O'Leary in Elland Road frame as pressure builds on Blackwell Michael Walker Friday September 15, 2006 The Guardian
Leeds United travel to Coventry City tomorrow with their manager Kevin Blackwell's position in jeopardy should Leeds lose a third match in seven days. Defeats at home to Wolves and Sunderland have left Leeds third-bottom and the names of Dennis Wise, Glenn Hoddle, Alan Curbishley and, intriguingly, David O'Leary circulating in west Yorkshire. If Leeds cannot manage a draw or better then it is widely expected that chairman Ken Bates will call time on Blackwell's two years and four months at Elland Road. Wise, currently at Swindon Town, and close to Bates from their Chelsea days, has been connected by speculation to Leeds for some time but Swindon would require some form of compensation were Wise to be approached. By contrast Curbishley, Hoddle and O'Leary are out of work, with O'Leary living nearby in Harrogate and understood not to be averse to a return to the club he managed for four years until his dismissal in 2002. O'Leary will always be associated with the boom and bust years of the chairmanship of Peter Ridsdale but many Leeds fans remember the glory of the Champions League and Uefa Cup runs under the Irishman. After Terry Venables, Peter Reid and Eddie Gray succeeded O'Leary, Blackwell has been left with the ashes of Ridsdale's tenure and four years on the effects are still being felt daily. Blackwell complained after Wednesday night's 3-0 home defeat by Sunderland that finance remains the overriding issue at the club and not even Blackwell's biggest critic would say he has had a straightforward task. But Wednesday's defeat left Leeds in the bottom three of the Championship. It is their worst league position since 1985 and comes days after the 16,000 crowd against Wolves, the lowest league attendance for 17 years. Blackwell retains some public support - he received a smattering of applause as he took his seat in the dug-out on Wednesday - but for the second time in four days louder chants of "Blackwell, time to go" rang out around the stadium. Just as damaging, if not more so, was that long before the end Leeds' fans lapsed into sarcasm. When supporters are shouting "Ole" to mark a pass by one Leeds player to another and raucously applauding a shot that flies 10 yards wide simply because it is at least a shot, credibility is threatened. This happened in the second half at Elland Road and there was also a chant of "what is going on?" when David Healy was replaced with half an hour to go. Healy, who scored a hat-trick for Northern Ireland against Spain the previous Wednesday, was again subdued for Leeds, part of an overall display that lacked pace and power. Leeds have scored only four times this season in the division and, having won just one of their last 10 league games at the end of last term, it is now three wins in 17. "Nonsense," was how Blackwell responded to questions about his position. "I wouldn't have signed a three-year contract [in the summer] if I didn't believe the club would go forward. My ambition is to take this club to the very top and I turned down four clubs at the end of last season - big contracts to go somewhere else - because of my belief in this football club." Sturrock deal to head off Leeds Alan Biggs Friday September 15, 2006 The Guardian Sheffield Wednesday moved quickly last night to kill off any possible interest from Leeds in their manager Paul Sturrock. The Scot emerged from weeks of unease over his future with a three-year extension to his contract up to the summer of 2010. Wednesday's chief executive Kaven Walker said: "We were never concerned about Paul going to another club - we would never have allowed that." Sturrock's position had seemed so precarious after rumours of a rift with his chairman Dave Allen that some bookmakers put him ahead of Kevin Blackwell in the Championship's sack race. But the former Plymouth and Southampton manager is now secure despite his side's modest start to the campaign. It was the coup of Sturrock's appointment two years ago that helped Allen ward off a prolonged takeover attempt from the former Chelsea chairman Ken Bates. The appointment appeased angry fans who accused Allen of lacking ambition. Bates is an acknowledged admirer of Sturrock. Even amid the bitter power battle he let it be known that Wednesday had made an excellent choice. Allen's original timetable for contract talks had been December, having charged Sturrock with establishing Wednesday as a mid-table team. Sturrock was angered by the public announcement of the club's plans to stall discussions. He said yesterday: "It was a wee bit upsetting. I did feel it caused a bit of uncertainty. Now everything is cleared up. It enables the club to quieten down. It needs stability; the club has had eight managers in 11 years. "The chairman had made it plain there would be a contract at Christmas but that the discussions would be about the content rather than the contract itself." Allen, who admitted that speculation had brought the deal forward, said: "A little stress is the source of life. However, I think you get the best out of people when they are comfortable in the job." He added ironically: "The only pressure on Paul now is to win football matches on a regular basis." _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist oh alright then :-)
