The world is against Leeds United if you believe David O'Leary's vision of events. Mike Ticher takes issue with a spiky work of self-defence

Football clubs are not open institutions and successful managers, on the whole, are not warm and fuzzy people. To be really good at the job you have to be a hard bastard of one type or another. The same is true of many chairmen, who are led to concentrate so in­ten­se­ly on what seems best for their club that the whole of the outside world is filtered through the needs of XXFC. These are hardly original insights, but they are strongly re­inforced by Leeds United On Trial. Despite the storm over the book’s amazingly crass timing and title, it probably provides more evidence about the nature of football clubs in general than it does about Leeds United and David O’Leary in particular.

Read more…

The Bowyer and Woodgate case cast a shadow over efforts by Leeds United to throw off their old racist image. Soheb Panja compares their progress with that of West Ham

At Upton Park the flimsy Let’s Kick Racism Out Of Football sign is sandwiched by the pitch and the notorious Chicken Run, a small stretch at the corner of the East Lower Stand where it meets the Bobby Moore Stand. The most vitriolic abuse heard anywhere in the ground is aimed at petrified players wandering over to take corners (just ask David Beckham). From my comparatively placid vantage point in the West Stand, I always check who the unlucky left midfielder is on the opposing side. I think I can confidently say, however, that the abuse these days is always because of the colour of the player’s shirt and not the colour of his skin. I always think it is too much of a coincidence that the campaign’s sign should be placed where it is.

Read more…

After his trial, Lee Bowyer found himself pilloried in the press and punished by his club. Leeds fan Ian Blake was one of the few who thought he got a raw deal

Lee Bowyer, declared not guilty by the British jus­tice system, has nonetheless been convicted by the media, a cabinet minister, a former minister of sport, politicians, fans of other clubs and, last but not least, his own club, Leeds United. This despite the verdicts of a jury who, unlike many of his present ac­cusers, considered all the evidence.

Read more…

John Secker talks about his club Blackpool – the best players he's seen play for them, their local rivals success and the struggle to get out of Division Two

How do Blackpool fans view the current revival of other Lancashire clubs? Is it seen as an encouraging sign or there a sense of frustration that Blackpool should be in there too?
Blackpool fans hate their local rivals, but the am­ount of venom varies. There is little apparent riv­alry with Blackburn, perhaps because it is so long since we were in the same division. It is very different with Burnley, and above all with Preston, who are definitely the team Blackpool supporters love to hate. The other thing is that Blackpool have had their own revival recently – in late 2000 we were next to bottom of the League, and now we are fairly comfortable in the Second Divi­sion.With a little luck we could be play­ing Preston or Burn­ley again before long.

Read more…

Did football really have a golden age? A new photo collection seems unsure when it was, says Doug Cheeseman, though it definitely took place in London

This is a giant airbrick of a football photobook, com­prised of black and white documentary pic­tures from the start of the 20th century to 1985. The notional theme of the book is football in its broader social con­text, in the period before commercialism took over and photographers swapped their black and white films for colour. In other words, football in all its sepia, if sometimes rose-tinted, glory.

Read more…