Pigs flew over Elland Road this morning as Leeds’ top-scorer and player of the season Ross McCormack signed a new contract. After scoring in the Cup and motioning to sign to the fans, there was little the club could do but sign him up. McCormack has returned from a successful told-you-so return for Scotland and signed a new three year deal just in time for his birthday. For Leeds, this means there’s a whole two more years until he’s flogged at cut-price amid still-ongoing takeover talks.

Speaking to the official site, McCormack said:

This was always what I wanted to do.

It’s perfect timing with the first game of the season being on Saturday, and I was always hopeful that we could get things sorted in time.

In all seriousness, though, this is obviously a great move for Leeds which will see us retain a striker with a lot of flair and skill, who has performed at the top of the Championship on and off for a few years now. Keeping McCormack will also solve one massive potential headache for Neil Warnock, as he made no secret that under current ownership, the club could not afford the transfer fees involved in signing a new striker permanently. He said:

It’s been hard work, but I’m really pleased, Ross had made it clear that he wanted to be with us.

Both parties are very happy. Ross has been enjoying his football and he can concentrate on his season now, particularly after scoring his goal for Scotland in midweek.

Meanwhile, Phil Hay has tweeted to let the fans know that the takeover is still moving along:

Negotiations over the takeover of #lufc have been relentless this week. A deal could hardly be much closer. Update in tomorrow’s YEP

Last I heard, there were “necessary legal matters” still to resolve. But the feeling is that there’s not much talking left to be done #lufc

Worth saying that the “necessary legal matters” re the takeover are real issues and still crucial to the deal being done #lufc

The Scratching Shed’s frontline correspondents were unfortunately unable to verify whether this means that the the takeover is now more imminent than “imminent” or less so. But I’m sure time (wearing, grinding, interminable time) will tell. Now let’s embrace the beginning of a new season!