Leeds United

[Martin]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Algselt postitas rohelineKonn

Sellest lipust ei saada vast aru. Seetõttu on tähtis mainida, et Prestoni omad chantisid hooaja viimase mängu alaj (2:0 Prestonile) ja 1:0 juhtseisu ajal play-offi esimeses mängus \"We are Superior\". Jajah.

[Martin]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Ja kui juba piltide postitamiseks läks.

DERRY IS GOING TO GET YOU!

[andreasr]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'


ega mul midagi asjalikku öelda pole, aga lahe oli näha, et eilses mängus oli ikka emotsiooni ja tunnete keemist. ehkki vahapeal vb liigagi siis vähemasti pinge oli kogu aeg peal. lausa huvitav vaadata (ehkki okei hooaja mängudes pole nii palju kaalul, siis need tunduvad vahel suht igavad)

[Martin]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

[glow tcolor=blue, fcolor=red, size=6, strength=4]KURADI DIRTY LEEDS!!! [/glow]


Cheats Win Out Over Class

WASHINGTON, DC (MNN) - It may seem like a stupid question, but how important is winning in soccer? Two very different games over the past few days have illustrated that winning is, to some, the be all and end all of playing the game, no matter what the stakes. At the same time, they have raised the question of whether the game is worth playing at all if the object is to kick and cheat your way to victory while eschewing beauty and morals.

On Monday in England, Leeds United beat Preston North End in the second leg of the Championship (second tier) playoff semifinal by 2-0, winning the two match series 3-1 on overall goals and securing a place in the final where, if they win, they\'ll be promoted to the Premier League. In the process they also had eight roster players yellow-carded, two red-carded, and broke the leg of Preston striker Brett Ormerod (an offense for which Leeds\' Jonathan Douglas went unpunished) and the cheekbone of goalkeeper Carlo Nash.

Playoff games are rarely a delight to watch for the neutral, and there\'s big Premier League money at stake here, with Leeds manager Kevin Blackwell calling it a \"£40 million tie.\" Despite his side\'s conspicuously ugly tackling, he criticized the referee for being too harsh on his players. Preston manager Billy Davies was stoical in saying, \"We\'ll live and learn.\" This probably means that should his team make the same stages of the competition next year, they too will kick their opponents off the park in order to win.

\"Dirty Leeds\" was the nickname of Don Revie\'s successful but much hated United side of the 1970s. After that, Leeds spent a long time in the second division before re-emerging in the 1990s, and even making the semi final of the Champions League in 2000. But they overspent trying to maintain standards, went down again, and are now so heavily in debt that they desperately need that Premiership money once more. Clearly, the feeling at the club is that they must gain promotion at all costs, even if it means breaking bones.

Now to the second game, which took place the day before in the less charged surroundings of suburban Montgomery County, Maryland, between two teams in the Over 35 League (Division 2). The team that I run, Bethesda, was tied for first place with the team we were playing, both with a 100% record and the same goal difference. It\'s as near to a \'big\' game as we come, and halfway through the second half the game was still deadlocked at 0-0.One of our opponents crossed from the right wing, and his fellow forward, unable to control the ball on the hard, bouncy pitch, clearly and deliberately controlled the ball with his hand before smacking it into the net from two yards out. Everyone saw it, except for the two referees, who despite some vigorous protests from my players, awarded the goal, having somehow failed to spot the offense. I appealed to the opposing captain, whom I know quite well, but he did an Arsene Wenger on me and claimed he too had been as blinded as the refs and \"didn\'t see it\" (must have been the angle of the three suns). I naively hoped he\'d appeal to his players for a fair confession, but he didn\'t. Final score: 1-0.

I can live with a defeat like that, and so can most of my players, who pointed out that the ref at our end compounded his bad officiating with a couple of make-up calls in our favor. But that\'s beside the point. What rankled with me was the fact that our opponents happily cheated in such a blatant fashion in order to win a game in a league of such little consequence. Did they go home happy? Did they look at the scoreline and think, \"Great result, even though we won by cheating?\"

And did Leeds United fans and club officials look at the Preston result and celebrate without caring about the negative style of play and the broken bones? Undoubtedly. To question the manner of victory is to raise questions about your loyalty to your team. If you cry \'foul play\', you\'re not passionate enough about winning. If you suggest that someone should have held his hand up and admitted that, in the heat of the moment, he\'d deliberately handballed, then you don\'t understand the \'culture\' of soccer.
Yet the rules are the same the world over. A foul is a foul in England just as it is in Australia. A handball is foul play in Colombia just as it is in North Korea. If you deliberately break the rules you\'re penalized. At least, that\'s what I thought.

But Leeds United and my now top-of-the-table rival team in the Montgomery County Over 35 League (Division 2) have shown that, given the chance, they will try and get away with it. Hack your opponents to bits, sneak your hand on the ball, pull a shirt, take a dive, lobby the ref, anything will do if it hastens the right result. Winning for money, winning for pleasure, there\'s no difference.

Sometimes a week like this can make you wonder if it\'s all worthwhile, as moments of genuine skill diminish ever more in favor of sporting larceny. Never mind your ability to play, what about your ability to cheat and, even better, get away with it? It\'s all right, because everyone else is doing it too. Even casual Sunday league players.

Right at the moment we should be gearing up for a month of world class soccer played by the globe\'s greatest players. Yet I feel like I\'d rather lock up my cleats, shut down my computer and TV for three months, throw away my World Cup tickets and take a break from the whole sorry charade, because I can\'t help feeling it\'s going to be a long, controversial summer where the attention will be focused as much on the referees as it is on Ronaldinho.

It seems the best we can hope for is that a team wins the World Cup through reasonably fair play and not by way of dirty Leeds. So few players, coaches and administrators care any more about the way to victory that the end\'s hoisted trophy justifies all the means of getting there, while fairness and flair are for the losers slouching away from the ticker-tape parade.
So the answer to my original question of \'How important is winning in soccer?\' is clear:

Winning is everything. Losing is nothing, idiot. Maybe my team needs a new coach and I need a new game. I hear that it\'s hard to cheat at tiddlywinks.

[mikk]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Hea tekst. Sain kohe mõnusalt naerda.

[Martin]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Üks teine tekstike veel. Vot niimoodi seistakse piletisabas

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---

What a fucking shambles at Elland Road. Absolutely fucking ridiculous. [Mad]

I read your nightmare on the other thread Jumpers. Only 4pm? You were bloody lucky. I was there until 12:05am this morning.

Arrived at the ground at about 9:45am yesterday with 3 season tickets, having taken the morning off work. I expected a queue and I expected to wait about 3 or 4 hours tops.

Anyway the queue went around past the West Stand ticket office past the West Stand car park (forget the name) right around to the other one, onto Elland Road, until you were about 200 yards from the Railway Bridge on at the bottom of Elland Road.

I started queuing at the end of the 2nd car park and it took me two and a half hours to move 150 yards. You would move forward a couple of feet and then you would stop for about 30 minutes to an hour. This happened all day. It was fucking hot and I was fucking starving! My feet were killing me and it was made worse by the fact there were rumours going around about those Lazy fucking bastard glory supporters, getting a new membership and a fucking ticket faster than us (I was told it was the shit seats though)

So not a peep out of the \"people in charge\" all day when suddenly they shout over the tanoy \" Every season ticket holder inside the ground will get a ticket, we are not closing the ticket office, but those people on the road will be turned away\" What a fucking farce. What about those people who had travelled a long distance? The queue was still about 1/2 a mile long. Rubbish! [Mad]

I then had to ring work and tell them I wouldn\'t be in, lucky I have flexi time so it was okay, other people only had the morning off and said they would be sacked or given a warning, but were staying anyway. I was lucky that there were people in the queue that went out to get food, and at least the banter kept us from killing each other.

There was some entertainment too with the Leeds fans telling the X factor wannabes \"Time to Go\" \"Who are ya\" didn\'t see this but heard it in the car park. [Big Grin]

Anyway, I got to to within 50 yards of the Banqueting suit at 5:45pm, by this time sweating and delirious and getting browner than I already was. (everybody had a suntan) A minority had collapsed on the grass verge in front of the banqueting suite exhausted and complaining.

My friends who had finished work came to relieve me then (if they hadn\'t I would have just left, I was so tired, pissed off and angry by this time), so I could go home and change and get something to eat. I came back at 7:30pm and they had moved about 30 yards! Un-fucking believable! They then told me that the people from the back of the queue (who had been there about 4 hours maybe) had been moved to get some tickets in the North East corner because they had had opened a ticket booth! So fucking angry.

They then closed the gates at that end of the ground and the booths!

Anyway we had moved (along with about 1,000 others) 50 yards in 3 hours (for some unknown fucking reason the queue got even slower) people were looking at seating plans when they got to the booth choosing their seats for 20 fucking minutes (ONLY 6 BOOTHS OPEN!!!) People were delirious by this time, shouting and angry, Police were called at about 11pm, don\'t know why but there was some fuss at the end of the queue.

They opened a booth up at the North East Corner again, and some from our queue went around but they were only selling the cheapest tickets £32 (shit seats) right at the front and at the front of the goal. So people stayed to get the better seats.

It was funny towards the end, people just didn\'t care and were shouting left right and centre. It was sad, because some people were dehydrated and felt faint. Some guy almost collapsed.

So finally at 12:00am I got to the ticket booth. All the £66 tickets (the most expensive) were gone. Not surprised. We were told half of that allocation were taken by Corporate. We then wanted the £56 tickets (2nd best) but they couldn\'t sit 6 people together. So we ended up getting £44 (3rd best) tickets. In the front block but right at the back, near the halfway line, apparently a good view according to my friend who\'s been there.

So I\'ve got them 14 fucking hours later, but I am so exhausted and dehydrated. Who would ever have thought that standing up for such a long length of time could make you want to kill yourself?

FUCKING LEEDS!! Now I find out they have changed it today. WHY DIDN\'T THEY DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!! (yes I am shouting) BASTARDS!!

Don\'t be surprised if the postal requests get shit seats, or if you are going to the ground today that there are not many choices left.

I\'ve never experienced anything like it. It was surreal.

[Cortez]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Kus siis pühapäeval mängu vaadatakse?

[oku]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Selgub veel. Kui Hiiu pubi meid vastu ei võta, siis vast nimeta. Rünno kontaktivõime kadus eile mingi hetk ära - täna ehk saab koha suhtes seletust.

[elBiD]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Kodus, voodis televiisorist, südamelihase infarktist taastumas.
Go Leeds!

[runno]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

hiiuga on kellad..
ise pakun nimeta..mis arvate? ärge ainult mollyt pakkuge, sest see pleiss toob ainult häda ja viletsust..

[oku]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

No nimeta siis. Mäng algab siiski kell 17, mitte kell 14 nagu keegi tarkpea eile väitis.

Ja miks Hiiu Pubi kodulehekülg oma pühapäeva teleülekannetes veel sellist asja reklaamib?


P.21.05

17.00 Watford-Leeds
(I p.a suurel ekraanil, II teleritest)

[runno]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Algselt postitas oku


No nimeta siis. Mäng algab siiski kell 17, mitte kell 14 nagu keegi tarkpea eile väitis.

Ja miks Hiiu Pubi kodulehekülg oma pühapäeva teleülekannetes veel sellist asja reklaamib?


P.21.05

17.00 Watford-Leeds
(I p.a suurel ekraanil, II teleritest)

pikk jutt= s.tt jutt.. ühesõnaga hiiuga on kellad seekord..

[Cortez]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Nimeta oleks üsna OK. Laupäeval FA Cupi finaali ajal oli seal mõnusalt lärmakas.

[meelik]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

Algselt postitas Cortez


Nimeta oleks üsna OK. Laupäeval FA Cupi finaali ajal oli seal mõnusalt lärmakas.

Läheb veel lärmakamaks. :P

Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!

[vandersell]

Vastus teemale \'Leeds United\'

No kui sinna koledasse kohta, siis sinna.