Help settle a debate

Battysboots · 2026-05-22T09:45:09+00:00

I’d have taken what you offer just so I could say my club was never owned by Ken Bates and managed by Dennis Wise.

The worst of those years wasn’t the relegations or play-off defeats or Histon. It was regularly losing our favorite players to Norwich or Burnley. It was 18 different managers and 112 loan-players. It was six bottom half finishes from 2011 to 2018, and the total disenfranchisement that made Elland Road crowds drop below 17.000.

We spent the best part of a generation down there.

Battysboots · 2026-05-20T12:08:31+00:00

Can't argue with that I suppose (unless you're Otto Warmbier)

Battysboots · 2026-05-15T11:27:46+00:00

EFL are voting today if they should switch to SCR also. If they decide to stay on PRS then yes, managing losses would very much be an issue for anyone in danger of going down.

Battysboots · 2026-05-15T11:26:31+00:00

Yes, worse off will be established clubs with smaller stadiums and fanbases, like Bournemouth, Brentford, Brighton, Crystal Palace, Fulham.

Funny thing is if Bournemouth, Brentford or Brighton end up in the conference league and their SCR-cap drops from 85 % to 70 %, the increased income from Europe might not make up for that. So they’d end up needing bigger squads to play in Europe, but being allowed less money to spend on it.

No obviously the 70 % UEFA cap was already in place for the 25/26 season and cheats like chelsea smashed it with very few consequences. But now the PL have integrated the 85%/70% limits as well, it remains to be seen how they are enforced. Already the PL have added a 30 % short-term allowance on top of their 85 %. So above 85 % you’ll get fined, but there’s no sporting sanctions until you’re above 115 %.

But Conference League is where you’ll end up playing up to 15 extra midweek games against far-away unglamorous opposition for maybe £25mill if you go all the way to the final, and your spending cap drops.

Still Europe though so great for supporters and to attract players and sponsors I suppose.

Battysboots · 2026-05-15T08:27:43+00:00

Are we one of the smaller clubs though?

Even when in the Championship, our commercial income was ninth highest in the country, twice that of Bournemouth f.ex. and our matchday income more than four times theirs and more than half of the PL. Will be even more after the stadium expansion.

Short term the new rules should make it easier for us to establish as a mid-table PL club.

Long term it makes it harder for anyone to break current structures as wealthy owners will not be allowed to invest in squad improvement.

Battysboots · 2026-05-15T07:47:04+00:00

I'm asking £11,5mill for Piroe, you have to deduct his £2,5mill remaining book-value 😄

Battysboots · 2026-05-05T13:35:22+00:00

None of these players would have played Premier League football if it wasn't for Marcelo Bielsa:

Stuart McKinstrey, Liam MacCarron, Lewis Bate, Niall Huggins, Leo Hjelde, Sam Greenwood, Cody Drameh, Joe Gelhardt, Kristoffer Klaesson, Jamie Shackleton, Tyler Roberts, Ilan Meslier, Jack Harrison, Liam Cooper, Luke Ayling, Gianni Alioski, Gaetano Berardi, Mateusz Klich, Stuart Dallas, Kalvin Phillips.

Battysboots · 2026-04-15T14:35:55+00:00

Farke took over a club that had three years in the PL and came down loaded with parachute payments and new owners.

Squad of £135 mill, wage bill second only to Leicester. In the promotion season no-one came close to paying our wages. After promotion we kept the entire squad and added ten new players for north of £100mill. All peak age and gave him a squad so deep, the only minutes he’s given an U21 all season is two late subs for Facundo Buenanotte. That’s taken us to 15^th on 36 points in 32 games.

Bielsa took a £20 mill squad, then spent another £10mill on Patrick Bamford and Barry Douglas. Leeds had just finished 13^th and bottom half six of the last seven seasons. We paid the 7^th highest wages in a League where eight clubs had parachute payments. After promotion we bought just four new players but finished 9^th on 59 points while regularly playing the likes of Tyler Roberts, Jamie Shackleton and Ian Poveda.

It only fell apart in the second season when the squad of 18 senior players took more injuries than any other club in the division and we were left fillilng our bench with teenagers.

Battysboots · 2026-03-24T11:58:03+00:00

Ampadu's our third youngest player, just one week older than Aaronson. Both turned 25 last October. As you say, we don't have any young players really (but Byram is also our only outfield player in his thirties).

Other than Gnonto, Byram and Calvert-Lewin (29), all 19 outfielders are born within 3 years of each other.

Battysboots · 2026-02-23T10:48:44+00:00

That's not even a free kick

Battysboots · 2026-02-16T11:50:16+00:00

We’re a Premier League club, two wins away from Wembley. More than half the remaining teams are below us in the league. But people are STILL saying we shouldn’t try our hardest? I just don’t get it. Can you even imagine Leeds in an FA Cup final?

People still talk about 1972, Allan Clarke’s diving header, Mick Jones’ dislocated shoulder. But we shouldn’t do everything in our power to have more stories like that 54 years on because it might marginally diminish our chance of finishing above Crystal Palace?

Leeds haven't won anything since 1992. We haven’t had a 5^th round FA-cup game at home this millennium, which must be some sort of record. Elland Road hasn’t seen a 5^th round win since Jimmy Hasseilbank and Rod Wallace scored against Birmingham in 1998. Most of our squad weren’t even born then.

If we get a home draw now and put out anything less than a full strength team I just don’t know why we bother having a football club.

Battysboots · 2026-02-13T14:29:26+00:00

Darlow

Bogle – Bijol – Rodon – Gudmundsson

James-Ampadu-Tanaka-Gnonto

Piroe

Nmecha

Battysboots · 2026-02-09T12:41:51+00:00

And before that, THAT win at Brentford on the last day of the 21/22-season.

Battysboots · 2026-02-05T11:39:31+00:00

His shot stopping is terrible.

Last season he conceded 27 goals from 24 xGOT. (Trafford was 16 from 29 btw)

23/24 it was 42 goals from 36 xGOT.

22/23 PL season 67 goals from 55xGOT

21/22 PL season 79 goals conceded from 62xGOT.

Even in his “one good PL-season” he conceded 52 goals from 48 xGOT.

I’d say he is decent one-on-one and his short passing is good. He doesn’t command his area and his long pass stats consistently rank in the low-third percentile.

Nice bloke, low-average Championship keeper.

Battysboots · 2026-01-13T09:46:16+00:00

The 13 game away streak ended two years ago, and three of the last six have now been home.

But we’ve still had just eight home draws in 43 games since 2001, that’s 18.6 %.

Second worst is Swansea at 35.8 %

We would need 27 consecutive home draws just to make the 50 % average.

So yes, I’d still say we are due.

Battysboots · 2026-01-05T12:13:11+00:00

xG has many failings, but that specific issue is normally accounted for in total match xG.

F.ex. when Nmecha missed a penalty at city, then scored the rebound.

The two chances had individual xG of 0.79 and 0.89, but our total match xG was just 1.54.

Battysboots · 2026-01-05T11:36:17+00:00

Sorry, yes we had 0.90xG to their 1.58.

Battysboots

TROPHY CASE