As my dad said to me on the phone, ‘There goes another badge kisser. There’s no loyalty these days with players and if they don’t want to play for Leeds then they can go.’ He was of course talking about Robert Snodgrass. In fact, my dad seemed to have seen this coming uttering the words ‘Oh no! He’s kissed his badge! That’s him gone at the end of the season’ just after Snodgrass scored his second goal against Burnley last season. Badge kissing by footballers seems to be an omen that the end of their career at a club is coming. Jermaine Beckford, although it wasn’t much of a surprise, kissed the badge against Bristol Rovers before leaving to go to Everton. Wayne Rooney snogged the Manchester United badge several times before requesting a transfer albeit he never left. Robin van Persie kissed the Arsenal badge numerous times last season and now wants to leave them. Badge kissing and loyalty don’t seem to go hand in hand.
I must admit, I’m disappointed with Snodgrass. I did think he would wait until Christmas as he said he would and maybe sign a new deal, but I guess the lure of the Premiership was too much. I’m not convince either that Norwich will survive this year and deep down I hope we pass them at the end of the season. I wish him luck though for the future because he served us well in the four years he was here. He’s not the finished article but where else to learn your trade and improve your talent than the Premiership.
I’m pleased that Aiden White has pledged his future to the club and that our players are coming through and committing the club, just like Tom Lees. Hopefully this will be a trend setter for the rest of the young lads coming through. We also seem to have players that want to play for the club coming in like Andy Gray and Luke Varney, both stating their desire to play for Leeds. Things are looking up for us under Warnock and I’m looking forward to seeing the other players he has in mind to come in.
Article by Amanda Reeve
