Who wants a BJ?

Having stood on the Elland Road terraces for 20 of the 25 years of my life, it has become apparent to me that the majority of our fans like a scapegoat.

Those to wear the donkey's saddle have varied over the years, ranging from Michael Duberry (justified) to Jermaine Beckford (laughable). Regardless of talent, attitude, creed or colour, Leeds fans and probably fans of most other clubs, love to have an out ball, a go-to man when the chips are down. When you're 1-0 down at home on Tuesday night (and there have been a lot of those this season), there seems to be an intrinsic need for our fans to vent their spleen at someone.

When Beckford's goal earned us promotion against Bristol Rovers, he was finally relieved of the tag that had stuck with him for the best part of two years. His subsequent move to Everton ensured that he was safe for a long time to come. Without him in the team, everyone was in the clear and there didn't really seem to be anyone to blame.

The squad had cruised towards, and then scrapped for, promotion together and were, on the whole, a likeable, close-knit group who had finally restored a semblance of pride to our crest after a good few years in the doldrums.

And then.

"Johnson rejects Leeds offer."

"Leeds midfielder turns down new contract."

This was of course the news that midfielder Bradley Johnson had apparently shunned a new deal with Leeds. And off it went.

"How dare he smack the badge on his shirt," said one poster on the message board WACCOE, while other comments ranged from "he's shit anyway" to the predictable "no-one is bigger than the club."

Now. For one thing we don't know if he has refused to sign a new deal and secondly, I don't think he is "shit", which is this the whole point of this blog, really.

Johnson is in his third full season with Leeds now, but you could say that only since the August of last year has he made much of a contribution.

One of a number of players signed in the breakwater between Dennis Wise and Gary McAllister as the club panicked over throwing away a top-two place, Johnson, who moved from Northampton, had a relatively promising start although found himself lumped in at left-back for the play-off final against Doncaster.

The following season he quickly changed to the old schoolboy joke of left-back in the changing rooms and was farmed out on loan to Brighton. Rumours raged as to why, with some keyboard warriors claiming he had text Premier League managers from McAllister's mobile, asking them to sign Fabian Delph, the teenager that had taken his place in the squad.

Johnson scored goals for fun during his spell with Brighton, and a "Get Johnson back" campaign quickly spread as McAllister floundered from one Paul Telfer to another Mansour Assoumani.

Eventually, McAllister left the club and in came Simon Grayson, who decided to call Johnson back and give him another chance. What sticks out for me the most during his initial return, though, was his horrific 35-yard strike that flew into the stand with about eight seconds of our play-off defeat to Millwall remaining.

The next season, our promotion season, he was a different man. He had seven goals by October and made the left-wing spot his own. His strength looked to have improved, his heading was imperious (it needed to be as a standard tactic was Shane Higgs kicking to his wing) and for my money, he was starting to look like a real player.

The goals dried up for the rest of the season, a thunderous header against Norwich proved to be his last, (if you discount a dubious scuff against Yeovil) and I once saw him referred to as Bradley "South Stand upper" Johnson in relation to his hammer of a shot that had all of a sudden lost its direction.

But again, in my opinion, his performances remained high despite his drought - he was utterly exceptional at Old Trafford - and played a key role in getting us out of the division.

This season he's carried on in the same vein, running hard, strong, shooting wildly (sometimes more accurately as three goals so far will testify to) and essentially working his nuts off.

And then the story.
What's worth noting is that the initial story claimed that Grayson was planning an overhaul of his squad that would spell the end of Johnson, Neil Kilkenny, Andy Robinson and Tony Capaldi. Now, I know we all wish we were still seeing Capaldi's hopeless positional play at Elland Road, he left the club via a side door in January. Story credibility at a low.

Now, though, fans are less forgiving of the wild shooting and the stray passes. Last night's game with Hull saw him give away a free-kick that led to Hull's opener, equalise, miss a chance to put us 3-1 up and then score an own goal to make it 2-2 with a lack of concentration from a corner. It never rains eh, Bradders?

His hero to zero moment couldn't have come at a worse time, with fans already scrutinising his every money-grabbing-fuck-off-if-you-dont-love-leeds move.

But I don't subscribe to that. I want Johnson to stay, even if it does involve a slight budge in wages. He's become part of the fabric of the modern club, a key player in the promotion side and a vital component in the current renaissance we're having.

He's already said he wants to stay and I personally think his contribution is under-rated. For my dollar, he does a lot of work for the team off the ball and at times can be akin to a human wrecking ball with his strength and his ability to almost smash his way through defenders.
Don't forget as well that he's only 23. There could be more to come. There might not be, but I think we need to try and find out.

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I don't expect many to agree with this, but, let me know what you think of Johnson and who our of the others out of contract you'd want us to keep. Is Johnson worth a new deal and, if he wants more money, is it worth bending the budget for him? If he is going to go, who do you want to replace him?

Let me know in the comments below or get in touch with me via Twitter here.

Too many Cookes?

Back in January, just before the start of Super League 15, those nice people from Hull FC took myself and a few other journalists that cover the club on a regular basis out for a meal. It was the day after Hull had beaten Hull KR in a pre-season friendly and those present from the club including CEO James Rule, coach Richard Agar and captain Sean Long were in good spirits.

It was a get-to-know-you type of evening, common around sport and journalists, with the theme very much "here have some cheese and biscuits but if you write anything nasty about us we'll break your teeth". It was good fun and a very welcome gesture.

After dinner we retired for coffee, where, rather than thanking them for paying for my crab I told them that I thought they were wrong not to be thinking of re-signing Paul Cooke. Now I didn't say this out of context. It wasn't in the middle of a game of charades or even Twister. Cooke, now with Hull KR after his acrimonious departure from Hull in April 2007 had played a less-than peripheral role in the previous day's game, looking ever more like a shadow of the man who had won the Challenge Cup for Hull in 2005.

Agar and Rule were discussing the game and I, a long-time admirer of Cooke's abilities, told them they would do well to take another look at him. He still had another year at Hull KR, but it was clear that his time there was already borrowed and, an offer for his services might well prompt Hull KR to open the exit door for him.

As it was, the pair, far more knowledgable than I, ignored my words and Cooke eventually left Hull KR to join his old mentor John Kear at Wakefield. Kear has developed a reputation for doing a job similar to the one Sam Allardyce did at Bolton, as he has proved to be an expert at getting the best out of players who, for whatever reason, are on the last of their nine lives.

Unfortunately, though, even Kear was unable to coax the best out of Cooke, now 29, and the player is now without a club as most sides begin regrouping ahead of the 2011 season.

Because of the intensity of his relationship with Hull FC - he made over 200 appearances for them and was their main playmaker before his defection - rumours have consistently spread that he was 'set' or 'poised' for the most spectacular of returns to his former employers, with some fans suggesting that Cooke himself is the man behind the rumours.

Whether or not he harbours dreams of pulling on a black and white shirt again, the odds were vastly extended, nay made worthless, on Monday night when Rule released a hard-hitting statement saying there was "no future" for the prodigal son with the club.

So where does Cooke go from here?

If you're a Hull FC fan you probably don't care and, I expect the majority of Hull KR fans feel the same after a largely ineffective three years with them. But let me indulge myself slightly.

When I first started out as a rugby league reporter back in late 2004, early 2005, it was covering Hull FC. The side were in transition between Shaun McRae and Kear, and, at the fulcrum of the side was Richard Horne at scrum-half and Cooke at stand-off. Both academy graduates, they made their debuts as 16 and were now established first-team players.

Horne was the poster boy of the side, the local boy done good, the nippy support runner, the try-scorer. Cooke was the moody, broody stand-off, but everything that was good about the team came through him. His range of passing was like nothing I had seen from anyone else in the Hull side, the same with his vision.

In 2005, his try off a Horne pass won Hull the Challenge Cup as they beat Leeds 25-24 at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. At the time, he had the game at his feet. And maybe that was the problem. When I interviewed him after that game he said that it had been "a long time between drinks" for Hull, and, he knew that he would never have to buy a drink again in the city. A modern-day hero, for my money, there was no real incentive to achieve again. The work was done.

That did not show immediately, though, and, in my opinion, Cooke's form in the 2006 season remains amongst the best I have seen in the seven years I have been on the rugby league beat. Peter Sharp took over from Kear in April and changed the side's style of play to an expansive one with Cooke in the engine room. Kirk Yeaman and Gareth Raynor, the side's left-sided centre and wing pair, went on the Great Britain Tri-Nations tour largely thanks to the tries he laid on for them. He was quite simply a joy to watch. His goal-kicking was another exemplary part of his game. There was no Jonny Wilkinson-style clasping of the hands. He was languid and didn't care. Over it went.

In the off-season between 2006 and 2007, with Richard Swain having stood down from captaining the side, I asked Cooke if he wanted to replace him. "It would be an honour," he replied. Three months later he had tendered his resignation from the club, revealing he had never signed a contract, and happily skipped down the A63 to pen a three-and-a-half-year deal with Hull KR, the club he had supported as a boy.

The move caused the most unbelievable chasm. The two clubs verbally sparred in the media, while one radio station was banished by Hull having broken the story in the first place. The shockwaves were felt throughout the sport.

Personally, it was a good time for my career. Cooke agreed for me, through the agency I work for, to release a statement from him explaining why he had made the move, and the story remains one of my proudest hours. Later that week I covered a lengthy press conference with him where he said he had moved to Hull KR for "rugby reasons" and asked the Hull FC fans to understand.

They didn't.

So what went wrong. Why, over the course of three years did Cooke's career not just hit the buffers, but go considerably backwards? He remains the best British stand-off I have seen in my time covering the game, but now he is without a club. His best games for Hull KR were reserved for the derby games with Hull FC. Beyond that, he was anonymous, and with due respect, players simply not good enough such as Chaz I'Anson were preferred to him in the number six shirt.

As I've referenced, I've always had a lot of time for Paul and, as many of my colleagues will testify to, I've never been shy to bang the drum to push his name forward, even going as far as telling the club he had quit that they should re-sign him.

Earlier this year, however, a piece I did with him about the Hull derby, where he was praising both clubs, was picked up by the Hull Daily Mail and sexed up with the headline: "The derby is special, even without me." The next day the Wakefield press officer called me to say Paul was furious and wanted a head on a plate. Touchwood, I'm yet to lose my noggin box.

Despite that, though, I still have a lot of time for Paul and it genuinely saddens me that his career has reached the point where another club have to release a statement distancing themselves from him.

Of course, the Hull fans, or some of them at least, still harbour a lot of hate towards him. Even if they didn't, the signing of Joe Westerman to play Cooke's position, means they probably don't need him anyway. I hope someone does, though. I don't know if I can see him playing in the Championship, and I hope a Super League club somewhere can find a reason to give him a 10th life.

He's not a murderer or a terrorist. He's a rugby league player. And a bloody good one at that. His talent demands more success. I hope his mind does too.

And as for me, I'm already looking forward to next year's pre-season feed, but I think I'll be keeping my mouth shut next time and ordering the humble pie.

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Let me know what you think of Paul Cooke and what you think he should do next, either on here or on Twitter. And by the way, if you've managed to get to the bottom of this then you probably like your rugby league, so why not tune into Yorkshire Radio who have 50 live games next season. Follow them here on Twitter. They're good lads. Honest.