Cluffy

ESU, L37.
LUFC.
Bielsa:🎙Confront it. Resolve it. Overcome it!

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

Aye, not bad! 👍

[Leeds United @LUFC]

to the ends of the earth and then some. 🤝

💛 introducing the @adidasfootball Leeds United Away Jersey 26/27, available now

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@mattletiss7 The problem is if you only spied before league games, then a points deduction would suffice. But spying before a cup fixture can only result in expulsion.

It's the same as playing an ineligible player in league and cup games, you get points deduction or expulsion, respectively

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@PonteCollsFC I love the shiny

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@premierleague @BarclaysFooty Carrick?
He's only been in charge for 15 games since Jan!

No Farke?
FA Cup Semi Final, steered Leeds to Premier League safety, and also beat Carrick's MUFC in his own backyard.

[Adonis Storr @theadelites]

When an #LUFC employee was found on a public footpath outside Derby’s training ground, the ‘spygate’ scandal was the main football story for weeks.

Leeds’ manager at the time - Marcelo Bielsa - was accused of not respecting English customs and culture.

One after another, pundits came out against Marcelo, from TalkSport to Sky to the papers.

Aware of the enormous backlash, Bielsa called an impromptu press conference.

Some people thought he might be resigning, or that he was sacked - such was the furore in the media that had been whipped up against him.

Instead, he admitted that Leeds had spied on every opponent that season; and then went on to give a PowerPoint presentation on all the information he had gathered on Frank Lampard’s Derby County.

There was no specific rule Leeds broke so the EFL fined Leeds £200,000 for a crime against the spirit of the game.

The spirit of football can be found - in case you’re wondering - tucked neatly under the layers of agents, betting sponsorships, state-funded sports-washing and dynamic priced tourist tickets.

Bielsa payed the fine himself.

The EFL subsequently brought in an ‘anti-espionage’ rule to stop clubs watching opponents train 72 hours before games.

Now that Middlesbrough have reportedly contacted the EFL after finding a Southampton spy watching them train ahead of the playoff semi-final, I look forward to the backlash.

I wonder if Southampton will face the same scrutiny and criticism that #LUFC and Bielsa did?

I wonder if Southampton will be fined, and if they are fined, I wonder if their manager Tonda Eckert would pay it himself?

The spygate scandal is unique no longer, but I doubt it will be the same.

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

Oozing confidence today! C'mon #LUFC!

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

Last seasons semis were 5.15 (Sat) & 4.30 (Sun). Marathon was on too

If police expect crowd trouble I can see us being moved earlier, possibly 12.15 (Sat) or 2pm Sun

There's a TV blackout between 2.45 & 5.15 on Sat due to PL

I guess Soton v City (Sat 5.15) & #LUFC (Sun 2pm)

[LUFC Trust @lufctrust]

We have reached out to both @LUFC and @WeAreTheFSA to understand the slowness in announcing details for The FA cup semi final.

Having liaised with the club, they are still in the dark & waiting on governing bodies, the police & broadcaster to come to a final decision 🙄

1/2

[Adonis Storr @theadelites]

I’m rewatching the #LUFC game.

Kilman’s foul on Stach is ridiculous.

The ‘he got his shot away’ so the defender is at liberty to hit him (in this case with such reckless force that it causes ligament damage) - is one of the worst myths in football.

VAR deemed it a ‘natural coming together’.

Ally McCoist said: “I’m happy that’s not been given a foul”.

Literally 5 minutes later, Lukas Nmecha dives in to try and tackle Disasi.

Disasi ‘got his pass away.’

Nmecha didn’t actually touch him unlike the foul on Stach.

Ally McCoist: “He’s definitely late, I wasn’t sure he caught him.. no he doesn’t catch him, but that’s not to say he doesn’t fall awkwardly or land awkwardly.”

VAR called it a reckless challenge.

Result Nmecha got a yellow card - Disasi totally fine obviously because he wasn’t actually touched, and didn’t fall awkwardly.

So - if it’s in the outfield and a pass and you get your pass away - then get tackled - even if it’s not actually bad - it’s a yellow card.

But if it’s in the penalty box - and you get your shot away - then it’s a ‘natural coming together’ - even if you get injured by your opponent.

That is the very definition of inconsistent.

And it doesn’t help when the analyst is parroting a myth that has permeated football.

Stach’s ankle was caught in between Kilman’s legs - that’s how Struijk broke Harvey Elliot’s ankle a couple of seasons back.

Kilman slid in with excessive speed and force with a disregard for the safety of Stach - the very description of a reckless challenge - endangering an opponent.

It should not matter whether a shot or pass had been completed.

It should not matter whether it is outside the box or in the box.

It absolutely should matter if there was any actual contact or not.

In one case a guy has ligament damage the extent of which we do not know but it could be season ending - you can’t tell without a scan.

In another case the player was not touched at all - but gets an Oscar nomination for exceptional acting in a supporting role.

This is why 75% of fans hate VAR. It’s not because referees don’t need more help - they do.

It’s because consistent rationale and logic isn’t being applied, while myths are being perpetuated- and it doesn’t help when respected media figures with massive platforms are helping to spread the myth (VAR have the broadcast feed as well as their own footage).

[Adonis Storr @theadelites]

In 2019 #LUFC’s then manager Marcelo Bielsa sent a scout to watch Derby train ahead of their upcoming fixture.

The scout stood on a public footpath and took a few notes.

The modern equivalent of a dark ages witch hunt followed, spurred on by hyperbolic pundits.

Keith Andrews accused Bielsa of not giving a damn and not adapting to the culture of England.

In fact, Bielsa explained in a 45 minute impromptu press conference that he cared too much.

In the extraordinary presser, Bielsa broke down a tactical analysis of Derby - showing that he had amassed such an unprecedented amount of information and statistics on them - that the training session the scout watched could give him no extra information that he didn’t already have.

Bielsa explained that he sent the scout anyway because if he didn’t do everything he possibly could - within the rules - to help Leeds win, then he would feel irreconcilable guilt.

And after spy gate had been investigated by the EFL - and Leeds were found to be in breach of the “spirit of the game” and fined £250,000 - Bielsa refused to let #LUFC pay and instead paid it out of his own pocket.

What was that Keith Andrews said about Bielsa not giving a damn and lacking respect?

Today, the ‘spirit of the game’ has never felt less vague.

Was it in ‘the spirit of the game’ to drag Bielsa’s name through dirt on every show throughout the spy gate scandal?

And where is the ‘spirit of the game’ now, with football club-owners-cum-charlatans taking fans for a ride on their get-rich-quick schemes of stripping a community’s cherished possession of its assets and selling to the highest bidder?

Where is the spirit of the game in agent payments and state-funded sports-washing?

Or in the ceaseless betting advertisements that ruin lives?

Or Man City’s 115 charges and the PSR hypocrisy that fails to create a level playing field - PSRs sole reason for existence?

Is VAR in the spirit of the game?

Is making away supporters travel 100s of miles at midnight in the spirit of the game?

I’m not sure I have ever seen, I’m not sure I’ll ever likely see, a more erroneous use of the term and law being applied to punish a club.

Those few weeks in 2019 were bizarre. The media made an avalanche out of a snowflake and pundits and wannabe coaches got paid to lambast Bielsa from the rafters.

And after hearing about how Marcelo has revolutionised the game wherever he went and was idolised by the world’s best coaches. And after seeing Leeds United become “everyone’s second team (for the first time in the club’s existence)”- these pundits and analysts finally had a reason to tear Bielsa down off that pedestal and they did so with relish.

They talked of Bielsa in the scathing tones usually only reserved for war criminals.

Yet his only crime was that he sent someone to stand on a public footpath and watch a football team train because if he didn’t he’d feel guilty.

It was a ridiculous moment for the culture and the irony was compounded when Leeds and Bielsa won the FIFA Fair Play Award for letting Aston Villa score a goal in another bizarre story for another time.

If anyone embodies ‘the spirit of the game’ it is Marcelo Bielsa - or at least, football would be lucky to embody his spirit.

The Argentine will be back in the country this month as his Uruguay side play England.

Tonight, Keith Andrews returns to Elland Road as manager of Brentford.

A timely reminder of what Andrews’ said about Bielsa during spy gate ⤵️

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@moto26261 @TWilliamsgx02 @LUFC It's a free kick, but not all fouls are worthy of a yellow. That second booking wasn't even worth a yellow card!

[Adonis Storr @theadelites]

When the break for Ramadan was apparently booed by #LUFC fans during their game against Man City last Saturday evening - there were some very prominent voices who were asserting that, essentially, Leeds’ fans were all racist.

When a few people tried to explain that the booing was not necessarily about Ramadan; and was likely due to: Pep’s tactical team talks, the lack of communication about why the game was stopped, the lack of visibility of the messaging on the board etc - Leeds fans were accused of making excuses.

There was a break for Ramadan in the game today. Of the thousands of people standing around me there were perhaps a handful who tried to boo and quietened when there was no one joining in.

Instead Leeds fans were singing: “We are the champions, Champions of Europe” - a song sung regularly since the 1975 European Cup Final injustice in Paris.

I don’t imagine there will be many - or any - prominent voices that will now correct the narrative. It is much more interesting for some people to call fans of a club they (presumably) hate - racist, than it is to listen, and to express nuance - characteristics incidentally, which can cure people of racist ideologies.

#LUFC and the city of Leeds has a proud history of anti-racism.

30,000 Leeds residents met Oswald Mosley on Holbeck Moor and kicked the British Union of Fascists out of the city in the 1930s.

When Albert Johannasson was verbally abused by opponents in the 1960s, Billy Bremner would take retribution with his studs by very literally kicking racism out of football.

And in the 1980s the National Front were expelled from Elland Road by a campaign led by #LUFC fan groups and fanzines.

Leeds United does not have a racist fan base, there are racists everywhere. But it certainly is popular to call them so, while ignoring the nuance, circumstances and history.

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

I don't mind the break in play, but only the players fasting should go to the touchline.

I was unhappy with the break in play as it was just used as an unscheduled team talk!

[Sky Sports News @SkySportsNews]

Leeds have condemned the "unexpected and disappointing" booing from fans during a scheduled pause for players to break their Ramadan fast in last weekend's defeat to Man City - but set out a number of "mitigating circumstances" in their defence.

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@GrahamSmyth From now on at Full Time Farke should shake hands with the opposition manager, then the 4th official then make a point of asking if he can enter the pitch to see the referee. The whole thing is farcical

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@LUFCHistory The goalkeeper going down so Sunderland could have a team talk sent me doolally.

The Arsenal game was the same; slowing play down, playing for free kicks / corners. It's utterly ridiculous.

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

By far and away the worst game of football I've seen since Leeds v Hull in the 06/07 Championship relegation season 😴💤

[Jonny Cooper @JRCooper26]

The second half of tonight's match between Leeds and Sunderland lasted for 57 minutes and 54 seconds - supporters were treated to just 24 minutes and 24 seconds of actual ball in play time, a whopping 42%. Great evening's entertainment. #lufc

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

Absolutely fed up with @BBCSport switching between BBC1, BBC2 & BBC iPlayer for the #BBCWinterOlympics.

Stick. With. One. Channel!

[Gus Tawse @gus_tawse]

In honour of the great John Virgo. May he rest in peace.

[Jonny Cooper @JRCooper26]

Terry Yorath was one of only three players to wear every number from 2 to 11 in a game for Leeds, along with Paul Madeley and Trevor Cherry. Yorath played a game in the most different shirt no's in our history (13 - 2-14). A testament to his versatility. RIP Terry. #lufc

[Cluffy @cluffy84]

@SkySportsPL There was loads more that could be looked at from St James' Park. Was Gordon's booking for tampering with the penalty spot correct, Barnes' winner (handball before he struck it?), the Leeds penalty decision... I'm sure there's was others #refwatch

[Sihle🇿🇦 @missLovely203]

Just do the damn draw. What is this
#FIFAWorldCup2026draw
#WorldCup2026