Leeds United Fans Have to Get Behind Dave Hockaday Now

Article by Jeremy Taylor @jezaldinho

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As the new season draws ever nearer and the fixture at Millwall comes sharply into focus, the majority of Leeds fans are beginning to sense that something quite special is brewing at Elland Road.

Disappointingly though, there remains some Leeds United fans out there that see fit to continue expending mental energy lambasting the appointment of Dave Hockaday as coach of Leeds United, a full 6 weeks after his first day at the job.

The fact that the team is starting to play an attractive, passing brand of football doesn’t matter.

The fact that the new signings are already showing their ability and combining well is irrelevant.

The fact that home grown talent such as Sam Byram and Chris Dawson appear to be thriving again under the new regime after having been largely overlooked in favour of the likes of Jimmy Kebe and Michael Brown, is also not good enough.

The fact that we are being strongly linked with young, exciting footballers from clubs such as AC Milan, Roma and Juventus instead of fishing around the reserve squads of Championship rivals equally fails to dilute the hardened resolve of these doom merchants.

It really does beg the question of ‘What does Hockaday have to do to please these people’?

When I asked this question of a fan very recently the answer I got was “Listen to his interviews! He hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing!”

Who knows… when it comes to press conferences and providing sound bytes for the media then maybe he doesn’t.

But then again, I very much doubt this attribute was on Cellino’s checklist when he began searching for a new coach.

Brian McDermott certainly knew how to give a press conference. In fact, if there was a book on how to dish out cliché’ after cliché without actually saying anything and leave a room full of journalists nodding into their pads then he probably wrote it.

Such oratory ability might have done wonders for Brian’s media career but it didn’t do much for Leeds United when it came to winning football matches.

Neil Warnock was another one that liked to hear his own voice in a microphone but fell short somewhat when it came to delivering what the fans wanted to see on the pitch.

Cellino, you sense, is another one that quite likes sharing his views publically. He’s always relaxed and smiling when being interviewed and comes across as passionate and articulate in spite of his curious use of the English language.

He talks about football like a man that has spent his life in the game as opposed to a man with a background in business and finance, as it the case with almost any other owner of an English club.

Cellino is the face and the voice of Leeds United and that’s exactly how he wants it to be. Because of this, there simply isn’t any room for a ‘manager’ in the traditional sense at Elland Road. Cellino wants to do everything himself bar put a tracksuit on (although one can actually imagine him in full shell suit regalia when at home) when it comes to running the club. It’s the ‘Italian’ way, and until he actually starts picking the team then there’s no real evidence to suggest it’s the wrong way. It’s just not the English way.

The fact that this system leaves the coach to focus purely on football begins to explain why they are replaced more quickly and easily than a manager. After all, if your sole purpose is to deliver good performances on the pitch then there is nowhere to hide if you fail.

The fact that McDermott spent his entire time at Leeds United concerning himself with the boardroom, the protracted takeover situation and how much money he had to spend on players is testament to the logic of this approach.

It’s also probably why he ended up turning out a side that was widely considered to be the most disorganised, unfit and demoralized in the division; and if it wasn’t for a short Scottish striker with other ideas then we wouldn’t be in it right now.

Dave Hockaday by contrast doesn’t have to worry about any of it. All he has to make sure of is that the players are fit, understand what is required of them and know how to pass the ball to a teammate in the heat of battle. Anyone who’s seen the last two friendlies will agree that he is already making great progress here.

Still, it’s not good enough for some. They want a man that can excite them with words as well as football. They want a manager, not a coach.

I asked the same fan how he’d feel if Hockaday led us to five straight victories in our opening fixtures. The response was “He’s out of his depth. He’s a coach, not a manager. He should come out and say that he’s just a coach”.

I didn’t point out that this is actually what Hockaday did say.

What this says is that it’s the structure that’s a problem for some, not just the individual. Some fans it seems simply feel like the club is rudderless if there isn’t a footballing figurehead that commands the traditional level of respect throughout the game.

When analysing this mindset, it’s important to understand the differences between a coach and a manager.

A coach’s remit in a nutshell is to prepare the team physically and tactically for matches, whereas a traditional manager plays more of a psychological role in terms of leadership, motivation and man-management.

Obviously there are coaches and managers who cross that divide and do everything (such as Arsene Wenger for example), but it’s interesting that some of the best coaches don’t make good managers (such as Rene Meulensteen) and equally some of the best managers are known to have been disinterested when it comes to actually physically preparing a team, but have players ready to run through brick walls after a five minute dressing room speech (Brian Clough, Bill Shankly and Sir Alex Ferguson to name three).

Dave Hockaday has a solid reputation as a fantastic coach who can get players performing at their best and it’s this quality that lead Cellino to his door, not his past managerial achievements.

It’s well documented that he didn’t do very well at Forest Green Rovers, but at least he tried. Now he’s back where he wants to be, doing what he loves and it’s all he’s interested in. Fair enough.

To use a familiar analogy, Dave Hockaday is a skilled mechanic to Massimo’s Ferrari. Cellino doesn’t need an entire dealership facility with its offices and salesmen and forecourt because he looks after all that himself. He just needs an experienced and capable mechanic to keep the engine running at its best. Fair enough.

If this formula works then what is the point in moaning? Surely the one thing all Leeds fans can agree on is that we want the team to win matches and if possible, play attractive football in the process.

If the Cellino / Salerno / Hockaday triumvirate results in a happy, fit and ‘together’ squad of players who can express themselves and perform to the best of their abilities on a football pitch then who cares about the rest? We can leave the post-match garble to the likes of Phil Hay.

In terms of us fans, the one and only thing we can bring to the table (besides buying tickets of course) is our full support; and the more of it the better.

As fans we owe it to the players, to Cellino, to Hockaday and to ourselves to get behind the coach and the team.

If things don’t work out then there will be changes, but sitting and waiting for things to fail just so the words “I told you so” and ‘I was right” can be muttered is ridiculous and childish.

The proof is in the pudding and come 5.30pm on Saturday coming, we’ll all have our first glimpse of whether Cellino’s gamble might be about to pay off. But until then, we should ALL be 100% behind him.

@jezaldinho

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