Some Willy Gnonto home truths, 49ers musts and exception from Leeds United ‘mob’: David Prutton - YEP 16/8/23
I think if you are a Leeds United fan then you are looking at the club at the moment and it's alarming to say the least, writes DAVID PRUTTON.
By David Prutton
We all know that when teams get relegated, there are occasions
when players move on. There's occasions where you see players valiant in defeat
and you kind of wish them well. Of the players that have left, I think Jack
Harrison is possibly one of the only ones who that applies to.
Jack was as much of a part of getting Leeds back into the
Premier League as anyone else and I think he really proved himself coming back
into English football with the way he went about it. Kudos to him and there's
also the fact that he was out the door at Leicester in January.
But the rest of it has made a mockery of Leeds' recruitment.
First and foremost, you've got players that haven't been good enough to keep
the club at the top level. Secondly, said players then believe themselves too
good for the level they are at now - a level they have had an active part in
getting Leeds in to.
Clauses have also been inserted and players with those have
consequently left or you do what Willy Gnonto has done and say my head's all
over the place, blah, blah, blah and I can't play, all that type of stuff.
With the cynicism of being a former pro and knowing how
fickle and precarious your existence as a Premier League footballer can be, I
do understand. But there's the other side of it and I am wholeheartedly set in
amongst the fans with this. It looks terrible, it is terrible and doesn't
reflect well on the player or his representation.
You can't be surprised because this is what happens and this
is just the way it's all kind of panned out. We all understand that football is
a business, it's global and it's high stakes. We get all that. But saying I am
not in the right mind to play is code for I don't want to play for you and that
really does stink the place up.
To paraphrase Liam Cooper, if you don't want to be here then
**** off. That's how he put it and that's pretty much how it feels that Leeds
fans would feel about a situation such as this.
It's scandalous that Gnonto refused to play. I understand
how selfish footballers have to be and need to be to be successful. But you
can't do that. I've heard good things about him as a person and a teammate but
this blows that out of the water.
As much as we understand what football is nowadays, the
essence of it is still about being a team, a band of brothers or sisters
looking after each other. That might all sound a bit twee but if you are
looking over and can't rely on the geezer next to you then what's the point in
having him in the team or the squad? He's very firmly burnt his bridges I
think.
There was a lot of head scratching about him at the end of
last season when he wasn't playing, a clamour to get him in the team and to see
what he can do. There was a genuine excitement when he was on the ball. But
when we were enthusing about him I think he was benefiting from the comparison
of being a poor team.
The jury is out on whether he is a Premier League
footballer, very much so. He might have looked pretty energetic and lively at
times but he's no wonder kid. He doesn't come on and rip people to pieces. He's
not a Michael Owen circa 1998 slicing through teams and smashing it in the top
corner by any stretch of the imagination.
There's definitely a very good footballer in there. But it's
a unique relationship that fans have with players and if they love a player
they will root for him until he does something like this which feels like a
slap in the face. They've been chanting and roaring his name out to try and
help out and he's not been part of that.
He might look at it and think this club had managers that
didn't give me a chance in the Premier League so sod you lot, I'm off. But I am
firmly foot in the camp of what the fans are thinking and all the text messages
that I am getting are about this mob, this crew, this firm of players that have
been absolutely bang average for Leeds United that want to go, don't let the
door slam you on the way out.
It's been ups and downs for Leeds fans over the last few
seasons and it was a long time coming to get back to the Premier League. But if
you are a player then don't take the mickey out of them, don't one day declare
undying love and loyalty and then jump at the first hole in the boat which is
exactly they've done.
I wouldn't say Jack Harrison gets away with it but what Jack
has done for Leeds and what Leeds have done for Jack has been mutually
beneficial. I think everyone has applauded his work rate, his consistency and
his attitude to play absolutely anywhere that he has been told to. He has been
brilliant for that and I think there is an element of wishing him well on his
way.
I absolutely get that because he's proven himself in the
period of time that he has played for Leeds. But the rest of them are instantly
forgettable names, instantly forgettable performances, and a lot of them will
just go down as many players can do at Leeds United as just names on a board
but once wore a white shirt at Elland Road.
At the moment, all it looks like to me is that players have
been identified who have been poor players for Leeds United that have
underperformed and got the club relegated and said poor players then have the
opportunity to further their careers after using Leeds as a stepping stone that
has been completely dunked underwater.
If you are a Leeds fan you must be sitting there scratching
your head. It almost feels like you would be waking up and rubbing your eyes in
August 2023 ahead of a Championship season thinking 'have I just dreamt the
last three seasons.' Did Marcelo Bielsa actually exist? Were there really
people en masse outside on Elland Road celebrating promotion and were there
people celebrating beating Manchester City and beating Liverpool and were these
occasions real? All because of what's happened and unfolded quite dramatically
in the last few months.
First and foremost, the 49ers need to get the ones out of
the door that don't want to be there and then replace what you can replace and
get the injured lads back fit. Leeds let themselves down defensively in that
first game against Cardiff and then they lost to a Birmingham City team that is
on a bit of an upswing with regards to Tom Brady bowling in the door.
But Daniel Farke needs to be given the arsenal that he
needs. I think he's dealt with it just right so far and he will know more about
what's going on then we do. But I think he's been absolutely right. When he
says a player is "unavailable" like Luis Sinisterra was at Birmingham
then his explanation is ambiguous enough for people to make of it what they
will.
Then there are players that are moving on which is proving
him right for keeping his counsel and his take off if people don't want to be
here then move them on is absolutely right. I think he needs to be given a bit
of patience from the people in charge and also from the fans which I think he
will get because of what he is capable of.