Talk about a marriage made in heaven! The country's most despised football club - aka Leeds United - now have the country's most despised (chair)man.

You just couldn't make it up, could ya?!!

it doesn't get much better does it?

Better for Leeds to get Bates than Sheffield Wednesday IMO.

Im loving it....im a mad wed-ite and my boyfriend is dirty leeds so its my turn to wind him up, after all he 's had a couple of years head start on me but the tables have turned!! :clap:

I think he suits a big club like Leeds more. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes him to turn Leeds around.

Originally posted by mer1002
Im loving it....im a mad wed-ite and my boyfriend is dirty leeds so its my turn to wind him up, after all he 's had a couple of years head start on me but the tables have turned!! :clap:

and what exactly are you going to wind him up with?

the fact leeds have a better team, or in a better league?

Can anyone tell me why is there such animosity towards Bates?

I only know peripheral details such as:

* He bought Chelsea (whilst in the old Div2) for £1 in '82 and took on their (£xx?) debt.
* He sold Chelsea in '03 to Abramovich and allegadly made £17m out of the deal. When he sold, Chelsea had debts (£xx?).

In between times he started to turn Stamford Bridge into a reasonable stadium and presided over the team becoming a fixture in the top league and, in the last few years, saw them win a number of pieces of silverware (admittedly not the league title or Champions League).

Leaving aside the short term impact of Abramovich, (with a personal fortune of £7bn who couldn't, with the right manager, turn a team into potential league and Euro champions), it seems to me that Bates did OK by Chelsea.

I gather he's a bit gobby, but why do so many see him as potentially a bad thing for their club?

This is a serious, non-biased question. I'm not a Chelsea or a Ken Bates fan. I didn't take much notice of the furore when he took interest in SWFC so I'm not sure of what arguements were put for/against his interest.

On the face of it he seemed to do OK by Chelsea. With SWFC and LUFC hardly being in the strongest of financial positions, shouldn't their fans welcome him?

the problem with ken bates is, he did yes get them in to 80 million debt, and it was growing, truth is, if roman abromovich had not come along and cleared that debt, in a few years we could have seen a very awful thing happen to chelsea

Originally posted by Robbie_Lovin
the problem with ken bates is, he did yes get them in to 80 million debt, and it was growing, truth is, if roman abromovich had not come along and cleared that debt, in a few years we could have seen a very awful thing happen to chelsea

Right, got it. So basically he did to Chelsea what Risdale helped do to Leeds?

Leeds have cut their cloth to get their debt down to £20m(ish), he comes in with some cash to stave off administration, but then what...?

Given that most of LUFC's best playing assets have been sold how does he intend to make them into a footballing force without resorting to the old 'spend what you ain't got' routine all over again?

Now why would you laugh at Leeds United ?

After watching Leeds for 27 year's ...through mainly rough time's,i was more than happy for us to 'Live The Dream'(as Peter Ridsdale put it).

In my time watching Leeds up to 1989...we had only ever won an fa cup final,and lost one (in my time,from what i can remember).

Thing's changed a bit around 1987 when we lost in the semi-final of the fa cup to Coventry at Hillsborough.....but you could sense thing's were gonna change for the better.

After winning the (old) 2nd division title,then actually winning the league (that's what it's all about)...we then went on an amazing run of european experiances......giving me and thousand's of other Leeds Fan's memorable trip's to such fantastic places such as

Barcelona
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Deportivo La Coruna
Lokomotive Moscow
Monaco
Troyes
Heerenveen (played Partizan Belgrade,trouble in the former Yugoslavia prevented us going to Belgrade)
Anderlect
PSV Eindhoven
Spartak Moscow (and the re-arranged game in Sofia)
TSV 1860 Munich
Grasshoper's Zurich
Istanbul (tragic event's spoiled this trip)

Oh and VALENCIA for the semi-final of the champion's league.

Wonderful time's !!

And when you think that Sheffield Wednesday only managed trip's to Spora Luxemburg,and Kaiserslauten.....and they still languish in the 2nd division,and well over 25 million in debt.

Then let's get on to the other lot.....Sheffield United.......

Poorer crowd's than Wednesday,the only european trip was a few years ago in the Anglo Italian cup.
The last time they won ANYTHING.....dick turpin held the bus up on it's way back to Sheffield.

Indeed.....let's all laugh at Leeds United............YORKSHIRE'S NUMBER 1

ALWAY'S HAVE BEEN.......ALWAY'S WILL BE !!


PS/...............DID I MENTION OUR CROWD'S ?

Sometimes, when I can be bothered i like to look down the table and see how leeds are doing

Originally posted by deanprez
Now why would you laugh at Leeds United ?



PS/...............DID I MENTION OUR CROWD'S ?

Yeah,...several times. Leeds football gets NEARLY as many as Sheffield football.:hihi:

Refreshing for deanprez to come on this forum as a Leeds United fan and not smash the place up.

As for crowds, if you were to combine the crowds of both Sheffield sides it would rival Leeds' crowds anyday.

No, the difference is that both Sheffield clubs have had a reality check, they know their level (albeit Wednesday have learned the hard way).

By strange comparison, Leeds still think their nearest rivals are Manchester United (!!!!!!!!). Why? Simple: They spat their dummy out when Cantona decided the grass was far greener on the other side.

Enjoy the memories of those European matches. I'm just going to see if I can find that 1974 postcard I bought in Benidorm. Eh, what memories....,

Incidentally, Leeds did win the League Championship. Granted and congratulations for that.

LOL......i went on a bit did'nt i ?

As for Combined Wednesday & United crowd's.......just over 27,000 for the last 'derby' was a bit strange !!

I forgot Stuttgart,and Rome as well from my earlier post (still thinking).

Oh and .............................................


We're the best behaved supporter's in the land .................................................. .................(when we win).


lol

Originally posted by deanprez
LOL......i went on a bit did'nt i ?

As for Combined Wednesday & United crowd's.......just over 27,000 for the last 'derby' was a bit strange !!




united average 20,000 and owls 23,000 equalling hmmmmm 43,000!!

the reason the crowd was 27,00 was because of seating restrictions do no premit us to fill the further 4,000!!

to which leeds contributed cause they cant take losing to yorkshires number one :D

AAHHH from your post,it seem's you are of the 'lesser seen' variety of football fan.........a Sheff Utd fan !

Could argue that Rugby League is big in Leeds,with the Leeds Rhinos regulary getting crowd's above 15,000 (more than the Blade's on Numerous occasion's !

But................

The game i was on about was played at Hillsborough !!


LOL.....seating restriction's .............

27,075 at the game (and only 2,000 UP on the previous season's fixture)

Capacity at Hillsborough = 39,859


Approx 12,000 empty seat's !!

Restriction's................you make me laugh !!



I know it's hard to swallow,BUT Leeds United Football Club is steeped in tradition,has enjoyed more success,and without a doubt has bigger crowd's than the club's in Sheffield.



Just stating the fact's !!

Originally posted by deanprez
AAHHH from your post,it seem's you are of the 'lesser seen' variety of football fan.........a Sheff Utd fan !

Could argue that Rugby League is big in Leeds,with the Leeds Rhinos regulary getting crowd's above 15,000 (more than the Blade's on Numerous occasion's !

But................

The game i was on about was played at Hillsborough !!


LOL.....seating restriction's .............

27,075 at the game (and only 2,000 UP on the previous season's fixture)

Capacity at Hillsborough = 39,859


Approx 12,000 empty seat's !!

Restriction's................you make me laugh !!



I know it's hard to swallow,BUT Leeds United Football Club is steeped in tradition,has enjoyed more success,and without a doubt has bigger crowd's than the club's in Sheffield.



Just stating the fact's !!

oh right, my apologies go out to that then,
we got 28,000 down at the lane, i remember now!!!
and at wednesday i think you will find we (united) sold our full quota!!

but you did put

Originally posted by deanprez
As for Combined Wednesday & United crowd's.......just over 27,000 for the last 'derby' was a bit strange !!

emphasize the "LAST"

and the LAST one was at bramall lane!!
remind me again how many league clubs leeds have?? i cant really recall,

also lets see the attendance of the last time you played hudds......... *drum rolls please* Crowd: 30115
comepare it to the game at the lane 28,179 thats a MASSIVE 2000 difference!! well......... thats a lot to say you had not played hudds for a long long time

can you also remind me where your BIG european ties have got you?? any trophies after "living your dream" personally "living the dream" in my eyes is winning silverware!!

You'll find that most of our crowds are around the 25-30,000 mark this season....weather it's against Huddersfield or Brighton.

Living the dream was'nt all that fruitless by the way...........

Winning the Title,AND the Charity Shield DOES mean SILVERWARE ............(seen the trophy's in the Trophy room)

Visiting the finest stadium's in Europe was'nt all that bad either...........

Could you not say that Leeds Rhinos were a 2nd club in Leeds ?
after all....most of their crowd's are larger than Sheff Utd's.
So if we combine the two club's in Leeds 30,000 Elland Road.and 15-18,000 Headingly....would'nt it be a larger combined crowd than the Sheffield clubs ?

Can't wait to mention the away following's of our club's !



LOVING IT MORE !!

Oooops........................
that's posted on my missus's log-in......

sorry bout that !!



(ps.she's wednesday)






STILL LOVING IT !

Originally posted by deanprez
Oooops........................
that's posted on my missus's log-in......

sorry bout that !!



(ps.she's wednesday)






STILL LOVING IT !


At least that proves you've got a sense of humour! (But I reckon you did it on purpose.)

Originally posted by mer1002
Winning the Title,AND the Charity Shield DOES mean SILVERWARE ............(seen the trophy's in the Trophy room)

oh right, i forgot you was "splashing the cash" when you won them trophies!! NO you wasn't this came later when o'leary was in charge!!
thats when you was supposedly "living the dream"

i am not trying to take away you was a good team, and there is no denying that!! i actually feel sorry for the prediciment in which leeds find them selves in!!
and if you noticed i was one of the few that asked why it was a bad idea bates took over!!!

Originally posted by mer1002
Visiting the finest stadium's in Europe was'nt all that bad either...........
england has some of the finest/safest grounds in europe!!

Originally posted by mer1002
Could you not say that Leeds Rhinos were a 2nd club in Leeds ?
after all....most of their crowd's are larger than Sheff Utd's.

erm.... no as one is a rugby club, DOH
and i would like to see the figures that show rhinos get more than united on a consistent basis?? if ever really!! or are you just gonna bring the villa game up, where we had millions of viewers around the world??

Lets just all look at the league table to see who the best team in Yorkshire is. :D

'best team in yorkshire'

A desirable title?!

Originally posted by AndrewC
'best team in yorkshire'

A desirable title?!

yes as we are the biggest county in britain

Right, Leeds attract fans from places like Wakefield, Pontefract, York and there is a large Leeds following in Donny of all places. Thats why their attendances are so high at the MOMENT. I say moment because I remember back in the 80's and early 90's when we used to go to Elland Road when it was a s*** hole you only used to get 15,000 and the odd 20,000 every week. At the minute Leeds have still got the glory hunting premiership fans from all around west and north yorkshire. Add to this, once again, there's only 1 club in Leeds- you can't say Leeds Rhino's get 15,000 every week 'cos they don't, thats a myth.

Also, to say your Yorkshire's number 1 club is also a myth. Middlesborough natives still regard themselves as Yorkshire born and bred people. They are currently yorkshire's number 1 club. If you don't believe me then look at the back copies of the Green 'Un from a few months ago. There was a letter from a Boro fan complaining about unitedites bragging about being top dogs in yorkshire when it is Boro.

Wednesday have always been and always will be the best supported club in Yorkshire. Thats including Boro.

Isn't rugby a summer game now?.

The "our crowd's are better than your's" are getting a bit boring now.........(Leed's have ALWAY'S had the better support).

Actually....Leeds Rhono's have over 10,000 season ticket holder's.......(not a myth).

I think that most Sheffield football fan's just have a general inferiority complex when it comes to Leeds United,after all look at these .......................

SHEFFIELD UNITED PLAYER'S TO LEEDS

Mick Jones,Gary Hamson,Tony Currie,Alex Sabella,Kieth Edward's (any more ?)



SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY PLAYERS TO LEEDS

Lee Chapman,Carl Shutt,Mel Streland,Nigel Worthington,John Pearson,Carlton Palmer...........


I'm sure there are more,can't think at the moment.....


Alway's been feeder clubs to LEEDS !





SHEFFIELD WHITES

Oh and Middlesborough...............lol.


Why do they sing "Tee Tee Teesider's" every time we've been there.....if they claim to be Yorkshires number 1 ?


Answer : Probably because there club is nowhere near in stature the like's of Sunderland,and Newcastle.

Hijacking Yorkshire !! whatever next lol.

I hate Leeds with a passion. Not just the football club but the whole city. It p***** me off so much when they think they're THE city in yorkshire. The city is a s*** hole. The only thing to have come out of Leeds is the M1. What has the city ever given to this country apart from football hooligans?

Why do YTV and Look North have their regional headquaters in the city? What makes them so arrogant to think that they are the main city in yorkshire? The city is nothing compared to Sheffield.

As for their football team well all I can say is I wonder how many of the recent glory hunting fans stick around once they have been languishing around the championship/ league 1 for a few years like wednesday have? I'll say it again the last time Leeds were crap hardly anyone turnes up at Elland Road compared to Hillsborough and the Lane.

LOL..................i can see you now....blood red,raging with anger !!

I was actually born in Sheffield (Tinsley),moved to Stannington,and now live in Shirecliffe..........and have lived in Sheffield all my life.
All my family are Blades (brother is a shareholder...etc).

Most of my mates are Wednesday (even my missus).

It's been said on this forum (somewhere) before about Leeds being head and shoulders above Sheffield as a city.........and i tend to agree !

Leeds city centre is much better than Sheffield.......more pubs/eateries,and far more shops ! less conjested than Sheffield city centre,and a lot cleaner !

Now some of the estates in Leeds are complete and utter s******** i agree !!

As for football hooligan's.....have a look at this link then tell me the Blades are innocent of it !

http://www.network54.com/Forum/188992



Crowd's when we were crap ?

owt between 16,000 and 30,000 !!
early 1980's !!



calm down now..........


Off to Burnley in't morning 12.30 ko !!

Ipswich 2-0 tomorrow ............!!

and a 2-1 win for us !


And the Fowls 2-1 down to the Dingles

Originally posted by deanprez

I was actually born in Sheffield (Tinsley),moved to Stannington,and now live in Shirecliffe..........and have lived in Sheffield all my life.
All my family are Blades (brother is a shareholder...etc).

Most of my mates are Wednesday (even my missus).



So, just out of curiosity deanprez, ........ why do you support Leeds?

ARE YOU READY ???????? (bit of a long/strange one this)

1972 (6 yrs old.....what a memory).

Sunderland V Leeds FA Cup Final !!

Cup Final Grandstand used to start at 10.00am (ish)in those day's ......massive build up to the match.
Dad took me to the shop,got my sweet's and then buggered off to the Pike & Heron pub !

I sat watching the Build up,then at 2.30 (ish) Dad comes home settles in his chair,and we are ready for the match !

2.45 National Anthem........Abide with me ....then the television went up in a puff of smoke !

Dad grabs my hand,we run up to his mates house on St.Lawrence Road.......and i watch Leeds United absolute 'muller' Sunderland and lose 1-0 no thenk's to Ian Porterfield,and Jim Montgomery !

I vowed then........(despite my Dad taking me to Bramall Lane the season after)..........that Leeds were MY team !

I dropped a bit of a bollock really,cos.....it all seemed to go downhill after that.......(Paris 75,Relegation in 79)

When i was old enough i used to sneak off to Leeds on the train...........and got into trouble when i arrived home,after half of Tinsley had been out looking for me)


Had a season ticket at Leeds since the early 1980's...so i'm hardly a glory hunter !


Would like to see all of us in the premier league though........that would be nice !

And before i get slaughtered it was 1973 !!

We beat Arsenal in 1972 !!

Originally posted by deanprez
Now why would you laugh at Leeds United ?

After watching Leeds for 27 year's ...through mainly rough time's,i was more than happy for us to 'Live The Dream'(as Peter Ridsdale put it).

In my time watching Leeds up to 1989...we had only ever won an fa cup final,and lost one (in my time,from what i can remember).

Thing's changed a bit around 1987 when we lost in the semi-final of the fa cup to Coventry at Hillsborough.....but you could sense thing's were gonna change for the better.

After winning the (old) 2nd division title,then actually winning the league (that's what it's all about)...we then went on an amazing run of european experiances......giving me and thousand's of other Leeds Fan's memorable trip's to such fantastic places such as

Barcelona
Real Madrid
AC Milan
Deportivo La Coruna
Lokomotive Moscow
Monaco
Troyes
Heerenveen (played Partizan Belgrade,trouble in the former Yugoslavia prevented us going to Belgrade)
Anderlect
PSV Eindhoven
Spartak Moscow (and the re-arranged game in Sofia)
TSV 1860 Munich
Grasshoper's Zurich
Istanbul (tragic event's spoiled this trip)

Oh and VALENCIA for the semi-final of the champion's league.

Wonderful time's !!

And when you think that Sheffield Wednesday only managed trip's to Spora Luxemburg,and Kaiserslauten.....and they still languish in the 2nd division,and well over 25 million in debt.

Then let's get on to the other lot.....Sheffield United.......

Poorer crowd's than Wednesday,the only european trip was a few years ago in the Anglo Italian cup.
The last time they won ANYTHING.....dick turpin held the bus up on it's way back to Sheffield.

Indeed.....let's all laugh at Leeds United............YORKSHIRE'S NUMBER 1

ALWAY'S HAVE BEEN.......ALWAY'S WILL BE !!


PS/...............DID I MENTION OUR CROWD'S ?



Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Oh sorry Iam falling asleep!

Have I heard this before? Man City , Sheff Wed both got a rude awaking when they fell into Div 2 ( Now1)

Oooops.......forgive me........

i must have missed Man City and Wednesday visiting the finest stadiums in Europe !!


Sorry for sending your well educated footballing self to sleep !!










Crikey !

yet another spell of straw clutching, you are where you are pal because of your club leeds, as are we at weds and sheff utd. also considering we have to teams in sheff i woudnt comment to much on crowd sizes. living in the past is fine dosnt detract that at the moment your like all other yorkshire clubs s---.

Oh.......don't get me wrong mate...............definately not straw clutching..........

I totally agree we are completely S--- !!

(just got back from Burnley as well .....won 1-0)

What is this crowd obsession that runs in Sheffield ?

yes there are two clubs in Sheffield !.agreed !

Just like Leeds (and surrounding areas ) is a large Rugby league stronghold !

Look at the Rhino's crowd last night at Elland Road....37,000+ !

And they have sold over 11,000 season ticket's !
(possibly more than the Blade's have sold)

ok they play on different day's BUT surely it's a similar situation to Wednesday at home and United away (....2 CLUBS in the city think about it)

(was'nt even gonna mention crowds)


Just 4 points behind the Blade's now.......who'd have thought ?

lol !!

not a sheff utd by any means , they look like theyve blown it. take your point on rugby attendance but look who holds the rec attendance outside the prem over the last 30 years. we got 49000 in the old 3rd div 1979 against sheff utd, stuffed em 4-0. i think you can argue tillthe cows come home but unless the yorkshire sides start playing lcal lads i think there doomed. if youv no cash its the only way to go. i went to school with mel sterland, carl shutt both played for us and leedswe had 6 lads from my schoolin the weds squad in 78,look now ****e all. for clubs in debt cant see anyway else but home grown talent, players on loan dont do it for me .

Personally I'm proud of the Blades' underdog status, whether you define that by us having fewer fans, smaller ground or less illustrious history. If I wanted to support a club based on the size of its trophy cabinet or fanbase, I'd be a Man Utd fan.

Both Wednesday and Leeds fans should be proud of their clubs success in the past. But please, please, please stop going on about your past victories, "big grounds" and "higher attendance", it's repetitive. It's reflective of your teams current predicament when this is the only good thing you can say about them.

Originally posted by deanprez



Just 4 points behind the Blade's now.......who'd have thought ?


with blades having 2 games in hand:thumbsup:

1 POINT BEHIND NOW.................................


LOVING IT MORE


WIN THEM ALL ?

and 2 years on the laughter continues...:hihi: :hihi:

The rats are leaving the sinking ship (http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=451978&CPID=10&clid=2&lid=4&title=Nicholls+request+stuns+Wise&channel=&)

Indeed.....let's all laugh at Leeds United..........

......OK then...........:hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

....................

................:hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

An Albanian friend of mine was cycling along Elland Road when slowly the wheels begun to fall off his bike. Apparently it's pretty common around there.

Theres more to it than football. Since the demise of the steel and coal industry Leeds has benefitted from the fact that its 8to 10 core industies managed to pick up the baton re the economy when Sheffield was over reliant on BIG steel and coal. Once the loony left on Sheffield council either left or changed thier attitude to business and life in general ala Mr Blunkett, Sheffield has clawed its way back to the top of the yorkshire league where it quite rightly belongs. Football is the indicator the reality is is the economy, quality of life etc and a testament to the genius of the people of Sheffield. Shows you that arrogance gets you only so far.

The way things are going now, it might well be 'Lets all laugh at Sheffield United', plus Rotherham, Barnsley, and Leeds.

Theres more to it than football. Since the demise of the steel and coal industry Leeds has benefitted from the fact that its 8to 10 core industies managed to pick up the baton re the economy when Sheffield was over reliant on BIG steel and coal. Once the loony left on Sheffield council either left or changed thier attitude to business and life in general ala Mr Blunkett, Sheffield has clawed its way back to the top of the yorkshire league where it quite rightly belongs. Football is the indicator the reality is is the economy, quality of life etc and a testament to the genius of the people of Sheffield. Shows you that arrogance gets you only so far.
Funny how the city of Liverpool still got poorer, as Liverpool and Everton piled up the trophies.

The way things are going now, it might well be 'Lets all laugh at Sheffield United', plus Rotherham, Barnsley, and Leeds.

No, the others don't bother me so much. I just love to laugh at L**ds. :hihi:

Ooops, here I go again. :hihi: