Let’s start with some good news, City’s under 21 team made it through to the Quarter Finals (they’ve been drawn at home to Cardiff Met) of the Nathaniel MG Cup with an enjoyable 2-1 win over Merthyr at Leckwith on Tuesday night.
In a first half which resembled a game of attack v defence, City created the sort of chances that, despite the evidence of our own eyes, our manager insists the first team are missing in every game, and missed them all to go in at the break somehow level at 0-0.
The irony was that Merthyr came out with a more aggressive attitude in the second half and were dominating the opening minutes of it when City took the lead as Michael Reindorf’s shot proved to be strong for the visiting keeper and found the net.
For a long time, that goal looked like it would be decisive despite play switching from end to end as Merthyr chased an equaliser. City gradually reasserted their authority though and a second goal arrived just before the ninety minute mark when the impressive Trey George chipped the keeper – the ball looked to be on it’s way into the net, but Reindorf touched it in from point blank range, thereby provoking unsuccessful Merthyr appeals for offside.
Despite Noah Smerdon pulling a goal back almost immediately from a corner, Merthyr had run out of time and so were left to reflect on a match in which they made a decent contribution to the entertainment, but could have few complaints about the outcome.
Yesterday we had what’s been called a passionate defence of his management of the club by Erol Bulut – I gave my response to the story on the messageboard I use this morning;
“I watched it as well and found it truly weird, I knew what was coming because I’d read the Wales Online report about him “coming out swinging”, but any boxer at a decent level who does that tends to end up being counted out flat on his backside within a round or two. No, this “swinging” was more akin to someone who gets in a fight in the taxi queue outside the Philharmonic on a Sunday morning, wild, unconvincing and sounding pissed.
Despite knowing what was coming, I was still flabbergasted both by how someone can be so deluded and how his rantings were indulged by the fearless gentlemen of the press asking the questions.”.
I accept it could be called unfair because both of the teams involved were a lot better than us last season, but the time my attitude to our manager changed to one of I’d not be bothered in the slightest if he were sacked can be traced to the home defeats by Leicester and Leeds within a few days of each other over the Christmas/New Year period. It was if we went out for those two games with the height of our ambition being to keep the size of our defeat down to manageable proportions.
Although I see no other outcome than a Leeds win tomorrow, let’s hope we at least have a go, rather than sit back and wait for the inevitable – despite what Erol Bulut might think, the overwhelming majority of City fans would respond positively if his team gave the home crowd something to get excited about as opposed to the sort of stuff normally served up at Cardiff City Stadium under his management.
Here’s the usual quiz with seven questions on Leeds dating back to the 60's.
60s. This forward’s route into senior football just would not happen these days. He was sought first by Leeds as a sixteen year old, but he turned down a professional contract, preferring instead to remain an amateur. He worked as a miner for a while, but when National Service took him “abroad”, his goalscoring exploits for Army teams persuaded the biggest team in the locality to sign him. Wearing red now, he did well at senior level in the professional game and his speed and finishing soon had clubs at a higher level interested. He would spend much of his career playing for Yorkshire clubs and he stayed in red with the first of them as he became part of a squad that almost provided a new competition with a shock first winner. Leeds got their man at the second attempt and he became an established member of a team which was taking the initial steps on their journey to the top of the domestic game. The jump to the First Division proved to be a step too far though and so he moved a short distance to play in stripes, but, with his pace on the wain as he reached 30, he again struggled and it wasn’t until he returned to hsi first club that he began to score goals at his old rate. After that, he signed for bitter rivals for a short while before dropping into non league football, can you name him?
70s. Born in a place in Lancashire once famous for its Dynamos, this full back cum midfield man started off at the further away of the two clubs which constitute one the most intense rivalries in England. His first club wasn’t always successful, but, as, maybe, the best player in the squad at the time, he was often linked to bigger clubs. When he did move on, it was to a Leeds side that weren’t one of the powers in the land any more, but were still an established top flight club. That situation changed while he was at Elland Road and Leeds were still in the second tier when he left them to sign for the team he supported as a boy – the side that were the rivals of his first club. His last move saw him becoming more dynamic as he returned home and dropped into non league. The personal life section of his Wikipedia entry contains just one story about how he was arrested in 2008 for slapping a female police officer who had caught him urinating in the street – he was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £60 costs after admitting to the charge, but who is he?
80s. Did this defender own a spaniel in his time with Leeds? (4,5)
90s. Disciple with banal issue by the sound of it.
00s. Gangrene version as pursued by City twenty odd years ago! (4,6)
10s. Royal family of Cowboys perhaps!
20s. Which member of the current Leeds squad has a winning goal against Spain at a major tournament in his CV?
Answers:
60s.Don Weston signd for Wrexham when his goalscoring exploits while on National Service attracted the attention of Football League clubs. Second Division Rotherham paid £10,000 for his services and he was part of a team that took a 2-0 lead into the second leg of the Final of the first ever Football League Cup competition, only to go down 3-0 at Aston Villa in the return game. Don Revie then paid £18.000 for Weston and he was joint top scorer in the Leeds team which was promoted from the Second Division in 1963. Finding the adjustment to the top flight difficult, Weston signed for Huddersfield, only to struggle again and he eventually returned to Wrexham before he played a few games for Chester before he left league footballer.
70s. Colne born (Colne Dynamos were possibly the biggest non league club in England in the mid to late 80s before they were denied entry into what is now the National League following a promotion from the Northern Premier League in 1990 because their ground was deemed not good enough – with this news, the former pro footballer who had been bankrolling the club decided to dissolve it after an attempt to ground share with Burnley failed), Kevin Hird signed for Blackburn in 1973 and made over one hundred and thirty league appearances for them before a move to Leeds in 1979. Hird spent five years with Leeds, playing close to two hundred league games, before signing for Burnley and then finishing his career with a spell at the ill fated Colne Dynamos.
800s. Neil Aspin.
90s. Simon Grayson.
00s. Sean Gregan,
10s. Stuart Dallas,
20s. Ao Tanaka scored the winning goal for Japan against Spain in the 2022 World Cup game that enabled his team to qualify for the knock out stages.