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Season 2005/2006Transfer News - Sadly Leeds appear still to be a selling club by once again releasing talented young players at the club. Simon Walton played over 30 games for Leeds the season before last, making his debut at just 16 and did well. He didn't figure in the manager's plans last season playing just five times in all competitions, but do we really need to let our future players go ? He is in talks with Charlton regarding a £500,000 move and perhaps a further sell on clause. Look at the last Leeds player (brought through the ranks) that we gave away for £1M - Aaron Lennon. He's worth £15M now just two seasons later. Other news is that Leeds have completed the signing of French winger, Sebastion Carole from Brighton for around £250,000 and were thought to be offering £750,000 to Luton for 30 year old striker Steve Howard (who scored 15 goals last term) and 27 year old midfielder Kevin Nicholls. The move for Howard would perhaps indicate it's only a matter of time before Rob Hulse vacates Elland Road with just the fee to be negotiated. Hulse will join other players already gone such as Danny Pugh to Preston, Michael Ricketts to Southend and Ian Moore who is in talks with several Division One clubs. With Walton transferring to The Valley, Leeds fans will be monitoring closely events surrounding Mattie Kilgallon and will not be pleased if he too is allowed to leave Elland Road. Season tickets are already slow and this may be a bridge too far for many fans. June 12th. We were diabolical in the Play-Off Final
and have been linked with Franny Jeffers, David Weir, Glenn Little and
just about everyone else. We all agree that we need young blood that knows
were the goals are and has fantastic pace. Step up to the mark our
youngest member, Sean Cunningham who at three and a half might offer more
than we seen in 90 m
May 21st Mill'nm Stadium Cardiff Watford 3-0 Leeds.
They came from USA, Australia, Europe and from the Louth Branch all in
the hope of seeing Leeds regain their rightful place back in the Premiership.
There may have been just 64,000 fans there but Leeds tickets were like
gold-dust and many a fan offered £200/£300 Stg for the opportunity of
witnessing Leeds in the Play-Off Final. The support both before
and after May 8th. Preston NE 0-2. Blackwell took a lot May 6th. Play Off S/F 1st leg. C Palace 0-3 Watford. Two ex Leeds players, Marlon King and Mattie Spring caused the shock of the season with Watford gaining a surely unassailable lead at Selhurst Park. May 5th. Play-Off S/F 1st Leg. Leeds -1 Preston NE. The Louth Branch were there in numbers to witness Eddie Lewis grab a late equaliser against a decent Preston side, who masterminded the time wasting tactic to a fine art. Hulse in particular received a rough ride from Mawene and Davis. Manager, Billy Davies celebrated at the end as if his side was already in Cardiff. Not so it's only half time. Some were displeased with Blackwell's tactics . However there's another 90 minutes of football left and all to play for. April 29th. Preston NE 2-0 Leeds. Leeds rested
up to eight players for our last g Sat 22nd. Leeds United 1-0 Crewe Alex. It was good to finish our home league games with a victory. Despite dominating the first half we had nothing on the score board. Hulse missed out through the Thorp Arch virus so Graham started up front with Healy, and it was the Northern Ireland player who scored the only goal of the game in the last twenty minutes. Just 21,000 turned up including a decent contingent from the Louth Branch, but they witnessed Steve Stone come on for his Elland Road debut for the biggest cheer of the day. It's Preston up next, arguably our Play-Off Semi Final opponents. Elsehwere, Palace defeated Soton 2-1 and Watford won 2-1 at 10 men QPR. April 18th. Sheff United 1-1 Leeds United. If the Blunts thought we just turned up to be animals to the slaughter in their party they had another thing coming. We even scored their goal for them (Bakke OG). They said our strikers couldn't score. Healy scored a super strike as both of our main strikers have now scored in the last two games. We sit in fifth and the only team that has turned us over in the top six this season was C Palace (a team we also defeated). Listening to Steve Stone live on BBC Radio Leeds he will be well fit for the Play-Offs and with hopefully a rejuvinated Eddie Lewis on the left after his rest, we may be a side who can just make it back to the Promised Land. April 15th. Leeds 1-1 Reading . Well, its finally confirmed as the Play-Offs as if we didn't know already. Sheff United won 1-0 at Cardiff the night before. In truth this was a much better performance from Leeds and good to see a striker score from normal play. Hulse got the goal and Reading (worthy champions) scored perhaps an undeserved equaliser in the final five minutes. April 8th. Leeds 0-0 Plymouth A. Just over 20,000
turned up to witness what many of us had already accepted. A 0-0 draw
against Playmouth Argyle is not good enough by any stretch of the imagination.
The manager changed things around by dropping Lewis and Miller. Douglas
moved into the middle, Richardson started on the right and Healy started
on the left. Richardson was playing very well but had to revert to right
full when Kelly went off feeling unwell. Beckford played wide on the right
which meant we had two strikers in unfamiliar wide positions. Blake, Hulse
and Healy all went close, but in truth just like in previous weeks we
didn't do enough to break down a poor but well organised side. Sheffield
United went 9 points clear with one game left, and everyone connected
with Leeds knows we are heading for the Play-Offs except Kevin Blackwell.
Preston seem to be the one Play-Off side in form as they defeated Noriwch
City 2-0. Palace lost at Leicester and Watford drew 1-1 with Luton. We
need to pick things up immediately and find so April 5th. It emerged that Steve Stone (below right) is alive and well and residing at Thorp Arch where he has resumed light training. Richard Cresswell (our most lethal striker in my view) is also back training and we may have one or both fit in time for the Play-Offs. Goodness knows the club needs a lift. April 1st. Hull City 1-0 Leeds Utd. High Noon at Hull turned out to be the end of the automatic promotion campaign. We had chances, none better than the poor effort by Miller when he had all the goal to aim at from 11 yards. He missed. Parkin scored and three points from fifteen is clearly not good enough. Elsewhere Sheffield United only drew at Stoke City, but it is one more point than we achieved. Watford also lost. Time to regroup and get some form going for the Play-Offs. There will be an excellent artcile in next weeks magazine covering the last seven years of the Play-Offs. Everything is far from over, but we need at least a date with Cardiff. March 24th. Leeds United 0-0 Stoke City. This was a very poor match which perhaps reinforced the view that our midfield of Derry, Lewis, Miller and Douglas lacks the guile and creativity to break teams down when they put numbers behind the ball. Stoke looked more dangerous than Leeds. Hulse and Healy were starved of decent service. Blackwell tried to change things by introducing Beckford, Blake and Griffiths, all offensive players, but again the service to these players was poor. That's just two points from our last twelve and we have made it very difficult for ourselves again. Sheff United defeated Southampton 3-0 and Watford lost at home to Millwall. We are six points behind that automatic 2nd placed side. March 23rd . Leeds signed bulky striker, Danny Graham
on loan March 21st. Leeds 0-1 C Palace. We spent so long waiting
for our game in hand that people assumed the three points was a formality.
Palace didn't see it that way and for all
March 14th. It was announced that Drogheda United will
play hos March 10th. Leeds 2-2 Norwich City. The proverbial game
of two halves witnessed by ten members of the Louth Branch. We were dynamic
and positive in Mar 7th. Good to see Kevin Blackwell rewarded with a three year contract at Elland Road. The man deserves no less and good luck to him. March 4th. C Palace 1-2 Leeds United. Sheffield
United at home to Crewe Alexandra and Leeds away to C Palace. Surely the
gap between Yorkshire's two f March 3rd. It was announced that if Leeds win promotion this year they must pay M'bro £1.8M for the services of Michael Ricketts who is currently on loan at Burnley . Feb 25th. Leeds Utd 2-1 Luton Town.
It's a funny old game. Sheffield Utd at home to QPR. Surely a banker.
Not so, The Blunts lost 2-3. Feb 18th. Leicester City 1-1 Leeds. Manager Kevin Blackwell
said "it was a .Feb 15th. Good news on the Cresswell front. It seems he may get to the end of the season without undergoing an operation. I think he is our most important target man at the moment. Let's keep him fit. Feb 14th. Leeds 2-1 Watford. The Hornets c Feb 11th. Derby County 1-1 Leeds United. Was it one point gained or two lost ? A draw was probably a fair result. That said, we had two stonewall penalties turned down and Haijto was allowed kick Hulse all around the park for the whole 90 minutes. He should have been off in the first 20 minutes for his over physical approach. The match was crying out for Healy to come on and produce some magic or Cresswell to be equally as physical as Haijto. Sadly Healy was suspended and Cresswell was injured. It could have been so different had Douglas not missed a great chance at the end. It's Watford now on Tuesday in match we must win. Another footnote, the 27,000 in attendance was Derby's biggest crowd. How many times this season have we been the biggest draw in town ? Feb 6th. Good news all around today as Watford hammered Sheffield United 4-1 at Bramall Lane proving that they are very much beatable. Ex Leeds loanee, Marlon "Padna" King scored two. Is this the start of nerves ?? We'll see. Elsewhere, Steve Stone's third Achilles operation seems to have been a success and he may make a comeback this season in a white shirt. Mattie Kilgallon also may be back in a fortnight as he begins to heal quicker than expected and Joel Griffiths' release from Neuchatel should come through in time for him to make his debut v Wigan Reserves on Wednesday. Feb 5th. Leeds 2-0 QPR. Leeds
recorded their 4th home win in succession with a comfortable 2-0 victor Jan 31st. Ipswich T 1-1 Leeds. Over
25,000 watched a superb match between Ipswich and Leeds. We had a lot
of chances as had Ipswich with most falling to Rob Hulse, but teenage
Irish keeper, Supple was in Jan 27th. In possibly the shock transfer of the season
Robbie Fowler (pic'd l Jan 23rd. Further scans revealed that Mattie Kilgallon would be out of action with ankle ligament damage for up to three months. The player got injured in virtually the last kick of the game in extra time v Wigan at Elland Road. Jan 21st. Leeds 3-0 Sheff Weds. There were a few
of us in attendance to witness Leeds score three goals in Thurs Jan 19th. Speculation mounted in various
reports that Leeds were about to Weds 17th. Leeds 3-3 Wigan Ath (defeat on pens) We
were knocked out of the FA Cup after drawing Jan 14th. Brighton 2-1 Leeds. Brighton
brought us back down to earth with a 1-2 defeat at the Jan 8th. Sky have at last seen sense and will show our 3rd round FACup replay live against Wigan from Elland Road at 7:45 on Tuesday next, Jan 17th. On a different note, head coach at Leeds, John Carver has been linked with the Robson/Staunton double act at Ireland. Jan 7th. Wigan Ath 1-1 Leeds. Leeds played a strong side at Wigan Athletic and showed once again fantastic team spirit against the Premiership team to gain a deserved replay. Rob Hulse, who started up front with Robbie Blake netted an equaliser with just four minutes to go. ( See pic of celebrations) Jan 6th. Leeds wrapped up a loan deal with Man United for Liam Miller for the rest of the season and were heavily linked with Aussie midfielder, Joel Griffihs who currently plays in the Swiss league with Neuchatel Xamax. Jan 2nd. Plymouth
Arg. 0-3 Leeds. We turned in probably our best performance of
t Jan 1st. Ther transfer window has reopened. Who will
join Leeds for one final promotion push in the last twenty games or so
left. The following have already been linked : Tommy Smit Dec 31st 2005. Leeds 2-0 Hull City.
Two goals from Jon Douglas (pic'd in action below) gave
us all three points in the Yorkshire derby versus Hull City. Hull started
the brighter and forced seven corners in the first half, but we got the
goal after Robbie Blake Dec 29th. Stoke City 0-1 Leeds. An Eddie Lewis goal (see pic above) was enough to give us all three points away to Stoke City. Again, it may have been undeserved. However, we are up to third as Watford only drew away to Millwall. Unfortunately Sheffield United had a good win at Southampton. We have to keep winning and try and pin the Blades back as Reading are out of sight now. Dec 27th. Leeds 3-1 Coventry City.
Leeds had a convincing victory on paper over Coventry City yesterday at
Elland Road. In truth we were lucky as the Sky Blues hit the woodwork
five times including missing a penalty. That's not our fault. There have
been games were we have played better and gained no points. It was good
to see Cresswell get off the mark. He lead the line and took his goal
well. Next up is Stoke, then Hull and Plymouth as we play four games in
eight days. Douglas (see his celebrations below)
and Blake scored our first two, and two well talen goals they were
too. Ten points would be a good return from Christmas. It was our
biggest crowd of the season yestarday with over 24,000 in attendence,
Weds Dec 21st. Wolves 1-0 Leeds. Having lost our previous two games I know many of
you have become disenchanted a little. Although we played better against
Wolves we still got what we deserved from the game. It's important now
that we attain six points from our next two games. The news on Steve Stone
is not good. There is talk he may not play again. Kevin Blackwell is looking
to the Premiership for loan r Thursday Dec 15th. Latest reports indicate two Leeds players may be leaving on loan for Derby County with one Ram coming the other way. It is thought the player is Tommy Smith, a wide right player who can also play up front. Sat Dec 10th. After winning four games on the trot v Southampton, Burnley, Millwall and Leicester City, Cardiffy City and their CEO, Peter Ridsdale came to Elland Road. A small protest followed the former chairman's arrival. Leeds never got a kick in the 1st half and were deservedly 0-1 down at half time. Although dominating for long periods in the 2nd half Leeds couldnt equalize despite having a few chances. Hulse is without a goal in 10 games. We're now 4th, although Reading and Sheff United keep winning and have increased the gulf between the top two and the chasing pack. In the January window it is clear we need to strengthen the right side of midfield with the news that Steve Stone may never kick a ball for Leeds. Sat Nov 19th. Southampton
3-4 Leeds . We headed to Saint Marys in a bad run of form.
We hadn't won a match since our reverse fixture against the Saints back
on Tuesday, October 18th. That day things went our way with goals from
Hulse and Blake securing a 2-1 victory. Since that fixture we have drawn
three games and lost two. In fairness, one of the losses was a Carling
Cup fixture to Blackburn Rvs when the Premiership side ran out easy winners
in a 3-0 victory. However, in our last two games we drew 0-0 at home to
an average Preston side and lost 0-1 at perennial relegation fighters,
Crew Alex. Immediate improvement was needed. The jury is also out over
Liam Miller, so a creative midfieler may also be a pre-requisite.After
45 minutes at St Mary's the travelling Leeds support found themselves
0-3 down. On 71 minutes Paul Butler made it 1-3. On 77 minutes Robbie
Blake made it 2-3. On 81 minutes David Healy made it 3-3 from the spot.
On 86 minutes Miller on loan from |
Leeds
Utd Louth
Supporters Club |
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inutes
of crap at Cardiff.
the
match was fantastic, better perhaps than the display merited. Kevin Blackwell
has received plenty of support in these pages, but not this time. One
has to call a spade a spade. Leeds were set up against an average Watford
side to win 1-0 with a 4-5-1 formation that was as lacklustre as it was
predictable. It was a hugely costly mistake to both hand Watford the initiative
and give them the respect their performance hardly deserved. The Watford
midfield of Mahon and Spring looked like worldbeaters instead of the Championship
players they were. Hulse up front on his own was a disaster. The player
was uncomfortable at best and his whinging for free kicks won no favour
with the referee. Kilgallon, our quickest defender was unhappy at left
back where he was obviously put to accommodate Butler and Gregan in the
middle. Kelly at right back had a poor match and rarely got forward. Boothroyd
was tactically more astute, and the man who has gotten more out of King
and Spring than Blackwell, had his players organised to win every duel
on the pitch. Their set playes were always dangerous and it was from one
that De Merit ghosted past Hulse and Sullivan to give the Hornets a deserved
lead in the first half. Leeds simply weren't at the races. The second
half saw the ineffective Richardson withdrawn for Blake who for all his
trickery and invention received little support from others except when
Healy came on when the match was over. The second goal saw poor goalkeeping
from Sullivan even though it was a Leeds throw in not given which
contributed to the goal. At this stage the game was all but over and the
penalty was merely the icing on the cake for Boothroyd who defeated both
C Palace and Leeds 3-0. In the middle of field Derry was the pick and
on another day would have made it 1-1. Miller was and is poor in a Leeds
shirt and hopefully he has played his last game for Leeds. Douglas tried
hard put is not a right winger and Eddie Lewis has been in World Cup mode
now for about four months so his perfo
mance again
was ineffective. Hulse was poor and caused the first goal by losing De
Merit for his free header. Blackwell earned little support from the 20
or so Louth members there and some feel he may have taken Leeds as far
as he can. His caution and releiance on one goal wins can prove fatal
as it did today. Leeds were pathetic and all who travelled went home feeling
both disappointed and confused that such a super opportunity was wasted.
Good luck to Watford and Boothroyd. One hopes we will pass them by next
season, but if this performance is anything to go by we may have someone
else at the helm. If the pressure was never on Kevin Blackwell before,
it cartainly is now, as nothing short of automatic promotion will satisfy
the supporters. He has done a marvellous job taking the team so far, but
now the players clearly not good enough need to be culled and better pacy
players must be installed for next season. We have had enough talk
about where the team has come from. Expensive players came in for this
division such as Blake, Healy, Gregan, Harding, Cresswell, and Hulse.
These were combined with experienced pros such as Stone, Derry, Lewis,
Butler and Sullivan. I will only forget this heartache if I believe next
year we will definitely deliver. We'll see !!! May
19th. The search for tickets is finished, the build up
is almost over, the talking has been done. We'll know by Sunday 21st
of May if we have finally completed the Holy Grail of a come back to the
Premiership. Many could argue that our decline started all those years
ago in Cardiff when we lost to a poor 2nd division side in the Fa Cup
under O'Leary by 2-1. Hopefuly the side reoared on by over 40,000 Leeds
fans will dliver !!!!
of
criticism about his team formations in both matches, but there is no doubt
that two goals from Hulse and Richardson proved him right. A super second
half performance by the whites which sadly saw Crainey and Cresswell see
red and miss Cardiff. Tremendous performance lads and take that on the
chin Davies.
ame
of the Championship at Preston. Sullivan, Richardson, Pugh, Gregan, Kilgallon,
Stone, Douglas, Walton, Blake, Healy and Moore started for Leeds. Even
though we had a fringe team out, we were poor. Butler, Lewis, Hulse, Kelly
and Derry will alll come in and hopfully make a huge difference this Friday
Night (May5th) when we play Preston again. I have to say I was disappointed
with Pugh, Stone and one or two others who were trying to make that side
for Friday night.
me form or our season will fall completely flat.
from
Middlesbro until the end of April as cover for Richard Cresswell. The
20 year old played against Leeds recently when he was on loan at Derby
County.
our possession
they were the more incisive side. The goal came on 43 mins when Butler
and Kilgallon backed off Andy Johnson and Jobi McAnuff slotted home from
Johnson's pass. We huffed and puffed in the 2nd half to no great effect.
Kilgallon perhaps should have levelled the scores but Palace deserved
the win. Watford had a surprising 3-1 win at Southampton the day before
so it looks like we are definitely fighting for 2nd place in at least
a three horse race. We are four points behind Sheff United and one point
behind Watford. It get interesting right about now. Eight games to play
and no slip ups allowed. On a different note it was good to see Jermaine
Beckford (pic'd left v Palace) get his chance last night
when he came on for Crainey. Maybe he can surprise one or two defences
with his lightening pace, something we are very short on. The following
night he caused Man City Reserves all kind of problems with his pace in
the 1-1 draw at South Leeds stadium.March 18th. Coventry C 1-1
Leeds Utd. At one stage during this afternoon things didn't
look so clever, as The Blunts were winning 1-0 at Norwich and Leeds were
down 0-1 at Coventry City. A game of two halves at the Ricoh Arena. Coventry
dominated the first and deservedly lead through McSheffrey at the interval.
In the Second half we threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Sky
Blues, and justice was done when Healy converted a late, late penalty.
This Leeds side are never beaten until they hear the final whistle these
days. In contrast Sheff United lost 1-2 at Carrow Road. There's just four
points in it now, and we play C Palace on Tuesday night. Mickey Adams
said it would be a travesty if Sheff United failed to go up automatically this
season. Poor choice of words for an ex Leeds player. We'll see !!
March 15th. Leeds have secured the services of Non-League
striking sensation, Jermaine Beckford for an undisclosed sum from Wealdstone
FC. He has signed a three and a half year contract with United. The 22
year old scored 35 goals in 40 appearances for the Ryman League side and
Leeds are rumoured to have pipped a whole host of clubs to his signature.
Leeds are thought to be close to having agreed a loan deal with Andy Gray
from Sunderland for the rest of the season as cover for the injured Cresswell.
Gray is well known to Leeds fans having started his career at Elland Road
many can also play wide on the right.
ts to Leeds on Tuesday night July 18th
at 7:45 PM. Just like last March the Louth Branch will be there in large
numbers. Last season Leeds drew 1-1 with Julian Joachim scoring the Leeds
goal. It is fair to say that the side who played that Sunday morning bears
little resemblance to the side who played against Norwich City last Sunday.
See Louth Branch page nearer the time for more details.
the 1st half and should have been out of sight. Hulse scored
his second in a week and may have added to it. It wasn't to be and Norwich
City came on strong in the 2nd half when Leeds were mentally still having
a cuppa in the dressing room. As a result we found ourselves 1-2 down coming
into the last minute. Eddie Lewis produced a gem and in the end we wrestled
a draw from the jaws of defeat. In the end it was a point gained as Sheffield
United lost at Coventry City and Watford drew at Reading. Ironically we
travel to Coventry next week and The Blunts travel to Carrow Road.
We have to keep bettering their results but for the first time since the
Autumn it is in our own hands whether we achieve that invaluable
2nd position in May.
inest
sides would swing two points in favour of the Blunts. No so. On weekends
like this I love football. Sheffield United at home to the side with
the worst away record in the division gained just one point. Leeds
produced a super performance at Selhurst Park and deservedly won 2-1 through
goals from Blake and Hulse. Miller was the man of the match. Derry was
excellent on his come back. The front two did the business and the back
four were comfortable again. Well done again to Butler and Gregan.
We are still
in 4th as a late Marlon King goal gave Watford 3 points v Cardiff City.
Luton Town may feel miffed having had a definite penalty not given when
Gragan handled in the box. Douglas went up the field and put us ahead,
and Lewis doubled the score. As Kevin Blackwell said : "Nobody
had much sympathy for us when we were denied two blatant penalties the
other week at Derby ". A late Howard goal had us on our nerves
at the end but we got the points and that is all we can do. Keep winning
and see what happens. It was good also to finally see Australian winger,
Joel Griffiths make the bench.
brain-dead
performance" from Leeds. We threw away two points and The Foxes were unfortunate
not to gain the three points they deserved. Against 10 men we lacked the
invention to break down the opposition. The best midfielder on the park
was by far Joey Gudjonsson. Miller and Bakke (on his
return and pic'd left) were poor. Elsewhere Sheffield
United regained the two points that we had pegged them back by and Watford
won at Brighton to go back in to 3rd. Not a good weekend
came
to Elland Road having won their last six on the trot and convinced they
could catch Sheffield United for second place. After Young put them ahead
before half time many would be forgiven for thinking they were half way
there. This Leeds side is made of stronger stuff these days. Hulse was
taken down for a penalty which rightly saw the keeper sent off. Blake
converted in style. The ref was correct for the assault on Gregan by Henderson.
He had to go. Nine men Watford fought bravely but succumbed to Blake's
strike in the last 10 minutes after good work by substitute Cresswell.
Would we gave beaten 11 men Watford ? Personally, I think we would have.
Elsewhere Reading drew 1-1 at Sheffield United
and the gap is back to nine points with one game in hand for Leeds. That
match against C Palace is now rescheduled for Tuesday, March 21st
. It's getting interesting again.
y
over QPR. Eddie Lewis shone on the wing. Cresswell scored the all important
opener and "The Butler" done it again at the death in front of the Kop.
Feb 2nd. Leeds announced a major sponsorship deal with
Bet24 which will feature Bet24 on the club's shirts next season.
It is described as "one of the most lucrative and far reaching contracts
in the club's history".
magnificent
form. We went behind in the 2nd half when teenage prodigy Haynes raced
clear to slot home. One thing about Kevin Blackwell's Leeds, they never
know when they are beaten. In the 88th minute Leeds were awarded a penalty
for handball and David Healy (pic'd above) converted superbly.
We pushed hard for a winner which our play just about merited but it wasn't
to be. Ipswich are on a good run so this point is not to be sniffed at.
left) has gone back on a "free" to Liverpool
to relieve Man City's wage worries. Unbelievably "Leeds will continue
to pay a portion of his wages until the middle of 2006 and that deal stands
no matter where he plays". Can you believe it ???
launch
a swop deal with WBA for Jason Koumas (currently farmed out on loan to
Cardiff City) with David Healy going the other way. It was reported that
Leeds would pay £500,000 plus Healy in a deal thought to be worth £2.5M.
Koumas (pic'd left) who is an excellent
midfielder has already played and scored in both of Cardiff's wins
over United this season. Healy has scored 12 times this season in 29 appearances
often playing out of position, and it would not go down with the
Elland Road faithful if he were to vacate the premises. 
awing
3-3 in the 3rd round replay against Wigan Athletic at Elland Road. Leeds
came from behind three times and when Gary Kelly scored to level the scores
at 3-3 after 116 minutes of football, many would be forgiven for thinking
we would win on penalties. It wasn't to be as the normally reliable Healy
and Hulse missed to let the visitors win 4-2 on penalties.
On a different note, Eirik Bakke returned to Leeds injured from Villa
as a deal could not be hammered out between the clubs, and United co
concluded the deal for right sided midfielder
Joel Griffiths (pic'd left) from Swiss
side Neuchatel Xamax. The 26 year old Aussie joins on an 18 month
contract and please God he will solve our right sided problem which is
all too evident in recent games.
Withdean.
It was close the whole way through. Leeds gained a dubious penalty and
missed a couple of decent chances. The manager went for the win at 1-1
taking off Miller and going with an attacking three up front of Hulse,
Cresswell and Blake. If it comes off he's a tactical genius, if it doesn't
he's not and gains the heat from supporters who insist we should be defeating
the bottom teams away, like Brighton. Sheff United stretched their lead
to 12 points in 2nd place as they drew at Ipswich Town. The usual suspects
will make what they want from this. Get real. We lie in 3rd with a great
chance of promotion. The wheels came off on this one but we are still
ahead of pre-season favourites, Norwich City, C Palace and Wolves. Roll
the sleeves up and tackle the next matches, Wigan in the Cup and more
importantly Sheff Weds in the league on January 21st. I'll be at the 2nd
one cheering on the Whites.
he
season to def 
eat a sturdy Plymouth side 3-0.
Thoroughly professional performance is best how it can be described, I
would have thought in front of the Pilgrims biggest crowd of the season.
Richard Cressell nodded in Eddie Lewis's cross for thr first, and the
ever impressive Lewis delivered for Robbie Blake (pic'd
above celebrating) to score the second before sub striker Rob Hulse netted from
the spot after good play from Miller. All in all an excellent performance
which delivered twelve points from twelve and may even keep our chairman,
Greg Tipping happy over Christmas. 
h (below), an attacking right sided midfielder
from Watford, Brede Hangeland a defender from Norway and Didier Agathe
(pic'd left), an attacking
right full with Celtic. Gregan and Moor are linked with moves away from
Elland Road.
missed two
gilt edge chances. Cresswell lead the line tremendously well, had a goal
disallowed ridiculously and hit the woodwork with a curler. Douglas second
goal was no more than Leeds deserved and in truth we should have won by
four or five in front of over 26,000, our biggest crowd of the season,
helped by the 1,800 Tigers away support. Unfortunately, Sheffield United
got an injury time winner v Stoke City so the gap is still 11 points.
We still have a game in hand and have to play Sheffield United again.
In the words of Kevin Blackwell : "Anything is posible. I always
felt we would get better in the second part of the season because we would
have six months under our belts". Elsewhere, 4th placed watford
lost 1-2 at home to C Palace, Burnley lost at home to Sheff Weds and Wolves
could only draw at home to Plymouth. We are five points clear of third
placed Watford.
but
before anyone gets carried away, St Stephen's day is traditionally the
best attended match in the calendar. That said four other clubs had more
in attendece than the Championship's biggest club. Take note Mr Bates
before you slag off the Supporters club again in your Hull City programme
notes !!! 
einforcements. Is Miller (above see him getting
his 5th yellow of the season v Wolves) good enough as a playmaker
in the middle ? Will Bakke return ? These are questions that will be answered
in the next few weeks. We also need a right sided midfielder and a couple
of new faces will be good to shake things up little. Still, we are more
or less joint third in Chhristmas week. How many of hand on heart would
not have taken that at the start of the season ?
arch rivals Man United made the unbelievable
happen, he grabbed the winning goal. Leeds had come back from three goals
down at half time to score 4 goals in a 15 minute spell. Absolutely amazing
come back and Leeds are up to 4th in the table. At the final whistle,
players, coaching staff and subs joined in a huddle (see above right)
in to show support not only for the travelling "White" army but
to portray a "together spirit" that may see Leeds on the rise again.