Leeds United have gone lolloping headlong into yet another PR quagmire (remember the new badge?) after proudly announcing they will be embarking on a pre-season tour to Myanmar, a country currently wracked by war.
The Foreign Office currently have warnings in place against all non-essential travel to Myanmar, largely due to the country is in the grip of a military crackdown and the sustained ethnic cleansing – not our words, the words of the United Nations — of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims.
That, and the fact that, also according to the Foreign Office, “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks” at any time.
Still, that didn’t stop Leeds from organising a couple of money-spinning friendlies (the preposterous AYA Bank Tour 2018) there in the coming months…
🇲🇲 | Leeds United are delighted to announce the #AYABankTour18, featuring two friendly matches in Myanmar
More info ➡ https://t.co/lmCtLZrk2X pic.twitter.com/FTQRJGYqp7
— Leeds United (@LUFC) April 24, 2018
Leeds managing director Angus Kinnear was left to chirrup about all the benefits of traipsing halfway across the world for a footballing cash-grab in a politically volatile, war-torn idyll:
Myanmar is one of the fastest growing nations in South East Asia and is passionate about English football.
They have ambitious goals for grassroots and elite football development that we are delighted to be able to support.
This tour gives us an opportunity to meet new fans of football who will hopefully support our journey back to the Premier League in the coming years.
C’mon boys, we’ve got exploring of emerging markets to do.
Under recent ownership, Leeds really have become one big, ridiculous idiot of a club.
How long until they back-track on this one, just as they did with that awful club crest?