Crisis club Leeds United owe a lot to their relegation from the Premiership because of the cowardly attitude of the majority of their players, claimed their South African veteran, Lucas Radebe, on Monday.
The 35-year-old said the attitude of most of the players — with the exception of England striker Alan Smith and Scottish international defender Dominic Matteo — was pitiful as they knew that whatever happened to the club they would be leaving at the end of the season.
”I feel most of the players just gave up and accepted the situation — some of them knew they would be going at the end of the season,” he said.
”It is disappointing when people have that attitude. We have responsibilities, we are not just here to take the money and it’s hard to respect those players who were not trying,” added the two-time World Cup finals veteran, whose loyalty during a 10-year spell at the club has been rewarded with another year’s contract.
Radebe, one of the few survivors from the team that reached the Champions League semifinals three years ago, said he had noticed their change of heart during training.
”There have been a lot of question marks over some of the players at the club.
”This season, I have seen a change in the attitude of some of the players during training.
”The players did not enjoy it as much, and some of them were just coming in to pass the time.”
Radebe revealed that despite the dedication of himself, Smith and Matteo, who played even though he has painful knees, there was little to be done in motivating the other players even at matches.
”You would try hard to get the spirit back during the week, only to find that during the game it would go again,” he said.
”But Dominic, Smithy and a few others always worked hard for the club and it is sad to see them end up in this situation.”
Radebe said that if Leeds were to bounce straight back up like West Brom have done this term they would have to rediscover their spirit.
”What you need to come back up is to have quality and fighting spirit in the team and, while I realise that some players will go, the people who stay at the club must fight to come straight back up.” — Sapa-AFP