Good post, Jonty - I loved the Wilkinson era - pithy, no-nonsense, understated - but some extraordinary moments and a great time to be a Leeds fan.
Happy B'day to HW!
Wilko did what few of us thought possible at the time.
Hope he has a wonderful day
In a changed era of football, he will forever hold ‘our 2nd greatest ever manager’ title.
Happy birthday Wilko!
As much as I admire Howard, I would like to think that one day a Manager comes in and wins everything in sight, (basically a Pep like standard), and that would demote him in the trophies won at Leeds United.
...But until then Sir Don and Howard rule the roost.
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
Read an article recently saying that that Leeds squad wasn't very good, I guess you take the midfield of Batty, McAlliister, Speed and Strachan out of the team and they were nothing special.
Put those four in any team and they would have been world beaters.
That's one of the things that Wilko did for us as much as anything else.
Talk to a lot of our supporters and they will say 1989-90 season was the best ever for supporting Leeds,
Special times following Leeds under Wilko imo he was badly let down by the board toward the end.
comment by LIW Rad a %#@% and so is Orta (U8453)
posted 3 hours, 7 minutes ago
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Finished 5th twice in a row after the nightmare season after we won it.
Still remember the noise of the boos as he walked of at Wembley after the league Cup though.
Sticks in my mind as a core memory does that one...
Great article Jonty but you should have mentioned Thorp Arch also. Wasn’t that long after wilko left that woody kewell smith Harte etc came through
BUILD THE STATUE.
Disgrace that all he ever got was a failed Bates restaurant named after him
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 14 hours, 52 minutes ago
comment by LIW Rad a %#@% and so is Orta (U8453)
posted 3 hours, 7 minutes ago
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Finished 5th twice in a row after the nightmare season after we won it.
Still remember the noise of the boos as he walked of at Wembley after the league Cup though.
Sticks in my mind as a core memory does that one...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Its a fair point about two top 5 finishes but if there was a “big Six” thing back then, we were certainly in.
There was far too many bad signings, and your right about villa game, the team selection, never give us a chance.
The chant of ‘Sergeant Wilko’s Barmy army’ ringing in your ears before kick-off in the Lowfields End, the smell of Bovril and rolling up a couple of smokes for Aine and me as ‘The eye of the tiger’ on the tannoy signaled the emergence of the teams. Do - do do do - do do do - doo. It was the first team we fell in love with after the Revie years, and we went on to win the first division with players who left nothing on the pitch, game after game. Wilko and Marcelo will always be similar in one respect for me, they made us fall in love with Leeds United again.
I think great manager is stretching it a bit!!
Sold our star player, a player who made a big difference, to our main rivals across the Pennines, for a measly £1m…gave them a big advantage for the future.
We couldn’t and didn’t win an away game the season after winning the First Division title!
Rangers beat us rather comfortably in the European Cup …
Wilkinson cut the measurements of the pitch to cut down space, good tactics but it didn’t help the flow of open, fast attacking football…the ball was over pitch lines more often
Leeds players hanging on the halfway line, like birds on perches, waiting for the opposing goalie to kick out with acres of space behind them, no man’s land.
He did have one big advantage though over Bielsa, he could organise a decent defence.
Silverware and 43.3% win rate, what is your criteria for greatness NJS?
Obviously nobody comes close to Revie but I wonder what other boxes would need to be ticked.
comment by NJS (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
I think great manager is stretching it a bit!!
Sold our star player, a player who made a big difference, to our main rivals across the Pennines, for a measly £1m…gave them a big advantage for the future.
We couldn’t and didn’t win an away game the season after winning the First Division title!
Rangers beat us rather comfortably in the European Cup …
Wilkinson cut the measurements of the pitch to cut down space, good tactics but it didn’t help the flow of open, fast attacking football…the ball was over pitch lines more often
Leeds players hanging on the halfway line, like birds on perches, waiting for the opposing goalie to kick out with acres of space behind them, no man’s land.
He did have one big advantage though over Bielsa, he could organise a decent defence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Got to agree NJS.
Think back pass rule killed him too.
Not handling Cantona, was a massive mistake
Selling Batty (Think board was more to blame)
Signing Carlton Palmer has a centre half 🤦
Then moved him to centre mid, cost same money has batty, and was half the player.
Bad expensive signings
Rocastle
Brolin
Deane ( player out of position, scoring record was poor)
White
Loads of Donkeys like John pemberton signed.
I was young but always frustrated in his latter years at Leeds.
Signing Rush, when he was finished and playing him as a winger.
Yeah….signing Rush got me very excited, he was a goal machine and worked like a donkey for Liverpool, but what a disappointment he turned out to be, seemed well over the hill…one of my biggest Leeds disappointments since John Charles came back from Italy…agree with your comments about the others as well!
Liw I think your comment about back pass rule is great comment, so true in my opinion…I had forgotten about that.
NJS
Destroyed Lukic, who was a great shot stopper but that 92/93 season, he was horrendous
Few Leeds managers apart from Revie maintain sustained success for more than 3 years after which invariably it goes pear shaped.
Howard Wilkinson will always be remembered as a very good Leeds manager because we got promoted in 1990 winning that division and 2 years later we won the league title in 1992 but I would say he is in the same category of manager to that of Ranieri when he helped spearhead Leicester's only ever Premier league title and he doesn't have a statue.
I think Wilko obviously deserves respect and he was certainly a very good tactician and great thinker of the game and he suited us perfectly for 3 seasons but for me Bielsa deserves a statue more than Wilko does which I will try to explain why I think he does.
In my opinion the degree of difficulty of what Bielsa achieved with the resources compared to what Wilko had was far higher.. .Imagine if we'd had Bielsa in the early 90's with Strachan, Speed, McCalister, Batty, Cantona, Wallace, etc I reckon we'd have won a lot more silverware and likewise Wilko in his prime given the team Bielsa got us promoted with and finishing 9th in the EPL I'm extremely doubtful Wilko could have done that.
However it's all about opinions and mine is that Bielsa is 2nd only to Revie as our greatest ever boss and Wilko at number 3 but I'm leaning towards putting Farke above Wilko if he gets us up this season and keeps us up for a few seasons afterwards but until then I will aways be thankful of the great memories and players under Wilkinson's reign I witnessed and wish him always good health and all the very best.
Macca, Well I certainly respect Howard Wilkinson as a very organised manager, not convinced he was a great thinker though, not in purest football terms, I thought he made some questionable decisions like cutting space of the pitch….I remember holding my head in my hands at his tactic of wanting his players to lineup at the halfway line as the opposition goalie kicked upfield, not a good look for the image of the team.
I am more aligned with Jamie’s opinion but I do wish Howard happy birthday and good wishes, there was good memories as well.
Think alot have credit have to go Silver and fotherby.
Absolutely threw money at it.
Wilko made some great early signings, which galvanised the whole city, Vinny and strachan.
Got the crowd going, and we swamped team at Elland Road early on, great to watch and I loved it
But and this is really forgotten, we really struggled against the better sides, and bullied the poorer teams.
1990/91
Arsenal Drew 4 lost 2
Liverpool lost 2
palace drew 1 lost 2
Man city won 1 lost 1
man u drew 2 lost 2
Spurs drew 1 lost 1
One win in 17 games against top 7 in all comps
1991/92
Lost twice and drew two against man u
arsenal drew twice
Liverpool won 1 drew 1
Man city won 1 lost 1
sheff wed won 1 drew 1
92/93
Lost 14 away and no wins in 21 games 🙈🙈🙈
To say Bielsa is above Wilko is laughable. Wilko made us League Champions inside 3 years, I'd put O'Leary ahead of Bielsa.
Cantona was not our "star" player. He couldn't even get in the team half the time. He didn't really fit in and we had Chapman and Wallace performing outstanding. It was Cantona who asked to leave. Transfer request was submitted. Not many players stay at clubs once they have asked for a move. It was impossible to predict that he would go on to have that much success over there. We had made a 200k profit on a player that wanted out.
Rangers didnt comfortably beat us. We outplayed them over two legs but we had John Lukic blinded by the lights and they had an inspired Andy Goram.
Sign in if you want to comment
Happy Birthday Sgt Wilko
Page 1 of 3
posted on 13/11/23
Good post, Jonty - I loved the Wilkinson era - pithy, no-nonsense, understated - but some extraordinary moments and a great time to be a Leeds fan.
Happy B'day to HW!
posted on 13/11/23
Wilko did what few of us thought possible at the time.
Hope he has a wonderful day
posted on 13/11/23
In a changed era of football, he will forever hold ‘our 2nd greatest ever manager’ title.
Happy birthday Wilko!
posted on 13/11/23
As much as I admire Howard, I would like to think that one day a Manager comes in and wins everything in sight, (basically a Pep like standard), and that would demote him in the trophies won at Leeds United.
posted on 13/11/23
...But until then Sir Don and Howard rule the roost.
posted on 13/11/23
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
posted on 13/11/23
Read an article recently saying that that Leeds squad wasn't very good, I guess you take the midfield of Batty, McAlliister, Speed and Strachan out of the team and they were nothing special.
Put those four in any team and they would have been world beaters.
That's one of the things that Wilko did for us as much as anything else.
posted on 13/11/23
Talk to a lot of our supporters and they will say 1989-90 season was the best ever for supporting Leeds,
Special times following Leeds under Wilko imo he was badly let down by the board toward the end.
posted on 13/11/23
comment by LIW Rad a %#@% and so is Orta (U8453)
posted 3 hours, 7 minutes ago
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Finished 5th twice in a row after the nightmare season after we won it.
Still remember the noise of the boos as he walked of at Wembley after the league Cup though.
Sticks in my mind as a core memory does that one...
posted on 13/11/23
Great article Jonty but you should have mentioned Thorp Arch also. Wasn’t that long after wilko left that woody kewell smith Harte etc came through
posted on 13/11/23
BUILD THE STATUE.
Disgrace that all he ever got was a failed Bates restaurant named after him
posted on 14/11/23
comment by Mattyp (U8926)
posted 14 hours, 52 minutes ago
comment by LIW Rad a %#@% and so is Orta (U8453)
posted 3 hours, 7 minutes ago
Great manager, more importantly a great guy.
my first Leeds manager and what great direct football.
But for me, it is slighly tainted after what happened post 1992.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Finished 5th twice in a row after the nightmare season after we won it.
Still remember the noise of the boos as he walked of at Wembley after the league Cup though.
Sticks in my mind as a core memory does that one...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Its a fair point about two top 5 finishes but if there was a “big Six” thing back then, we were certainly in.
There was far too many bad signings, and your right about villa game, the team selection, never give us a chance.
posted on 14/11/23
The chant of ‘Sergeant Wilko’s Barmy army’ ringing in your ears before kick-off in the Lowfields End, the smell of Bovril and rolling up a couple of smokes for Aine and me as ‘The eye of the tiger’ on the tannoy signaled the emergence of the teams. Do - do do do - do do do - doo. It was the first team we fell in love with after the Revie years, and we went on to win the first division with players who left nothing on the pitch, game after game. Wilko and Marcelo will always be similar in one respect for me, they made us fall in love with Leeds United again.
posted on 14/11/23
I think great manager is stretching it a bit!!
Sold our star player, a player who made a big difference, to our main rivals across the Pennines, for a measly £1m…gave them a big advantage for the future.
We couldn’t and didn’t win an away game the season after winning the First Division title!
Rangers beat us rather comfortably in the European Cup …
Wilkinson cut the measurements of the pitch to cut down space, good tactics but it didn’t help the flow of open, fast attacking football…the ball was over pitch lines more often
Leeds players hanging on the halfway line, like birds on perches, waiting for the opposing goalie to kick out with acres of space behind them, no man’s land.
He did have one big advantage though over Bielsa, he could organise a decent defence.
posted on 14/11/23
Silverware and 43.3% win rate, what is your criteria for greatness NJS?
Obviously nobody comes close to Revie but I wonder what other boxes would need to be ticked.
posted on 14/11/23
comment by NJS (U8272)
posted 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
I think great manager is stretching it a bit!!
Sold our star player, a player who made a big difference, to our main rivals across the Pennines, for a measly £1m…gave them a big advantage for the future.
We couldn’t and didn’t win an away game the season after winning the First Division title!
Rangers beat us rather comfortably in the European Cup …
Wilkinson cut the measurements of the pitch to cut down space, good tactics but it didn’t help the flow of open, fast attacking football…the ball was over pitch lines more often
Leeds players hanging on the halfway line, like birds on perches, waiting for the opposing goalie to kick out with acres of space behind them, no man’s land.
He did have one big advantage though over Bielsa, he could organise a decent defence.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Got to agree NJS.
Think back pass rule killed him too.
Not handling Cantona, was a massive mistake
Selling Batty (Think board was more to blame)
Signing Carlton Palmer has a centre half 🤦
Then moved him to centre mid, cost same money has batty, and was half the player.
Bad expensive signings
Rocastle
Brolin
Deane ( player out of position, scoring record was poor)
White
Loads of Donkeys like John pemberton signed.
I was young but always frustrated in his latter years at Leeds.
Signing Rush, when he was finished and playing him as a winger.
posted on 14/11/23
Yeah….signing Rush got me very excited, he was a goal machine and worked like a donkey for Liverpool, but what a disappointment he turned out to be, seemed well over the hill…one of my biggest Leeds disappointments since John Charles came back from Italy…agree with your comments about the others as well!
posted on 14/11/23
Liw I think your comment about back pass rule is great comment, so true in my opinion…I had forgotten about that.
posted on 14/11/23
NJS
Destroyed Lukic, who was a great shot stopper but that 92/93 season, he was horrendous
posted on 14/11/23
Few Leeds managers apart from Revie maintain sustained success for more than 3 years after which invariably it goes pear shaped.
Howard Wilkinson will always be remembered as a very good Leeds manager because we got promoted in 1990 winning that division and 2 years later we won the league title in 1992 but I would say he is in the same category of manager to that of Ranieri when he helped spearhead Leicester's only ever Premier league title and he doesn't have a statue.
I think Wilko obviously deserves respect and he was certainly a very good tactician and great thinker of the game and he suited us perfectly for 3 seasons but for me Bielsa deserves a statue more than Wilko does which I will try to explain why I think he does.
In my opinion the degree of difficulty of what Bielsa achieved with the resources compared to what Wilko had was far higher.. .Imagine if we'd had Bielsa in the early 90's with Strachan, Speed, McCalister, Batty, Cantona, Wallace, etc I reckon we'd have won a lot more silverware and likewise Wilko in his prime given the team Bielsa got us promoted with and finishing 9th in the EPL I'm extremely doubtful Wilko could have done that.
However it's all about opinions and mine is that Bielsa is 2nd only to Revie as our greatest ever boss and Wilko at number 3 but I'm leaning towards putting Farke above Wilko if he gets us up this season and keeps us up for a few seasons afterwards but until then I will aways be thankful of the great memories and players under Wilkinson's reign I witnessed and wish him always good health and all the very best.
posted on 14/11/23
Macca, Well I certainly respect Howard Wilkinson as a very organised manager, not convinced he was a great thinker though, not in purest football terms, I thought he made some questionable decisions like cutting space of the pitch….I remember holding my head in my hands at his tactic of wanting his players to lineup at the halfway line as the opposition goalie kicked upfield, not a good look for the image of the team.
I am more aligned with Jamie’s opinion but I do wish Howard happy birthday and good wishes, there was good memories as well.
posted on 14/11/23
Think alot have credit have to go Silver and fotherby.
Absolutely threw money at it.
Wilko made some great early signings, which galvanised the whole city, Vinny and strachan.
Got the crowd going, and we swamped team at Elland Road early on, great to watch and I loved it
posted on 14/11/23
But and this is really forgotten, we really struggled against the better sides, and bullied the poorer teams.
1990/91
Arsenal Drew 4 lost 2
Liverpool lost 2
palace drew 1 lost 2
Man city won 1 lost 1
man u drew 2 lost 2
Spurs drew 1 lost 1
One win in 17 games against top 7 in all comps
1991/92
Lost twice and drew two against man u
arsenal drew twice
Liverpool won 1 drew 1
Man city won 1 lost 1
sheff wed won 1 drew 1
92/93
Lost 14 away and no wins in 21 games 🙈🙈🙈
posted on 14/11/23
To say Bielsa is above Wilko is laughable. Wilko made us League Champions inside 3 years, I'd put O'Leary ahead of Bielsa.
posted on 14/11/23
Cantona was not our "star" player. He couldn't even get in the team half the time. He didn't really fit in and we had Chapman and Wallace performing outstanding. It was Cantona who asked to leave. Transfer request was submitted. Not many players stay at clubs once they have asked for a move. It was impossible to predict that he would go on to have that much success over there. We had made a 200k profit on a player that wanted out.
Rangers didnt comfortably beat us. We outplayed them over two legs but we had John Lukic blinded by the lights and they had an inspired Andy Goram.
Page 1 of 3