March 16, 2010

#6: Rock ‘n’ Roll Pod

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The sixth Square Ball Podcast, recorded 16 March 2010, declared itself a rock and roll edition from the off. Kaiser Chiefs bassist Simon Rix joined for the central interview, and Dan Moylan, Michael Normanton, Daniel Chapman (Moscowhite), and Paul O’Dowd (Oddy) — credited as lead vocals, lead guitar, bass, and drums respectively — extended the band metaphor until it had given everything it had.

White Watching covered a Brentford draw, a Tranmere win, and a Southampton defeat. The Brentford game was the low point: the moment at least one host quietly resigned himself to the playoffs. The solidity that had carried Leeds through the early part of the season — winning without necessarily playing well — had gone, and a single goal wasn’t enough anymore. Tranmere, by contrast, were “just terrible again,” Beckford scoring a fine second goal that raised the question of whether David Moyes and Alan Stubbs, watching from the stand amid Everton transfer speculation, had had any effect on his performance. Southampton was a comprehensive defeat that generated more discussion about the journey than the match — one member of the travelling party ended the afternoon in a police cell after informing the stewards that they were “all puppets of Ken Bates,” and the group waited until half past eight while eating a curry nearby.

The talking points section concentrated on season ticket renewal prices — the subject of a four-page spread in the forthcoming magazine. Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday were offering free children’s tickets; Ken Bates’s approach was not. The programme notes, described as the kind of thing “a senile Daily Mail reader would write,” were examined for what they revealed about the chairman’s priorities. Jermaine Beckford’s naming as League One Player of the Year — and third overall in all 72 Football League clubs — was greeted with satisfaction mixed with guilt that he received so little credit from his own support. “He’s a strange player to quantify. He either scores or he doesn’t. And so I was going to be suspicious if people come away and say, Beckford was rubbish today. What exactly did he do that you didn’t like?”

Simon Rix arrived in part three. The Kaiser Chiefs were between projects — post-tour, pre-album, recently returned from Australia. He’d been to the Manchester United FA Cup match with the fans, in the season tickets he and bandmates had bought rather than taking free hospitality. He talked about the gig at Elland Road the night before the 2008 playoff final: arriving the day before, going into all the corners of the ground, doing the soundcheck, standing alone in the Kop in an empty stadium and thinking about everything that had happened there. Then the tour bus to Wembley, a shower in Wembley Arena, a kickabout on the arena floor the next morning singing Leeds songs, the playoff final, and what happened after about ten minutes. “I think everybody had that sinking feeling.”

The South Africa trip came up — playing against the Kaizer Chiefs football club, with Lucas Radebe arranging dancers at the airport, driving through the streets of his old neighbourhood with locals outside their houses in Leeds kits. A friend of Rix’s, a Kyle fan who had played in the match, had still not stopped talking about meeting Radebe. The fans’ remembrance match for Kevin Speight and Christopher Loftus was also discussed — Rix had managed rather than played, “wearing a suit and pointing.” Simon Grayson had been impressive: “I honestly wish some of the Leeds squad could turn up. He was brilliant.” Neil Redfearn was described as still playing at a genuinely high level.

On Aidy White: Rix had been to his old school two years earlier, met a boy on scholarship at Leeds United, encouraged him over the one on a Manchester United scholarship — and five months later White was in the first team. On Beckford: “If you put the ball in front of him to run onto, nine times out of ten, these days, he scores.” On promotion: “definitely.”

Looking ahead, Millwall on Monday Night Football and Norwich away prompted anxiety more than confidence. The points gap was still five, but both felt like winnable games that Leeds were currently not equipped to win. Part four closed on the familiar note: hope, and not much else to work with.