In the previous update, Bolton Wanderers were the unlikely lads leading the way with 8 games to go – could Colin Todd emulate Brian Little & Roy Evans? Or will it all come crashing down? My Leeds side are in with a shout, let’s see how it all unfolded.
League Cup
Brian Little’s at it again – just. A narrow 1-0 win over big rivals Birmingham leaves Big Ron gutted. It gets worse for Ron as his team finish 3rd, and miss out in the playoffs. Disaster.
Henry goes on to finish top scorer in England, to the surprise of nobody.
Premier League
This is as tight as it gets, it boils down to a three horse race
Leeds host Bolton in the game in hand, and then go to Arsenal to finish. To make it even more squeaky bum time, Man Utd host Bolton in the final game. We have to beat Bolton to keep our hopes alive, and fortunately for me, we nick 1-0 win
With Bolton going to Man Utd, I think I’m favourites. I’m 3 goals ahead on the goal difference, so unless Man Utd thrash Bolton, a win will be enough for me unless Bolton can win at Old Trafford. It’s a North West love in, basically.
Just to add to the drama, the bottom of the league looks pretty tight too
So, can we take care of Arsenal?
Yes, surprisingly easily. Good old Dave Hopkin. So, Bolton need a win at Man Utd. They’re ahead with 7 minutes to play…
I owe Alan Rogers a pint. Get in!
It’s curtains for Sunderland and Bradford though
Reid and Jewell are both sacked by their respective clubs but Jewell goes to Sunderland and Reid to Bradford, so that’s nice.
FA Cup
Big Ron continues his remarkable run in the cups, and Bolton are still on for the double (little do they know what Alan Rogers is about to deny them)
Bolton get over that disappointment though by at least winning the FA Cup.
I finally bring Brian Little’s manager of the month run
But Little has the last laugh, winning the UEFA Cup and taking Manager of the Year
Brian Little is quite the craftsman.
Champions League
Semi finals go with form, Milan have the chance to avenge their second place from last year…
…which they manage
It’s also Euro 2004, but as I’m not going to write it up in depth, here’s how the groups finished:
England recovered from this all too familiar news
The hosts Italy finish without a point. The holders Czech Republic manage one point, but England see them off
Here’s how the knockout stages shaped up:
The World Champions Spain will fancy their chances, whilst Denmark have been the most consistent nation throughout this game. England see off France
Leroy Chambers of Rangers doing the damage. Beckham is back from that foot injury too. It’ll be a re-match with Denmark next, who beat England in the group stages. Holland and Spain are the other semi final.
Can England find a way to beat Denmark? This won’t help.
It will be interesting to see what Man Utd do now, as with no Champions League football I wonder who they can attract to partner Vieri, as he and Alfonso are getting on. Anyway…
Not even a man of the match performance from Steve Haslam can get the job done. It’ll be a Denmark/Holland final as they take care of the World Champions
That man Bruggink again! Can he inspire Holland to a final win though?
In short, no. The Danes are just too strong. I’ll be surprised if a Danish Club doesn’t do very well soon, their National team have been brilliant throughout. It’s Spain 2008
So, finally, here are the awards. Curse you Brian Little!
My mate Steve Simonsen taking PFA Player of the Year is a good effort. Anyway, join us next time to see if I can make Leeds a force in Europe – there will be a post inbetween times which will summarise the game to date, as seven beautiful seasons have passed.
2003/04 is progressing well and amazingly, it looks like we might have a 6 horse race for the Premier League title. Add to that, a Midlands Derby for a League Cup final and an all French Champions League clash, it’ll be amazing if there are any friends at all after this season.
As the clock ticks towards 2004, Marseille give Tigana a way out of Monaco which he will be delighted with. The problem Monaco have is that they have 18000 seats in their stadium and a host of star players, they leak money worse than me in a casino.
Monaco, without the Champions League, will struggle to ever repeat their successes of the early seasons. They’ll also have to do it without Sol Campbell
Good on Vicenza for throwing their hats in the ring.
With Euro 2004 at the end of this season, I feel it’s worthwhile pointing this out:
Just the 6 for Arnold Bruggink. Meanwhile, Ken Bates has got the axe out again
Who can you possibly appoint? Well, it’s only Arsenal legend Tony Adams
Totally forgot Tony Adam was at Lens. Anyway, there’s a few other managers on the move
So Roy moves on yet again, to one of my former clubs. Speaking of former clubs…
Poor Auxerre. They’re down in 12th in Ligue 1 but Dida is still there. Here’s a thought for you:
Somewhat remarkably, Birmingham have made the League Cup final. Managed by Big Ron, they’re 2nd in Divison 1 but have knocked Man Utd out of both cups. Less remarkably, Villa will play them in the final.
In the FA Cup, we bow out to Bolton in round 5 after a replay. More on them later though.
We ended the last update with my Leeds side just ahead in the Premier League race. Things were going swimmingly until Beckham gets a 3 month injury when away with England and we miss him massively, falling off the pace a little but not tragically so, we’re still in with a shout. Few, however, could have predicted Bolton to have this handy 6 point lead.
Feasibly though anybody down to Villa in 6th are in with a chance. Colin Todd’s been Bolton’s manager since the start and they’ve had a few relegations but they keep bouncing back. Their final 2 games are away to Leeds & Man Utd though, so it’s not over yet.
If Brian Little wins the League Cup, he’ll probably end up with 5 manager of the month’s in a row
Finally, the Champions League semi finals have some unfamiliar names in there, not only the all French semi final but also Kaiserslautern
Spot the familiar name in the Kaiserslautern midfield…
So then, the final few months of the 03/04 season should be the most open yet. There’ll be a new name on the Champions League trophy (in this game) but will there be a new Premier League champion? Join us next time
2003/04 promises a lot with a European Championship finals in Italy at the end of it. I’m back in the Premier League and having had a season to consolidate and get the squad the way I want it, I’m confident of a top 5 finish. As we reached November, it’s fair to say things are going even better than I could have hoped.
The last update ended with France sacking Aime Jacquet, and their appointment shakes up World Football a great deal
Real Madrid are one of the powers in club football, so they’ve poached Valencia’s manager to try and maitain their lofty standards.
Fair enough. Transfer season is back in full swing, and look who’s making a familiar trip
Elsehwere, Newcastle are flexing their new found muscle having won the UEFA Cup and sign an England international
However, what they gain they also lose to even bigger clubs in the food chain
Joe Kinnear wants some more firepower, so he recruits a striker who is on the verge of an England cap
From a Leeds point of view, most of my signings were done last season but I do take the opportunity to snap up Bakayoko from Auxerre for just £1m
My only other business is bringing in Kieron Dyer in exchange for Gudnason, who Spurs were keen to sign and I’ve decided to go back to my wingbacks formation, which Dyer is perfect for.
The Charity Shield provides the first action of the season
No surprise there then, eventually. Man Utd certainly seem to be a waning force though. As the regular league season gets going though, it’s definitely apparent that it’s a more level playing field. We’ve been excellent, and the table makes for good reading at this early stage
Joe Kinnear’s Spurs in second but 6 points separate 1st and 9th, so it’s not exactly a healthy lead. My goals for column is very encouraging though, Marco and Hasselbaink have formed a decent strike partnership and with Bakayoko in Shearer in reserve, life is good. Here’s how we lineup:
To finish on a strange note, Spain, the reigning World Champions, qualified for Euro 2004 easily, without losing a game. How did they celebrate?
There’s just no pleasing some people. Spain go down the same route as last time, having stolen the PSG manager they’ve taken two time Ligue 1 winner Rolland Courbis from Marseille.
PSG fell away once their manager left allowing Marseille to become the dominant team in France, it’ll be interesting to see what happens now.
Come back next time to see if this Leeds form is a flash in the pan or whether we are actually going to mount a title challenge.
