Leeds United

[Dr Gloom 21912]

that was a golden era of strikers for us like. in the space of a few seasons we went from pedro and cole to sir les, tino and shearer.

 

i always wondered what cole and ferdinand might have been like as a front two, or how we'd have done if sir les was never sold and shearer didn't pick up that horrible injury that he never truly recovered from. he defintiely lost a yard of pace after that. shearer and ferdinand were class up front together. i didn't think two out and out number 9s would work but they were superb. didn't they both get 20 odd goals that season?

[Craig 6682]

I'd heard that one too Alex. It was all a case of mixing in the wrong circles, that's for sure. The club told him to pack it in and he'd have none of it so was sold.

 

What is undeniable is that we definitely got the best out of his career and I still put that mainly down to him being alongside Beardsley who provided for Cole in a similar vein to how Lineker was fed for England. Paired alongside Ferdinand during that same 93/94 season, I strongly doubt Cole would have ever got anywhere near 41 goals.

 

FWIW I don't think he was the same player after his shin-splints problem and IIRC, he only got 1 goal in the last 7 or 8 games he played for us.

 

It'll be a contraversial comment but IMHO, Ferdinand was the better player of the two.

Tbf though Craig, while I agree there, you only can play the through balls if the player you're supplying has excellent movement (and of course he still has to put the ball in the back of the net).

 

Oh I agree. I'm not saying that Cole wasn't a talent - his pace, movement and finishing was top notch. But IMO Ferdinand had all that and on top was the best header of the ball I've seen play for us. Cole was a fantastic player, but Ferdinand was better.

Aye, I was just saying that as I sometimes think people say Cole, Lineker or whoever wouldn't have scored as many without Beardsley forget how hard the movement and finishing part actually is. Fwiw I think Sir Les was a better player and certainly a more complete forward although I think Cole was the better finisher. I don't think either of them were great finishers though (i.e. I mean on the deck/one-on-ones, that type of thing).

 

Aye, Shearer was a better finisher than both of them although Ferdinand scored some crackers which were 1 on 1 early on in his time here (Man City H, Everton A & QPR A spring to mind).

 

Had we had Shearer instead of Cole for 1993/94 (what KK originally wanted) when Shearer still had his pace I think we could have seen an even bigger goal glut. I think we'd had the best out of Pedro by the time Shearer came here too.

[Tooj 17]

We'd have won the league in the 95/96 season if we'd have had Shearer instead of Ferdinand. Simply due to the latter's lack of mental strength compared to Shearer's.

[Guest alex]

We'd have won the league in the 95/96 season if we'd have had Shearer instead of Ferdinand. Simply due to the latter's lack of mental strength compared to Shearer's.

You say that but if we'd had him he'd probably have gotten injured

[Craig 6682]

We'd have won the league in the 95/96 season if we'd have had Shearer instead of Ferdinand. Simply due to the latter's lack of mental strength compared to Shearer's.

 

I disagree. As we've said before, we weren't that bad in the second half of the season but Man United were fucking awesome and that was the difference.

 

Also suggesting 'having Shearer instead of Ferdinand' lends the thought that Sir Les was a significant reason to why we missed out - he was no worse than any of the other 10 players who were on the pitch at that time.

 

IMO we vastly over-performed in the first half of the season and then the media beat us around the head with the fact that we couldn't keep it going for the rest of the season.

[Guest alex]

Ferdinand lost form and miss a few chances though. Tbh, if he took one of the chances in the first half at home to Man Utd we'd have won the league that year. We'll never know like.

[VidukaIsStillGod 0]

Some pretty brash comments on here tbh.

 

Who can say who is officially a bigger club out of Leeds and Newcastle? Neither team has won a trophy in ages (your last one being...1955 was it? Our was nearly 20 years ago as it were) but both are reknowned for their huge support. Kinda why I have a soft spot for Newcastle, similar kinda clubs really and there was a certain point when we were both in the PL and we'd be the only two teams who genuinely gave the Sky 4 a run for their money, way before teams like Citeh and Spurs started flashing the cash.

 

I don't buy into this "Leeds is a Rugby city" either. True, the Rhinos have been on fire the past few years whereas the mighty whites...well, the less said the better! But when I go to any other city and mention that I'm from Leeds, usually at some point the subject of Leeds United comes up yet the only places outside of Leeds where I can remember having Rhinos mentioned to me was when I've been to the outlying towns and cities in West Yorkshire such as Bradford, Huddersfield, etc. Plus the obvious fact that from what I've seen there's been more football fans than rugby fans in Leeds.

[Wavey Davey 0]

Gan on Stevie. Knack 'im!

[kockhead 0]

"Leeds is a rugby city" Didn't think many toffs live in Leeds. Rugbys a toffs sport only public schools play it. All the players talk like Prince Charles ffs. An England player is going out with Princess Zara that says it all. Bull shit Leeds a rugby city.

[Wavey Davey 0]

"Leeds is a rugby city" Didn't think many toffs live in Leeds. Rugbys a toffs sport only public schools play it. All the players talk like Prince Charles ffs. An England player is going out with Princess Zara that says it all. Bull shit Leeds a rugby city.

 

[VidukaIsStillGod 0]

"Leeds is a rugby city" Didn't think many toffs live in Leeds. Rugbys a toffs sport only public schools play it. All the players talk like Prince Charles ffs. An England player is going out with Princess Zara that says it all. Bull shit Leeds a rugby city.

 

League is reknowned for having a huge working-class following. Union is the toff's Sport, and is more popular in the Midlands and down South.

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

"Leeds is a rugby city" Didn't think many toffs live in Leeds. Rugbys a toffs sport only public schools play it. All the players talk like Prince Charles ffs. An England player is going out with Princess Zara that says it all. Bull shit Leeds a rugby city.

Its possible this kid is jock or from down south, or even Irish, could be an alter ego of Danny B. If you live in the M62 Corridor you would know RL is massive.

[Kid Dynamite 7025]

Tbf I wouldnt fancy a fight against any of these toff bastards. Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand being renowned for their toffs of course . . .

 

[kockhead 0]

I live Aintree mate. The only place that likes RL in Merseyside is St Helens and I know lots of tory voters live their.

 

Tbf I wouldnt fancy a fight against any of these toff bastards. Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand being renowned for their toffs of course

 

I do the weights mate and I'm a scouser. Everytime I walk into a shop out of Liverpool the staff shit themselves.

Edited July 30, 2010 by kockhead

[peasepud 59]

I do the weights mate and I'm a scouser. Everytime I walk into a shop out of Liverpool the staff shit themselves.

 

I think you'll find thats because of your accent and the expected loss of stock.

[sniffer 0]

The closest we've ever come to winning the league (since we last won it anyway) was after we sold Cole, which suggests it wasn't the mistake Sniffer is making it out to be.

 

I never said selling Cole was a mistake. I said selling Cole to manu was an absurd decision because you don't sell a player like that to your main rivals. It set them up for years as almost 100 goals speaks for itself.

 

Also, as things turned out, Ferdinand had only two years here before he was off to spurs whereas Cole had over five years at manu. I'd say that they got the best of that deal....meaning Keegan opting for a new direction in preferring Sir Les to Cole.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

I live Aintree mate. The only place that likes RL in Merseyside is St Helens and I know lots of tory voters live their.

Isn't St. Helens one of the poorest areas in the country? Doesn't sound like a tory stronghold to me.

[ewerk 30561]

I live Aintree mate. The only place that likes RL in Merseyside is St Helens and I know lots of tory voters live their.

Isn't St. Helens one of the poorest areas in the country? Doesn't sound like a tory stronghold to me.

 

You'd be right., two Labour MPs.

[parkinpants 0]

"Leeds is a rugby city"

 

Never thought I'd stick up for Leeds in any way shape or form, but I wouldn't say 'Leeds is a rugby city'. Football definitely overpowers rugby in Leeds. I agree that there is a strong presence of egg wrestlers in Leeds aswell, but thats true of anywhere in Yorkshire. You can see 'em all queing up at the chippy in Headingley for miles... most of them are particularly ugly people.

 

In Yorkshire's defence though I do believe they had the first ever football team (Sheffield)... though f*** knows who they played against.

[Craig 6682]

The closest we've ever come to winning the league (since we last won it anyway) was after we sold Cole, which suggests it wasn't the mistake Sniffer is making it out to be.

 

I never said selling Cole was a mistake. I said selling Cole to manu was an absurd decision because you don't sell a player like that to your main rivals. It set them up for years as almost 100 goals speaks for itself.

 

Also, as things turned out, Ferdinand had only two years here before he was off to spurs whereas Cole had over five years at manu. I'd say that they got the best of that deal....meaning Keegan opting for a new direction in preferring Sir Les to Cole.

 

So Cole scored 121 goals (93 league goals) for Man United in 6 years (12/01/1995 to 29/12/2001). Ferdinand scored 50 goals (41 league goals) in just 2 years (07/06/1995 to 28/07/1997).

 

Sorry like but I think we got a better return out of Les than they did out of Cole. Not withstanding the fact that Shearer's record was better still over that period.

[sniffer 0]

Aye, perhaps you might be right for a two year period.

[LeazesMag 0]

Aye, perhaps you might be right for a two year period.

 

Manu were already better than us when they signed Cole, do you seriously think we were not better off with Ferdinand and in the longer term Shearer, than if we had kept Cole ?

 

ManU, if they had signed Shearer instead of Cole, would have pissed all over everybody and won even more than they did.

[Craig 6682]

Aye, perhaps you might be right for a two year period.

 

Manu were already better than us when they signed Cole, do you seriously think we were not better off with Ferdinand and in the longer term Shearer, than if we had kept Cole ?

 

ManU, if they had signed Shearer instead of Cole, would have pissed all over everybody and won even more than they did.

 

Precisely.

 

I sometimes struggle to get the continued adulation of Cole and the desire to keep him longer than we did. 1993/94 was by a country mile his best season and he didn't retire until 2008. With the benefit of hindsight we sold him at completely the right time. And as LM suggests, Man United with Shearer (which undoubtedly would have happened) would have been even more deadly.

[Craig 6682]

Ferdinand lost form and miss a few chances though. Tbh, if he took one of the chances in the first half at home to Man Utd we'd have won the league that year. We'll never know like.

 

Any other goalkeeper in the world that night and at least one would have hit the net. Schmeichel was inspired.

[Tooj 17]

We'd have won the league in the 95/96 season if we'd have had Shearer instead of Ferdinand. Simply due to the latter's lack of mental strength compared to Shearer's.

 

I disagree. As we've said before, we weren't that bad in the second half of the season but Man United were fucking awesome and that was the difference.

 

Also suggesting 'having Shearer instead of Ferdinand' lends the thought that Sir Les was a significant reason to why we missed out - he was no worse than any of the other 10 players who were on the pitch at that time.

 

IMO we vastly over-performed in the first half of the season and then the media beat us around the head with the fact that we couldn't keep it going for the rest of the season.

Sir Les (who I absolutely love) wasn't as good (as were most of the team) after Christmas. He missed a few chances, that Shearer would have buried IMO.