Tom Lees can no longer drink calmly in Headingley
Having Huddersfield Town in the Premier League again was going to be a high price to pay for bringing Tom Lees up here, but both their dreams were dashed at Wembley on Sunday anyway.
It continues to be a crime that Tom Lees has not played football in the Premier League. Had things been different, the Leeds made centre-back could have done what Liam Cooper did, lifting the EFL Championship trophy and captaining the Peacocks at the top level. Unfortunately for him, Massimo Cellino took one look at his mournful face and banished him to Sheffield Wednesday, before realising his mistake and going to Chesterfield with an open wallet for their slightly hairier model.
Having Huddersfield Town in the Premier League again was going to be a high price to pay for bringing Tom Lees up here, but both their dreams were dashed at Wembley on Sunday anyway. Nottingham Forest, with a defensive performance that suggests Steve Cooper's team are going to be as annoying in the Premier League next season as his Swansea were in the Champo, won 1-0 thanks to a deflected own goal. Among the several indignities Town now face are their best midfielder being available for transfer (maybe even to Leeds), their manager being susceptible to better jobs (maybe even at Leeds), and the whole thing coming down to decisions by the referee, Jon Moss (who is from Leeds). What a shame the whole thing is.
Speaking to Radio Leeds' Katherine Hannah after the game, Lees was seething. Town were certain they should have had at least one penalty, when Lewis O'Brien had his ankles taken out by Max Lowe with five minutes left. That came ten minutes after Harry Toffolo was booked for diving over a tackle that, if he'd stood up and let his legs be swept, would have been a sure-fire penalty too.
"I think it's clear for everybody to see, and I don't want to do anyone the pleasure of taking any money off me, so I'm not going to say anything about it. But we've got the cameras there for a reason.
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"There's so much money on this game and it's life changing for us as players. You've got players in there, it might be their last crack at this. It could change the club forever. And I thought that we had the cameras there to make sure a game this important wasn't spoiled by a bad decision."
Tom was referring to VAR being used in the Champo play-off final for the first time, but before Huddersfield could get to that, they had to get through Jon Moss. He was refereeing his final professional match, and with Dermot Gallagher in the stands, you might conclude the minds of officialdom were on a post-match send-off round London finest rock boozers more than whether the Terriers got a penalty or not. As a ref, Moss never had the panache of Mike Dean, and Huddersfield might have found it easier to argue with a referee prepared to argue back instead of his blank face. Penalty? Nah. VAR check? Says no. Why? Not saying. Moss kept away from the fray, as if none of the players' complaints were his problem in his last match before retiring from all this running around and shouting. What did any of this have to do with him? Next season he'll be managing the Premier League's referees, while running his record shop in Leeds.
Ah yes. The Vinyl Whistle is in Headingley, on the main road into town, and if Tom Lees thinks he can get this match out of his system quickly, just wait until he's on a summer day's Otley Run, six pints deep, and confronted by the premises of his new nemesis. Tom always seems a placid character, but I well remember an England Under-21 international in Serbia, marred by racist abuse that caused fighting at the end, when after getting stuck in on the pitch Lees reemerged from the tunnel, like Truth coming from the well armed with her whip to chastise mankind, to mete out some anti-racist justice that got him charged by local police. There's righteous anger in him. Jon Moss' shop has big plate glass windows. It is filled with fragile vinyl records. The shop sign is a turntable shaped like a ref's whistle. Everything about it is a reminder of its proprietor running towards the penalty spot with a yellow card for Toffolo at Wembley, and everything about it looks like an opportunity to take revenge. If you're a friend of Tom, planning to take him out for a few beers round his home city to feel better, for god's sake turn right at the lights and go up North Lane to the Taps. You can come around the back way to the Skyrack and Original Oak. You don't want to go to The Box anyway. You can see the shop sign from their street tables and it'd be asking for trouble.