Georginio Rutter, Leeds' most creative player, finds his best form after hernia surgery in the 1-0 win over Norwich 4:0. Photo: Action Images/Jason Cairnduff
Joy Division is still a big name in Leeds. Forty-five years after their mesmerizing performance at the city's Futurama Stadium, their most famous song is still being twisted to mock Leeds United.
Leicester midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, receiving promotion, gloated: «Leeds, Leeds are falling apart again», and later that week Ipswich Town fans joined in the chorus of colorful jeers.
Leeds restored a sense of hope on the road to Wembley on Sunday with a strong return to form in their play-off semi-final defeat of Norwich. But before that, the song reminded the older generation of other good cuts from the back catalog to voice the somber mood after three April defeats that left them in third place: She's Lost Control, New Dawn Fades, Wilderness.
Such ingrained pessimism was all that Daniel Farke tried to mitigate. He was appointed manager last July while the takeover of 49ers Enterprises was yet to be ratified, impressing his interviewers not only with his record of two league titles in three years at Norwich but also with his belief that this was his last , a great opportunity to thrive at Norwich. Premier League. Farke wanted to achieve «sustainable success» and prove that Norwich's problems in the top flight were more a matter of resources than resourcefulness.First of all, the new management admired his confidence, and it later emerged that, it seemed as if he was evaluating them, rather than the other way around.
Making Changes
The new owners should be a clean slate, but 49ers Enterprises had representation on the board for years and the consortium needed a credible appointment after the farce of the previous two seasons. The entire reputation built by Marcelo Bielsa's appointment, promotion and ninth place finish in the Premier League after 16 years in the Championship and League One was destroyed by a series of arrogant mistakes.
Daniel Farke preached patience from the very beginning. Photo: PA/Ian Hodgson
Two terrible years, including 16 wins and 39 defeats, 16 of them by three goals or more, left fans baffled, annoyed, disappointed and finally disgusted.
< p>Moreover, many of the players bought over the previous 12 months for Jesse Marsh's failed project have informed the club that they want to activate rare clauses in their contracts drawn up under previous ownership that give them the right to be loaned out rather than sold after departure. . No one shed a tear over the departures of Brenden Aaronson, Rasmus Christensen, Max Weber and Mark Rock or the previous acquisitions of Robin Koch, Diego Llorente and Jack Harrison, but the loss of expensive assets, failed or not, without any compensation. Apart from saving on wages, it smacked of the economy of a madhouse.
Farke's legacy looked pathetic during a hectic few weeks for the club as he waited for the sale of the club to be completed. He was optimistic in his first press conferences but made it clear that the eight weeks before the transfer window closes will be a turbulent one. Some players had items they wanted to activate, and others who didn't might just want to leave. Consistency, he stressed, calling for patience, will not be obvious until at least the fall.
Leeds' long absence from the Premier League meant they missed out on its imperial phase, the rapid inflation of television revenues that saw first Setanta, ESPN and then BT Sports enter the market, causing Sky's rates to soar. Increased income from overseas rights also increased the amount from which Leeds' decline excluded them for 16 years. Consequently, unlike most similarly sized clubs, the football club's structure lacked genuine depth. The favorite site was old and dirty, and the departments were understaffed compared to competitors.
We need to make this a fun theme for the whole family. Reply with a photo of the crappiest/most neglected section of Elland Road. https://t.co/YbFvMoMIjs
— Michael Normanton (@Michael_TSB) March 12, 2023
Bielsa really was a panacea. Essentially, Leeds were still a Championship club but were paid Premier League wages. When Victor Orta, sporting director since 2017, left in April 2023, apparently in defiance of the hiring of Sam Allardyce for a final roll of the dice with four games remaining, it meant they ended the season without a first-team coach. personnel and someone prepared to deal with the detonation of contract time bombs.
The new owners were wise to seek expert help, bringing in Nick Hammond, former Reading sporting director and the man who shaped Newcastle's successful transfer strategy in January 2022 following their sale, as a consultant. Farke, pointedly referred to as a «manager» rather than a «head coach» like his immediate predecessors, joined the recruitment process in his first sign of support in months with the £7 million purchase of Ethan Ampadu from Chelsea.
He played in midfield in the opening game of the season against Cardiff and was instrumental in the 2-0 return, securing a draw with Crisencio Summerville equalizing in the 95th minute. But after the match, two attacking players, Luis Sinisterra and Wilfried Gnonto, both said they wanted to leave and asked to be removed from the first team. Farke reacted strongly to this and suspended them from training while their agents lobbied the club.
Sinisterra was eventually forced by threat of legal action into a loan move to Bournemouth on deadline day, while Gnonto, without a binding clause or credible offer, was warned and reintegrated after apologizing. Both played in a 4-3 win over Ipswich at Portman Road in Leeds' fourth game, their first league win since April 4, 12 matches earlier. Sinisterra's acrimonious departure six days later came as a relief, but in their forward performance Leeds finally showed they were capable of delivering on Farke's promotion formula: 26 wins, 75 goals and a points-per-game ratio of two or more. .
Italy winger Willy Gnonto asked for a transfer in August and refused to go to Birmingham, but was successfully reintegrated. Photo: PA/Joe GiddensAfter a poor start in early October, Leeds began to pick up the pace, winning nine games and drawing one in an 11-game run that took them into third place behind Leicester and Ipswich, both of whom they beat home and away. Playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation with outstanding teenage midfielder prospect Archie Gray at right-back, Farke's style was all about control.
Retaining the ball was paramount, even if it meant passing the ball countless times over the back four and goalkeeper, and then back again, waiting for a mistake in the opposition's pressing. The two deeper midfielders played conservatively — in fact none of those positions, be it Gray, Amapadu, Ilya Gruev or Glen Kamara, had scored until Gruev's free kick last week — and Leeds relied heavily on the light, quick and skilled wingers. Summerville, Gnonto and Dan James, who shared 40 points between them.
When they lost back-to-back games to Preston and West Brom after Christmas, they started the year six points behind Southampton, nine behind Ipswich and Darien behind Leicester's leader by 17 points with 21 matches left. Eleven weeks later, they were the league leaders.
Finding the right chemistry
What changed? After two years of unreliable fitness and fractious form following his England debut, Patrick Bamford returned to the centre-forward role. Gruev, a holding midfielder with a clawed left foot, came forward and Ampadu returned to central midfield, forming such a strong partnership with Joe Rodon that they did not concede a single goal in open play for 13 games, 12 of which they won.< /p>
Despite all the shortcomings in his shooting technique, Bamford's movement and holding play made the team more fluid, allowing Georginio Rutter, the most creative talent, to play a deeper role and the wingers and full-backs to find more space. In this 13-match series they were often convincing, sometimes downright effective, but took on teams with confidence that they would get the job done.
Patrick Bamford, who was ruled out of the final with a knee injury, played a key role in the team's transformation in the new year. Photo: Getty Images/Matt McNulty
That all changed during the March international break when Gruev was injured and Rutter had surgery to remove a hernia. Leeds lost three and won only two of their next seven games, allowing Leicester and Ipswich to get ahead of them. Farke brought them to the threshold, but at the last moment they had to shake the wrong key in the lock.
The reasons for this are manifold. The irony is not lost on fans that so-called «dirty Leeds» are second in the fair play table with the fewest yellow cards in the division. The number of «tactical fouls» they committed was negligible, and they allowed themselves to be beaten late in the season when attacks could have been stopped further up the pitch.
This naivety extends to their abysmal set-piece conversion rate (relegated Rotherham scored a whopping nine goals) and a general lack of experience. Only four players over 27 have made more than 10 starts. In the words of fan magazine The Square Ball, Leeds were missing a «gray-haired championship bitch» and certainly not Hall of Fame veteran Bobby Collins Class of 1964 Gordon Strachan. in 1990 or Pablo Hernandez in 2020 to send them to the Promised Land.
But the play-offs have given them a chance at redemption, even if fans travel to Wembley with an air of trepidation after three defeats in the Final go back to 1987
If they are up to the task against Southampton, who have beaten them twice this season, it will be a perfect promotion in keeping with the spirit of the times. Few want simple triumph anymore, they want to bare their scars, they want their haters to eat their words, ultimately they want vindication and that's why Leeds fans sing this song too.
Reveling in the schadenfreude of the fans , this is nothing. new. This is the most striking motif in the game's tapestry. On Sunday the song «Leeds Falling Apart Again» will be played. The only question is whether it will be the mockery of the Saints or a cry of ecstatic defiance that will sound like an exorcism.
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