Wise: we will need 105 points to win the league
Leeds United 1 - 2 Wigan Athletic (friendly) Beckford 53; Koumas 45, 68 Rob Parsons at Elland Road Monday August 6, 2007 The Guardian Catastrophe and uncertainty have become routine for Leeds United and their ability to put on a brave front in the face of adversity has been tested to the limit. However, surveying their chances of promotion from League One at the first attempt in the wake of their latest indignity, even Dennis Wise, the manager, was struggling to put a positive spin on things. Following the newly relegated club's 15-point deduction by the Football League on Friday for failing to comply with its insolvency policy, any realistic hopes of an immediate return to the Championship receded into the distance. "We need to get 105 points now unfortunately to win the league," Wise admitted after Leeds' friendly defeat by Wigan Athletic on Saturday. "Hopefully something will happen and the deduction will be less than 15 points because at the moment it is not a nice situation to be in." The decision by the Football League, who granted Leeds their share in the competition after withholding it following the takeover by Ken Bates' new company and their failure to reach an approved agreement with their creditors, ended months of uncertainty for the club. Players who have trained all summer with Leeds should now finally be paid but Wise confirmed that the acquisition of any new talent would be fraught with difficulties. "We have had a lot of chats with players but they have gone and disappeared, they didn't want to wait," he said. "We just have to get on with it. The only problem now is that a lot of clubs have all their players and don't want to be in a position of letting them go." Wise refused to entertain inquiries about his transfer targets but said he was expecting a busy week in the run-up to their opening fixture away at Tranmere on Saturday. In other circumstances the manner of their defeat by Wigan would have been a cause for minor celebration. With the defiant roars of the Leeds faithful echoing around a half-empty Elland Road, they unsettled their Premier League visitors with their tenacity and the speed and strength of the striker Jermaine Beckford. Athletic's summer signing Jason Koumas proved the difference, scoring with a well-taken strike and a deflected free-kick either side of a goal by the 23-year-old Londoner. Bates, whose recent takeover has been marred by controversy as well as opposition from HM Revenue and Customs, was conspicuous by his absence. This was not enough to stop the chants of "stand up if you hate Ken Bates" and "get the Chelsea out of Leeds" among the home crowd, some of whom staged a low-key protest against him outside the stadium before the match. For many of the embittered Leeds support, the hatred of all things west London clearly extended to the management team of the former Chelsea midfielders Wise and Gus Poyet. "Some bloke said to me 'you are not welcome here', so I said to him 'unfortunately, you have got me'," Wise admitted. After hearing on Friday about the 15-point deduction, Wise went for a drink and had "quite a few beers", a reaction he doubtless had in common with many of his club's fans. Only an appeal in front of the other League clubs can make a dent in the deficit and supporters such as Rick Duniec, chairman of the Leeds United Supporters' Trust, were talking on Saturday of a fight against relegation. _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist Join The Leeds United Supporters Trust at www.lufctrust.org
