Soccer: A saga of stupidity at Leeds

By PHIL SHAW

Alan Smith's watery eyes told their own sorry story as the Leeds United players trudged off the pitch and out of the premiership after losing 4-1 to Bolton yesterday.

The tracks of his tears will lead to Plymouth, Rotherham and Crewe next season, and if the cycle of debt and defeat is not addressed, Leeds could easily become embroiled in another struggle against relegation.

Smith excepted, too few of Leeds' players replicated the passion of their followers.

Long after Bolton had overturned an interval deficit with three goals in nine minutes, they were still roaring out a defiant "We're going down, but we'll be back" and the self-mocking mantra of "Champions of Europe", a title that was within their grasp barely three years ago.

When Leeds last went down, in 1982, their fans tried to demolish West Bromwich Albion's ground. This time, the stupidity and brutishness came from Mark Viduka.

The Australian's dismissal, with his team ahead, was an open invitation to the battering which Jay-Jay Okocha and Co duly inflicted.

Viduka was playing his first match after suspension following his sending-off against Leicester.

Within minutes of putting them ahead with a penalty, he was booked for a sly kick at Emerson Thome. When he then cut down Ivan Campo, the referee allowed him the benefit of slender doubt and team-mates urged him to calm down.

Viduka promptly planted an elbow in Bruno N'Gotty's face in an aerial challenge and the referee's patience ran out.

But the decline which culminated at the Reebok Stadium, leaving Yorkshire without top-flight representation for the first time in two decades, arguably started in earnest in January 2002.

Then, with the club leading the table, manager David O'Leary published his ill-advised tome Leeds United On Trial.

Others, before and since, cannot escape their share of responsibility, most obviously Peter Ridsdale, the chairman Walter Mitty thought was a fantasist; Alan Leighton and the board who approved Ridsdale's reckless spending; and Jonathan Woodgate, whose trial and conviction for the assault of an Asian student took such an attritional toll on Leeds.

With key players sold to service their debts, Leeds have, in the candid post-match assessment of their caretaker manager, Eddie Gray, simply not been good enough.

Three years to the day after he stood beside O'Leary as Leeds met Valencia to contest a place in the Champions' League final, Gray said: "That's a long time in football, especially when you lose a lot of players and have no money.

"Those factors make a big difference. We just couldn't cope.

"But I'm sure the club will bounce back.

"It may not happen overnight and it's not going to be easy, but it won't be the end of the club. We will survive.

"We've a big fan base in a one-club city, and they'll remain loyal. But it looks as if we'll lose players and have to produce our own."

Asked about his own future, Gray said: "I'm not thinking about myself but about the club and which way it will go."

Today's board meeting may be the last held by the Yorkshire consortium which bought control six weeks ago. A Leeds-based businessman, Steve Parkin, hopes to complete another takeover this week.

Whoever holds the purse strings could do worse than study the way Bolton have adapted to football's changing economic climate.

While Ridsdale and O'Leary gambled money Leeds did not have on massive fees and wages, Sam Allardyce scoured the continent for free-transfers such as Okocha and Youri Djorkaeff, and used what resources they had to pay them handsome salaries.

Bolton, League Cup finalists in February, now lie seventh in the premiership and are on course for their highest finish since 1962.

Having never previously finished higher than 16th, they still have a chance of reaching the Uefa Cup. They have achieved their success, moreover, by playing with great panache.

Yet one of their exotic recruits, Thome, was fortunate to have been on the pitch for Viduka to kick. In the 26th minute, after Bolton had threatened to breach Leeds' fragile defence with almost every thrust, the Brazilian was caught the wrong side of Smith as he pursued Paul Robinson's booming kick and wrestled him over.

For denying a clear-scoring opportunity he should have received the red card.

His punishment was a caution and the sight of Viduka striking his 12th goal of the season from the spot.

Instead of being 1-0 up and facing0 10 men, Leeds swiftly found themselves a man down and trailing. Bolton equalised after the break when Djorkaeff angled the ball across Robinson from Okocha's pass, and they were soon on their way to a fourth consecutive victory.

In the 53rd minute, Robinson parried Nicky Hunt's shot and Djorkaeff stabbed in his second. Another 90 seconds and a cross by Anthony Barness, sent on by Allardyce presumably to prevent Thome emulating Viduka's self-destructiveness, struck Ian Harte and bobbled in.

After Kevin Nolan had taken another sumptuous Okocha delivery before rolling in Bolton's fourth, the 75th goal Leeds have conceded, many in the visitors' end took off their shirts and waved them above their heads.

They were waving goodbye to the premiership.

- INDEPENDENT