The return of LLHB

The return of the infamous Love Leeds, Hate Bates campaign (and supporting website) will no doubt stir a few emotions amongst the fans of Leeds United.

Whilst many, myself included, hate Bates and think he represents one of the darkest moments in our history (let’s not forget, this is the man who threatened to liquidate the club) some still support him and believe what i consider to be total nonsense and lies.

The secrecy surrounding Leeds United’s ownership continues to worry me, but there’s been times when I have reluctantly given the bloke a chance due to the ‘he’s all we have’ philosophy. However, the loss of Thorp Arch was yet another dark day in the history of our club. They seem to come all too often under the current boards leadership, and for me, that was the final straw.

It’s almost too convenient that just as LLHB returns, Bates gets himself and the club into more bad publicity over a ticket row with the families of those in the armed forces. It’s all down to ticket allocation, of which Leeds United have now given the families 3 – which is 2.5 each, meaning some of the soldiers families have still had to pay to see the half-time presentation at Elland Road. There’s money-grabbing, then there’s sheer greed. This represents the latter. Especially when we can’t fill the stadium as it is!

I’m sure there’ll be a large group of Leeds fans totally opposed to LLHB’s return; perhaps because they think it’ll serve only to widen the divide between fans, or even have an adverse affect on the teams performance. Even if there are consequences I feel a fans movement against Bates is imperative, if only to alert the national press to dig for skeletons in the dodgy ownership closet. However Bates leaves Elland Road, it’ll be a day worth celebrating when he does.

Tresor Kandol returns to the team

Enough of Bates anyway, the man makes my blood boil. Away from the evil dictators in the offices around the stadium and back onto the pitch, Tresor Kandol will return tonight after serving a three match ban for his stupid sending off a couple of weeks back.

Whilst Tres has definitely earnt the chance to appear in the first team from his performances, his attitude problem could well have ruined that chance. Between Gary McAllister and Simon Grayson, the players discipline has totally changed from the days of Dennis Wise and his club of protege hoodlems.

Obviously, none of us really know the circumstances that led to Tres’ stupidity, but I do hope Simon Grayson has made him realise it’s totally unacceptable at this Leeds United and won’t be tolerated. We can do without stupid sending offs and bans with all the injuries we keep picking up.

A worthy cause… for me at least!

Finally today, I’d just like to throw my support behind a campaign being run by The World of James. James is appealing for free WIFI in hotels across England. So far, his campaign’s led to a list being published of all the hotels in London offering free WIFI and I’m pretty sure that the more awareness raised for the cause, the more hotels will follow suit. If customers can see at a glance which hotels offer the service for free, the ones that don’t will take a real hit.

The campaign caught my eye as I travel up and down the country a lot, both with work and following Leeds United. I’ve been charged anywhere upto £20 for a days connection which for me is extortion. It doesn’t cost the hotels anywhere near as much to offer the service and more and more seem able to do it for free these days – hell, even McDonalds do it for free! The price of a room across this country costs enough as it is these days, without the endless added extras they con out of you whilst staying. Click here to see James’ campaign.