Worst Leeds United XI Within The Past 10 Years?

I am a reasonably young Leeds United fan; I’ve never experienced teams and players like we had in the 70’s winning titles etc. My first Leeds United memory is in 2001 watching on the tele as Leeds get knocked out of the Champions League by Valencia 3-0 with Alan smith being sent off in the final few minutes. Because of this most of my Leeds United memories are relegations and play off finals – with one promotion and beating some team from Manchester making it slightly bearable. So when it comes to Football I’m not used to this optimistic and positive feel around Elland Road at this present time. So I thought I’d remind everyone of the Worst 11 we’ve had since we’ve returned to the Championship in 2010.

In goal, well who else could it be the former scum academy player Paul Rachubka? He had a short stint in the side when Andy Lonergan broke his finger, he was pretty awful in all of his games but the low light – I’m sure as a fan base; we are all still haunted by the shenanigans that proceeded on November the 2nd 2011. Losing 5-0 at home to Blackpool, it was such a poor, abysmal performance young goalkeeper Alex Cairns had to come on for his debut to spare Paul’s blushes. I was shocked that he hadn’t been contacted by Sam Sodje and DJ Campbell for that game; some of the goals were just laughable, unless you were a Leeds fan.

At Right back Paul Connolly. Signed in the summer when we got promotion, Paul Connolly will not be remembered as Grayson’s greatest signing. Unlike Rachubka he didn’t have a particularly low light, but he was just consistently dreadful. Grayson once said post match “Some players will never play for this club again”, and the next week only leaving out Connolly. However, he still managed to wriggle himself back in to the right side of our defence. No matter how hard we tried to get rid of him no-one would take him, numerous loans but no final transfer. Connolly’s Leeds career summed up by @MrPaulRobinson saying “It’s official – Abu Qatada is almost as hard to get rid of as Paul Connolly”.

One of the centre backs Darren O’Dea. Loaned in from Celtic for a whole season to try and sure up our previously leaky defence. O’Dea once said during his loan that he hoped to join Leeds permanently but couldn’t agree on the fine details so he joined on loan instead. I thank the lord every day that those ‘fine details’ could not be agreed, because we would never of been to get rid of him, he’d probably still be at Thorpe Arch. Grayson ended up having to rely on Academy graduate in his debut season for Leeds, Tom Lees, to make sure we didn’t concede at least 3 a game.

There was a lot of competition for the second spot in the heart of defence O’Brien, Kisnorbo (League 1 he was brilliant, just talking about championship performances), Naylor (Again brilliant in league 1); however I had to give it to current premiership footballer Alex Bruce. Premiership footballer Alex Bruce, not the Skrill Premier, the actual Premier League, let that just sink in for a bit. However his dad is manager, which explains quite a bit. After his contract was not extended, Alex Bruce a free agent probably cried to his mum until she persuaded Steve Bruce to give him a contract – that’s the only logical explanation I can think of, because he looked terrible in defence in the championship.

At left back, Fede Bessone, signed from Swansea when we were promoted. Played 6 league games for us, and was just not very good. He seemed very keen on joining us after rejecting a contract from Swansea to join us, but the combination of awful performances and Aidy White coming through, he was shipped out on loan to Charlton. His Leeds united contract was cancelled and he then went to rejoin premier league Swansea making one appearance and now plays for Sporting Kansas City.

On the right wing signed from America, Robert Hampton Rogers, a Leeds United captain even only for a few minutes. One of Grayson’s last signings before being sacked, there was a reasonable amount of optimism, signing an American international footballer. 10 minutes in to his debut against Doncaster he was knocked unconscious, and that was to set the tone for his short united career. However after replacing Snodgrass in one game he was given the Captains armband and that was one of the few games he played for Leeds where he didn’t get injured. He endeared himself to Leeds fans by tweeting odd things like “The service in this restaurant is Roberto Garbaggio” (one of my personal favourites). And was made more of a public figure by coming out as one of the very few gay footballers, but retiring after making this decision has returned to the MLS.

In centre mid, Michael Brown. Where can you start, signed by Grayson, the same summer that Kilkenny and Johnson had moved on, the replacement for those two players Michael Brown, veteran midfielder Michael Brown. With Brown being the replacement for Johnson and Kilkenny optimism wasn’t exactly high, but the unnecessary kicking of the opposition players, poor passing reduced the fans opinion of Brown almost immediately. Strachan was Howard Wilkinson’s leader on the pitch, Brown was Warnock’s. While was Strachan and Wilkinson were successful and will always be remembered fondly at Elland Road. Brown and Warnock will not, as they will always be associated with each other and the hoof ball that was played last season by Leeds in a very forgettable season.

Alongside Brown, Mika Vayrynen (Yes, I copied and pasted that). When we signed Vayrynen personally I was reasonably excited, I thought it was a very smart bit of business signing a 28 year old that had played in the Champions League and represented his country on many occasions. How wrong I was. Only making 10 appearances in a white shirt, most of them from the bench, granted an injury hit Leeds career, but not a very good one. From twitter Vayrynen spent most of his time in Nando’s with Forsell and didn’t seem to be too bothered that he wasn’t playing.
On the left midfield, I was tempted to put Pugh in however recently he’s been starting to change my opinion, so Honduran international Ramon Nunez gains the spot on the left wing. Originally joining on trail the flair and exotic nature of the Honduran, in my mind I thought we would have the championship Ronaldinho. Turns out he wasn’t very good, my main memory of Ramon Nunez was him coming on against Cardiff (4-0 down) and him just shooting every time he got the ball. It has recently come out that Grayson didn’t even want Ramon Nunez, and he was signed by Ken Bates’ puppet Gwyn Williams. So that is also partly the reason why Nunez gains a spot on the team sheet.

On to the strikers, the first striker – Billy Paynter. Also signed the summer we were promoted, Paynter was given the number 9 shirt that had so recently been graced by Beckford. The previous season Paynter and his Swindon team mates gave United a good beating so this was seen as a good signing, hindsight is a beautiful thing. After getting injured during pre season, Billy’s career didn’t begin for a couple of months, and even then he struggled to get going. In his 27 appearances for the Mighty Whites Paynter managed 3 goals. However when playing Doncaster in the League cup this season of course Paynter, fox in the box, pops up and buries one, it had to happen – however he has only scored one other goal this season so that him being sold was defiantly justified.

The final spot on this team sheet, could go to Forsell, Andy Gray, Noel Hunt (hope to be proved wrong) Varney. However Steve Morison previously of Norwich and Milwall gets his name on the team. The situation the caused Steve Morison to arrive at Elland Road probably doesn’t help his cause. After being another one of our League 1 heroes, Becchio, headed off to Norwich, Morison was sent the other way. Morison wasn’t helped by the lack of creativity in the side, and with Warnock saying things like “Morison can be a club legend”. It was vital that Morison hit the ground running as Becchio had already scored over 15 by that time. However running was apparently not in Morison’s plans, and he got 3 goals in the second half of the season as Leeds slide down the table at an alarming rate. Morison’s final appearance for Leeds (So far) was cut short but being knocked unconscious at Watford, and after that McDermott sent him on loan to Milwall and I doubt we will be seeing him in a Leeds shirt again.

So the full team reads;
Rachubka
Connolly O’Dea Bruce Bessone
Rogers Brown Vayrynen Nunez
Paynter Morison

A team I’m sure you’ll all agree is destined for relegation, and the fact that they were even allowed near Elland road and our team is a shame, and I’d like to thank Ken Bates, Shaun Harvey and Gwyn Williams for making those players Leeds United players.
Thank you for reading and I’m glad I could bring back terrible memories of the players that have played for our great club in recent seasons.