Beckford is League 1 player of the year

HarryofOz · Beckford is League 1 player of the year

Also got the goal of the year award - one he scored for Scunthorpe v Rotherham.

I take it, its an award for the calendar year (which seems likely seeing it was a goal from last season that got the goal of the year award.

Go Becks

nlag

May put a few hundred £k on his tag if we don't get up this season.

Baldy

Well done young fella, now dont let it go to your head..
many many more goals to get this season yet.

30 Mill

Great result - hes had 2 very good seasons at this level - if we dont go up, he'll be gone for sure

halfaperson

I’m coming to the conclusion that its me who has a problem with strikers, sorry. The ones we have hardly ever seem to do enough for me. Maybe im prejudiced against them.

Beckford is no different. ive seen far better strikers in this league than him to be honest. The two at Donny for instance. The Crewe lad and a fella from Wallsall, soz i dont know their names but they all work twice as hard as ours. There was a thread a bit back about what people thought were our biggest threats to promotion. I reckoned it was our front two getting too cocky and slack. Well far be it from me to say i was right but by god our two have contributed to our decline more than most. Yes the supply has been dire but that’s when really good strikers earn their corn by making something out of nothing. Only a fantastic spurt to the finish from him can redeem himself otherwise hes been a disappointment and certainly not worthy of any accolades.

Baldy

I see what your saying halfa, and no it aint just you that has a problem with our strikers, every week you hear the commentators saying that it was easier to score than to miss it, how many easy chance does Beckford actually miss.

nlag

.....and every week one or both of them does their best to talk their way into a yellow card.

wewantourdarbyback

i've got an idea, why dont we give Elding a go, we paid enough fucking money for him not to be sat on the bench

eddiesleftfoot

With you too Halfa. Much as I am happy with 17/18 goals I still look at players like Scotland, Commons, Agogo, Garner(?) at Carlisle etc and think they are just better than our frontmen. Maybe we are are too hard on our own players but cant help feeling that way.

Come on Becks, bag a hat-trick on Sat and shut us all up Laughing

Bringing my lad and his Man Citeh supporting mate on Sat so want to see a good performance.

30 Mill

The sasme supporters bagged Viduka yet a truley wonderous striker he was

halfaperson

Oh for gods sake here we go ableedingain with Marco this and Marco that. Why o bleeding why will you lot not let it lie with Mark Blah blah blah bla fucking blah Viduka. Rolling Eyes

Lets have a look at the great Marcos time here then.

200/2001 The Promised Land

The season before he came we finished Third in the Prem. Mr O’leary decided to he couldn’t give one of our best ever strikers the same wage as Kewell so he goes to Chelsea. Mr O’leary then buys Mark Viduka from Chelsea. A fella with a reputation for awkwardness and petulance as well as maverick genius. He makes his debut at Huddersfield looking like a bloke just back from a months tour of duty with Billy Bunter at Willy Wonkers chocolate factory.

It takes him seven games to get his first league goals. A brace at home, against Tottenham. By which time we have amassed a measly 8 points and lie in tenth position. We have lost at home to Man City and Ipswich, two teams that will be relegated that season. His contribution in those seven games was pitiful as he struggled to get in shape.

He then goes on a spree and bags 12 goals including a stunning quartet against Liverpool. Still by the New Year we are only twelfth and have lost one nil at home to another team who will be relegated. West Ham.
From then to the end of the season we go on a great run aided by his five goals. We finish fourth and tragically miss out on next year’s Champions League. I think History shows the consequences of that and it is all down to that terrible start while an overweight and sluggish Mark Viduka dragged his lardy arse around trying to get fit. Something every other footballer was doing in June and July.

What about that great Champions League campaign I hear you say. Well Mark Viduka bagged 4 goals including two superfluous ones in the thrashings of Anderlecht and Besiktas and one in Madrid were we lost. He did get the crucial one at Lazio though. None in the knockouts. Both Bowyer and Smith scored more and even that prolific goal machine Ian Harte managed the same amount as Viduka.

Season 2001/2002 the end of the start

On New years day 2002 we were top of the Prem. Vids had bagged seven goals including the winner at Highbury and very nearly the winner at Scum. He was on fire.

We played Cardiff in what now seems a watershed in the life of LUFC. Like an utter twat he gets sent off for an act of extreme petulance when we had the game sown up. I think I can trace our downfall to that moment without been too dramatic about it. By the time he gets his next goal TEN MATCHES LATER we are in fifth place. He then gets four in the last eight games but we lose at home to Fulham one nil and finish 5th. It is the start of the end and I can put it down to that winter of discontent while his self enforced absence and goal drought cost us ten points and a place in the champions league again with the disastrous consequences.

These are mostly facts but what they don’t say is his attitude and general demeanor on the pitch especially while we were struggling. This is something the results and stats don’t say and it is something only watching fans can see. I am loathe to play the “I go to the games card” I really am but he really wound me and thousands of others up with his refusal to tackle, make the runs and attempt the seemingly lost cause. It has now become apparent that he had a long running conflict with that other big headed squabbling twat kewell which can’t have helped things at all.

2002/2003 the start of the end

Incredibly 6 games in we were top after a stunning win over scum. 16 games later on New Years eve we were 13th Viduka netting just two goals including a pen at boro. By the end of Feb we had slipped to 14th Vids netting just one on new years day against Brum.

March came so did the sunshine as the temperature rose so did Vids Appetite. From then on to the end of the season he had scored 13 in ten games to effectively keep us up. For that he will always be remembered fondly but why oh why did it take him ¾ of the season to wake up.

2003/2004 the end.

24 games in on the 10th February we were 20th relegation more or less a certainty and Viduka had scored just four goals. By then Peter Reid had long gone to be replaced by Eddie Gray. Something that in my opinion Viduka played a large part in given his public display of animosity and ridicule towards someone who in my opinion was three times the man Viduka is. It is pure speculation of course bit if Peter Reid had stayed I think we would have stayed up. Certainly we would have made a better fist of that than we did under Eddies stewardship.

By March the sun had returned and coincidentally so had Vids appetite as he and the team tried manfully to keep us up. It was futile of course but he managed seven goals In 14 games in a what by now had become a customary late season blast.

Looking back he isn’t my least favorite striker and he isn’t my favorite. I firmly believe had we had the inclination to keep Jimmt Floyd Cashbank we would have qualified in both those disasrerouse seasons for the champions league but that is pure speculation I know.

Also in order to keep a little separate from the forums other Vids critic I would also say that a certain Mr Oleary was more culpable than Vids in those two seasons of underperforming. That however may be another thread Wink

wewantourdarbyback

One of my favourite players for us

and we bought him from Celtic not Chelsea

halfaperson

Course he did. I know that Cool

. JFH went to A .Madrid as well before Chelsea while were at it. Bit of a rushed typo. those dam Ozzies Goading me again Laughing

Cant recall Viduka playing for Rushden and Diamonds though Confused

wewantourdarbyback

30 Mill

What an odd post

Glosses over with one-liners when Viduka is on fire, highlights when team loses yet it all seems to be Viduka's fault we lose - Was he playing as a Keeper in those games or as a defender

And as for someone who plays the "I was there" card, did you not notice that playing a sole striker up front attracted more than a single defender marking him? Probably not

I also think your post supports the argument that we do, unreasonably, slag off our players
Viduka and Beckford (as the original thread mentions)

weasel

I thought it was Smith who was sent off v Cardiff and also Smith who scored at Lazio.

Viduka will always be a player that looked lazy but was supremely talented and on his day was a match winner. He will always be a player that could have been so much more. That said there have been many much worse players for Leeds and his overall scoring record stacks up pretty well with any Leeds strikers. I think he was how Cantona would have been if he'd stayed with us rather than how he excelled when surrounded by better players.

halfaperson

I referred to a league spreadsheet for the dates and figures but relied on memory for some other stuff. I was sure it was Viduka who got sent off at Cardiff for a swinging Elbow. I’ ve checked the oracle Wink

and you are right it was Smith. (Vids did get sent off though in one crucial game for the same offence). I know for certain that the period after that when we plummeted half way down the league was the most inept period of attacking play we ever produced in the Prem. If Vids didn’t miss any of those games through suspension it adds weight to his ineffectiveness so thanks for supporting my case Wink

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I also know Smith scored in the 1-0 win AT Lazio. Vids scored in the home game against Lazio in the second group round 3-3 draw for his fourth and final goal of the tournament. Not quite as crucial as Smiths so again thanks for reinforcing my case. Wink

halfaperson

Well I don’t think it was an odd post. It was Just an analysis of his and the teams performance in an effort to assess the two and hence his impact. It’s maybe a little lengthy (so here’s another) but I’m trying to make it a bit more than the old “he’s shit, no he isn’t he’s great” debate.

You could argue that it isn’t objective to equate the teams’ performance to one man. I do not think it is odd to assess a player in terms of overall team performance at all. Scoring a hatrick in a 6-0 route of Turkish amateurs is not as important as solitary winner at home to Leicester say. Four goals in one game becomes a distant insignificance after a ten week drought when the team average a point per game.

This is a major player though in a big position. He is someone whom we sold a perfectly good striker for (better imo) and someone whom we broke the bank for (possibly literally). I do not think it is unreasonable to assume that there is a direct correlation between the teams’ performance and his. In fact I think the analysis proves it. When he was good we were good when he wasn’t we weren’t. People always remember the 4 against Luckypool and the final burst of the 2002/2003 season but forget the long periods of inactivity. I certainly don’t think my attendance at the games gives my views more credence but in this case all I am saying is that i got a different perspective.

There is a deliberate ambiguity and inconsistency in the post Pete (if I may) because that is exactly what Mark Viduka represented to me. I most certainly am not a Vids hater and certainly not an admirer. I just think he was alright. I like to think I have no particular axe to grind with him and judge him as objectively as I can along with others of the same period. I deliberately tried to emphasise through my inconsistent prose that on his day he was dynamite but he had very long periods of inactivity that frustrated the beh jasus out of me and thousands of others. These periods of inactivity cost us dearly I think.

Secondly the guy was a center forward and as such there is a great deal resting on his shoulders (that is why they are paid more). The team relies on him to score goals not stop them. If he is not scoring the team is failing, simple as that. During those periods of impotent displays it wasn’t the keeper, defence or midfield underperforming it was piss poor front play (ok, coupled with a non existent RH Midfielder, again thank you DOL).

There are times when it is necessary for the team to play a sole striker. From what I believe and remember of Mr “4-3-3 let’s buy another striker” O’Leary it didn’t seem to be his choice of formation though. In any case it is no excuse for sluggish petulance from the sole striker. You look at Henry, Rooney, Torres, Nistleroy, Ian Wright, Drohgba and all truly great strikers. They all consistently perform and score regardless of the circumstances. That is what distinguishes a great striker from a mediocre one. I have no problem with mediocrity either actually. I do with elevating it to greatness as so often happens through rose tinted glasses and celebrity obsession.

Thirdly and this is something I can’t be arsed with checking. Have a look at his performances since leaving us. Mediocrity with mediocre/failing clubs. Not exactly set the world on fire as he. Just also heard he’s fallen out with Keegan over his fitness as well now. Bit of a pattern emerging here.

Finally, I do not “slag off” players I try to offer criticism on forums and try to justify these criticisms. If people think i do it in an unreasonable way that is their prerogative, obviously i think it is reasonable. I know enough about football to see when there is something wrong with a player. I know what a player can and can’t do and when I see someone with Vids undoubted talent underperforming it is blatantly obvious. Never did I slag him (or Beckford for that matte) off at the games. They both got and get nothing but support from me.

And Really finally

League positions before Viduka. 11th-5th-4th-3rd. An upward trend
League positions with Viduka 4th-5th-15th-19th. A downward trend

Sorry couldn’t help that bit of mischief Wink

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Gopher

So in a few words then, he was a fat shit??

Laughing

He used to frustrate the hell out of me with his "I`ll stand here and wait for the ball "attitude. Rolling Eyes

raveydavey

You can't sum up a player in just a couple of games, or even a couple of seasons.

You need to view their whole career.

Vids did fairly well at Leeds. It's fairly widely acknowledged that with a better work ethic he could have done better (as could others). He was however, the main striker for a team that was playing the best attacking football in England, if not Europe, for much of his tenure.

I think it's safe to say that he had hardly set the world on fire since leaving us has he?
That tells me all I need to know. Not bad - but certainly not great.

cardboardbox?Youwerelucky

halfaperson

No it was deliberate boxy. That was one of the main points i hoped would come across. Like i said im sort of neutral possibly with a slight bias to the right. I just thought he was alright and not as good as his many fans say he was. I hope thats not offended anyone. The Old Viduka debate is always a forum standby in quite times

Tanhilltimmy