Flying Kiwis – Chris Wood + Leeds United + Next Season
They were so close to getting it done. They were right on the verge of something special. Garry Monk’s first season in charge of Leeds United and he had them on the brink of challenging for that final Premier League promotion spot, a fabled territory they haven’t occupied since getting relegated in 2003–04. Before the money disappeared, before the second relegation, before the five years of mid-table Championship mediocrity.
You already know that story, it’s the story that Chris Wood mirrored as he finally found a home and a consistent scoring touch, winning the division’s Golden Boot with 27 league goals. But Leeds fell short at the end and a run of only one win in their last eight games saw them drop to seventh. They’d miss the playoffs and they might have missed their chance at getting out of one of the most ruthless divisions in all footy.
The reason they might have missed their chance comes down to one bloke: Garry Monk. Despite that great season, Funky Monk unexpectedly decided not to pick up his contract option for a second term and instead left the club.
Why did he do it? Dunno, he’s been a little shady about it. Could’ve been a money thing with Monk doing big things for his reputation over the past 12 months. It also might have been to do with the direction he saw the team heading in, Monk’s still in his 30s and a career manager like him wants to see constant progress. If the team isn’t gonna be able to repeat then he’s not so keen. “No agreement could be reached”? “Unable to agree a suitable way for us to all move forward together”?
The closest he’s come to addressing it was with these quotes as he was unveiled as the new Middlesbrough manager soon after:
Garry Monk: “New people came in and there was a new structure. I talked to the new ownership about what the new process would be and I thought it would carry on but for whatever reason it didn’t work out. I don’t really want to go into the detail of that right now but it didn’t suit me and so I had to take a decision.”
Monk’s definitely left the place in better shape than when he started. The squad has been improved, there’s a belief in there too that they can compete for promotion. But he’s right about new people. Massimo Cellino’s controversial ownership finally came to an end as Andre Radrizzani bought a 50% stake in January and completeled the full takeover in May. Two days later Garry Monk resigned.
All good, he wanted to do things his way and Leeds were in the process of changing regimes. In came a Director of Football, they reintegrated the ladies’ team into the main ownership umbrellas as well as buying back Elland Road – back under LUFC ownership for the first time since 2004. And Thomas Christiansen, a Danish born lad who played internationally for Spain (only two caps) and coming off a successful season in Cyprus with APOEL. Yeah, this was not the obvious candidate but Leeds can afford to take a gamble, they’re sitting in the Championship.
Bringing this back around to Chris Wood though, things are a little complicated. Was his career spike an inevitable thing or was it coaxed out of him by the tutelage of Garry Monk and forwards coach James Beattie? And can he repeat it now that both those men have left the club? Woody will definitely believe he can, we’ll see if he’s right or not once the season kicks off.
Luckily for him it looks like he won’t be stuck in the conundrum it appeared he might be when Monk jumped ship. See, last year’s Leeds squad wasn’t the deepest. They relied on a really strong spine of their team and most of that spine was down to Garry Monk. You had Woody up top, sure. Then Pablo Hernandez creating stuff behind him – a former Swansea lad of Monk’s. Their midfield saw some ins and outs but their central defence pairing of Kyle Bartley and Pontus Jansson was brilliant, as was Rob Green in goal behind them. All three were Monk signings, all three only for a single season.
That’s where it gets lucky for Wood. While Kyle Bartley has been summoned back to Swansea after his loan deal ended, it looks now like the rest of those key performers will all return for another swing. Rob Green hit an appearance trigger in his contract that extended it by a year and Pablo Hernandez was already under contract for another year – though you could forgive him for getting antsy since the Monk connection was his main reason for signing. Teenage midfield prodigy Ronaldo Vieira is still there and still keen too.
But the biggest boost was getting Pontus Jansson back on a permanent basis. There was a real question mark there despite the buy now option and it was made even more complicated with Torino kicking up a fuss Leeds not paying their bills. Thankfully Jansson wanted to stay and FIFA have cleared that fee business. The only player who’s actively pushed his way out is Charlie Taylor who wanted to leave from the beginning. He even went on strike for the final game of the previous campaign and now it sounds like he’s off to Burnley for a PL stint – good move for all involved if Leeds can also get a nice tribunal fee there.
So fears have been allayed that might have led to Woody getting on the phone to his agent. Not only that but with the new ownership they’re actually getting pretty ambitious in the market too. Stunningly they were able to win the battle for German goalie Felix Wiedwald, who played 25 times in the Bundesliga for Werder Bremen last season but lost his spot to Jiri Pavlenka and declared his interest in moving to England. That sent a bunch of Championship teams into action but somehow Leeds, who already have Rob Green, won the scrap. Nothing wrong with a bit of competition for places.
Wiedwald’s arrival came after Polish international midfielder Mateusz Klich had joined from FC Twente, a fantastic acquisition to strengthen the centre of the park, while Madger Gomes came in from the Liverpool U23s and Hadi Sacko followed Pontus’ lead by making his loan deal permanent. If there are one or two more signings to follow and the blokes from last time, Chris Wood especially, can pick up where they left off then they might even be better this time around. Could even be that in restocking and replacing Funky Monk that they avoid the psychic hangover of the choke job that cost them a playoffs gig.
Thomas Christiansen on Chris Wood: “I believe I can make him better and he should be better. He should not stay at this level. It is a good level of course if you score so many goals, but you should always want to raise your target and be ambitious in all that you do. He is also a very young player still. He has many years of football ahead and he, for sure, will have the same target as I have. Who would not want a player who has scored 30 goals? I rate him very highly. I am happy he came out the other day in the press saying that he will look forward to working with me and that is a very good sign.”
That’s the other thing, Wood just played a brilliant season. Scored 30 goals all up, won a bunch of awards. Other teams are taking notice of that and this English summer has been flooded with rumours of interest. Sunderland and West Ham were mentioned in the early days. More recently Huddersfield have been the team to get all the links. No surprises there, Woody has scored more goals against Huddy than against any other team (eight in 12 games). As David Wagner’s side have gotten promoted they’ve looked to strengthen and Wood’s an obvious target.
Perhaps a little too obvious, however. A story in early June from the Irish Sun suggested that Huddersfield were “favourites to land Leeds striker Chris Wood in £15million summer swoop”. Doesn’t even matter that Crystal Palace, Swansea, Stoke, West Ham, West Brom and Southampton were all also keeping tabs on the All Whites forward. Nothing else really elaborated upon there, no hints at who the sources may be either… although SkyBet cut the odds on Woody to Hudds a day earlier and the rest of their list seems to line up eerily well with the other clubs mentioned. Again, Wood’s an obvious candidate for rumours… may as well get some suckers to throw their money away on that, right?
Speaking from the Confederations Cup, Woody himself had this to say about things: “It’s a great appointment of the new manager, an exciting new manager who did well last season. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can offer in pre-season and we go from there.”
Doesn’t really sound like a bloke considering the exit door. The club certainly isn’t gonna sell him – they know how crucial he’s been and all the money they’re investing at the moment is wasted if they start letting key players escape. He’d have to force a move himself and that’s not gonna happen. Much more likely is a couple more rumours as the season draws near and then a big pay-rise on a new contract with his current one running down in two years.
Leeds Utd’s new Director of Football Victor Orta: “I am really happy to read a good interview with Chris a week ago, which said he was really happy with the new manager and is really happy with the club. For me, I am really happy he is still here next season. For me, it is the best situation for Chris and I hope he stays.”
Orta’s right, this is the best situation for him. The confusion after Monk left has been swiftly dealt with and the club’s now building on those foundations from a place of strength – something Woody has also applauded. He’s been in the Premier League before, sitting on the bench. Meanwhile at Leeds he’s fully established as a crucial cog in the works, he’s overcome some initial friction to thoroughly win over the fans and he’s coming off the best season of his career by a long shot.
Maybe if the right club showed some actual, tangible interest then his head might be turned. Or, perhaps, a dude that’s spent his whole career jumping from club to club trying to find a home and coming off the best season of his life might just wanna stay at Leeds for the long term having finally found a club he can settle at.
Settle on The Niche Cache and smack an ad. Guaranteed good vibes will come your way if you do.