Excuse me while I laugh, but the 'dirty tag' under Don Revie was voiced as 'hard but fair' by the majority of fellow professional footballers of that era.

Which viewpoint holds greater substance?

Newspapers who covered this article included the 'dirty tag' along with four other reasons to loathe Leeds. They included:

2) 'Changed their kit to white to look like Real Madrid'.

Well don't you just loathe a team for doing that.

3) 'Fans booed a silence after Matt Busby died'.

They weren't real fans.

4) 'Service crew hooligans of the 1980s'

Most clubs had their hooligan element.

5) 'Keepy-uppy taunts vs Saints'

This football clip is still remembered as a footballing exhibition. Leeds United held back from going into double figures that day, yet this is portrayed as a form of arrogance.

Allan Clarke, Billy Bremner, Johnny Giles and Co were simply sparing Southampton further humiliation. The game, as a contest, was over.

If you're going to 'loathe' a club that was the first to revolutionise English football in Europe – well before Liverpool or Manchester United – and which produced a player who, to date, remains the most successful transfer signing to foreign soil, John Charles to Juventus, then so be it.

Football clubs should be admired and respected for what they give to the football world.

I believe that Leeds United have contributed their fair share, more than most, and hopefully they'll be able to add to it in the current era.

BERNIE CUNNINGHAM, Bramley, Leeds

****

Enough is enough! Leeds United need rid of Ken Bates and the sooner the better.

Scrape a result one week, play bad the next week, steal a win here and then string three or four results together. It's absolute rubbish.

This club, with its support, should be walking this league.

Last season should have been merely a blip in the history of this club, and Bates should have made the investment to make sure we were not only out of that division in one season, but geared up and had the squad in place to launch an assault on the Championship.

It's about one simple word – investment. Investment and success go hand in hand.

Look at Hull City – and good luck to them by the way – how can a team from the fourth division end up in the Premier League with a new ground and now be chucking millions at Spurs for decent players in such a short space of time?

No disrespect to teams like Wigan and Fulham, but these were fourth division clubs for many years and yet they are now larging it with the big boys.

I cannot believe that a man with a £30m-40m personal fortune, cannot see that if he was to dig in his bin and spend £5-10m now, it would be worth treble that if we went back into the Championship, and untold millions if we were to get back to the Premier.

We need a kick-start to get the ball rolling, a star player who will sell shirts, and put bums on seats.

Some inspirational signing like Vinny Jones or Gordon Strachan. Another hero who kids in Leeds would adore and want the shirt and to see them in action.

It's not coincidence that the four biggest spending teams are the top four teams in the Premiership year upon year.

But if Bates keeps thinking we are going to achieve success, on bargain-basement, freebies and cast-off journeymen, and taking Premier League prices out of our pockets he is kidding himself.

I think the fact we keep turning up and paying for an a la carte menu only to be served egg and chips every week, is a testament to the loyalty of Leeds United fans.

MR A WILSON, Leeds

****

As a disabled person who likes to use the internet to find out about Leeds United I am very disappointed that they are revamping their website now, thus denying access to fans for at least the first two games of the season.

Come on Leeds, get your act together. You've had all summer to do this.


TIM WATSON, Leeds

****


AS the rugby league season comes to its climax in 2008 what now for the sport in 2009?

Rugby league at the highest level is played in Super League and covered by Sky television.

What about the attendances though in 2008 at National League One and Two?

Three-figure attendances at this level are more the norm, yet next year will we see the Super League clubs increase season ticket subscriptions and turnstile gate receipts?

We are in the midst of a credit crunch with experts saying there will be worse to come.

TV is also a power broker and in my opinion they will surely increase the price for satellite coverage. Rugby league should see a price freeze at the gates and on season tickets.

The RFL has always been at the forefront of innovation in sport.
It seems to me that if the rugby league do this – freeze prices – then many other sports will follow.

They've done this before and they can do it again.

KEVIN MAGUIRE, Hanover Street, Batley.

Ends