In Leeds We Trust: Leeds fans will find it difficult to praise a player from “that” team - but in Marcus Rashford’s case, it’s well deserved.
Yet another international break in an already condensed football season. This seems bad timing, but even worse was going into it after the injustice of a shocking VAR decision against Crystal Palace last Saturday.
The overwhelming opinion of fans, players, managers and some ex-referees was that ruling out a goal because Patrick Bamford’s armpit was apparently offside, when all he was doing was pointing to where he wanted the ball passed to, seems frankly ludicrous.
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Hide AdIt was also at a key point in the game and would have brought us level. That, followed by a freakish own goal, made the 4-1 scoreline seem unfair. Let’s hope that VAR decisions balance out over the season, because we were robbed!
The international break does allow some of our senior players to recover from injuries and illness, most notably Phillips and Rodrigo. Let’s also remember that Patrick Bamford has now scored seven goals in the first eight league games - and it would have been one more if it wasn’t for Mike Dean at Stockley Park!
It will be no surprise to learn that Patrick won our MOTM award at Crystal Palace.
There’s plenty been happening off the pitch across the national game as always. On Tuesday this week, the heads of the Premier League, EFL and the FA were grilled by the DCMS Committee at the House of Commons regarding the sustainability of football.
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Hide AdIt’s fair to say that they didn’t cover themselves in glory, with the MPs also specifically questioning why there was a lack of fan involvement in formal plans for the future of the game.
Greg Clarke, the FA chairman and FIFA vice-president, has since been forced to resign from both positions due to his inappropriate comments in the meeting that demonstrated his clear lack of understanding of diversity and inclusivity issues.
One crumb of comfort for fans was that Richard Masters, Premier League chief executive, confirmed that they will definitely be abandoning the current pay per view (PPV) model in favour of a “new strategy” for broadcasting matches until at least the new year.
The Trust has already made clear in this newspaper its feelings on the ill-judged PPV model. We wait with interest at the full details of this new strategy before commenting further.
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Hide AdIt was also good to see this week that, following Marcus Rashford’s brilliant campaign, the government will now provide £400 million worth of extra support for poor children and their families during the winter period.
The Trust know you will find it difficult to heap praise on a player from that team on the other side of the Pennines, but in this case it’s well deserved.
Campaigns like this, along with fans, players and club’s significant support and contributions to charities, demonstrate that football can have a positive impact upon society.
At the Trust, we have also been busy developing our new website behind the scenes, news of which we hope to bring you in coming weeks.
In the meantime, marching on together.
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