Your reading a pre 2010-11 archived article
Darragh is not a happy bunny.
In a week that the mindless optimism of fans came crashing to a halt (myself partly included) after a moral-damaging thrashing against Bury, the main debate is what it all means for the Derby game in 2 weeks time. Rather pathetically I can’t get off the fence in that Newcastle lost 6-1 to the O’s last Summer and that clearly didn’t effect them but also we had a rather successful preseason last Summer and that probably influenced our great start last season also. One thing I am sure of is that we have not suddenly become a side who struggle to cope with the likes of Bury. 6 signings later I don’t think we have become a League 2 side so I’m not looking into it too much. There’s no point then in speculating any further about preseason and what it means to the start of the season although it is looking more certain as the days go on that my prediction that no biggish money signings will be made is coming good, unfortunately.
What did return to the limelight though this week as pointed out briefly by the site editor yesterday were the extortionate extras involved for Ken Bates’ ideal fan. £5 extra on top of £50 a year for LUTV and you get to see a game against Hartlepool that God only knows what’s going to happen but which seems to be some sort of trial run for a service that could be provided in the future if proved successful. If I had any sort of pulling power I would call for people to boycott this so that it is not done again in the future but I think people not being able to wait two weeks to see The Whites play will give into this meaning more PPV events in the future as Bates looks to make as much money as possible for several other ‘projects’ that don’t involve the starting XI in any way. I’m sure anyone who wasn’t originally planning to go to the game really wouldn’t have been too gutted in missing it but now suddenly those same people have been “rewarded” by Bates and all they have to do is pay £5, a whole £5 cheaper than if you were paying in at the gate on the day. At least he rewards the real supporters in his own terms.
I only say this after Bates interview with Yorkshire Radio and a particular quote that was surprisingly scarcely picked up on but was mentioned as well by the Editor of the site yesterday and I think discussed on Waccoe. The quote itself was from Bates discussing the trip to Norway next week and once again we were reminded of how a “real fan” is viewed in Bates’ eyes when he said “There’s 3 to 4 thousand so called Leeds supporters over there and it’s about time they joined the Leeds members club, which actually does something for the club.” I think it’s fair to assume then that a real fan apparently is one who does their best to finance the club through every resource available and attendance alone or just following them daily is not enough for an international fan. Unless an international fan is paying £30 for a membership so they can priority book for the 1 or 2 games they can actually get to in a season depending on their situation and also so they can avail of cheap discounts from the Club Store where they can then purchase even more merchandise only cheaper. Unless they are paying £50 annually so they can listen to games that are being broadcasted for free elsewhere and watch highlights that are also available on various other sites as well as the BBC every Saturday then they are not true fans. Saying to somebody that they are not a true fan is a rather immature but very effective insult and basically Bates has just said this to thousands of International fans who see no point in buying Membership from an economical perspective.
I personally am very surprised at the fact that the Leeds blogs didn’t address this quote in the quantity media coverage that it perhaps deserves. There are probably over 100,000 people worldwide who would claim Leeds as their team of choice and I would say an eighth of those fans are not residing in England. The fact then that Bates has possibly insulted all of those 12,500 or so fans if not more should possibly have caused uproar among the Leeds blogging world but clearly it’s slipped below the radar. This of course isn’t even addressing the part of that quote which talks of how “The Leeds members club, which actually does something for the club.” I’d have loved Bates to make that a full topic and talk about exactly what that actually does for the club but sadly that part was not included in this interview. Bates is saying that those international fans who do not see a reason for owning an membership don’t contribute anything “which actually does something for the club.” Basically we mean nothing to the club so what’s the point even following them? For me personally I am not so much outraged but just annoyed that I’ve been told I mean nothing to the club I’ve supported for virtually my whole life. My International Membership renewal form has been in my room for a couple of weeks now and for the first time in 3 years I am seriously having doubts whether I’ll renew or not when I see what it actually contributes towards or more so what I can’t see.
Darragh Mullen.
