rutter :/

That’s a text I sent at 17:50 on Sunday. The reply, almost immediate: ikr

For those unsure, that’s ‘I know right’ for when you’re lazy and probably quite sad.

The sad, lazy person in question is a Tottenham fan, so nothing else really needed to be said. We were united in shared grief, even if actually it was two very different forms of grief.

His misery was immediate and stark. He’d just watched his side chuck three points in the bin, having managed to blow a two-goal lead in pretty spectacular fashion. That’s a sadness without redeeming features, a short and sharp blow that hits you right between the eyes. Although, to be fair, you’d think he might be used to it by now. This, after all, is the history of The Tottenham.

My sadness, on the other hand, was bittersweet. Because the architect of the Brighton comeback that had caused his sorrow was Georginio Rutter. And he used to play for Leeds. (I’m sure that’s the kind of insight you come to this website for.)

With just thirteen minutes gone in the second half, and the words of Fabian Hürzeler still ringing in his ears (presumably German has a single compound word for “lads, it’s Tottenham”), Rutter received a pass just inside the Brighton area, bounced off a challenge from Destiny Udogie attempting to bundle him towards goal, and calmly slotted the ball across the ‘keeper and into the net.

And that made me sad because it was so reminiscent of all the times he did something very similar in a white shirt at Elland Road, 238 miles from his current home at the Amex. Well, the finish was perhaps more composed. But that ability to use his body, and his feet, to bounce like a pinball through an opposition defence was frequently mesmerising for Leeds. And watching it now is like remembering that pinball machine at the bar by your old house you used to know like the back of your hand. Navigating its jackpot lanes with ease, cajoling perfectly the slightly faulty left flipper into life, claiming all the highscores for GLR. Georginio Lucius Rutter. But that bar is closed now, long since turned into flats. The pinball machine it used to house has been sold off to another owner who gets to enjoy it now. It’s sad. But you still have the memories. You’ll always have the memories.

Maybe it’s sad because of who the new owner is too. On the 21st November 2009, Leeds travelled to Brighton and put three past them without reply in a League One fixture played in front of 7,615 people. Even at Leeds’ lowest ebb they beat this team who have now taken Gini away because they have more money. And here he is, delivering for them at the highest level, taking them to three points and 6th in the Premier League table. Meanwhile, Leeds spent their weekend conceding one of the worst 97th minute equalisers I’ve ever seen. Oh, and we’re 5th in the Championship, in case that’s the kind of insight you were here for.

Of course, it’s not the first time a player has left Leeds for ‘bigger’ and ‘better’ things. I’m sure there are some members of the fanbase who are still not properly over John Charles leaving for Juventus in 1957 — still boycotting the zebras when they visit Flamingo Land. In the early 2000s there was the mass exodus after the Klarna repayments on Ridsdale’s fish tank were due, and following that a period where everyone seemed to want to go to Norwich. I can’t really explain that one to be honest — Wikipedia suggests it became England’s first UNESCO City of Literature in 2012, so maybe that had something to do with it.

In recent times, most of the departures have been easier to take, or at least easier to avoid. Kalvin Phillips left for City with the promise of endless league titles at City. As it happened he never really played, and unless Lord Pannick KC can pull something out of the bag, they could well end up with fewer league titles in 2025 than they had when he joined in 2022.

Raphinha is the captain of Barcelona, and is by all accounts playing very well, but that’s in Spain which is far away. (More insight.) Crysencio Summerville has played just 141 Premier League minutes for West Ham this season. Archie Gray is probably the biggest concern for the future in this regard. It’s very easy to picture him winning titles for the next decade, by which time I will be 40. And I don’t really think I’m looking forward to either of those things. That said, at least Archie didn’t play in this one, and didn’t ruin this particular Sunday afternoon. So cheers for that, Ange.

Rutter was eventually taken off, soon after creating the third goal — a typically well-weighted cross (deliberately well-weighted, that’s the story we’re going with here) for Danny Welbeck to head home. As the fourth official raised his number, Gini’s thoughts on the situation were written all across his face, broadcast live for the nation to see. At first he looked slightly bewildered, and then just sort of gutted. Because this man loves playing football, and he was just starting to enjoy himself.

Unfortunately, unlike Georginio, I wasn’t bewildered when he left for Brighton in the summer. That transfer was all too predictable. But I was pretty gutted, because when he was having fun in a Leeds shirt, I loved watching it. So Gini, of all the weekends to pick to do that, did it really have to be this one?

Rutter :/ ⬢