Graham Smyths Newsletter if anyone wants a read
Inside Elland Road with Graham Smyth
Good afternoon Rob,
Thank you for subscribing and thanks to esteemed colleague Joe Donnohue for stepping into the breach last week so brilliantly.
I went away. Zadar, Croatia. Beautiful place, would recommend. But, dear reader, I went away on the understanding that the universal law of journalism would apply as it always does. When you go away, things happen. News breaks. Players sign. The latter was a dead cert, surely? By the time I returned, roasted by the sun and seasoned by the Adriatic Sea, Leeds would have made significant headway in their recruitment and the mood would reflect my own. Relaxed. Rested. Ready for the rest of the season. Tell me it got better while I was away. Oh. It didn't get any better? Well at least tell me it didn't get any worse. Georgini...oh.
Deadline driven
If this newsletter reads at all like it is hastily written then it's because the time is almost 10am. This is scheduled to land in your inbox at noon. Before that I have to get on the road to Thorp Arch to hear from Daniel Farke. It's a good job, then, that for as long as I can remember the only thing that ever really motivates me to do anything is a deadline.
Football appears similarly driven when it comes to transfers. That deadline day has even become a thing is proof that the sport has an all-too intimate and largely toxic relationship with the final hours, minutes and seconds of transfer windows. Football and its community would be so much less neurotic if transfer windows did not build up to a frenetic, desperate, urgent climax. Even I, as a last-minute operator, can see the sense in the concept of getting your work done early.
That hasn't been the story of Leeds' summer of '24 however. Not by a long shot. And they say there's method in the madness. They say that the quality of player they hoped and believed would become available in the latter stages of the window, is what they are after.
Roland Sallai is an example. He's a name that was whispered to the YEP weeks ago but when pressed, Leeds insisted there was nothing doing. Circumstances have changed, he's now on the radar in a much more tangible way than when we became aware of his name. An experienced Bundesliga attacking midfielder with more than 50 caps for Hungary, including three starts at EURO 24. Remember when a Hungarian forward broke free down the right in the 100th minute against Scotland, getting to the byline and cutting it back for Kevin Csoboth to score the winner? That was him. He has one year left on his deal at Freiburg. Leeds say they like him. They say he's on the list.
GettyImages-2158897476Roland Sallai, left, is on Leeds' radar (Pic: Getty)
They say it's possible to get the quality they need, late in the window. They say it's just not good business to use up your budget on the quality of player who was available a few weeks ago, if it means you miss out on the ones you really wanted when they eventually and finally become available.
What they say, at this point, is entirely irrelevant. The time for talking is, for now, over. Not that Leeds have done any of that this summer, beyond poor Daniel Farke having to answer questions better aimed at those above him, those not mandated to appear at press conferences. Should the club fail to emerge from this window in a far stronger position than the one they sit in just now, squad wise, then someone north of Farke in the chain of command will face a barrage of difficult questions. Press conference or not, media round-table event or not, the questions will be published and repeated until such a time as answers are forthcoming.
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But right now, as it stands with just over a week remaining in the window, no one wants to hear what Leeds would have to say about their summer, their strategy, the whys and wherefores. Right now seeing is believing. Don't say you're active in the market to bring in depth at full-back, quality and experience in midfield, skill and pace out wide and vision in the 10 role. Just do it. Because if you do, then what you say in future will be taken seriously and at face value. If you do not, nothing you say again will ever be heard with any measure of trust or met with any approval.
The danger in playing any sort of waiting game is so obvious it barely warrants a mention. Deals can be on until they're suddenly off. Players can be in the country, in the city, in the Elland Road office, even in the kit, and the deal can go south. When there is work to do on this significant a scale, then missing out really isn't an option, is it? 'We tried' was essentially what Leeds came up with in the Georginio Rutter statement. And of course they will have. They'll have pulled at his heart strings, just as his representatives will have pulled at his ambition and pointed at Brighton's tremendous way of operating in recent years.
But 'we tried' cannot become the statement of the summer. As a small, green, wise creature once said: "Do or do not. There is no try." It has to be 'we did' and when or if Angus Kinnear does his annual appearance on The Square Ball he has to be talking about the way business came together successfully at the last minute, not mounting a defence of brave efforts that were thwarted by circumstances beyond Leeds' control, or highlighting the exciting potential of young, unproven players. There can be no more talk of 90 points, not when four of the key starters in the team that earned that tally have been sold off - especially if they are not adequately replaced.
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Raking in the transfer fees that Leeds have from selling their most exciting young homegrown player, their very best player and their most entertaining visionary, doing a deal with Red Bull and statements like: "And so whether somebody yields a profit or not, we're going to be fine, and we're going to be able to do what we need to do to compete, to be the best team or one of the best teams on the pitch this coming season. That is not just my hope but my expectation," can only be followed by a final week of the window that delivers in a big, big way.
No one can expect Leeds to go and get a Summerville or a Rutter. Those are players who really ought to be in the Premier League or a European top flight. Everyone is expecting them to bring in players who can do what needs to be done in the Championship though, with goals and assists that will get this team up.
The parachute payment clock is ticking, just as the window is ticking away. Leeds are entering the 80th minute of the summer in need of goals, plural. They're in must-win territory. Whatever it is they come up with has to be convincing, conclusive proof that they knew what they were doing all along and that these owners are not flying by the seat of their pants directly into a storm.
Busy
That's all for this week's newsletter. Essentially, for those who prefer extreme brevity, sign some players. Good ones. Don't tell us you're busy, show us.
Sheffield Wednesday up next and a win would be most welcome. A new signing before that would be equally welcome and though there are rumblings that Leeds are closing in on a target. We're as yet unable to say which one. Leeds are, perhaps understandably, reticent to count any chickens before they hatch or do any premature crowing. But that would be a nice boost and a lift. God knows one is needed. As soon as anything happens we'll be all over it with the usual belt and braces coverage.
Take care,
Graham
