Leeds and Venables looking to prove critics wrong
Mike Collett
After a traumatic recent past, Leeds United and their new coach Terry Venables are looking forward to next season with a view to proving their critics wrong.
Leeds want to prove that they do have a squad worthy of mounting a realistic assault on the title and Venables wants to show that at 59 he did not make a mistake returning to full-time coaching after his stint as a full-time TV pundit.
With club captain Rio Ferdinand sold to Manchester United for a British record fee of 29.1 million pounds ($47.0 million) after the World Cup and former manager David O'Leary also a summer departure, Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale is relying on the former England manager to revive the club's spirits and league aspirations.
Leeds led the table for much of the first half of last season and were top on New Year's Day but they fell away in the second half of the season to finish fifth -- their lowest position since O'Leary took over in 1998.
That meant they missed out on a Champions League place and after early exits in both the League Cup and FA Cup where they were humiliated 2-1 by second division Cardiff City in the third round, they just squeezed into the UEFA Cup.
O'Leary again failed to deliver any silverware despite spending some 100 million pounds ($153 million) in his four years in charge.
That, together with his ill-timed book about the club and the court cases that followed an attack on an Asian student involving Leeds players, meant the exit door was opened and he was shown the way out.
PROMISING SQUAD
Venables has inherited a promising squad. Although he failed to persuade Ferdinand to stay at the club, Venables has begun to make changes.
Last week Nick Barmby, who first played for him at Tottenham a decade ago, became Venables's first signing when he joined from Liverpool for 2.75 million pounds ($4.25 million), while midfielder Paul Okon, who played under Venables for Australia, joined as a free agent on Monday after being released by Middlesbrough last season.
Although Leeds will be without injured striker Robbie Fowler until October, the club still have a potent strike force which includes Australians Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell.
Michael Bridges, who has been out since October 2000, is also expected to be fully fit by October.
He scored 19 goals in 34 matches in his first season at Leeds after joining for what was then a club record fee of 5.6 million pounds ($8.5 million) from Sunderland in 1999, and if he can regain that form, it will be like signing a new player.
Alan Smith and Kewell also add speed and potency to the attack as does Robbie Keane -- providing his long-predicted move away from Elland Road fails to materialise.
WELL-BALANCED
Leeds also have a well-balanced defence and midfield, while Paul Robinson could establish himself as the No.1 choice keeper this season in place of Nigel Martyn.
Danny Mills proved himself to be a top-quality defender for England in the World Cup -- and with the criminal proceedings now behind Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, they could blossom.
What Leeds have lacked in the recent past -- perhaps because of the traumatic influence of the court cases, and perhaps because of O'Leary's never-ending mantra that his team were "young and still learning" -- was a consistency and a real belief in themselves which the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have all acquired.
Venables is the ideal candidate to instil self-belief into anyone -- but he has something to prove too.
Despite being widely regarded as one of the best tacticians in the business, Venables has won only two major honours as a coach -- the Spanish league with Barcelona in 1985 and the FA Cup with Tottenham in 1991.
There were many raised eyebrows in the media when he swapped his job as a TV pundit for the dug-out in July.
Ridsdale said on Tuesday that more comings and goings were likely before the August 31 transfer deadline. They are still operating at a huge loss and are also intent on leaving Elland Road for a new stadium in the next two or three years.
Next season might well be one of transition -- but both the players and the coach could do with a trophy too.
