Sunshine, Lollipops and Lasogga

When I think of the start of the football season, I picture a baking hot Elland Road basking in the sunshine and renewed hope. It’s an idyllic view of August given Leeds United’s propensity to ruin the month by selling off everyone’s favourite players late in the window — no, I’m still not over Max Gradel leaving — but one thing is for sure: there’s no better time for a debut than the August or September sunshine in LS11.

My mind immediately turns to Pierre-Michel Lasogga’s impression of Miroslav Klose in the 5-0 demolition of Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion. Everything about that sentence feels wrong but, on the day, it felt like all was right with the world.

The unfortunate reality of Leeds United debuts is that over the last twenty years, it’s usually all downhill from there — and in the most extreme of circumstances, it starts off at rock bottom and somehow still gets worse. I’ll never forget Jimmy Kebe, as much as I might try. If only he’d made his debut in the August sunshine rather than winter in Sheffield and a 6-0 defeat, it could all have been so different.

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