it does not fill you with glee

always felt he would bleed the club dry

unfortunately mist clubs end up selling their best players to bigger clubs. its one of the reasons the championship is always so tight. any team who performs well, has their top players poached at the next transfer window. the only way to escape it is to either come from nowhere like QPR, norwich, blackpool etc, or its to become one of the rich boys and find a backer with enough patience to get you up.

this certainly isn't a problem isolated to Leeds.

Personally, I'm not a fan of bates, but I thinkost fans go OTT in their hatred of the man.

I was at the game today - first game I've been to in a while, and to be honest was absolutely disgusted with the majority of the Leeds fans! Ok, ok I get it - most Leeds fans hate Bates, but after a while the incessant chants started to get really boring and annoying! There were 11 players on the pitch who needed the crowd's support, but far too often the crowd were so immersed in their pointless Bates hatred that the action on the pitch became secondary. Yet, in the second half, when the crowd finally did come round to the idea of actually supporting their team, the way the team lifted and the response they gave was clear for any idiot to see.

It always beats the hell out of me why people pay good money to go to Headingley just to stand there and moan the entire time, surrounding themselves and all around them in abject negativity, and it was exactly the same at Elland Road today. Newsflash people, players respond to support - stand there and slag them all off and do you really expect anything to come of it?

As for Bates, what exactly is the point in all the protesting? He's going nowhere, and clearly doesn't care a bit what anyone thinks of him - never has, never will. The chanting will change nothing, and will do nothing other than ruin it for those who actually go purely to try and enjoy the game - for God's sake get behind your team, and save your stupid chants for outside of the game!

i think its a problem with sports fans in general. its exactly the same at Forest. There are some exceptions, but on the whole sport is a painful and frustrating experience, and people like to blame someone.

Leeds lifted when Ipswich went down to ten. Before that we were appalling. Again. The result papers over the cracks

if my memory serves me correctly, its the third game in a row we've played against 10 men, and have only really squeeked past. with 11 we would probably lost most of them.

without ipswich giving us all three goals we wouldn't have won this one

I still think we'd have been good for at least one goal if it had stayed 11 v 11 - the wind made a huge difference and Ipswich looked suspect at the back. Having said that, the red card, followed by the back pass straight to Snodgrass, then the subsitute keeper getting caught in no man's land for the 2nd goal, meant that in the space of about 10 minutes they well and truly gifted us the game.

I still question the mentality of the fans though - we have no more a right to win than any other team, and the team are clearly low on confidence at the moment - there have been better times earlier in the season, and there will be better times ahead. The Bates furore is a complete waste of time and will achieve nothing, so the fans may as well throw all their support behind the players - something I always thought "fans" were supposed to do ffs! Always have faith in your team - they might just surprise you - the 2011 Rhinos proved that beyond any doubt whatsoever.

On a psoitive note, a win is a win, no matter how it comes about, and can only improve confidence. We've taken 7 pointd from the last 9 in the league, and came away from Arsenal without taking the hammering many thought we would. Becchio took his goal well at the end which can only do good things for his confidence, and it was good to see Delph back - hopefully they can get him for the rest of the season.

There are always two ways of looking at things - negatively and positively. I will always go with the latter, and feel sorry for those who immerse themselves in negativity, life sure as hell can't be much fun for them!

We are crap, have been all season apart from the performances against Hull (h) and Forest (a).

We have gone backwards so much in the last 2 years since we beat the houses it's unbelievable and apart from Snodgrass, Becchio and White they're all Grayson's signings. Can you blame Howson wanting out ? You sit next to Beckford and he's replaced with Billy Paynter, you sit next to Kilkenny and he's replaced with Micheal Brown, you sit next to Kasper Schmeicheal and then he's replaced by Paul Rachubka.............Mika Vayrynen and Mikael Forsell then turn up and then Aidy White tells you the new contact he's been offered is on equates to less money per month than he's currently on...........

I'd like Bates out as much as the next man......but if he goes tomorrow will the team dramatically improve overnight ? I don't think so.

A current board member (admittedly a Bates boot-licker) laid the blame at the manager's door on more than 1 occasion on Saturday due to the "dross" he'd signed. But as a club director surely you should have influence on these matters and do something about it instead of trying to save face against a barrage of criticism and writing pointless newspaper articles ?

The club is f**ked from top to bottom.

Oh yes............the irony of a Liverpool supporter trying to have a laugh at our expense.

theres a fair amount of boll0cks in that post, however your points I agree with on the whole.

so you agree with most but a fair amount is bollox?

Yep, certain points are daft or completely wrong, such as


and



suggest to me a very short memory about where we have come from.

However, the general gist that although Bates is not exactly demanding a return to the premiership, he's not the sole reason for our problems is one I agree with.

I spend a bit of time at thorp arch, have done for years, and it's not a happy camp. Grayson has upset a lot of players and most would be happy to see him gone

And certain players are on £15k a week. This comes from a first team player. Becchio, snodgrass and mccormack are three. Also, and i don't know which idiot agreed it, but paynter and brown are also on this. Leeds wage bill is £11m a year. More than enough at this level

Tad, if your figures are correct, I'm flabbergasted. In my opinion, every one of those players would be well over paid at £250K a year. In fact, £250.00 a week would be more like it!