They never destroyed the ground beneath their managers feet They never destroyed the ground beneath their manager's feet.Old Leeds players like Giles, Lorimer and Norman Hunter, a local broadcaster, have certainly seen the most dismal evidence of the passage of the years these last few weeks. The big worry is that there just isn't any feeling of hope around the club now, and given the latest performance you have to say that relegation is a likelihood rather than just a grim possibility."As he talks, you are reminded of those days when Revie pulled all the strings at Elland Road, when his command was, however reluctantly conceded by directors used to running an indifferent show, just about total. Nothing coming out of Elland Road could now be bizarre enough to surprise any of us I don't blame Peter Reid. I agree with John [Giles], I don't think Don Revie could make a hell of a lot out of the current situation. He may also, like the rest of us, wonder from where Leeds would produce the money to pay another lump of compensation plus the wages of a new manager.Lorimer says: "The fans are punch drunk now, and you can understand why after the last few performances. The result has been a reprieve for Reid, but one theory - which would earn only derision if Leeds hadn't already broken every rule of decent club management - is that Reid's escape was inspired not by any re-evaluation of their current manager, or fan support, but the need to protect his certain successor, Paul Hart of Nottingham Forest, from the initial firestorm of a run of fixtures against Blackburn, today, Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal.Lorimer, a fierce shooting hero of a great Leeds team in the Sixties and Seventies and now a publican, can only shake his head at the possibility of such delicacy of feeling for a new man. "I gather the directors met urgently because of alarm in the City of London. They should check out the pubs of Leeds."Eventually, that's what they did and the overwhelming response was in support of the embattled Reid who, after the second straight away 4-0 defeat last Sunday, looked as if he had been hit by a runaway truck. "You keep thinking we've hit rock bottom, then another farce occurs," he says. As one of their former players, John Giles, says, the idea of Leeds United holding a "crisis meeting" to discuss the work of their manager, Peter Reid, is wildly surreal - a bit like George W Bush fussing over urban renewal in Baghdad. One of Giles' old team-mates, Peter Lorimer, is equally bemused. "The result is very important because of the gap between us, though as far as I know, no title has been won in early October.".
It could even make them stronger."But hopefully not at Anfield, he might have added, setting the fraternit?side and looking for something more than egalit?"This is a challenge for us, the kind of game I like," he said. If one is ill-treated or attacked, the whole team will react."Yet Arsenal appear to have few problems playing at a numerical disadvantage, perhaps because, after 52 dismissals under Wenger, they are used to it. Houllier felt that what went on at Old Trafford was "not that bad .. I've seen worse" and actually predicted benefits "I think it will have a positive effect on Arsenal. When you're under attack, maybe you stick together even more It's not one player, but the whole team. They don't go on to the pitch to hurt people or to wind up opponents. What happened at Manchester is none of my business, but I know that sometimes you can't control your players. That mentality is of paramount importance in the Premiership. Sometimes it seems that every yellow card they get comes under the media microscope."They're not a dirty team, but a good one I know most of the players and they're good guys. "When you're a manager, you want your players to be fighters and winners. Houllier is a fan of what Wenger has achieved at Highbury, even if his use of the term "fighters" seemed ill-advised after the unpleasant denouement at Old Trafford."In fairness, the criticism [of Arsenal] went over the top," he said, warming to the role of counsel for the defence. Arsenal, with Patrick Vieira linking it all together, provide a classic example at their best. |
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