Leeds United

Leeds United tour decision – journalist open and critical

It’s been in the Press often enough since it was announced, Leeds United’s decision to stage a mini-tour to Myanmar was bound to cause a certain level of consternation.

In a way it was bound to have that effect, for many reason there was bound to be an outcry against the club going there just days after the end of a disappointing 2017/18 Sky Bet Championship campaign.

However, in spite of the disappointment of reaching the summit of the league table, before free-falling down to a current 12th place, Leeds United have seen it fit the embark on a two-game tour to a country that has rightly been in the news. For the wrong reasons I may hasten to add.

Myanmar, or Burma as it was previously known is a country that has fallen into social turmoil at the moment, with a degree of heinous accusations thrown at it which go beyond the pale. Words such as ‘displacement’ run alongside phrases such as ‘ethnic cleansing’ as the world gazes from outwith at a regime criticised by United Nations officials.

With the criticism of Leeds United’s decision to tour rising daily, with local MPs criticising the club in an open letter, and with fans on social media continuing to be critical the furore shows little sign of going away. In fact the club itself fully intend to fulfil the fixtures against an all-star side and the Mynamar national side – who are ranked 178th in the world by FIFA.

In a conversation sparked by a tweet of his own article, Yorkshire Evening Post journalist Phil Hay gives two open and honest views about how he sees the ethos of the tour.

As the above Leeds United fan intimates, and it is becoming a common defence for some, the tour is about football and should be elevated above the turgid mess of politics. However, you can polish it all you want to make it look shiny and new, but as Hay rightly points out it is the old lure of new money that has drawn Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani to the Far East.

Hay goes on to further clarify what he thinks of the tour, his words (below) leaving no room for manoeuvre nor misunderstanding.

Fans can continue to look for a different light to interpret Leeds United’s decision to play a brace of games in Myanmar. Of course there’s no nefarious reasoning behind this decision – it is a money and market exposure situation all day long. However, as Phil Hay points out, exposure of Leeds United in the midst of a political scandal that is still developing is a level of exposure that the Whites could do without.

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