History repeating?

When you look at it, it did look a bit strange how he handled it, but in long run it worked out pretty well I think.

He didn't send Bellusci off, so the fact he himself never heard anything put him in a position of "what can I do".

I think, where all's fair in love and war, he ended up doing the right thing.

He didn't see or here the incident so was not in a position to punish Bellusci for what he may or may not have done.

What the referee decided to do I don't think will be in any refereeing instruction manual.

But he used common sense. Realised this could be a pretty tense situation that could have flared up as the game progressed. So spoke to both managers to make them aware. Which gave the managers and good opportunity to make sure their own player did not do anything stupid and calm the situation themselves. Rather than just leave it to run its own course he took proactive action.

No one knows if anything would have kicked off had the referee not done anything but I do think it was a sensible move.

There was certainly no harm in what he did

Bowyer was cleared of all charges? Well, yes, sort of. He was sly and devious and got away with his inconsistent testimony somehow.

But that's not what I meant. The impact of that whole debacle is what I believe started our downfall. Ridsdale made Bowyer feel like he was not wanted, and he eventually left under a cloud and for free, after screuuing up the whole dressing room. O'Leary started writing and talking rubbish and lost the dressing room more. And we ended up undertaking firesales, relegated, and nearly out of business.

I believe (my opinion) that if that incident had never happened with him and Woodgate and them expecting and demanding Duberry to lie for them in court, things would have been much much different for LUFC in the long run. That's my opinion, of which it is impossible to verify

Agree with your account and opinion LST.

At my age, memory is a fickle thing...

I seem to remember an FA Cup match, live on TV, against Cardiff, where we got beaten and Smith got sent off for a 'dubious' (was that my outrageous Leeds bias, or was it actually quite dubious? As I write this, I think it may have been the former...) elbow.

I think that this was just before the whole Bowyer/Woodgate affair hit the headlines.

As a fan, I always felt that this was akin to the last days of Rome; an incident deplorable in it's own right, but one that was symptomatic of a greater malaise.

It wasn't necessarily the cause, but like Rock Hudson's death in 1986 woke the world up to AIDS, it seemed to be the event that opened a lot of our eyes to the problems at our club that only ever seemed to get worse.

We're still suffering to this day.

And after several owners who have promised much, we still await our saviour.

Some think we have him. I hope so - although I'm far from enamoured with him - as we certainly deserve him.

But, whilst I loved the team that got promoted under Grayson and hated Bates, I'll happily take any success we can get without supporting Cellino himself.

(And before the pedants reply - and please do - I accept that my memory may be be very deficient about the chronology of events. What have I been doing that has so deteriorated my short-term memory?!)

Lee Bowyer was found not guilty, he was declared innocent, whatever your personal view is. Simple as that.

That's the fact.



However I agree with LST regarding the 'incident' itself. It was one of the darkest days of Leeds United. Once again our wonderful football club was dragged through the mire and them in power were about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. The whole issue was badly managed.

Oh for period of decent news, reports abut footballing success and community spirit and applause with plaudits..!

Not deficient at all Radebe, the Cardiff game has always been seen as the game that started our slump. We were top of the league at the time and bombed after.

But that to me was "form" that could be - and I believe would have been - turned round.

comment by Eric the Happy (korakali na skupaj z Darko..!!!) (U4604)
posted 2 minutes ago
Lee Bowyer was found not guilty, he was declared innocent, whatever your personal view is. Simple as that.

That's the fact.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Unfortunately Eric, that's not the fact. He was found not guilty. There is a huge difference between not guilty and innocent

That's your interpretation of what not guilty by a jury is not mine.

On the contrary Eric, it's the standard english language definition. Not guilty means something could not be proven to be done by someone. Even if they did do it. Innocent means it wasn't you at all.