Jermaine Beckford has confirmed his transfer to Newcastle United by speaking to Goal.com. Neither of the clubs have made any official statement as yet, but hearing it from the ‘horse’s mouth’ is good enough for me.

After negotiations between the two clubs over the last week or so, Leeds United are believed to have accepted Newcastle’s third offer which is no doubt an ‘undisclosed fee’.

The news was broken by Beckford telling Goal.com;

“I’m off to Newcastle”

He refused to make any further comment making it quite possibly the shortest statement ever made by a player transferring clubs.

Contrary to what some readers believe, I don’t think Beckford’s move will have an adverse affect on our promotion dreams. The post from this morning titled ‘Have Leeds United hit the self-destruct button’ was actually written by Gledders. My own personal feelings on the matter are that Simon Grayson knows what he’s doing and will find a suitable replacement for Beckford.

Whether we move for my preferred favourite Gary Hooper, someone else such as Billy Sharp or no one at all we’ll still be a force in this league as we have players like Robert Snodgrass, Patrick Kisnorbo and Bradley Johnson who are well above their current level.

More to follow…