Leeds United's tumultuous history shapes current team dynamics

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Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! It’s been quite the stomach-churning white-knuckle ride for Leeds United over the past decade. Their fans have been forced to endure more highs, lows, loops, corkscrews and rolls than a thrill-seeking visitor on Nemesis Reborn at Alton Towers. There have been b@nter eras, multiple owners, near-misses, promotions, relegations and managerial churn. The Marcelo Bielsa years will always be remembered as fondly as the Thomas Christiansen months have been erased from collective memory. Under Jesse Marsch, Leeds secured dramatic final-day Premier League survival at Brentford, before dropping through the trapdoor the following season despite the best efforts of the High Performance American and Lower Performance Javi Gracia and Big Sam Allardyce. After yet another VAR offside fiasco at the weekend (yesterday’s Football Daily), centering on whether a player diving towards the goal is active or not, can I suggest we take subjectivity out of the equation? We have this nice, already marked, box on the field which is used to decide how harshly punished a foul is. So can we not just say everyone in the penalty area is active, no matter what they’re doing, and judge offsides accordingly?” – Hugh Fordham. Re: Arsenal demanding a meeting with Pro Ref after a penalty decision (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). It should write to Mikel Arteta and ask why he feels the need to repeatedly leave his technical area. After all, ‘it is unacceptable at this level’” – Deryck Hall. Chris Brown’s observation that ‘Spurs’ front three right now pose about as much threat as a Muttley-SpongeBob-Sylvester the Cat trio’ (yesterday’s Football Daily letters) brought to mind the obvious conclusion that it’s not Messrs Lange and Venkatesham who are in charge of player investments, but Wile E Coyote. Spurs’ strategy seems to be just as sound as all Mr Coyote’s purchases from Acme Co in his private pursuits” – Peter Rehwaldt. Continue reading...