And so the fat lady sings...

I wanted a couple of days to think about things before I posted. I wanted the dust to settle so to speak.

Firstly, I would to address directly the people who went onto the pitch on Saturday. You are not fans of this club. We don't want or need you. I completely despise your behaviour which does nothing but bring the standing of our club down further. You wonder why everyone finds it funny we've been relegated? Because of people like you. I cannot do anything but hope the police find as many of you as possible from CCTV footage and you are banned for life. Good riddance.

Right, now I've got that off my chest I can say something thoughtful and insightful about what happened on Saturday in footballing terms and its repercussions. The match was fairly decent. We played well for the first half but whatever Wise said at half time it clearly did wonders for the opposition because after the break we were dreadful. Instead of continuing to hit dangerous cross field balls we retreated into our shell and let Ipswich come at us. It felt like Southampton all over again. And inevitably, with minutes remaining, we succumbed to the pressure and they equalised. News had by now filtered through that Hull were winning at Cardiff (oh, the Risdale connection just bites a bit more doesn't it!) and we were relegated when the whistle finally blew.

I still feel slightly numb. Analysis at this stage is difficult. So is looking forward to next season. A board meeting today is set to discuss the clubs future with rumours of Bates wanting out. I don't think that'll happen. He's invested too much time and, I hope, money to walk now. Wise has also said he wants to stay. I'm less sure this is what I want. At times he seems to know what he's doing, gets the players working hard and over the past couple of months has put together some decent results. But. And it's a big but, at other times (including Saturday) he has been dire. No better than Blackwell - a decision that is looking shakier by the day. If Luton finish above us next season we'll all be eating humble pie.

Are there any positives? Well, by all accounts we will finish all the ex gratia payments to ex-players over the summer and begin anew. We have a good crop of young players but blooding them in the war-zone of Tier 3/Division 2/League 1 (what a crock of shit that name is by the way) is a dangerous experiment. Apparently Blackpool is quite nice this time of year for an away trip but we'll probably end up there in mid-January knowing our luck!

I suspect I may comment further as and when. I hope our "fans" behave ourselves next weekend in Derby.

Finally, I would like to thank Gary Kelly. After Saturdays debacle and the humbling prospect of relegation now a reality it was a bitter note to end a wonderful career on. In his first season, Gary was in the squad that won the Championship. He played in European Cup campaigns all over Europe and battled back from injuries to remain a stalwart of the club. He was a bloody good player in his prime and will be missed. I wish him all the best in whatever his future holds. Thanks Gary.

On the brink....

Apologies once again for a somewhat prolonged absence. My work continue to employ IT nazis who refuse to believe my rambling monologues about my beloved football team are relevant to my job?!?

Back to business. When I left you last time, I had begun to believe we could escape relegation. We scraped a win against Burnley at home thanks to Matty Heath. I don't want to sound callous but he's been useless most of this season so it's about time he did something useful. We have played like a League One team for too long this season and in the end that will bite. It did against Southampton on Saturday.

Thommo's sending off was harsh and is to be reviewed on Wednesday but with only ten men a draw was the best result we were ever going to get. Unfortunately, Bradley Wright-Phillips popped up six minutes from time and made our situation grim.

There are endless conotations as to who can go up or down and how. Find them yourselves if your interested. All I know is that short of victories against Ipswich at home (possible) and Derby away (errr....probably not) we are heading down. Hull have easier games and they look in better form. Leicester and Barnsley have to play each other.

Leeds have never played in the third tier before and contrary to opinions, it is not easy. We made the mistake of being that arrogant when we got relegated from the Premiership. Pray people - pray I tell you, I've been told the Lord dresses in all white!!

Apologies for absence (and that's not our defence)

Hello, and many apologies for not posting over the last week or so. I've been off on holiday and seeing as most of my bloggin is done whilst at work (in my lunch hour of course) I haven't been as diligent as I should have been.

It appears I am not the only one. Our defence went walkabout yesterday for ten minutes and it cost us the game. I can't complain though. Look at our last two wins and it's much the same story. However, just when hopes had been raised, two wins in a row and Lewis giving us a good start those upstarts from Essex steal the show and dump us back into the bottom three.

Wise says more defensive training is needed. In April!! What the f**k have they been doing all season. Pop quiz folks: you are bottom of the league with the worst defensive record. What do you focus training on to remedy the situtation? Is it a) defence; b) defence; or c) DEFENCE?

The results against Southend and Plymouth were excellent news (and I can't help but have a wry smile at Luton and Blackwell's plight) but they were not spectacular performances. The loss to Colchester should bring us back down to earth ready for a tough match against Burnley. Jabba at LeedsFans.org put it precisely when he said the last thing we need is to go to Derby on the last day of the season needing anything to stay up.

Hopefully, normal service shall now resume. That's me and the lads.