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Leeds United: Simon's done a sound job with Whites
Leeds United legend Brendan Ormsby answers your questions.
Hi Brendan. I have been a lifelong Leeds fan and find the current management style more frustrating than all the bad days gone by. Why anyone would want to join the club is beyond me.
Simon Grayson, I believe, is possibly the worst man-manager we've ever had, because he can't stick with the same line-up from one game to the next, constantly bringing in loan singings and always looking for new players. And how many more strikers does a club at this level need and why not give Mike Grella a run?
IAN SPOONER, via email
To be fair, when Gary McAllister was manager, he also got stick for changing the team a lot from one game to the next and not having a settled team.
As a player, you like to play with the same players, week-in, week-out and to get to know each other. When you change things all the time it upsets everyone's momentum.
That happened under Gary Mac and at times you thought: 'why the hell is he doing it?'
In terms of Simon, so far, he's done the job which he was brought in for; he got us promoted.
Some people have said to me: 'He's not a good manager.' But for me, he's done the job the club paid him for. We're back in the Championship.
Maybe he was feeling the pressure towards the end of last season when we were struggling and we scraped through. That's when he started making all the changes to get the results. But he got us up.
Some might criticise him for the changes he's made. But I've got to say, the back four needed sorting out and he's done that.
We needed two proper full-backs and three fully-fit centre-halves, so he can pick two from three.
We've also got two good keepers and everyone likes Schmeichel.
Like you say, Ian, Simon has brought in a lot of strikers and you look at Grella and I do think he's not going to get a chance, while the signing of McCormack pushes him down the pecking order.
The first choice front two look likely to be Becchio and Billy Paynter, while I don't think McCormack has come here to be second choice; he wants to be in the first team.
That's what every player should be like and Simon's obviously creating that competition.
You can't keep everyone happy and the only ones who are happy are the 11 who line-up on the pitch on Saturday.
I'm speaking from experience; the rest of them will be totally hacked off!
When you are not playing, you are hoping that whoever plays in your position has a nightmare. It's human nature.
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Brendan. I notice there have been quite a few withdrawals from the England squad for their Euro 2012 qualifiers. It all sounds a bit fishy to me....
GEOFF, New Farnley
It's strange, isn't it? Players being selected and pulling out. I'll say it again, how much does it mean for players to be selected for England these days?
They aren't that bothered now. Paul Robinson recently retired after waiting until he got called back into the squad and Wes Brown has also retired and I don't think he was even in the squad!
I don't think it means that much to many of them anymore.
Maybe, it's the current set-up and the manager or the way the World Cup had gone.
But if I was a young player of the future and after that World Cup, I'd be looking forward to getting into that squad and hopefully things can only get better from now on. The future has got to be with the youngsters for the next World Cup and the one after that.
I remember years ago when players would give their right arm to play for England.
I think there was always a bit of a club versus country thing, even more so now. It should be an honour to play for your country, but to be fair, clubs pay players' wages and I don't know why the hell they organised that friendly just before the start of the Premier League season and only a few weeks after the World Cup.
There was obviously a chance that many leading players would get injured.
We know about some managers' attitudes towards England.
The likes of Sir Alex Ferguson aren't scared of the Football Association, but they are scared of him!
He does what he wants with his players and other bosses do the same if one of their players say has a niggling injury.
****
Hi Brendan. What do you think of the transfer window? I watched the deadline day stuff on TV and it was a load of rubbish!
PETE , via email
It's the same every year! Clubs leaving stuff until deadline day and transfers taking place five minutes before and clubs making sure the FA receive the papers in time. Why the hell do clubs leave it until that time when they have all that time to do the transfers. Even if some seemingly don't get through, they still pass them.
All this stuff about the countdown to the deadline and then almost straightaway, we have an emergency loan window! It is a load of rubbish.
Why is there an emergency loan window? Why? If clubs can't be bothered to get transfers done in the time previously allocated, don't let them do it.
Clubs should have enough time to do their business from when they get back in pre-season training and should know what is what.
For me, if there was a window, it would be from the end of one season to the start of the next. After that date, that would be it! I'd do the same thing about managers and have a managerial window. If clubs stick with players for the same amount of time, they should have to stick with managers. This emergency window nonsense is just pushing things too far.
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Have you ever wanted to quiz a United legend? Now's your chance. Write to: Brendan's Postbag, Sports Desk, Yorkshire Evening Post, Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 1RF E-Mail: yep.sport@ypn.co.uk Log on to: www. yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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