They say that money cannot buy you happiness; I’m not too sure about that. But what I am sure about is that money cannot buy you instant success, especially not in a competitive league such as the NPower Championship, as Leicester Cityare currently proving.
For the first time in a number of years, the optimism around Filbert Way during pre-season was at a high, there was a tangible atmosphere in the air and the whole city seemed to be buzzing in anticipation of the big kick off.
Following the hard-fought one nil victory against our M69 rivals Coventry at the Ricoh, followed by the emphatic four one victory against Rotherham United in the League Cup (thanks to a stunning hat-trick by debutant Jeff Schlupp), the optimism was going into overdrive ahead of the first home fixture of the season; Reading FC.
Disappointingly, what followed was 90 plus minutes of good (in parts) individual performances; the likes of Schmeichel between the sticks, Nugent up-front, Yuki Abe and Sol Bamba in midfield and defence respectively stand out; but a poor team performance which was epitomised by captain Matt Mills’ poor performance against his old club.
Boos were to be expected from the away fans every time Mills’ got the ball (as were the boos when Jamie ‘Afro’ Archer took to the pitch at half-time to sing), but hearing sections of the home support boo at full time was, in some respects, heart wrenching, especially after only our first home game.
I was in with the twenty-odd thousand at the King Power Stadium for the Reading game, and whilst the performance wasn’t what I was expecting from us; I could see the positives; players showed passion, they tried to change the game when they could, and Sven also made tactical changes in the hope of us getting something from the game; but it wasn’t to be, much to the pleasure of Leeds fans on Twitter (although I’m unsure why they’re so pleased considering until mid-week they hadn’t picked up a point in the league) and our dear friends Nottingham Forest (again, they’re not setting the league alight).
Another positive was that we only had to wait until Wednesday to make amends, as we welcomed Bristol City and the striker we’ve been pursuing all summer, Nicky Maynard.
This last positive is one which in hindsight isn’t that positive. After all, even if you weren’t that into football, you could have wrote the script. The striker we’ve been bidding for throughout pre-season would score against us; and as was the case, four minutes into the game, with a nicely taken free-kick (showing us what we’re missing I think!).
I stopped reading this post at Filbert Street. lol.