A formal transfer request was written on Willy Gnonto’s behalf yesterday, in time for it to drop in Leeds United’s lap before their game with West Bromwich Albion, but elsewhere someone had devoted more time to writing a message to him and certain others.
‘Play or Farke Off’ the banner said, positioned halfway up Elland Road’s East Stand, and if you wanted a stadium where people were sick of people taking liberties with their club, Elland Road last night was it. It goes this way from time to time, to the point where gripes with errors of Leeds’ own making give way to a willingness to fight anyone who wants it. Gnonto bore the brunt of what came from the barricades but the build-up of bitterness is far bigger than him.
Word, clearly, had got around about Gnonto’s camp playing the latest card in his battle to exit Leeds stage left and sometimes, enough is enough. It was in that spirit that Leeds prised a 1-1 draw out of West Brom’s visit, very much a picture of their limitations but the better side and the embodiment of a crowd who were not prepared to leave with nothing. The morning comes and retrospection starts again. Farke promised to reflect on Gnonto’s untimely email when it did. But for one evening, close ranks and fight back.
Don’t trust to luck because there is very little of that in the air. West Brom’s goal came off the hand of Brandon Thomas-Asante, admittedly through a chance brought on by Leeds letting a limp corner bounce through their box. No penalty materialised when Cedric Kipre stuck a leg in on Joe Gelhardt inside Albion’s box, the sort you’ve seen given. But at 1-0 down, a deep cross from James invited a banging equaliser from Luke Ayling, and whoever else might be phoning it in, there were some left in Farke’s squad with the inclination to bite down and make the best of it.
It does not seem like much to ask, professional footballers showing up to play football, but part of Farke’s job to this point has been to work out who is actually with him. News of a transfer request from Gnonto broke an hour before kick-off and roughly six hours after news of Tyler Adams getting his move to Bournemouth, both developments summing up a period in which Leeds have been tailor-made for real-time updates. Whatever happens, their only way out of the cycle in the immediate term is for the transfer window to close so that, for better or worse, freedom of movement in and out of Elland Road is suspended for a while.
Luke Ayling celebrates his equaliser (Photo: Getty)
The club hoped that the expiry of relegation release clauses earlier this week would bring about a little more of that clarity but instead, the restless fidgeting of distracted players goes on in the background and the foreground. There has been talk of a redemption arc for Gnonto, of Farke and the club bringing him round and back into the fold, but him doubling down on a verbal refusal to travel to Birmingham City last weekend is dousing embers of understanding. Leeds are replying consistently with the message that he won’t be sold, doubling down with the same refusing-to-blink energy. But there is no-one at Elland Road who would not prefer to be using that energy differently.
The contradiction of Leeds’ predicament is that they desperately need this window to close, to stop the draining swirl of half of their dressing room shaping to leave. They also desperately need the window to stay open, to give them new players, a shot in the arm and a fighting chance of stoking their season into life. Farke has shades of the Bielsas about him in that he does not seem inclined to beg anyone to stick around. If you’re going, or thinking of going, then get out of my dressing room and train over there, at different times to the rest of us. Not for nothing does he look like he could bench-press a tree trunk.
Farke as Leeds manager can hardly be judged until the club have their house in order but it bodes well to a point that his side, half-cocked, have been in games like last night’s. They are playing within limits because there is no avoiding those limits but it was hard not to watch them have the better of 90 minutes against West Brom and ask what would happen if United, rather than waging war with five outfield substitutes, actually put a credible unit together. Albion, in Carlos Corberan mode, made religious attempts to play out from the back but were either not very good at it or too hurried by Leeds’ press. A reply to Albion’s scruffy opener had been coming before Ayling leapt with perfect timing to stick away Dan James’ hanging cross with 18 minutes left.
A winner would have been nice and not at all undeserved but in itself it was not the solution to what Leeds really need to do. Ayling cut to the chase on Sky Sports afterwards, crossing his fingers for incomings soon. “I can’t wait for the transfer window to close so that we know what we’ve got,” he said, and he is not alone there. In truth, this is the time to say it like it is. And while peak Ayling is gone and the start of the season has asked questions of his form, his reaction to his equaliser was that of a man who wanted to be here. There is, in the end, something to be said for that.
(Photo: Danny Lawson/PA Images via Getty Images)
