bruno

Fulham vs. Leeds United – Loftus Road
Premier League – Sunday 11th January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Frazer Richardson, Ian Harte, Lúcio (c), Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Riccardo Montolivo, Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Riccardo Montolivo was surprisingly picked for the match today in the absence of the suspended Francesco Totti. Carles Puyol was also suspended and was replaced by Frazer Richardson.

Fulham seemed shocked by our opening attack and Andrés D’Alessandro ran right through to score 1-0 already in the 1st minute. But they got their act together minutes later; Brian McBride’s header left Gianluigi Buffon powerless.

However we came back stronger after this and two quick goals, from Alessandro and Ronaldo, in the middle of the half made the Fulham back four edgy and jittery. This lead to Adriano being able to score an easy header minutes before the interval.

Chris Coleman made a few tactical changes to his side and it paid off; at least to an extent. Barry Hayles, who replaced McBride, came forward in the 77th minute to wind up our central defence. After doing so he put the ball away safely, out of reach for Buffon. The goal lead to a rejuvenated hope for Fulham but Ronaldo put it down again when he scored just 5 minutes later to round off the scoring.

Fulham 2: McBride 5’, Hayles 77’
Leeds 5: D’Alessandro 1’, 28’, Ronaldo 34’, 82’, Adriano 44’

Attendance: 19,129

bruno

Leeds United vs. Charlton Athletic – Elland Road
Premier League – Wednesday 14th January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

As usual we took a firm grip right from the start. You could say that we gave them a good kicking. Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 11th minute; with a juggling act Andrés D’Alessandro rounded Jonathan Fortune before slipping in a razor-sharp pass to Ronaldo, who was left with an easy tap in.

Charlton tried hard to regain position high on the field but with late challenges every now and then they were forced to back down with oodles of corners as a result. And one of them actually paid off. Francesco Totti drifted the corner in to Adriano who rose above Dean Kiely to get one in just before the break.

The visitors had fresh hope when they came out for the second half; it could be seen in their eyes. And they nearly scored right on kick-off but Gianluigi Buffon made a spectacular one-hand save. And when the going gets tough, all you can do is hope. But Charlton had no hope when the going went tough in the 67 minute. We could therefore cruise to another league win.

Leeds 3: Ronaldo 11’, 67’, Adriano 44’
Charlton 0:

Attendance: 39,241

bruno

Ashley O’Flanagan had been a supporter of Leeds United ever since he could remember. As a young man growing up in Leeds, taken care of by his father, he became a Leeds fan at the age of 6. You see, his father actually brought him to a game on his birthday and ever since then he had been hooked. He hadn’t missed a match on Elland Road, until he was hired as Mark Owens assistant that will say.

And now he faced a tough decision. Should he deceive Owens, who had saved (partially, he was still living in a dump really) him from poverty and brought O’Flanagan into his home, or should he help Owens to ruin Paul Campbell; that also meant ruining the club he had loved and supported for so long. Sure, Owens promised to take control of the club but he was not to be trusted when it came down to business. O’Flanagan knew Owens would kill his own mother if it meant he would earn a few dollars.

And with that in mind O’Flanagan made his decision…

bruno

Portsmouth vs. Leeds United – Fratton Park
Premier League – Saturday 17th January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Portsmouth, quite surprisingly, put up to a real fight in the first half, creating quite a few good chances. But as many times earlier this season, things didn’t quite go their way. After being denied a penalty in the 15th minute by Neale Barry, a unjust decision too I might add after looking at the replays, Portsmouth totally caved in.

And we gradually took over the game and just before half time Ronaldo scored from quite some distance. It was also Ronaldo who opened the second half scoring in the 47th minute; after avoiding a horrible tackle from Matthew Taylor he simply just rolled the ball into the net.

Portsmouth tried to get back into the match but failed to do so, much to the fact that they lacked a real edge up front. And Ian Harte put the final nail in the coffin when he socked in a fine goal 8 minutes from the end. After that goal the stadium was emptied bit by bit; it showed the discontent of the home fans.

Portsmouth 0:
Leeds 3: Ronaldo 44’, 47’, Harte 82’

Attendance: 20,090

retired_tiger

Very good story, i like it a lot.

bruno

Thanks alot Quedron...
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Leeds United vs. Leicester City – Elland Road
League Cup Semi Final Leg 1 – Wednesday 21st January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Eddie had given his team clear orders this night: kill off the match early.

And so they did. Ronaldo showed some quality when he scored in the 14th minute. He scored once more in the first half, in the 26th minute but before that Adriano had already headed in 2-0 for the home side. Also Adriano scored two goals in the first half, the second came late in the half.

Leicester tried to defend against our attacks but just before the interval Francesco Totti scored with an incredible 35 yard strike. I could see early in the second half that Eddie had given them orders to back down a little; not wanting them to acquire any injuries. But so we did when Jermaine Jenas had to go off in the 56th minute, after a dreadful tackle from Callum Davidson.

With the rain starting to pour down late in the second half, the before pleasurable and eventful match became a lethargic act from both sides. However Ronaldo managed to slot two home in the last 10, the first on a penalty. With this great win we can now afford to let the players rest in the next leg, they have really deserved it.

Leeds 7: Ronaldo 14’, 26’, pen 81’, 88’, Adriano 20’, 40’, Totti 45’
Leicester 0:

Attendance: 38,258

bruno

One rainy January afternoon I sat enjoying a good cup of coffee when my secretary, Andrea Ryan, entered the room.

AR There’s a man out here, wanting to speak with you.

PC What’s his name?

AR He doesn’t want to tell me that.

PC Send him in then…

In walks a suspiciously looking man. He was seemingly nervous.

AO’F Hello Mr Campbell.

PC And you are?

AO’F Oh, excuse my rudeness. My name is Ashley O’Flanagan.

PC Never heard of you.

AO’F Didn’t expect you to either. But you probably know my boss: Mr Mark Owens.

PC Can’t say that I do. The last name sounds familiar though.

AO’F Perhaps because you ruined Mr Owens father, Patrick.

PC You mean the Patrick Owens which company I obtained for a less than generous sum? Well, I had no other choice than to fire him. After all he handled the company very poorly, almost ruining the shareholders.

AO’F I know all that. But his son, my boss, Mark doesn’t exactly share your point of view.

PC And why should I care?

AO’F Oh, I don’t know… Perhaps to the fact that he’s hired me to exterminate you?

PC Sure… And that’s why you’re telling me all this now, is it?

O’Flanagan told me all about Owens devious plans to waste me, his decision not to be apart of it and that he wanted me to hire him as my assistant

PC What guarantees do I have that this isn’t just one of Owens scheming plans then?

AO’F You don’t have any. You’ll just have to trust me on this.

PC Why should I?

AO’F You have any better idea?

PC Perhaps not…

AO’F Then we have a deal?

PC Yeah, but I don’t like this one bit. You can count on me keeping an eye on you.

AO’F I wouldn’t expect you not to.

bruno

Sheffield United vs. Leeds United – Bramall Lane
FA Cup 4th Round – Saturday 24th January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Sheffield United had problems in the soaked pitch already from the start and Paddy Kenny in the Sheffield goal wasn’t exactly in his best form tonight. 7 minutes into the match he fumbled with Adriano’s diving header and 0-1 was a fact. And Francesco Totti’s 13th minute free kick, well lets not even go there. Kenny had to let one more in before the interval and yet again he was to blame. Kenny pushed away the corner but not very good as Ronaldo chipped it into the far corner.

The second half started just as the first ended. Kenny, somehow, managed to make another mistake and Adriano could add another goal in his bag. After that goal 23-year-old Kristian Rogers replaced Kenny but also he failed to stop us from scoring.

Ronaldo advanced with the ball and struck it low from an angle forcing Rogers to push it away. Ronaldo easily handled the rebound and the humiliation was a fact when he calmly walked into the goal with the ball. To make it worse, Adriano completed the humiliation in the 90th minute with a wobbly header.

In the 5th round we will meet Reading who advanced after a fine 3-0 win over 2nd Division leaders Bristol City.

Sheffield 0:
Leeds 6: Adriano 7’, 56’, 90’, Totti 13’, Ronaldo 26’, 80’

Attendance: 30,383

bruno

Leeds United vs. Newcastle United – Elland Road
Premier League – Saturday 31st January 2004

Squad: Gianluigi Buffon; Carles Puyol, Ian Harte, Lúcio, Walter Samuel; Jermaine Pennant, Francesco Totti (c), Andrés D’Alessandro, Jermaine Jenas; Adriano, Ronaldo

Just as against Sheffield United, we scored quite a few goals this afternoon. First one to score, and of course open the scoring, was Andrés D’Alessandro when he shot a low curvy shot from 25 yards with the outside of his foot. Shay Given was unable to save and he saw himself beaten two more times in the first half.

First Ronaldo fired in a half volley, on a cross from Adriano, then seconds before the interval Jermaine Jenas tucked the ball safely away behind Given on, surprisingly, a breakaway. Ronaldo capped an excellent move in the 60th minute and he sealed his hattrick 2 minutes later when he headed the ball into the right corner.

Leeds 5: D’Alessandro 5’, Ronaldo 43’, 60’, 62’, Jenas 45’
Newcastle 0:

Attendance: 35,785

bruno

I took a week’s break given that I needed a bit of a rest; the continuous, everlasting fights with Eddie had worn me down. Perhaps it wasn’t the best thing too do though; Eddie needed to be cautiously monitored, if at all possible both day and night. Else he might pull a few cards out of his sleeves in his attempts to kick me out. However the planned one-week break was shortened down to only a few days.

The reason for that? Well, the progress of the new stadium had almost come to a standstill; according to the contractors it was due to the heavy rainfall we’d suffered the last two weeks in Leeds but they always blame the weather or any other environmental forces they can’t control. The contractors also told me that it was utterly impossible to work under the current circumstances and demanded to send the workforce home until the weather conditions cleared up.

Of course I enlightened them that it was unacceptable and reminded the lot about a paragraph in the contract saying that if the stadium wouldn’t be completed in time for the 2006/2007 season, we would acquire a refund of 15% per month it was delayed. It seemed that my, should we say persuasive methods, worked as the construction had been recommenced the subsequent day. They were even working harder than before. After all, they had lost precious working hours, which they needed to recuperate or face the possibility of loosing money.