49ers Enterprises have Leeds United past responsibilities but can repurpose Andrea Radrizzani idea — YEP 17/1/24
Eddie Gray doesn't need to be told that he is loved at Leeds United but he does have to be shown that he will be remembered.
By Graham Smyth
Today the birthday boy celebrates 76 years on the planet, 60
of which have been spent in a love affair with Leeds United that yielded glory
unlikely to be repeated. Part of the club's greatest ever team, and not just a
part but a main character, Gray is held in the kind of esteem that ensures he
can never pay a visit to Elland Road without being treated like royalty by
supporters. The generation of fans lucky enough to have him as their boyhood
idol are now approaching their own pension years, but you see them nudging kids
or even grandkids forward for photos whenever Gray draws near.
Gray is a regular feature of the Elland Road directors box,
where Howard Wilkinson has also recently been spotted. Now 80, the English
First Division title-winning manager is another who must be wholly certain of
his standing with Whites fans. Wilkinson is another whose contribution to the
club was transformative. Where Gray's dancing feet helped to take Leeds to new
heights on the pitch, Wilkinson's grey matter took them into a new era of
talent development that continues to reap rewards to this day. Thorp Arch and
its academy are the result of Wilkinson's determination to find a 'better way'
when it came to bringing youngsters into professional football. On Tuesday
night, when Leeds announced a new contract for 17-year-old Archie Gray, they
did so with a pair of photographs that showed him as a 2012 Elland Road mascot
for a young Sam Byram, and as a 2024 team-mate alongside Byram. The past,
present and future of Leeds United and products of Wilkinson's youth
development ideas.
Back when Leeds parted company with Marcelo Bielsa they
vowed to install a permanent tribute to the legendary head coach, at Elland
Road. There was the never-to-materialise and largely ill-received marble bucket
idea and then Andrea Radrizzani revealed he wanted to rename Thorp Arch after
the Argentine, to whom he had written for permission. That permission never
came was a surprise to precisely none of those who followed Bielsa's time at
Leeds with any measure of attention, and had he responded then the intended
recipient of the honour would surely have firstly declined and secondly pointed
to Wilkinson's longer-reaching contribution when it came to Thorp Arch. Bielsa
took Wilkinson's brainchild facility, spruced it up and ran with it, out of the
Championship and into the hearts of Leeds fans. Bielsa's was another
transformative impact, turning the likes of Kalvin Phillips into Premier League
footballers. Was it not for Wilkinson, however, and a long-established academy,
would there ever have been a Kalvin Phillips?
Last week Leeds said goodbye to another of Bielsa's
generals, granting Luke Ayling's wish to join Middlesbrough after seven and a
half years of living the dream. The club, perhaps with Mateusz Klich's sudden,
wrenching exit still fresh in minds, made sure to pay a fitting tribute in
their media output and extended an invitation for Ayling to return to Elland
Road for an appropriate send-off, a display of affection worthy of his service
to the badge. It came across as a genuine attempt to express the appreciation
that footballers do not or cannot always get while they're wearing the shirt
and going through the ups and downs of form, having their performances or place
in the team debated in the result-centred discourse. That kind of gesture, a
walk around the pitch to milk the applause of a full stadium, almost always
comes after a player's time, because circumstance dictates. Players move on.
It's different for those no longer active in the game, though. Their
appreciation does not have to be delayed and if the painful loss of so many
club legends during the pandemic taught Leeds anything it is that the time to
say thank you is now.
So often this game pays beautiful, long-lasting tribute to
the greats when they are no longer able or present to play a part in the
celebrations of their achievements. How many of the best players or managers at
any number of clubs have been afforded the chance to cut the ribbon and stand
back to see a permanent paean to their toil? A recent meeting of the Leeds
United Supporters Trust played host to club chairman Paraag Marathe and fans
made him aware of their desire to see the likes of Gray and Wilkinson honoured
properly. It might be a new and forward-looking ownership regime at Elland Road
but they have responsibilities to the past and to those whose shoulders they
stand on. Without men like Gray and Wilkinson, who lit a fire under the people
of Leeds that still burns for the football club today, Leeds United would not
have been half as attractive a proposition for Marathe and his investment
group.
There are only so many stands you can rename - four to be
exact - and Elland Road's already bear the names of legends who have passed. A
statue is among the most obvious ideas to honour Gray and for Wilkinson,
Radrizzani's Thorp Arch proposal for Bielsa could easily be repurposed. There
are many ways in which the club could honour these men and what they did for
Leeds United. There is every reason to do it in their lifetime.