[jayp]

Former Leeds United player Harry Kewell has made the astonishing decision to sign a three-year contract for Turkish side Galatasaray according to Dutch sources.

In the eyes of most Leeds fans and many football fans in England, this act is one of betrayal to the memory of Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight, the two Leeds United fans murdered in Turkey on 5th April 2000, the night before the UEFA cup semi-final against Galatasaray, a match in which Kewell played. Turkish authorities are still spinning out legal appeals in an effort to avoid jailing Turks for the murder of a foreigner.

The injury-prone Aussie left Leeds United for Anfield under a cloud of self-interest, behaviour so bad that Gary Lineker criticised him for it and Kewell launched a celebrated failure of a court case against him - suing Lineker is he legal equivalent of kicking a puppy!

However, his just reward for his stark self-interest was five injury-prone years and the failure to reproduce the form that had made him the exciting property that he was in the white shirt of Leeds. He did appear in two Champions League finals in the famous red shirt of Liverpool but made no contribution in either - being substituted as injured after just 23 minutes of the unforgettable final against Milan.

Dumped by Benitez at the end of the contract for costing too much for too few appearances, approximately £150,000 per game - Kewell was, nevertheless, rumoured to be interesting Italian and Premier League clubs.

However, he chose Galatasaray; he chose to re-awaken nightmares for two Leeds families - he chose to become the ultimate symbol of the egocentric, narcissist that is the modern day footballer - self before team, self before fans, self before country - me, me me - quite a creed to live your life by. A sad day to be a professional footballer.