This has been a difficult week for everyone connected with Leeds United. It’s less than seven days since Gary Speed died, and amid the expressions of shock and grief, the team have already played Nottingham Forest and won with a swagger, and will face Millwall tomorrow at Elland Road hoping to do the same. Even in times of the greatest sadness, life still goes on; and if the Forest game showed anything, it’s that Leeds United – the fans, the players, and the management – have met the challenge of ‘carrying on’ while still doing justice to Gary Speed, and come through with our heads held high.
Recorded on Halloween, the podcast returns to reflect on recent defensive horror shows from Rachubka and O’Dea.
There’s also reflection on scary stuff from the past, including Wembley trips, heartbreak in 1987 and, well, Carlton Palmer. (Parental Advisory – may contain references to Carlton Palmer.)
The team is on the up but attendances appear to [...]
The podcast returns with reaction to the BBC documentary Who Owns Leeds United?, including an appearance for one pod member whose hair has caused more scandal than the programme itself.
With this follicular folly out of the way, the team gets down to business and speaks to the producer of the documentary, Neil Morrow, who responds to Ken’s Yorkshire Radio diatribe about the show and tells us why the programme was made and what they hoped to uncover.
There’s joy after a clean sheet and a victory against Portsmouth, quickly followed by confusion at the strange banning of non-members from the Kop against Cardiff. There’s cheer at El Principito’s new contract – well, kind of – but not his new name. There’s also hope/optimism/desperation/confidence/idiocy about the forthcoming matches that kick off against Doncaster on the telly on Friday night and happiness that Michael is about to take a trip in a moving pub.
A BBC documentary to be shown in Yorkshire tonight, Who Owns Leeds United?, attempts once again to unravel Leeds’ 2007 administration and establish just what went on as Leeds plunged into League One and almost out of business.
As part of their investigation, the BBC obtained copies of correspondence between the club and Leeds City Council through a Freedom of Information request that, while it does not form a central part of the programme, should be of interest to Leeds fans. The BBC have passed these letters and emails to The Square Ball so that we can present them to you.
The letters between Shaun Harvey and senior Council officers reveal that in March and April 2007 an ‘investment group’ was willing to invest £10m in Leeds United, a sum which would have secured LUFC as a going concern through the 2007/08 season, meaning administration and the subsequent twenty-five point penalty would have been avoided.
Indefensibly late, that is!
Podcast #35 has actually been available for a while now, but it’s been brought to our attention (hi, Joe!) that while the iTunes subscribers will all have been smugly updated – salut, Steve Jobs – because we neglected to do a blog post about the pod, some of our listeners may have missed it.
The second issue of The Square Ball magazine is on sale today at Elland Road, from our sellers by Billy’s statue, the Lowfields Tunnel, and all around the ground. Just £1.50 for 56 full colour pages including interviews with Kaiser Chief and Leeds fan Simon Rix, and Promised Land author Anthony Clavane; Eddie Taylor writes about David Peace; a look back at Leeds Leeds Leeds magazine, a source for big tellies if nothing else; Andy P wonders why some people actually seem to like Ken Bates; Moscowhite contemplates wringing Max Gradel’s neck; and we have a guest column this issue from someone called Ken Bates. Plus The Diary, White Watching reviews our recent games, a David Batty poster – all the best stuff.
Trapped in a studio in the fading hours of the transfer window, we attempt to capture some of the excitement of the deadline’s approach with a lot of loud noises and hyperbole. That line between The Square Ball podcast and Sky Sports News gets more blurred every day…
Of course, the big news was [...]
The Square Ball can reveal that Leeds City Council recently turned down Leeds United’s request for a £20m loan.
The Council and the club had an agreement in place for the loan had England won the bid for 2018 World Cup. As we are well aware, England failed in its bid after Russia won the rights to host the tournament along with Qatar’s controversial victory in the bidding for the 2022 competition. Depsite the £20m loan agreement lapsing upon the failure of England’s bid, Leeds United requested that the agreement with Leeds City Council remain in place. That request was turned down by the Council.
After suggestions that our first podcast of the season tended a little towards the negative side, we take a look at the last fortnight at Elland Road in an effort to find some positivity.
However, two defeats and a narrow win over Bradford haven’t done all that much to cheer us up, but at [...]
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