Can Blackwell Take This Club Forward (Part Three)

Last updated : 11 June 2006 By Mark Jordan
I've read with complete disbelief the two articles on Kevin Blackwell and the comments relating to the stewardship of Ken Bates.

I can understand the frustration of losing at Cardiff and the way in which we lost of course, but I think some fans need to take a reality check.

Using the phrase 'destroying the club beyond all recognition' is scandalous. If we'd been talking about the post Ridsdale era then yes, fine.

Blackwell inherited a side that quite possibly could have bombed and this season we could have been watching third tier football.

His signings were such that the likes of Pugh, Moore and even Butler were good enough to maintain 'Championship' status but clearly aren't good enough for the Premier League, although I have to say the latter has had an excellent season.

Having watched the final league game at Preston, I am satisfied that Moore and Pugh weren't good enough for a start in Cardiff and that tactically Blackwell was right in selecting Killgallon at left back.

Harding it would appear, doesn't want to play for Leeds, so what do people expect of Blackwell?

The main problems for KB have been the injury to Stone which has resulted in a poor service to the forwards and the loss of Matthew Spring our playmaker (under tragic personal circumstances).

Miller came as a 'Premier League' player and has in my opinion been inconsistent and only very average.

There was at the time no-one else available to sign. Any team would have struggled without these two and lack of cash has prevented KB bringing in replacements of equal quality.

Subsequent team selection and tactics have been made I am sure, to compensate for these losses, and the tactics employed in Cardiff worked very well at Preston when we won.

Had Richardson had a better first half against Watford for instance, then the story might have been different.

To the same degree had Hulse marked his man a little more closely, then the all important first goal might not have been scored and you can't blame Blackwell for that!

On the subject of money Ken Bates has worked miracles this season when others wouldn't touch the club with a bargepole.

His new membership scheme isn't perfect but it's better than we had before and it does reward loyalty to the club.

I can remember the queues when Leeds made the FA Cup semi-finals in 1987 and that was when we didn't have the tight schedule between winning the play off semi and the final.

I think it's fair to say that everyone who deserved a ticket for Cardiff got one!
I struggle to make the trips to Elland Road and away games financially as well with the added burden of travelling from my Blackpool home, which I have done since 1979.

I'd like not only to have reduced admissions but also reduced rail costs as well but that isn't going to happen.

The club very nearly went out of business last season and Bates has done a magnificent job in not only keeping us afloat but giving us renewed hope and optimisim for the future.

At the moment the 'medicine' doesn't taste so sweet but it's better than having no club at all.

I remember standing with another thousand or so Leeds fans on the old away terrace at Oldham one cold Christmas in the early eighties when we were close to relegation (or so it seemed).

Those were dark days indeed and I'd rather have what we have now than that.

People need to, in my view, get a grip and stick with it. That includes the manager whose done so well to get us where we are.