Someone apply the brakes! It looks like we're going to crash and burn! Oh, too late. Thump! Reality bites. No tears. No pain. Just 'Oh well, we were pathetic anyway' and the sound of 'We're all going on a three-division tour' joyfully ringing through the stands with self-deprecating tones.

This sinking feeling is all too familiar for Leeds United fans.

Leeds are yet again the laughing stock of English football. They're down and seemingly out for the count with sharks already circling to dish out a killer blow to a once-mighty force who went out with a whimper against Ipswich. All and sundry has an opinion.

'We can't expect to go to the likes of Bournemouth and Southend with the hope of just topping up one's tan and three points as safely tucked away as O'Leary, Blackwell, Mills, Kewell and company's retirement fund, paid very kindly by Leeds United AFC'


Who should be in the stocks? Who deserves the rotten tomatoes? The so-called fans who encroached the pitch? Ken Bates, the Bad Santa who came bearing grudges rather than gifts a plenty? Peter Ridsdale the Rogue Transfer Market Trader Rebel Without A Clue? Wisey the Wimp? The Who The Heck  Are You and Oh Yeah, You Were Good for So and So Once brigade?

The truth hurts and the reality is that a vicious potent mix of all of the above has been administered in such a strong dose that Leeds United are practically comatose.This bitter tale could twist and turn for years to come. Looking back in anger as part of an ongoing 'blame game' twists the knife in further. The rise and sudden plummet in fortunes has been a tragi-comedy close to overkill, thanks to the scandal rags, fed-up fans and gleeful Leeds haters who love to verbally maul an all-too-easy prey.

Each and every tired, trampled-on, hopelessly devoted and in some cases somewhat deluded fan has surely seen it all now... want to bet? We can't expect to go to the likes of Bournemouth and Southend with the hope of just topping up one's tan and three points as safely tucked away as O'Leary, Blackwell, Mills, Kewell and company's retirement fund, paid very kindly by Leeds United AFC.

We are more vulnerable now than ever. How many young kids have been nicked by better Championship or glory-chasing Premiership clubs? How many more will go now we've sunk to a new low? How can we build a future around 30-something loanees, has-beens and journeymen? Can we afford to sack Wise? If Bates goes, who the hell will want to take up such a poisoned chalice? Is liquidation the only answer? Should we just cut our losses right now, clear the lot of them out and start all over again? So many questions, so few answers.

All I know is for too long we've been stuck in the past, we've looked over our shoulders as if the Premiership golden days were just yesterday. We've gone all misty eyed at our treasured football programmes from the Champions League season, the shirts or lucky socks we wore when we were in contention for the title - hoping, praying that it'll all return again very soon.

How many of us, hands on hearts, have talked about Leeds in terms of the old days and said: "I wish so and so was here" or "Do you remember when?" What good is it? All this reminiscing over yesterday's men, yesterday's glories, yesterday's euphoria has disintegrated into despair and desolation. All that's left of the 'good' Leeds United is represented by a few ticket tabs, tattered photos and nostalgic DVDs.

Up to now the only stable aspect of Leeds United has been the support of the long-suffering fan bestowed upon a bunch of misfits, old gits and pretenders. The only way to repay the passion of the steadfast shirt-
wavers is to get a team together that feels the hurt and has enough fire in its belly to climb up what seems like Yorkshire's answer to Mount Everest and come out of the proverbial frying pan of Coca Cola League No One (Sorry, Coca Cola League One) firing on all cylinders and ready to battle long, hard and determined to the end.

No more ill-meant, ill-made promises, no more flash boys, no more 'he played for England once' or 'he was part of a World Cup winning team' types; we want the hungry, made-of-steel hearts-of-gold individuals with typical Yorkshire grit. I'm fed up of going to games thinking 'Er, who?' and 'How long have we got him for? Can we afford him...' Let's look at the long term, not the short term Elastoplast quick-fit solutions.

If my fellow Leeds fans want to stand up and be counted they have to swallow their pride, take all the jokes, like for example - 'What have a cordless drill and the Championship got in common? They've got no Leads (Leeds..get it, ho ha ha not!) and look forward, not back.

These are dark, desperate times. There needs to be less finger-wagging, thuggery and treachery; everyone, from the cleaner to the common man waving his battered old Leeds flag in defiance, has to stick together. If we don't do that, then the Grim Reaper will surely put the final nail in the coffin.

What must Leeds do to turn the downward spiral round? Let Sportingo have your views.