, Harrison’s contentment with his afternoon’s work was reflected in the cap he was wearing backwards, just like all the coolest kids wear theirs. Except Harrison isn’t considered one of the coolest kids at Leeds anymore. Four seasons at the same club makes a footballer old news — part of the furniture, like the old leather sofas in the West Stand hospitality areas that seem to have been there since Don Revie used to sit on them.

Nothing is more exciting than a shiny new toy, so it didn’t take long before Jackie was being asked about how great Georgi Rutter is. It’s impossible to compete with the hype of a record signing, even when you’re Leeds’ third top scorer since returning to the Premier League, have created more goals than any other Leeds player in that time, and are the subject of a bid from a divisional rival.

Hopefully I’m just guilty of reading too much into opinions on Twitter, but there can seem an indifference among supporters when it comes to Harrison’s future. Sure, he has done lots of good things over those last four years at Leeds, but that length of time means we’ve seen all his faults too. And there’s no place like Twitter to find faults in someone. Yet of those to have played at least 500 minutes in the Premier League this season, Harrison is in the top ten players who create chances most frequently. He started the campaign with a creative streak that tracked the rate of Kevin de Bruyne, only to stutter in the weeks leading up to the World Cup break. It was later revealed Harrison was playing through injury during that period, and he’s been getting back into the groove since returning from re-season.

Naturally, it’s tempting to blame Jesse Marsch. In his first press conference as Leeds manager, Marsch said he wanted to break “a cycle here where guys have been fighting through injuries and often playing with injuries and it means that they have sometimes picked up other injuries and put themselves more in danger of missing minutes.” In the very next game, at Leicester, he left Tyler Roberts on the pitch after a ruptured hamstring injury reduced him to a training cone, while Pat Bamford — talked up in the summer as back and ready to fire — has been used as a walking medical experiment. Harrison was slated by supporters for his drop in form, but we didn’t know he was playing through hip and calf injuries. “It’s not always easy for the fans,” Harrison said in December, “they’re just quick to assume he’s playing good or playing bad, but it’s part of football.” I’m willing to give Jesse the benefit of the doubt, though; maybe he hasn’t had the options to protect players until now, and I’m not sure Mr Exclusive ever knows what he’s truly saying anyway.

Regardless of the numbers, or what Jesse has to say, watching Jackie play for Leeds provides me with more than enough joy to think selling him to Leicester would be a terrible idea. He has the first touch that could save a kitten being dropped from a burning building. There are times he seems exasperated or lost, but he has the work ethic to keep fighting and the skill to pull out a trick or create a chance when it appears least likely. Listening to him on the Leeds United podcast or watching his ‘A Day In The Life’ feature on LUTV reveals those pristine eyebrows bely a steeliness of constant self-improvement, Jeffrey Damher docs, and regularly annoying his teammates by beating them in training competitions with what Tyler Adams (inspired by Kobe Bryant) calls “mamba mentality”.

Jackie scoring one goal and creating another on Rutter’s debut was further evidence Leeds need to balance improving the squad with maintaining the spirit of promotion Mateusz Klich alluded to in his farewell. It’s easy to take an old toy for granted, and there’s no shame in getting excited about a new one, but often your oldest toys are the ones you appreciate the most.