With Jonny Howson leaving for Norwich City, it’s almost impossible to believe some fans can still defend Ken Bates.

‘Almost’ is the key word however. You see, we’ve been here before. Back when we were sinking out of the Premier League heading towards financial ruin, there was plenty of fans willing to believe that Cyril Chapuis was the kind of quality signing that would rescue us. That El Tel and Peter Reid would “steady the ship”.

Living in denial is just less painful I suppose? We’ve all been there.

The all too predictable reaction of “it makes good business sense” and “he was overrated anyway” will inevitably follow. It’s nothing more than fans refusing to face up to the reality of another key player lost under Ken Bates.

Our drop in form since Jonny Howson’s injury will be written off as mere coincidence. Bates won’t be blamed for his inability to keep hold of key players, Jonny Howson will take the stick for failing to believe in Leeds United. But why should he? I certainly don’t…

The fact Jonny Howson had only five months left on his contract is less a reflection of his commitment to Leeds United, more a haunting realisation that  even our home grown, Leeds United supporting club captain doesn’t believe this club is going anywhere. Something the club’s statement certainly attests to.

Anyone questioning why Leeds United aren’t back in the Premier League yet and why Simon Grayson needs so many players each season need only look at the example set by Norwich City. Key players don’t grow on trees and when you find them, you should do everything in your power to keep them together. Only then will you have success.

Norwich did that. Norwich are now in the Premier League. Leeds United meanwhile sold Max Gradel, Kasper Schmeichel, Jermaine Beckford, Neil Kilkenny, Bradley Johnson, Fabian Delph and now, Jonny Howson. And almost exclusively – Kasper Schmeichel aside perhaps – these players were followed by average replacements purchased on the cheap.

This is not the philosophy of a club that should be in the Premier League. This is the philosophy of a club languishing in the Championship, spending the absolute minimum each year, happy to make up the numbers. We may as well merge with Barnsley and have done with it…

With some fans already setting fire to season ticket renewal forms and many more claiming they won’t renew, news of Jonny Howson’s exit is only going to make matters worse. Our captain’s jumped ship, why shouldn’t the rest of us? Our irrational sense of loyalty isn’t getting us anywhere after all.

Farewell and good luck Jonny. I honestly don’t blame you…

Legendary flop - Roque Junior

Back in March 2003 as Leeds United began to collapse under the weight of our debts, Peter Reid was brought in to steady the ship. Leeds United fans met his appointment with complete derision, but a 6-1 away win over Charlton and a 3-2 victory at home to Arsenal earned him a permanent contract for the 2003-04 season.

With players starting to exit Elland Road and the club clearly in free-fall, Peter Reid was forced to utilise the loan market the next season and there was understandable excitement amongst Leeds fans when we heard a World Cup winner and Champions League finalist would be joining the squad.

A master-stroke from Reid, surely?

Well… he certainly thought so, telling Leeds fans the addition of Roque Junior  -alongside fellow flops, Cyril Chapuis and Salomen Olembe – would give us “strength in depth and quality.”

Fast forward a few months and both Peter Reid and Roque Junior had left the club, forever consigned to the ‘let’s try and forget that ever happened’ pile of ex-players and managers. Reid had lasted just eight months in charge at Elland Road, but Roque Junior’s record was even worse – just seven games, in which time the left back helped Leeds to concede 24 goals!

It wasn’t all bad for Roque though; he did score twice in Leeds’ 3-2 League Cup defeat to Manchester United. Had it not been for a 117th minute goal from Eric Djemba-Djemba (so good, they had to name him twice) his stay may have been remembered more favourably. Even in the worst of times, helping Leeds to victory over the old nemesis earns you a place in hearts of the Elland Road faithful for eternity.

After returning to AC Milan, Roque Junior was once again loaned out, this time to Siene as it became clear the Italian giants were looking to offload him. Bayer Leverkusen would be the Brazilian’s next stop, where he proved to be just as inconsistent managing just 35 games in three seasons.

During his time in Leverkusen, Roque played his final game for Brazil leaving his collective tally of international caps at 48 with premature forced retirement coming at 29 years of age.

Things only got worse for the World Cup winner too as he joined German side MSV Duisburg. He managed just four appearances in Germany before moving to Qatar to join Al Rayyan Sports Club. In Qatar, there would be just 3 further appearances for Roque, as Al Rayyan chose to loan him out to Palmeiras.

That brings us to 2010. At 34 years of age, Roque Junior was being linked with the Australian A League over the summer, but chose to return home instead to play for Ituano FC.

At Elland Road, Roque Junior has become the stuff of folklore, with Leeds United fans listing him amongst the worst players to have ever played in that famous white shirt. Averaging just 10 appearances a season since leaving Leeds, it seems plenty of other clubs agree.

As we nervously await tomorrow’s crucial clash at the Valley, I thought I’d take a look back at better days for Leeds United.

A little over 26,000 people attended one of the most one-sided matches ever witnessed at the Valley as three goals either side of the break, including a hat trick from Mark Viduka, led to an emphatic 1-6 defeat for Charlton and a great victory for Leeds.

It was a rare win for Peter Reid’s side, but did help Leeds United delay the inevitable as they eventually finished the season in 15th, only to be relegated the year after.

Final score: Charlton Athletic 1-6 Leeds United
5th April, 2003. The Valley, London.

Leeds United goals: Kewell (12, 76), Harte (34 pen), Viduka (42, 53, 56 pen)

"Well I suppose technically I am a tax exile, yes." said Santa

We all know the results are coming good on the pitch and the table proves we’re doing something right. I have no idea what the current financial statements might be, but I should imagine that off the pitch, we should be doing quite well too. We can look to a few facts that we know to give us a clue. In Summer, we sold Delph. Surely we must have at least part of the transfer fee in our account by now and we didn’t buy anybody for significant money to reduce it. We have been on television or the internet (same fee,) more times than just about any club other than Newcastle. Linked to the TV appearances are our decent Cup runs, indeed the clash against Glazer brothers’ Manchester Disunited is worth about £750 000 alone according to our own chairman. I would guess the fact that the Boxing Day match was a home game must have been worth a few quid too. It certainly looked busy. Finally we might just have found the winning formula after so many years in a downward spiral. So why, oh why are we even considering letting our top scoring striker go? You don’t have to like him to see that he scores goals. Just read the statistics.

Logic dictates it’s not about money. The points above surely re-inforce this. I doubt even that it could be about disharmony in the team. I was quietly impressed that Beckford gave a Hartlepool player a shove when he clattered into Bradley Johnson. It’s the same principle as sticking up for your mates. Is it about attitude? The mark of disrespect when Simon Grayson subbed him isn’t a big deal. An apology and perhaps a bit of a grilling and things like that should be forgotten. I did a lot worse at his age and Simon Grayson is not Peter Reid. So for those fans that don’t like Beckford, I say enjoy the goals, just don’t invite him round for dinner. What about the Millwall penalty and other big occasions when he apparently fails to shine? Well I would just say that there are two teams on the pitch and Beckford has a reputation big enough to justify man-marking him. Even in this league, there are defenders good enough to keep him quiet.

Maybe this is a time when we the fans have been caught bang to rights. It’s us that could be the difference between our best striker staying or leaving. I’ve been reading blogs pointing out a fact that had escaped me, which is that if Beckford scores 100 goals he becomes one of our most prolific strikers relative to the time he’s been here. (Sorry I can’t find the exact details again, but you get the idea.) Surely this should make the lad a legend and yet a sizeable number of fans want him to leave because he throws his teddy out occasionally. It’s not our fault directly if Beckford leaves because we’re not the ones signing the paperwork but if our board thought that selling Becks would make gate receipts suffer, he would already have the most lucrative contract since Seth Johnson. We should be getting behind his performances because for every quiet patch or miss, he bounces back with goals at some point. I’ve even seen him work his socks off in a few games recently. But soon it seems it’s going to be too late to sing his name.

Personally, I wouldn’t be quite as bothered about Becks going if I thought there was a plan B. I’m sure Simon Grayson has got one, because he’s obviously a very smart fellow to have got us this far, but we just don’t know if he has one because nobody talks to the fans anymore. It’s fair to say that Leeds United’s PR is even worse than Eurostar. Over a hundred thousand fans worldwide have to wait for the South Shields Gazette to find out anything about the most important thing to happen to the team for two seasons. Grayson has already said that only a silly money offer would tempt the club, it’s true, but that was October. It’s now December and a hundred thousand people want to know if you have changed your mind.

So never mind Maria, how do you solve a problem like Beckford? Who could replace him? I think he’s irreplaceable at our kind of money. It won’t be Ricky Lambert, under contract to Southampton who have more financial clout than us with their new chairman. I can’t imagine our chairman making them an offer they can’t refuse so we can forget that idea straight away. If you were in charge of Norwich would you sell Holt either? A weakened Leeds United means a player like him could help them lift the title. They have a good enough team. We could look to higher leagues but then we have that problem of money. We would have to pay decent money for someone such as a Cresswell, Healy, Hulse or Blake like we used to have last time in the CCC and Healy’s best tally was only 14 goals in the 05-06 season. More money for fewer goals? That’s not good business. But the fact that Leeds have even talked to Newcastle speaks volumes. It’s probably now just a question of money and then I guess we unearth a stop-gap player from the loan market or lower leagues. So if he is going to go, how much is the right price?

If Chris Hughton is reading, let me save you some time. I can give you the mathematical equation for the correct transfer fee (F) to offer for Beckford:

F = (T*W)+P

To the rest of us, that’s the total of this years’ court costs (T), add 20% for Wealdstone’s sell on clause (W) and then add the cost of a private return jet flight to Monaco to sign the paperwork (P). Our board doesn’t factor in anything for the future good of the club (FA)

Happy New Year.