[ad_pod ]This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani has hit back at critics and one of Leeds’ biggest taglines on a night where manager Marcelo Bielsa scooped the award for fair play at FIFA’s The Best event.
What’s he said?
On a night where Lionel Messi and Megan Rapinoe won the major awards, the 64-year-old Argentine was also in the limelight.
For his part in allowing Aston Villa to score in a clash at Elland Road last term, he was recognised by being handed the FIFA Fair Play gong.
It came with some controversy given the events of spygate but this is someone who has also donated £1.9m to his former club, Newell’s Old Boys, in the last year.
Radrizzani and Liam Cooper were in attendance and the former hit back at the critics Leeds have gained throughout the years by posting the following tweet.
Dirty Leeds
This was a brilliant response from the Italian businessman who showed his love for the club and proved he knew what something like this means for Leeds who have been branded with an unfortunate tagline.
In the 1960s and 70s, Don Revie’s team set about playing in a completely different way, sucking the life out of their opponents and thus gaining the reputation of being “Dirty Leeds”.
Since then, it has seemingly stuck with the west Yorkshire side who certainly after spygate wouldn’t have been able to shake that off.
Huddersfield Examiner even ran a piece a few years ago detailing the hatred for Leeds which explored why they were called dirty.
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They slipped into mediocrity somewhat before Radrizzani arrived but boasted by Bielsa’s expertise he has led somewhat of a revolution.
Leeds aren’t close to replicating Revie’s dominance of that era but they are certainly better placed than most to make a return to the top-flight.
At present they sit top of the Championship and even with the dirty tagline, are battering away one of the biggest critics they’ve received in the last 50 years.