Rich old love, I know you said the message was written by a friend but you have the guts to put it on the list and the tone of your own message amplifies the sentiments of your friend. It must have taken a great deal of real heart searching to actually press the send button. Rich, I know I am just an old man but before you sink any deeper please read on. Me and maybe two or three others on this list could probably write a list twice as long as the one your friend has compiled, without using any of the content from your friend's list of heartbreaks or disappointments or whatever you wish to call them. The first thing that springs to my mind is the image of Billy Bremner on his hands and knees in sheer frustration and extreme disapointment only Billy could suffer, he was our captain courageous but alas he had far more terrible downs than ups believe me. People who wern't around at the time, think of the Revie era as being all beer and skittles but believe me Rich my friend, that is far far from the truth. The Revie team were heartbreak hotel, the most under achieved team of all time. The amount of trophies we won are negligable to the amount they should have won with the great team we had. With the greatest respect. Teams who were not a patch on Leeds were snatching the title away from us for years. Imagine being runners up five times, can you imagine the injustice we thought we suffered, yes five times we were runners up, and that was in the top division not division three. We were also third once and fourth twice. Remember, with such a great team we only won the championship three times in 1963-64,1968-69 and 1973-74 and the Revie days,lasted a long time, 1961-1974. The FA Cup again was more of the same for disappointments. My first disastrous Wembley in 1964-65 I went to see the Liverpool final with a lad called Ron Nelson now dead, we were working in Southend at the time and in those days all the local teams affiliated to the FA were given two tickets for the final and the club we played for voted to give the tickets to the Ron and me, interestingly Ron's son Garry Nelson went on to be a professional and played for Southend and many other teams finishing up at Torquay, he also wrote two books. We lost 2-1 and coming out if hadn't been for Ron I don't know what would have happened the Liverpool fans made my life hell coming away from the Stadium, goading and mocking my Leeds colours, I was 23 at the time. The Sunderland final 1972-73 was the worst, obviously, we were the hottest favourites probably in the history of the famous competition and I remember standing, leaning on the terracing after the game with two old mates, both dead now, shell-shocked, we just couldn't believe we had done it again, come second or runners up, whatever you want to call it. We must have stood there ten minutes trying to believe the situation. I remember the Chelsea final, six of us went, only me and one other lad is still alive, I had a pot on my right foot (football injury) and after the first game it was OK, so we thought, we'll win the replay, oh! no. more pain, runners up again. These dissapointing times went on for years, semi final against Chelsea lost 1-0, remember the song we were robbed at Villa Park Lorimer goal dissallowed. Semi final against Everton lossed 1-0. In Europe lost in a final with loads of controversy other semi finals Celtic and others we should have won but didn't. You will say, but you did win something, I will say yes we did but we had a great team for a long period. We should have won far more and we did have the mental scars to prove it. Being a Leeds fan who can remember what real dissapointments are, the bitter dissapointments of losing championship after championship year after, cannot be compared to the third division crisis of today. So Rich, if you are still awake and you others on the list who are feeling pissed off read this and try to imagine how we put up with it year after year. Just one more thing and this is vitally important, Don Revie started managing Leeds in 1961, they did not gain promotion until the 1963-64 season, what I'm saying is for goodness sake please give Grayson a fair crasck of the whip. Here endeth the chapter(s), Thirkers PS This is my honest humble opinion of the situation then and now. On 4 Apr 2010, at 08:30, Richard Walker wrote:
> I admire your optimism Graham, but if you'd been there yesterday you would > know that we are truly in the shit if confidence gan drain that easy after > going a goal down. The players lost it big time and I think that second half > was the worse since thel day dark days of Kevin Blackwell. > > It was an emotional day and as a protest against Mr Bates and the lack of > fight from the Leeds players I'm not going to waste any more of my life > writing about this particular match. I will however copy a post from the a > friend / Leeds pub owner: Says it all for me: > >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> > > 1982 - the mighty Leeds United relegated, one of THE trailblazers of English > football a few years earlier, suddenly down in the depths of Division 2. > Gutted. > > 1987 - Semi Final at Hillsborough - to a man, they did us proud but as > always, ended in heartbreak. Gutted. > > 1987 - St Andrews v Charlton. You could almost taste promotion but cue > Shirtliff, cue heartbreak. Gutted. > > 1996 - Most of my generation's first real Wembley trip - 3-0, didnt turn up. > Gutted. > > 2000 - Semi Final UEFA Cup - no words needed. Distraught. > > 2001 - Semi Final Champions League - Bowyer banned night before the second > leg, lose 3-0. Gutted. > > 2004 - Relegated again. Gutted. > > 2006 - Play Off Final - outplayed, never turned up. Gutted. > > 2007 - Relegated to Division THREE. Gutted. > > 2008 - Play Off Final v Doncaster. More heartbreak. Another MASSIVE game, > another MASSIVE defeat. Gutted. > > 2009 - Play Off Semis v Millwall - what a fucking let down. Gutted. > > 3rd April 2010 - Closest Home game to the 10th Anniversary of the saddest, > most emotional chapter in our long history. Thousands of fans stood side by > side, tears abound. This is OUR day Leeds. Lose 3-0 without anyone looking > like they'd even broke sweat never mind gave a fuck. > > None of the games above have even come CLOSE to breaking my heart as a Leeds > fan as today has. > > You are NOT fit to wear OUR shirt. > > > Not just gutted. Totally fucking distraught, embarrassed and pretty much > humiliated to be a Leeds fan. > > If today is what it means to the players, the management and the club, they > can all fuck off, every single one of them. > > > _______________________________________________ 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 and the hardest time in a sailor's day is to watch the sun as it sails away
