Leeds United on Deadline Day: The Excitement is The Dream
The official account was telling fans: 'Don't go to bed just yet...there is still work to be done', there was reason to believe something was going on behind the scenes, even before the same account retweeted captain Jason Pearce announcing, “Oooooo this is decent…..”
Ultimately the numbers of mysterious unknown arrivals at Leeds United during the summer transfer window mean it must be judged a tantalising success.
Transfer deadline day, however, must be judged as a harsh lesson for anyone who tries to make entertainment out of football from anything other than the actual football.
Unusually for Leeds in recent seasons the bulk of the business was done early, and it was very bulky business: fifteen players have arrived, and although there was a late flurry of new signings - a player a day over the last three days - all of them were either already or already known about by the end of last week.
Which made the official LUFC Twitter account’s attempts to make sport of the least-sporting part of the game on Monday night all the weirder. With Sky Sports News hyping up the day beyond belief, fans at our level looking to take part have nowhere to turn to but Twitter, with official club accounts as the only reliable source of news rather than rumour.
Stand by...we are about the enter the #DeadlineDay action... #lufc
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
…ours tweeted, stirring up excitement before confirming the arrival of Brian Montenegro, who we all knew was just crossing ts and dotting is anyway. Next came:
Further developments coming in the next few minutes… #DeadlineDay #lufc
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
Which, with Montenegro confirmed, was genuinely exciting; there were no other known names in the frame, so this promised to be someone entirely new. It wasn’t:
BREAKING: Souleymane Doukara signs a permanent deal. The club can confirm the striker has signed a 3-year deal #lufc pic.twitter.com/s2NFc8KkRJ
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
So desperate was the club to sign more striker that it seemed to have settled on strikers we already have, repeating the Bellusci trick of turning a loan into a permanent move after barely enough time to judge the player. This tactic does free up space in the squad for other loans, though, and with the official account telling fans:
Don't go to bed just yet...there is still work to be done #DeadlineDay #lufc
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
…there was reason to believe something was going on behind the scenes, even before the same account retweeted captain Jason Pearce announcing, “Oooooo this is decent…..”
What, J-Dog? What’s decent? Is Leonardo Pavoletti signing? Are we going to hijack Jermaine Beckford’s stalled move to Fulham? Could it be, as a final treat, Max Gradel is coming home?
The announcements, when they came, were not what Leeds fans had stayed up for.
CONFIRMED: Matt Smith completes move to Fulham for an undisclosed fee and signs a 3-year deal with the London club #lufc #DeadlineDay
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
BREAKING: We can confirm that striker Dominic Poleon has signed for Oldham Athletic for an undisclosed fee & signs 2-year deal #lufc
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
After a busy last hour that is us done for the 2014 Summer Transfer Window #DeadlineDay #lufc
— Leeds United FC (@LUFC) September 1, 2014
To compound the situation, within moments of Leeds dusting its palms and declaring a good night’s work, Rotherham United announced this:
BREAKING NEWS: Rotherham United have completed the long-term loan of @NorwichCityFC striker Luciano Becchio. #rufc pic.twitter.com/E1RZWfSz1q
— Rotherham United (@OfficialRUFC) September 1, 2014
We should just be thankful that nobody else signed Gradel in the end, or else there might have been angry mobs on the Lowfields overnight.