Managed to stay out of the bar and watch the full 90 minutes this week , and glad that i did . Shocking in the first half , but whatever Warnock did at half-time seemed to do the trick . Hope we can take this on down to Portsmouth and get back in to the play-offs .

Im sure the older lads amongst us will remember that goal against Sheffield United in the four nil win, and not long after we went on to clinch promotion at Bournmouth. We then went on to get 4th place in our first year in division one (Now the premiership) and then to win the title 2 years later with near enough the same bunch of lads that got us out of division one. How many teams could do that now ?

Anyway, here’s my pictures from the day.

Best wishes to you all – Glenn

“Go On Gary Speed, Get One For Yourself Son”

Gary Speed

1969 – 2011

Leeds pre-season began with a little jaunt north into Bonnie Scotland.

We made Glasgow our base for the games at Falkirk and Motherwell. Our cousins north of the border are a friendly bunch really, except for one morning at breakfast when one of our lads came down a bit bleary eyed and worse for wear, and asked the waitress for a ‘Full English’.

A nice little 2-1 win at Falkirk got the pre-season schedule underway thanks to an own goal and one from Snoddy. The day before the Motherwell game we attended the Leeds on the Road event at Stirling, where to be honest no encouraging team news became apparent and there was much smoke and mirrors, if you get my drift. A 2-0 win, courtesy of Alex Bruce and Ramon Nunez (one of the few shining lights of the pre-season) at the rain soaked Motherwell, brought the curtain down on the trip to Scotland.

The heavy rain followed us to Rochdale a few days later where another shining light of the pre-season, Max Gradel, sealed a 1-0 win. Adam Clayton was possibly the only other shining light of the pre-season.

The mighty Sheffield Wednesday lay in wait next.

The referee, Mr Haywood, stood idly by as incessant fierce tackles by the Owls culminated in several Leeds players having to retrieve limbs from the empty seats of the Hillsborough stadium. To be fair, I don’t think it was the ‘real’ Mr Haywood who was officiating. His decisions were too preposterous to be taken seriously. The tight shirt failed to hide the large paunch of the impostor as the real Mr Haywood lay bound and gagged in a nearby car boot.

As yet another Leeds players went to pick up his leg from the front row, former Leeds star David Prutton put Wednesday ahead with quite a good goal really. It was encouraging though to see Prutton refuse to celebrate his strike.

In the closing stages Gradel was felled quite atrociously in the box, and the Impostor had no choice other than to begrudgingly point to the spot. Gradel replaced his head, left arm and right leg before coolly slotting home a much-deserved equaliser.

Next up was a hop, skip and a jump over to Norway for a hastily arranged game with Sandefjord. Two LUSCOS Leeds fans had paid £33,000 out of their own pockets to bring the team over, but the game was a big disappointment. Overshadowed by the tragic events in Norway only days earlier, the game never really got going. The massive Norwegian Leeds contingent wore armbands and readily handed some out to us travelling Leeds fans. The two teams also wore armbands as a minute’s silence was held prior to kick-off. A brilliant equaliser from Nunez in the closing stages was the only highlight of the game.

The first team pre-season was brought to an end with a thrilling 3-2 win over Newcastle United. Goals from Kisnorbo, Sam and a long overdue finish from Billy P saw off the Premiership rivals, but the main talking point was the total disappearance/non appearance of a certain Alan Smith.

I rounded off my own pre-season with a cool pint of Strongbow whilst watching the Under-18′s triumph 4-0 at Knaresborough Town.

I have to admit that overall, I’m feeling a little apprehensive about this season, but then, Leeds United have a habit of surprising us don’t they?

Marching on Together.

Gary Edwards is a lifelong Leeds United supporter, and has missed just one game since 1968 (And that was only because of a Spanish air traffic control strike!). Gary has released 3 books, with his latest book ‘No Glossing Over It: How Football Cheated Leeds United’ has just been released! It is worth a read and you can order from Amazon now! CLICK HERE! Also, the tour of Gary Edwards’ play ‘Paint It White’ is going on a nationwide tour, and you can get more information about that HERE.

Prices

Adult-£12; Junior-£5

Times

Saturday 3pm kick-off – 11:30am; Saturday early kick-off – 8:30am/9am; Saturday late kick-off – 1pm; Midweek games – 4:30pm/4:45pm

We look forward to seeing you on the bus this coming season, and you can book your place via the usual routes (Call Graeme on 01947 604742). Also, you can get information on Whitby Whites and our meetings, services etc. by emailing us on our email address whitbywhites@hotmail.co.uk. Buses will be running to Leeds United’s pre-season games against Sheffield Wednesday and Newcastle United and information for these games will appear on whitbywhites.co.uk in the coming days.

Personally, I’m a bit disappointed at the outcome. I agree that we, as supporters, would have happily settled for 7^th spot as the season got under way last August. But that said, having got so close to promotion I think the club should have seized the opportunity with both hands. And it was definitely in our hands as we turned into the New Year, but I am still mystified as to why we didn’t strengthen the team permanently in the January transfer window and push on for at least automatic promotion. For whatever reasons, the players stopped playing as we headed into the final straight of the season. A disastrous result at already doomed Sheffield United uncovered a few cracks in the team and quite frankly the loanees brought in, did nothing towards the cause. We have loan players out on loan to other clubs that I feel can do a job for Leeds United.

Our best left back, for me, is Aidy White. He’s not the most defensive full back, but he can defend, and he can go forward too. Tony Dorigo wasn’t the best tackler in the world but he was certainly effective. And for those of you that are my age, Terry Cooper was the original overlapping full back – what a player. He came to Leeds from Wolves juniors as a left winger, although he was a local, Leeds lad (Brotherton), and Don Revie transformed him into an absolutely brilliant, international, left back.

I feel we have a great manager in Simon Grayson, without any doubt. But I would like to see us attack teams more, after all, that was our only effective weapon last season. I cannot, for the life of me, understand playing one up front at home.

But admittedly, I’m not a manager.

I’m not suggesting that Leeds United spend for spendings sake, but you sometimes have to buy quality to succeed, that’s a fact – and sadly it was proved with the disappointing finish. We have a number of promising young players at this club. Blend them with experience, the right experience, and we can move forward.

Just before Christmas we beat the leaders, and eventual Champions, QPR at Elland Road with a 2-0 scoreline that certainly flattered the visitors. Then, when it was too late, Leeds put on possibly the best displays of the season for the last two games (with 2 up front). This hasn’t been a particularly tough division and I feel we should have capitalised on that, because without doubt it will be a much harder division next season.

But having said all that, We are Leeds and we have the best supporters, so we have to push on next season.

Moving on, I can announce that, after the three-week sell-out show in Leeds last October, the play Paint it White is now set to embark on a nationwide tour beginning in October.

All of the original cast, directors and producers are now working on taking the show out on the road to several ‘Leeds fans strongholds’ throughout the country, including  a run at the famous West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Although not all dates are yet confirmed, you can find all the latest information if you Google – Paint it White – About the Play.

The opening of the play will coincide with the release of my next book in August. ‘No Glossing Over It’ is quite different from the previous two books and I have been researching it for almost four years now. The finished article brings to light the many injustices that Leeds United Football Club has had to deal with throughout its history.

‘No Glossing Over It’ was written with the full co-operation of Duncan Revie and Dave Cocker, the sons of our legendary manager and trainer, Don Revie and Les Cocker respectively. Many referees have their say too, including Jack Taylor and Roger Kirkpatrick from the 1960’s and 1970’s, to more recent referees such as David Ellary. There is also an exclusive interview with the referee from the infamous European Cup Final in Paris in 1975. Eddie Gray has contributed to the book with a delightful foreword.

The book can be pre-ordered on Amazon.co.uk Thanks.

Thank You