Printer- 99% of the criticism is rellevant to the performances at that time did fans stop going?
No they didn't again the context has to be understood & at no point is it a p!$$ing contest into who the "real fans" are supposed to be.

Precisely this. People can (and do) still care about the club even when offering opinions perceived to be critical/negative/unconstructive.

Whatever happened to the maxim that everyone, in this largely free country, is entitled to their opinion and to express that right in any way they see fit?

I've supported Leeds for the best part of thirty five years. In that time, I've seen sat through some absolute dross but, I'm still a paying customer and I will be until somebody nails the lid shut. However, I don't think it is my place or anyone else's for that matter, to criticise how other people exercise their freedom of expression.

Punters of any kind tend to vote with their feet, it really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Apologies to all who have taken offence as I did not mean that you didn't have the right to criticise or comment on the current state of affairs.
Perhaps I mis worded my post.
The point I was trying to make was that IMO I think that any team which lost 4 key players and then suffered so many injuries to other 1st choice players would struggle to keep pace with the competition.

Never said nobody wasn't real fans or that they stopped going.

But way too often people have overreacted to the slightest thing that didn't go well, it's the extremes of what people say I find ridiculous at times.

JAN 2015 - after the way the 2014 season ended with 5 league defeats and the playoff exit to Catalans, quite a lot of people were saying we had too many old players, our signings like Briscoe and Aiton were poor, guys like Hardaker can't do the basics like passing, players like Ward were used incorrectly as a workhorse 2nd row and we'd lucky to make top 4

Skip forward to APR 2016
Now people are saying any coach could've lead that group of players to a treble and that we should've dominated the league.

I mean come on which is it, either they were good enough to win a treble with any coach or they were too old/poor signings/unable to do basics/played incorrectly. It's one extreme to another.

I would suggest it is somewhere between the two - the basic skills of some Leeds players is embarrassing for a pro player.

You cannot look at Leeds in isolation you need to consider the competition as a whole. Were Leeds any better in 2015 than 2014 not sure I saw a huge improvement in standard in fact it could be argued they went backwards but not as fast as everyone else. So winning everything one year and not winning the GF the previous year does not prove your point either way.

It could be argued that both statements were in fact true.

The OP is very unfair.

Fair weather supporters support their team wholeheartedly when they are doing well.

It would if it were the only club suffering in that way - but virtually every club has a significant injury list.

Fair point

Which clubs have suffered as badly as we have through missing players?

Let's start with Wigan - they are missing there starting FB, starting HB, starting hooker plus a host of other players, Hull KR had as many missing as we did if not more, Cas had 10 out when they played Huddersfield. That is before you talk about Saints.

So which ones have been as badly affected as Leeds over the course of the season to date