The legendary Red Devils coach: The road to success

Chapter 254 The White Rose Withers

"The excitement belongs to others, the glory belongs to others, and only the loneliness belongs to oneself. Leeds United, which failed to defend its title, suddenly found that its previous glory had quickly turned into a dream. They could only become the background of the red roses, and a dull loser."

--Inscription

The Premier League is over, some teams are in trouble, some giants have faded, especially the once soaring Leeds United, which suffered a serious setback and the defending champions quickly withered.

Leeds United's fall was as surprising as their rise, and it was truly a flash in the pan.

Before Wilkinson coached Leeds United, the team had been struggling in chaos. Since the 80s, Leeds United has changed five coaches in the past decade, but the team's performance has not improved at all. Leeds United was even relegated from the First Division to the Second Division, and the team's revenue and overall strength continued to decline. Although the top management of Leeds United was willing to continue to invest, many of their operations were low-level and clumsy, and the most critical coach was not entrusted to the right person. For a long time, the "White Rose" became dim and completely lost its brilliant glory. It was not until the appearance of Wilkinson from Sheffield at the end of 1988 that this white rose, which had been bleak for many years, saw hope.

The reconstruction of Leeds United was almost the same as when Ferguson took over as the Red Devils. Wilkinson was appointed in October 1988 when Leeds United had slipped to 10th place in English Football League Two.

Wilkinson is the hero who saved Leeds United from sinking. He was brave enough to take responsibility. After taking over, he vigorously reorganized the locker room and established a new good atmosphere. In addition, he has a shrewd vision. In addition to vigorously tapping the results of youth training, he is also good at introducing strong foreign players. Like Ferguson, Wilkinson attaches great importance to the connection between the team and the community and the city, and actively mobilizes all resources to enhance the influence and appeal of the club. Wilkinson originally had a background in coaching in English First Division, and these measures were easier to implement than Ferguson's three fires at the Red Devils.

Wilkinson received strong support from the club management, and the team quickly transformed. Wilkinson worked hard to build a vibrant team that could inherit the club's traditions. Wilkinson had a keen eye and discovered the young David Batty very early and made him a key player for Leeds United and a legendary captain. He played for the team for a long time and was the team's most loyal defender. He gave everything for the team and was deeply respected and loved by the fans.

In addition to David Batty, Wilkinson also continued to introduce strong players in various positions. For example, Strachan is the core of the Scottish midfield. At that time, many people thought that Strachan was old and his condition was worrying, but Wilkinson was confident that he could make good use of him. Wilkinson also worked hard to create conditions and actively introduced strong players in their prime years from other national leagues to form a brand new Leeds United. With Wilkinson's efforts, Leeds United has Gordon Strachan, Vinnie Jones, Lee Chapman, John Luzik, McAllister and other elite players, and the overall strength of the team has been transformed.

Wilkinson quickly led Leeds United to launch a promotion campaign to League One, and soon achieved the goal. After the end of the 1989-90 season, Leeds United returned to League One as the champion of League Two after an eight-year absence, less than a year after Wilkinson took over as coach. After being promoted to League One, Wilkinson further improved the team's strength. Powerful stars such as John Luchik, Chris White and Gary McAllister joined one after another. In the 8-1990 season, Wilkinson led Leeds United to achieve a good result of fourth place in the league. The huge progress made the fans excited and also made the board decide to further increase investment. Wilkinson was determined to challenge the championship and continued to introduce players such as Tony Dorigo, Steven Hodge, Rod Wallace and Eric Cantona to continuously strengthen the team's strength.

In the 1991-92 season, Wilkinson led Leeds United to compete in the English First Division, competing with Ferguson's Red Devils for the league championship. At one point, the Red Devils were firmly in the lead in the standings, but Leeds United kept nipping at their heels and tried hard to catch up. After Wilkinson boldly introduced Cantona, Leeds United seemed to be favored by fate, and their offense became more flexible and varied. After Lee Chapman's miraculous recovery, the team maintained its excellent form. Leeds United kept nipping at the Red Devils, also played very exciting games, and won continuously. Before and after the Red Devils lost to West Ham United in the final stages of the season, Leeds United created an amazing 21 home unbeaten games, and achieved consecutive victories in the last few games, and finally surpassed the Red Devils by 4 points and won the championship in advance!

In May 1992, flowers belonged to Leeds United, and applause also belonged to Leeds United. Wilkinson, who defeated the sworn enemy Manchester United to win the championship and used his troops like a god, was considered the best coach in England, even receiving more praise than Ferguson.

Wilkinson created a vibrant White Army that not only completed the task of returning to the top league, but also successfully won the championship in just two seasons. Such an achievement, but Ferguson, who failed to achieve anything after five years of hard work, could never catch up.

The 1992-93 Premier League season kicked off with a bang, with Leeds United beating FA Cup champions Liverpool 4-3 in the Community Shield, showing excellent form. In this game, Cantona scored a hat trick and won the Man of the Match award.

Leeds United, who won the Community Shield, was full of pride. Wilkinson vowed to defend the title on the one hand, and on the other hand, he declared that he would compete for the highest honor of the European Champions Cup.

Ideals are full of hope, but reality is very harsh. Leeds United soon fell into trouble. After the start of the league, although the team swept Tottenham 4-5 at home in the fourth round of the Premier League, and the 0-year-old striker Cantona scored the first hat trick in the history of the Premier League. Leeds United still failed to continue the momentum of winning consecutive games and soon fell into a slump.

Leeds United had a difficult start to the Premier League season. The team suffered serious injuries. Core players Strachan and McAllister were both injured, and the players they introduced were not very adaptable. Leeds United's European campaign also brought more challenges. The players were more tired, and the team lost consecutive games, falling into a cycle of repeated defeats.

Leeds United played the traditional English 442 formation. The positions and responsibilities of the players were clear, and the game was simple and clear. However, injuries to the main players in multiple positions of the team destroyed the team's tactical ability. Under the embarrassing situation of the huge gap in the level of substitutes, the original 442 formation lost its power. Cantona could not get any chances in the forward area at this time, so he could only seek more retreats and return to the midfield to get the ball. But in this way, how other players run and coordinate, how to cross and insert and attack from behind, all need to be redesigned.

This was a major challenge to Leeds United's formation and style of play, but Wilkinson did not come up with a good solution.

In the face of this challenging situation, there was even infighting in the dressing room of Leeds United. There were problems between coach Wilkinson and Cantona, Chapman and Strachan, and McAllister and Speed. The most prominent one was Cantona, who lost the trust of Wilkinson.

The conflict in the locker room not only affected the team's performance in the game, the record and points, but also the overall atmosphere of the team. Cantona, who has always been active in training, even adopted a negative attitude, refused to complete the physical training program required by the team, and openly contradicted Wilkinson.

Leeds United's dream of defending the title was quickly shattered and their gap to the top of the table was despairing.

On the road to the Champions League, Leeds United also encountered strong sniping. Wilkinson's team faced Glasgow Rangers in the first game of the Champions League. The two games were hyped by the media with the hot title "Battle of Britain". However, Leeds United failed to live up to the fans' expectations. They eventually lost the game and their dream of conquering Europe was shattered.

In November 1992, Cantona was directly cleared out by Wilkinson and sold to the Red Devils. Cantona later said, "I was actually very happy when I was at Leeds United. The fans were very nice to me. But the happiness did not include me and Wilkinson. I scored three goals in a game and helped the team win the opponent, but I was still criticized. Wilkinson even criticized me for wasting opportunities after the game and said that I did not implement tactics. I don't know what bullshit this is. A striker who performed a hat trick should be praised and complimented. It is impossible to accept criticism and humiliation."

Cantona said: "I didn't have a good relationship with Wilkinson and was isolated in the team. We didn't have the same views on football."

Cantona was sold by Wilkinson, but Leeds United did not buy Irwin from the Red Devils. The full-back they finally bought proved to be far less capable than his reputation. Leeds United fell into an increasingly difficult situation. The White Army failed to win any away games during the season, and their away game ability was unbelievably poor. By the end of the season, Leeds United even fell to the edge of the relegation zone and had to fight for relegation.

In the end, Leeds United ranked 17th in the standings and was almost relegated. Leeds United went from being the champion last season to being in the current situation, and it was simply a joke in the entire league.

Wilkinson was questioned and he began to lose the motivation to lead Leeds United. In the 1996-97 season, Wilkinson resigned after losing 0-4 to the Red Devils at home.

In addition to Leeds United, some former strong teams have also felt the blows and failures in the Premier League, and tasted bitterness and loneliness.

Liverpool fell into silence this season. The Red Army, which dominated English football throughout the 80s, lost its glory in the 90s. Even though the team won the FA Cup last season, it failed to reverse the decline and had no competitiveness in the league. After Dalglish left, they could not ensure that the so-called boot room tradition played a role, nor could they adapt to the development of the league. Liverpool's later coaches and management were incompetent, and their familiar management model seemed out of place in the new era.

What is hanging over Liverpool is not the curse of Hillsborough or Heysel. The team tradition established by Shankly, solid technology, delicate coordination, fast speed, courageous offensive style, and tough control, all of these have disappeared without a trace. Souness and Evans did not coach Liverpool for a long time. They only brought the Reds two cup championships in 1992 and 1995, but no league championship. In this season, Liverpool's record was 16 wins, 11 draws and 15 losses. The points were 26 points behind the Red Devils and ranked only sixth!

Chelsea? The blue team in London is not yet a champion. They are an inconspicuous team. This season they are only ranked 11th, ahead of Tottenham, Manchester City and Arsenal. Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United, Southampton and other teams with a long history have also lost their competitiveness in the first season of the Premier League.

In just one season, the Premier League has completely broken the old league order. The Red Devils' championship, the decline of Leeds United, and the precarious situation of other giants have made the league full of unknown suspense.

Fans are increasingly looking forward to the Premier League competition becoming more intense and the games becoming more exciting.