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Caoimhin O’Muraile  ☭ Throughout Ireland's often called ‘revolutionary period’, debatably beginning in 1913 with the ’Dublin Lockout’ and ending with the final shots of the ‘Civil War’ 24th May 1923, many support groups sprang up not least in Britain. 

The Irish Self Determination League (ISDL) was formed in Manchester (though some argue London) in 1919 at the request of Sinn Fein President, Eamonn de Valera. The ISDL spread through England and was open for membership to Irish people living in England and those of Irish descent. 

Support for Irish freedom was also policy in some of the major trade unions, not least the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). There were those in the ranks of the ISDL many of whom were also trade union activists who wished to go a little further than just supporting the fight but wanted an active part in that fight. 

Much is documented about groups in Manchester over the years of struggle, the Manchester Martyrs of 1867 for example and various organisations in Liverpool – which also had/has a number of Orange lodges – but little is written about the North East of England. ‘Much of the archived material focuses on the more heavily documented Manchester and London IRA units but much less is known of the North East network’ which was a vital component of the broader IRA campaign. These volunteers spoke with Geordie, Mackem, or Teesside accents not an Irish brogue!! They were born in most cases of Irish extraction, in Newcastle, Jarrow, Sunderland, Stockton on Tees, County Durham of Irish parentage, grand parentage. The brigade were sworn in by Liam McMahon who was despatched from Dublin to administer the IRA oath. The brigade was divided into units which centred on locating and seizing explosives, detonators, and industrial materials from mines and warehouses to transport across the sea to Ireland. The IRA brigade in North East England regularly worked with and under the command of the Scottish Brigade which was larger. They also did operations alone like the bombing of the Jarrow Bridge spanning the River Don which was constructed back in the 19th century. They also carried out attacks on economic targets and the firebombing of various industrial and commercial targets of interest and benefit to the war.

This IRA brigade in the North East was commanded by local man, Richard Purcell who was born in Kilkenny, a former Coal Miner who worked at Coxlodge Colliery until its closure in 1894 then moving sites with other miners, and his quartermaster, Gilbert Barrington, a Schoolteacher with Joseph Connolly who was the Adjutant. These men were responsible for the entire Tyne and Wear area to as far south as Middlesborough and even touching the outskirts of the coastal town of Whitby. 

The tentacles of the IRA during the War of Independence reached considerably further than the shores of ‘Cork to Donegall’. The largest IRA company in the North East of England was Jarrow with over 90 Volunteers. By November 1920 the IRA in this area consisted of six companies comprising 190 men and by early 1921 that number had risen to around 480-90 Volunteers. The IRA in England stretched the full geography of the country with Scotland a separate command and considered a separate country.

From London, Birmingham, Liverpool and perhaps the largest brigade in England, Manchester, these IRA brigades split into units played a vital part in the overall strategy during the War of Independence. The least documented of these brigades and perhaps the most active was the IRA in the ‘Tyne and Wear’ area (called such because the area covered the River Tyne in Newcastle, Geordies, and the River Wear in Sunderland, Mackem’s). Warehouses and factories were often set alight in IRA attacks in the region costing their middle-class owners a lot of money. Certain agricultural targets were also favourites for selection of attacks by the local IRA. These attacks were something regular in Ireland against crown forces and their big business allies but in the North East of England? These attacks must have come as a shock to the locals who, if they had heard of the Irish ‘War of Independence’ at all, probably considered it something happening in Ireland!

In December 1921 a republican delegation headed by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith met with British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, and a high-powered team consisting of, among others, Winston Churchill and the anti-Irish lord Birkenhead (F.E. Smith). On offer was an agreement which, if the terms were agreed and ratified by both Houses of Parliament, would lead to a treaty between the two countries. With much reluctance and reservations the Irish delegation signed these terms, and in January 1922 the Dail narrowly ratified the terms by 63 votes in favour to 57 against. Westminster had ratified the same terms earlier so was born the ‘Anglo/Irish Treaty’ which led to the Irish Civil War.

The IRA in the North East of England came down fractionally on the anti-Treaty side with Gilbert Barrington particularly outspoken against the ‘Irish Free State’ which was formed as a result of the Treaty. The Treaty split the movement in North East England and this split caused much bitterness among former comrades which was the case also in Ireland resulting with open hostilities in the Irish Civil War. Barrington, who was deeply committed to the Republic proclaimed at Easter Week 1916, was interned by the Free State on one of his anti-Treaty tours of Ireland. He later assumed his career as a School Teacher when all hostilities had ceased, ironically working for a time with ‘Cissie’ Brennan at St. Bede’s School.

Complimenting the IRA in the Tyne and Wear area was an official branch of the republican women’s section, Cumann na mBan – League of Women – headed by Cecilia ‘Cissie’ Brennan, along with her sisters, Francis and Mildred, who were also members of Cumann na mBan. Theresa Mason and Mary Summerville, who was also an IRA Training Officer in firearms, were, along with many others, also Cumann na mBan activists. Jarrow was the largest area of activity of Cumann na mBan in the area, and it was from here Cissie Brennan and her sisters came. Similar to Gilbert Barrington Brennan was a School Teacher and would later become Head Teacher at Saint Bede’s Catholic school in Jarrow. She had started as an assistant school teacher at the same school gravitating later to Head Teacher in 1928. She took command of Jarrow’s nascent Cumann na mBan in late 1920. 

Similar to Irish branches, those of North East England participated in courier work, medical aid, and gathering intelligence and procuring arms. The North East branches operated within a wider network of Irish nationalist women in Britain, working to raise funds to support the families of IRA Volunteers and to arm and equip the IRA in their area. Princess Street in Jarrow was home to Cumann na mBan members and A Company of the IRA. Cumann na mBan as a whole were formed on 2nd April 1914 and with the formation of the ISDL and a little later an IRA brigade in the North East England area it was inevitable the women would organise in the area. Cumann na mBan activity was recorded in Jarrow as early as 1920 and continued until after the Civil War in 1923.

When the Irish Civil War ended in May 1923, resulting in a pro-Treaty victory against the anti-Treaty IRA, the organisation in Tyne and Wear as such ceased. The clouds of war were gathering for the working-class in England as the employers were planning an offensive against organised labour, pay and conditions and general living standards which were already very low. This culminated in a general strike called by the TUC in support of the Miners in 1926. 

Once again, and not for the last time, the Miners were left high and not so dry by the TUC who called off the action after just nine days! What a pity these so-called men of ‘class consciousness’ could not show some of the commitment shown by working-class men and women in collaboration with elements of the petit-bourgeoisie in the North East during Irelands War of Independence. Many of those involved in the war were trade unionists and of those a sizable number were Coal Miners who would be on strike for nine months despite the TUC climb down*.

*The Welsh Miners President, Arthur Horner, served some time with the Irish Citizen Army with who he claimed he did his “conscription”. He moved to Ireland to avoid conscription (despite working in a certified or reserved occupation) into the British Army and being sent to fight for his lords and masters, the propertied and monied classes, and decided to serve with the trade union based Irish Citizen Army. On his return to Wales Horner was imprisoned for a time but after huge protests organised by the Welsh MFGB he was released. His job as a weighman in the pits on union insistence was kept open as was his role of President of the Welsh Miners Federation.
     
Caoimhin O’Muraile is Independent Socialist Republican and Marxist.

The IRA In North East England 1919-1921

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Hundred And Twenty Two

 

A Morning Thought @ 3097

Jim Duffy ✍ One of the quietly unspoken facts among the neutrals is that almost all believe neutrality is dead. 

They don't want it be. They just believe it is. Arguably it died with the invention of nuclear weapons. The Second Hague Convention was based on the theory that neutral states could proclaim a cordon sanitaire around themselves and tell other countries 'leave us out of this' - with signatories bound by a promise (worthless, as it was shown in both World Wars) that they would leave a neutral alone.
 
Nuclear weapons obliterated that theory as the effects of nuclear war don't stop at borders. Whether you are a belligerent or a neutral is irrelevant to the fall-out.
 
Add to that, the concept of state independence really died in the second half of the twentieth century. Once upon a time, states could operate largely self-sufficiently. However the modern economy is intertwined with others to a minute degree. It is why Trump's tariffs have bombed. He thought the US functions in the way it functioned under the pro-tariff President McKinley. The modern economy is dependent on integrated manufacturing chains, with American car makers dependent on parts made in Canada and Europe, key battery components from China and Africa that required items the US cannot mine. All his tariffs did was cause all sorts of chaos in the integration, collapsing US industries like agriculture. Tariffs are not workable in interdependent economies.
 
European leaders realised the days of independent sovereign states is over. To survive they have to pool sovereignty - which they have done with the EEC/EC/EU. Britain conned itself into thinking it could return to the old days with Brexit. All it did was marginalise itself, suffer colossal economic damage, and find a decade on that it still hasn't got trade deals it thought would be delivered in weeks!
 
That interdependence really spelled the death knell of neutrality, as it was militarily, economically and in other ways impossible to function as some sort of cordon sanitaire - even if countries obeyed the gentlemen's agreement not to attack neutrals (which in both world wars they broke). The Cork base of medical technology company Stryker by Iranian cyber-attack shows the modern weakness of neutrality. Being in a neutral state made no difference. The same occurred with the Russian cyber-attack on Ireland's HSE, and the Russian cyber-attacks on the parliaments in neutrals Austria and Switzerland.

The Second Hague Convention is based on a world that no longer exists, and arguably started disappearing in the 1920s.
 
The issue isn't that neutrals don't want to be neutral. It is a growing belief in them that neutrality is meaningless in an interdependent world.
 
That growing belief can be seen in Europe's longest lasting neutral. The Treaty of Westphalia in October 1648 ended the Thirty Years War. It recognised that Switzerland was already a long-term neutral. Much of that neutrality was a product of its geography - which made it exceptionally difficult to invade. Yet in the last couple of years Switzerland has found itself increasingly unable to avoid international conflicts that seeped into its economic and financial system. In a break with the past, it condemned Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and acted with greater hostility towards Russia than it had ever done in its hundreds of years of neutrality. It wasn't looking to abandon its neutrality, but didn't see how it could remain neutral in a war that was impacting on it. The Cordon Sanitaire model was no longer working.
 
Now it has found itself having to condemn the illegal US war against Iran, and also the reckless actions of Iran which risk serious economic damage to Switzerland. It no longer lives in a world where a declaration of neutrality means a war will not touch it. It will be impacted upon.
 
It still wants to be neutral. So do Ireland, Malta and Austria. (Cyprus wants to join NATO.) But they all fear that in the 21st century, with vital economic interdependence, of hostile actions targeting them, and with the likes of Putin and Trump who have no intention of respecting anyone's neutrality, plus with the effects of weapons of mass destruction, no country really can be on its own and have a cordon sanitaire.
 
Switzerland is increasing defence spending to 1% of GDP by 2030, a target written in law by Parliament. Austria has upped its target to 1.3% by 2032 and is nearly at 1%. They are realising that neutrality without sufficient defence spending is worthless. But behind it is the fear that for all their commitment to it, neutrality is no longer a feasible option in the modern world. Like cavalry charges of old, they fear the reality of the modern world is making it worthless and ineffective. It is a thought that worries them, haunting their nightmares. They don't want to give it up, yet fear it is just a bit of self-delusion and not a viable option. It is the unspoken truth in the back of their minds.

⏩ Jim Duffy is a writer-historian.

Neutrality Is Obsolete

Anthony McIntyre ⚽I wasn't expecting much from this one.


While not at the top just yet, Shamrock Rovers have by far been the best team in the League of Ireland for quite a few seasons. Drogheda United have been nowhere near the best, struggling two seasons ago to avoid the drop despite winning the FAI Cup a week before they eased their neck out of the relegation noose. Resolve took them to the final game of the campaign, a play off, the survival instinct saving them in the end.

I felt the Drogs would lose for the fourth game on the trot whereas Jay called the outcome correct, a draw, although he did think it would be one apiece. Not an unreasonable forecast given that both teams had scored in all their games prior to coming up against each other. 

In the end neither side managed to get on the score sheet. Yet despite having home advantage and emerging with only one point, it would be churlish to complain. The claret and blue put up a gutsy fight and were well worth the solitary point they squeezed out of it. There is a steeliness to the side even if it can go AWOL all too often. The following game against Derry City up at the Brandywell saw them recover a two goal deficit. 

Two draws in a row rather than having a dispiriting effect might just boost a flagging confidence throughout the side, allowing the players to start believing in themselves once more following a run of three consecutive defeats. 

A Monday evening, the day preceding Patrick's, we arrived an hour before the game. The Public Order Unit were present if unobtrusive. They are as regular at games as the Dublin sides. With season tickets secured for the Windmill Road end the seating arrangements are preferable to those on the other side of the stadium. The view as well. Paddy picked a row where we could virtually watch the entire field of play unhindered by roof supporting beams or the kids who persistently block the view across the way while the stewards appear helpless, reduced to playing Whac-A-Mole. As soon as they move one group of youngsters on, another appears. 


In an opening half that the Drogs marginally edged on balance, both sides probed each other for that fatal chink without either coming close to finding an opener. All ariel assaults on the Drogheda area were firmly dealt with by the centre backs. As the half drew to a close anxiety seeped into the home crowd aware that the Hoops were finding their way and probably finished the half the stronger of the two. But with nothing conceded on the half time whistle the mood grew more relaxed. 

The second half didn't offer much in terms of outright chances, a comfortable save by Luke Dennison to keep out a shot from outside the box probably the closest either side came to scoring. Substitutions for or both teams made no appreciable difference. 

A scoreless game but hardly a dull one on a night where goals throughout the Premier division were scarce. It left the Drogs fans reasonably happy as they departed the ground. While this is the first game of the season that saw the Drogs fail to find the net reassurance is to be found in maintaining a clean sheet in the wake of a 4-1 thrashing at St Pat's. The contended mood was such that even the referee was spared the accusatory howls of bias that were hurled the way of the senior match official in the previous home game against Shels. Full credit to the Ultras. Again, not a flare came out of their number.

The top four positions in the league are all held by the Dublin clubs, reinforcing the capital's dominance on the local soccer scene. The Drogs now lie in the bottom half of the table on equal points with Derry. What will hurt most of all is that Dundalk are two points ahead, occupying a spot just inside the top half. Now, if that doesn't make us angry . . . 

⏩Follow on Bluesky.

Drogs ⚽ Hoops ⚽ Evens

Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières ★ Written by Dan Labotz.

We have all been horrified to learn of Cesar Chavez’s sexual assaults and rape of young girls and women. We who worked for years as volunteers or supporters of the United Farm Workers, even those of us like myself who were critical of Chavez, never expected anything like this. 

The story recently published in The New York Times, carefully investigated and documented, leaves no doubt that Chavez violated those girls as well as betraying the trust that so many had placed in him.

When I wrote my biography César Chávez and La Causa twenty years ago, part of the Library of American Biography series made up of books to be read by college freshmen and sophomores, I thought about the young Mexican Americans and other Latinos who might read my book and be influenced by it. So, I attempted to give a balanced view of a man who, despite his significant faults, might still inspire young people. [1]

Chavez for most of his adult life worked to promote the well-being of the Mexican American people, who in the U.S, Southwest in the early twentieth century still faced racial segregation and discrimination.

Continue @ ESSF. 

Cesar Chavez 🪶 Horrifying Abuse, But One of Many Errors of Judgement

Seamus Kearney 🎤 'The IRA is my home, the Battalion my family. I don't crave love from a woman's hug, a soldier's life is all I need'.

After the raid on 124 Carrigart Avenue, West Belfast, on Sunday 7th January 1990, Scappaticci and the other two fled across the border and into the town of Dundalk. 

For the former Marine it wasn't a major problem travelling South as he had moved to Dundalk in 1980 so adopted quite quickly to his new surroundings. For Scappaticci and Agent 'Shirley Temple' it was much more traumatic, as both had family roots in Belfast.

For the first year Scappaticci kept in close contact with his former Marine colleague and would meet up in a local bar in Dundalk, both blaming their situation on the 'Lord Chief Justice' and feeling quite bitter that they were now in a vulnerable position with the IRA, as a 'witch hunt' was gaining momentum surrounding the raid at Carrigart Avenue. Scappaticci believed the RUC was over- zealous in storming the house in Carrigart Avenue and as a result endangered the agents inside. Eventually, Scapatticci moved to Clondalkin, an area 10 kilometres west of Dublin city centre, where he settled for quite awhile.

His connection with his former partner in the Marines faded as Scappaticci wasn't a hardened drinker whereas his partner was. Haunted by his past and succumbing to the grip of alcohol, the former Marine was killed in a drunken brawl after he was hit over the head with a whiskey bottle and fell down a flight of stairs in November 1994. His treachery had finally caught up with him.

In November 1991 Scappaticci turned up at the Sinn Fein Ard Fheis in Dublin and told a female friend that he was homesick and wanted to return to Belfast to be with his family, but understood he couldn't because of his fingerprint on the battery of the scanner at 124 Carrigart Avenue.

In July 1992 Freddie Scappaticci was ordered to attend a high level meeting at Dublin Airport with his handlers. When he arrived he was greeted by a senior RUC officer, George - and his long term FRU military handler, Colonel Colin - both men enquired about Scappaticci's welfare. They told him that he was heading due North again as he was still a valuable asset in their armoury. But when Stakeknife questioned them about the fingerprint on the battery they dismissed it and told him they had a plan to overcome that problem. An alibi would be provided from the woman who lived at Carrigart Avenue which would state that he had carried out electrical work in the property and had his fingerprints all over the house, including on the battery of the scanner. Scappaticci was sceptical but agreed to go along with the plan.

In early October 1992 the owner of 124 Carrigart Avenue came home from work on a sunny afternoon and found Freddie Scappaticci sitting on a sofa in her living room. She had to look twice as he was wearing sunglasses and seemed agitated. He immediately explained that the woman's daughter had let him in and went on to enquire about the fingerprint on the scanner back in January 1990 and to double check about the alibi she would provide. She assured him that the alibi was intact. He then told her that he would more than likely get arrested by the RUC and didn't wish to end up in Long Kesh, so needed the alibi to stay out of prison. When he stood up and was about to leave the house he placed a 20 pound note behind a clock on the mantlepiece, with the parting words, " You'll need that money as the Republican Movement won't be looking after you". He closed the front door behind him on the way out.

As predicted, on 6th October 1992 Scappaticci was arrested on a building site in Belfast but knew this was all theatre and for the optics. He spent 3 days in Castlereagh Interrogation Centre in East Belfast, and when quizzed by DI Mc Gregor about his fingerprint on a battery supplying a scanner, he kept to the script and replied that he had carried out electrical work in that particular house and it seemed he had inadvertently lifted the device in question. Scappaticci thought it plausible even if DI Mc Gregor thought it implausible.

Once the alibi from the woman in the house was received Scappaticci was released on 9th October 1992 without charge. He was now free to live in the North and be reunited with his family.

Two weeks later Agent 'Shirley Temple' was ordered to attend a meeting with his handlers and told that he would also be heading due North immediately. He was assured that no forensics were found at Carrigart Avenue which could connect him to the house, so he would not be arrested like Scapatticci. As a military agent with the Force Research Unit ( FRU) he was to be reactivated once back in the North and was ordered to carry on the fight against the Provisional IRA.

In late October 1992 Freddie Scappaticci was told to go to Bessbrook Barracks in South Armagh to attend a surprise gathering of his troop. When he walked into the army mess /canteen Scappaticci was greeted by his old comrades from the FRU and the 'RatHole'. They gave him a round of applause as he entered, slapping him on the back in recognition of his return to the unit after nearly 3 years. On the canteen wall hung the plaque of the Force Research Unit and its motto: 'Fishers of Men'.

Seamus Kearney is a former Blanketman and author of  
No Greater Love - The Memoirs of Seamus Kearney.

Stakeknife 🕵 The Rise And Fall 🕵 Act XI

Lynx By Ten To The Power Of One Thousand Nine Hundred And Twenty One

 

A Morning Thought @ 3096

Gary Robertson ⚽ 🎶🎶 Mr Sandman bring me a dream a time when pitches were carpets of green 🎶🎶

Least I think those are the lyrics. Sadly no one bothered to tell Dundee Utd that. Instead what we were faced with at Tannadice on Sunday was perhaps the worst pitch I’ve ever seen in professional football. Now I’m not blaming the pitch for a woeful display from Celtic. They lost and deservedly so. No urgency, no desire, no ideas but the pitch was bloody awful. Seriously the SFA have got to do something about this. Fine them, deduct points? Harsh perhaps but there were patches of the park that were, in my opinion, unsafe for professional athletes to compete on. It was a disgrace but a bigger disgrace was yet to come. 

With both Hearts and Rangers having won this weekend Celtic simply had to win. Any slip ups and whilst not mathematically impossible it would open up a gap that would be increasingly difficult to close. So to the game itself. The first half belong to keepers Sinisalo and Maynard-Brewer who both pulled off incredible saves to keep their respective clubs in the match. Half time 0-0 and with three points up for grabs the travelling fans must have expected an upping of their game from Celtic but instead we were treated to perhaps their worst performance in many years. At times reminiscent of the short but disastrous tenure of Wilfred Nancy they looked bereft of ideas, lacked creativity, imagination and more worryingly desire. Indeed the second half was a mere six minutes old when a ball whipped into the box evaded everyone and landed at the feet of the unmarked Ferry to score what will probably be the easiest goal of his career. Once again questions arise regarding Celtic's defending. A Maynard-Brewer mistake, from a shot by Hatate, evaded the keeper's grasp but bounced back off the post into the keeper's grateful arms, keeping the score at 1-0 to the Arabs. Sixty six minutes and failure to clear the ball properly led to United's second from Agyei. Only one team deserved anything from this match and only one got their reward.
 
I’m not going to bleat on about this but right now Celtic are a mess. We’ve managed to ride our luck which has kept us in contention in the league and onto the next round of the Scottish Cup but luck eventually runs out. There’s no hiding place for this team right now. They were an embarrassment to watch, hell I’m embarrassed watching replays (yeah no matter how hard I try I can’t find an alternative universe where Celtic played like Argentina and wrapped up the 3 points in the first ten mins). They were dire. Beyond dire. Truly shocking.
 
Celtic fans like to mock fans of the Rangers with a “you are nothing, you deserve nothing and you will win nothing” banner. It’s perhaps time for a little self reflection. On Sunday's performance Celtic deserve and will win nothing. Will there be a reaction before the international break? Perhaps, but serious questions need to be asked regarding the attitude of some of these players.
 
These young men are living the dream of countless young Celtic fans across Scotland, Ireland and beyond. To pull on that jersey, regardless of club, to be a representative of that club on the pitch should be enough motivation in itself but what we saw at Tannadice were a team who lacked more than motivation.
 
Have they blown their title aspirations? No, but now we’re playing catch up for second place never mind first.
 
In a couple of months Martin O’Neill will step down from his role as manager, and for young fans what will his legacy be? A trophyless season? Those of us old enough to remember do so fondly his first stint at the club with titles, trophies and cup finals to remember but season 25/26 - that’s another story. Of course I could end up with egg on my face and they might suddenly recapture their best form but my optimism is wearing thin. 

These are grave times to be a Celtic fan. Both Rangers and Hearts keep winning, doing what they need too do but on Sunday in the City of Discovery we learned a lot about this current Celtic squad. Indeed, on many the shirts looked baggy and on most the weight of expectation seemed to be too much.
 
Til next time …

🐼 Gary Robertson is the TPQ Scottish football correspondent.

Baggy Shirts

Kate Rice ✍ with a poem.

Provenance

Where did I get it?
From where did it come?
Bogland slip and green hill
Slow bodhrán drum.
♞♜♝
Pipe and fiddle fighting
Music long and loud
Are you ashamed of where you ‘re from?
Worse still - are you proud?
♞♜♝
Green and orange mixing
A burial shade of brown
Do you come from rage and hunger?
I come from County Down.
♞♜♝
Ancestor in the Turf Lodge
The Catholic overflow
Do you know what that past makes you?
Ask me! I’ll say no.
♞♜♝
Boats on Scottish waters
When did your blood arrive?
I’m Irish, I say, boat or not
Since before I’ve been alive.
♞♜♝
A father born to British views
Would he still love my face?
He does not know his little girl;
She’s from a different place.
♞♜♝
You the Shankill, him the Falls
Mo chara, I yearn to be seen
Cut me, Ireland. Cut me deep!
Your daughter’s bleeding green.

⏩Kate Rice is a peace baby.

Provenance

Barry Gilheany ⚽ It must be the Ides of March.

But a familiar but not less horrible feeling is knotting the collective psyches and stomachs of Leeds United fans. With seven fixtures left in the Premier League season, we find ourselves in 16th place; two places and four points (and superior goal difference) above West Ham United who occupy the third relegation place. 

If one accepts that Burnley (19th) and Wolves (20th) are already Championship bound; then the third relegation place is between us, the Hammers, Nottingham Forest, and the rolling, 24-hour disaster show that is Tottenham Hotspur. Yes, we remain in charge of our destiny and, after this weekend’s results, we are now outside the margin of error (a statistical concept that I have borrowed from political psephologists meaning that just as in electoral forecasting pollster allow themselves a margin of three points in their analysis; so in football terms a three point advantage can by wiped out by a single defeat). 

But as a fan base we are traumatised by memories of disastrous run-ins such as the 2022-23 season when a 5-1 rout at home by Crystal Palace on Easter Sunday presaged a rapid descent into the Championship in a run which saw just two points from eight matches and all sorts of unwanted defensive milestones. Now it is the paucity of goals at our end that is the cause of much of our angst; the last goal was another trademark free kick Exocet missile from Anton Stach at Aston Villa four matches ago. Since then, it has been a story of frustration at Daniel Farke’s apparent reversion to a defensive formation which has ground out two successive bore draws but is lacking the attacking verve we were displaying not so long ago.

But it has also been a tale of anger at the inconsistency of refereeing decisions which, rather than being echoes of Leeds United’s experiences in the 1960s and 1970s, reflect wider dysfunctions within the culture of football officialdom. Anyway, we are truly into the squeaky bum, sphincter twisting ‘business end’ of the season which is the annual challenge to the emotional resilience of football fans whether the goal are winning trophies, promotion or avoiding relegation.

While we have won a lot of plaudits for being competitive in the Premiership (except against Arsenal!) and for our uptake in form since the end of November; the statistical reality is that we have won just four games in thirteen PL fixtures; lost four and drawn the remaining five. Only Wolves have won fewer away games than our solitary victory at their gaff. But what is really concerning is that our last three home fixtures have yielded just one point and no goals. Yes, our football was exciting to watch where we have gone onto the front foot especially at Newcastle, Everton, and Aston Villa but we only accumulated a points total of only two from these journeys despite having led in all three games (three times at St James Park where we eventually lost 4-3). 

At the Hill Dickenson Stadium and Villa Park, we could have been ahead by a bigger margin of one goal at half-time; but we played too much on the backfoot in the second half, inviting the inevitable onslaught and equaliser. But there was little cause for worry nor was there after our one goal defeat to Manchester City at the end of February, an outcome which could have been so different had Dominic Calvert-Lewin converted an early chance laid on for him by superb Leeds forward play. At this stage we were a comfortable six points clear of the bottom three, were we to maximise returns from our remaining five games we should be safe. But it is at this stage the worm begins to turn as it inevitably does for Leeds in the month of March.

The home defeat by City was overshadowed by some noises off. First of all, a Ramadan break at sunset for City’s Muslim’s players to take which had been pre-announced by Leeds United led to a cacophony of boos and jeers from the Elland Road stands. The optics looked terrible; were Leeds United being disgraced again by a fan element notorious for their racism in the 1980s? The anti-racist body Kick It Out condemned the crowd’s reaction and the club expressed its disappointment as did many Leeds fans on social media. It looked and felt embarrassing for those of us who want Elland Road to be an inclusive space and never want a return to those dark days. 

However, what was the booing really about? For during the FA Cup tie at home to Norwich City there was a Ramadan break to facilitate our forward Joel Piroe. What had aggrieved the home crowd at the City game was that City manager Pep Guardiola had used the Ramadan break for an informal coaching session for his players, surely a violation, at least in spirit, of the laws of the game. Of more serious consequence were other decisions taken by the referee Peter Bankes. He and that supposedly failsafe mechanism VAR failed to see a stamp by City’s Cherki on Paschal Struijk which would surely merit a straight red. Instead it was manager Daniel Farke who saw red when after the final whistle he walked onto the pitch to protest that Bankes had not added on additional time to take account of two substitutions that Pep had made in stoppage time; the ref had obviously rehearsed his reaction as he had the card in his pocket primed for instant, almost reflexive, impact. Fortunately, his touchline suspension was reduced on appeal from the mandatory three games to one which was the next game at home to Sunderland.

It was this fixture against the Black Cats that birthed the latest Leeds United crisis of confidence. Sunderland, who secured their Premiership spot through a dramatic stoppage time winner in the Play Off final against Sheffield United who were in the automatic promotion spots for much of last season, have defied the laws of promotion gravity by securing Premiership safety well before the automatically promoted sides, us, and Burnley. Their style of play is markedly physical and ‘in your face’ with Northern Ireland defender Dan Ballard, a particularly uncompromising stalwart. That night the Makems deployed the Dark Arts symbolic of their nickname or in less elegant football parlance “shithousery.” We were muscled out of almost every opportunity we tried to create; their high line and low block would not allow us to stamp any authority on the game. We lacked the fluency that had become a defining feature of our play for the last three months or so. 

The game turned on two VAR decisions around the mid point of the second half. First, in the 64th minute, Joe Roden raised to head into the net a free kick from Anton Stach. The joy and relief felt by us all soon turned to disappointment and frustration as VAR ruled that Joe was marginally offside. Worse was to come when captain Ethan Ampadou was adjudged after a typically prolonged VAR check to have handled in his penalty area. Habib Diarra in the 70th minute converted the spot kick to take all three points back to Wearside. All our possession and shots we peppered on their goal were met with blocks, last ditch tackles, and heroic goalkeeping. It was definitely not our night and a stonewall penalty denied when Sunderland’s Luc O’Nien as much as strangled Struijk in the six-yard area at a corner kick left a bitter taste in the mouth.

Worse was to come on the following evening when a plucky 2-2 draw earned by Forest at the Etihad and, worst of all, a West Ham victory by 2-1 at Fulham meant that the gap between us and 18th place had been cut to three points. Cue panic alarms among the more excitable and doom mongering of the fan base.

So it was down to London for a Sunday 2pm encounter with Crystal Palace and another chance to break our hoodoo in the capital city where we have not won a Premiership match since the 3-2 victory at Highbury in May 2003 which guaranteed our topflight safety that season while simultaneously dashing Arsenal’s hopes of retaining their Premier League title. Both Forest and West Ham had drawn on the Saturday so a victory would increase the gap from us to 18th place. The first half was for the most part uneventful until another double disaster just before the break. After Palace’s Will Hughes inexplicably handled in their penalty box, we were presented with an opportunity to break our clean sheet record at the wrong end and put more distance between us and the drone. Eager anticipation turned to horror for Leeds fans, as Dominic Calvert-Lewin dragged the resultant spot kick to the left of the post and wide. This ghastly miss has not deterred Thomas Tuchel from recalling him to the England squad, however. Then, in a comedic moment (except for Leeds fans) before half time, referee Thomas Bramall after drawing back from issuing a second yellow card to Jakob Bijol, then hesitatingly gave a yellow to Gabriel Gudmundsson for a mistimed but innocuous challenge before realising that as he had already booked him, he would have to issue a red card to arguably our star performer of our season. Cue a thoroughly unprofessional and frankly contemptible act of applause at Gabriel’s departure by Palace’s Jaydee Carvot. In the circumstances, Farke’s decision to park the bus for the second half was entirely justifiable and we survived a marginal offside call for a Palace close range effort to take what we all recognised was a valuable point. A late equaliser for Spurs at Anfield was mildly irritating. So the status quo remained at the bottom of the Premiership.

So onto last Saturday’s 8pm Elland Road encounter with Brentford in 7th place and chasing the prospect of European football next season. Again we fired blanks but fortunately so did the Bees and we did an excellent containing job on their 19 goal Brazilian international striker, Igor Tiago. Both defences were dominant but Brentford’s tactics particularly its liberal use of the “Garryowen” made it very difficult for us to play fluently. But the main talking point in a match devoid of any serious goal scoring opportunities was another flagrant violation of the spirit of the beautiful game when the Bees’ keeper Caoimhín Kelleher sat down at the edge of his penalty area convincingly feigning injury and affording another opportunity for an opposition coach to hold an informal, no let’s call it out, illegal session. 

The brand name and reputation of the Premiership is being damaged by the reluctance of match officials to enforce, for example, the maximum eight second possession of the ball rule for goalkeepers; the exploitation of false stoppages by coaches and their failure to stay within their confines and the persistent infringements in penalty areas at corners or other dead ball situations. Anyway, rant over for another time. What felt two points dropped turned into a point gained with West Ham’s loss at Aston Villa revitalised by the return of John McGinn and with Spurs’ 3-0 home collapse to Forest. Now we stand four points plus a superior goal difference ahead of the Hammers in 18th place.

But the questions are not going away. Why is DCL misfiring and dropping off the pace? Why are those players who can make things happen like Gnonto and Tanaka continuing to warm the bench? Is Farke reverting to a passing game which is not delivering the goods? It is my hope that Dan James makes a full recovery to match fitness by the time of the resumption of the Premier League in three weeks’ time after the international break and FA Cup quarterfinals in which we go to West Ham and will hopefully be a bit of R&R for us. When business does resume, it will do so on the second weekend of April which has proved so consequential for us in the past, ref Palace collapse cited above. What a time then to visit Old Trafford to renew acquaintances with the Auld Enemy! We have to get those survival wins from somewhere.

Paris Update

This splendid documentary about the European Cup Final that football tried to forget is being shown again at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin on 26 and 31 May. Tickets are available from the documentary.

⏩Barry Gilheany is a freelance writer, qualified counsellor and aspirant artist resident in Colchester where he took his PhD at the University of Essex. He is also a lifelong Leeds United supporter. 

Tis The Season To Be Worried ⚽ Leeds United And The Relegation Run In

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