19-year-old, Nile Ranger

Newcastle United’s 19-year-old striker, Nile Ranger could be called in to ease our strikers worries with Billy Paynter expected to miss the start of the season, Tribal Football reports.

The Geordies are expected to loan Ranger out this season so he can get some first team experience elsewhere, and after promotion to the Championship, Leeds United could be the ideal choice.

Newcastle will be in no hurry to make a decision however, with more than one Championship club interested, they’ll want to consider their options first and ensure he gets as much first team action as possible. Crystal Palace boss, George Burley confirmed he’d like to take the youngster on loan earlier this week;

“I have spoken to Newcastle about Ranger and he is one we’re looking at”

Whilst Nile Ranger is clearly a talented youngster who would be a good player to have on loan at Elland Road, you have to wonder what this means for the likes of Mike Grella and Davide Somma.

Mike Grella has already found himself lacking in first team options, with Simon Grayson electing to bring in ineffective loan signings rather than give the American youngster a chance last season. It seems a shame that injury to one of our main strikers doesn’t present an opportunity to one of the youngsters waiting on the sidelines.

Leeds United 2010/12 away kit

Fresh off the back of the positive new home shirt reviews, Macron have got adventurous with the new away kit and gone with a blue and yellow number as modelled right, by Bradley Johnson, and a slightly chubby-looking Billy Paynter.

The new kit features the giant, happy Macron man with outstretched arms on both sleeves that looks like it may have been drawn by children.

Despite the over-the-top logos of sportswear providers that most of us have now become accustomed to, I don’t think the new shirt looks all that bad.

It goes on sale this Saturday from the Elland Road superstore priced at £40 for adults, and an extortionate £35 for those of you with kids to buy for.

Leeds United aren’t the only club keeping the purse-strings tightly clenched this summer in the Championship. Statistics from transfermarkt.co.uk, show no fewer than half the clubs in England’s second tier have yet to spend in the transfer market.

Of those clubs that have invested in new players, only six have passed the £1,000,000 mark with Middlesbrough the ones to watch after spending more than £6,000,000 on new additions such as Kevin Thomson, Stephen McManus and Nick Bailey.

Following Middlesbrough in the highest spends league are fellow newcomers, Norwich City, who have already invested £4,000,000 on the likes of Simeone Jackson and Andrew Surman. One of last years Premier League relegation clubs, Burnley have also spent more than £4,000,000, but with a total income from transfers over £6m they’re also amongst the most profitable, behind Hull City and Scunthorpe United.

Whilst the statistics aren’t entirely accurate as they have no way of including the undisclosed fees some chairman are particularly fond of, they do give a good indication as to the cautionary path most clubs are taking in football at the minute.

Burnely’s £2m+ profit seems to be the common theme for the Championship as a whole, with the accumulative profit/loss statistics for the entire Championship standing at +£3.1m, no one is taking too many risks.

Alex Bruce is believed to be having a medical at Elland Road this morning, before he completes the switch from Ipswich Town. The defender/midfielder, will become Simon Grayson’s seventh signing of the summer after a last second bid snatched him from the grasp of Sheffield United.

The news of Bruce’s departure drew mixed comments from Ipswich fans on their fan-site, TWTD.co.uk. Of the more positive comments, Ipswich fans said that;

“Losing a good defender here, leeds are going to be strong next season.”

“Knows how to put in a challenge unlike the rest of our defence, think he will be missed!”

It seems there are just as many people happy to see him leave however. From the more negative comments, there’s also these;

“Leeds with a CB pairing of Bruce & Naylor! This is all part of RKs master plan – weaken enough other teams with our cast off that there might be on or two that we can beat. Here’s one defence that we might, just might be able to score against with our sweet pea forward line – Pablo and Priskin.”

“Who cares where he goes, as long as he goes.”

Always hard to determine whether it’s sour grapes that leads to such comments when players are leaving a club, so we’re probably just going to have to wait and see. What is interested to see is that other teams are already questioning the strength of our defence, like most of us have been all Summer.

On a lighter note, what will amuse fellow Leeds United fans is the Town fan’s comments on manager and former Manchester United thug, Roy Keane. My personal favourite is below;

“It’s all falling into place now, Keane’s new assistant was brought in secretly, her last position was scriptwriter for Coronation Street.”

Highlights of Leeds United’s 3-1 friendly victory over SK Brann are available to view for free on the Norwegian sides official website. Click here to view them now.

Note how they fail to show the horrendous tackle that left Robert Snodgrass needing crutches, but spent a good twenty seconds showing their own player roll around our penalty area. I think the Norwegian’s have been taking hints from the 2010 World Cup champions, North Korea, on how to cleverly edit the highlights.

Whites bound defender?

The Daily Mail claims Alex Bruce is on his way to Elland Road after Sheffield United and Ipswich Town failed to agree terms on how a £200,000 transfer fee should be paid.

The same paper who this morning claimed Luciano Becchio was on his way out of Elland Road after contract talks broke down, is now claiming that a £300,000 offer has been lodged from Simon Grayson in an attempt to hijack the 25 year olds move to Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield United.

Whilst the Becchio claims were easy to dismiss, this particular rumour could have substance. Following yesterdays 3-1 friendly victory over Norwegian side, SK Brann, Simon Grayson told Leeds United fans they could expect a new arrival by Friday. With the Mail claiming that Bruce is set to undertake a medical tomorrow, the timing all seems to line up well.

Alex Bruce has made 115 league appearances in the last four years for Leicester. Despite being born in England, Alex has also played for the Republic of Ireland, qualifying for the team through his grandfather.

Going nowhere!

Out of nowhere this morning came a story in the Daily Mail that Leeds United striker, Luciano Becchio was set to part ways with the club after contract talks broke down.

Without Jermaine Beckford’s contract talks to fill the column inches, the Daily Mail obviously had to invent some new story to worry the Leeds United fans. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong player as I suspect very few Leeds United fans actually bought into it.

Within hours, Leeds United replied to the story with Shaun Harvey telling the YEP that the story was “completely untrue” and that Leeds United were committed to keeping Luci at Elland Road.

The Daily Mail meanwhile realised they had egg on their face and have since removed the story from their website. Lazy journalism at it’s most vicious. No change for the Daily Mail then…

UPDATE: The story has since returned to the Daily Mail website and is viewable here. (For now at least)

Less than two weeks until the season starts and the squad is still in need of some strengthening. Neill Collins’ “undisclosed fee” remains the only money Leeds United have spent so far, despite desperately needing players in several key positions.

On previous occasions, our complaints about the lack of spending have been countered by Ken Bates’ claim of an illusive “war chest” that will come to our rescue once we reach the Championship. Two months on since our promotion was secured in spectaculor fashion, and Ken Bates’ war chest has still yet to appear.

So what did happen to Ken Bates’ war chest? Vote away…

Matt Derbyshire

Matt celebrates Greek cup win with Olympiacos

After a quiet few days, Betfair has re-awoken and we’re blessed with yet another transfer link that’s unlikely to ever happen. This time, the online bookmakers have scoured the net in search of a possible player to link and returned to us grateful Leeds United fans with the news that Matt Derbyshire wants to return to England!

Those of you that haven’t already leapt into the air with joy should feel free to do so now.

Matt is currently 24 years of age and started his career at Blackburn Rovers, where in 63 league appearances, he managed just 10 goals. He left Blackburn on loan to Greek side Olympiacos in 2009, before signing a permanent four-year deal at the end of the season. Since joining the Greek side, Matt has made 26 appearances and scored 11 goals.

Betfair have obviously realised Leeds fans are growing sceptical of their constant links, adding that;

Leeds manager Simon Grayson has been linked with all sorts of strikers throughout the summer, including the seemingly Celtic-bound Gary Hooper and Middlesbrough’s Leroy Lita, but the arrival of Derbyshire could trump the lot.

I assume you all had Derbyshire at the top of your wish-list?

Andy O’Brien

Next up, we have a return to the Leeds United rumour mill for 31-year old Bolton Wanderers defender, Andy O’Brien.

O’Brien has made no secret of his desire to leave the Reebok and is currently being linked with a move to both Newcastle and Leeds. With Patrick Kisnorbo set to miss the start of the campaign, and Richard Naylor looking like his best days are behind him, this is one of those rumours that could have substance.

And finally…

We end with news that no one wants Andy Robinson, but Enoch Showunmi has somehow managed to find a team stupid enough to give him another chance. Andy’s agent tells us that there’s been no offers for the midfielder over the summer, and he may be set to stay at Leeds (but then, why would he leave with his salary?)

Enoch Showunmi meanwhile has somehow managed to find a new home at Tranmere Rovers. Clearly, the Scouse side either like to look like idiots, or their scouting department is in desperate need of a reshuffle?

The Dubai Whites meet Larry

Partying with Simon Grayson, £800 trips to watch Leeds United fail miserably and a longing for the dreary grey skies of Great Britain. It’s all in a seasons work for the members of one of Leeds United’s newest supporter’s club branches, the Dubai Whites.

As a Leeds United fan lucky enough to attend almost every game, I’ve often wondered how I’d cope if events in my life took me overseas. For me, there’s very little that can rival the buzz of matchdays. Leeds United has become such an integral part of my life that I honestly can’t imagine how I’d fill the time should they (heaven forbid) be torn away from me!

Of course, there are fans in such a position. The Dubai Whites are one of Leeds United’s newest supporters clubs and whilst I’m sure we’re all envious of the beautiful part of the world these fans reside, I was interested to see how exactly they got their fix of LUFC. Kevin and Paul from the Dubai Whites were more than happy to fill me in.

On getting to see Leeds United, Kevin told me that;

As you can imagine, getting to and from ER is a special treat for us Exiled Whites. UK visits appear to be for family or business reasons, but most of us cannily have a look at the fixture list to see where we can fit matches in before booking any flights!

The Dubai Whites come from all professional backgrounds and so some of us get to travel back more than others, but anyone who does get home always gets bombarded with texts requesting updates on how the game is going etc etc.

While in Div One, few league games were televised out here, but thankfully both cup runs were heavily featured as were the Millwall games and of course the Bristol game (check out the Dubai Whites on YouTube). On these occasions, Paul finds a pub, gives the proprietor fair warning of what to expect, then we all turn up and go F*****g Mental.

Representing!

Kevin also recalls the unenviable round trip he, Paul and another Dubai White made to watch Leeds United take on Doncaster in the play-off final a couple of years ago. I remember whinging at the time about the journey I’d made and the expense I incurred to see that dismal display, but in contrast to the Dubai Whites story, I think my weekend away in a comfortable hotel kind of pales in comparison;

Paul, Adie and I did fly back for the playoff final against Doncaster a couple of years ago. We were 14 hours in the air, just 12 hours on the ground! No baggage, wearing our Leeds shirts, straight to Wembley, saw the game then hi-tailed it back to Heathrow for the night flight to be in work the following day at a cost of about 800 quid each. Wrong result but worth every second to see Wembley in White.

After Kevin’s play-off final story put my whinging firmly into perspective, I received another email from the chairman of the Dubai Whites, Paul, who gave me a little background on the supporters club and also provided me with some pictures of the lads which you can see below;

This is a some what an unusual club as members are from varied backgrounds and move on as quickly as they come with most on average staying around 4 years. Having lived in Dubai for seven years now you do miss the simple things that Britain offers you. You can’t beat cold winter mornings when you breathe that fresh air in, real pubs, real beer, and the greenery and of course that match day feeling.

With us being in League One the exposure to TV was non-existent. Being the chairman I would constantly look on all the major satellite networks to see if they would show the odd league one game. Fortunately for me, one of the new members was head of Showtime sports. I then got the nod when a match was on and would then organize by email a get-together. Dependant on work commitments from the guys the turn outs varied from 30 up to 80. You have to bear in mind that we are 4 hours ahead of GMT; the UK at the moment is on British Summer Time (BST) GMT +1 which means we are 3 hours ahead and that makes a big difference when kick off is 1945 (UK) 2245 (UAE) on a Tuesday night and you have to get up at 0400 the following morning.

I would find out and suggest a bar that was showing it, speak to the manager to see if it was ok for a group of Leeds United supporters to use his pub – and of course what manager in this time of recession is going to turn down some hard drinking lads – and we would gather, shoot the sh*t and have a laugh. We did have a regular bar but as with most things out here the landlord moved on and things started to go down hill. But not all is lost!! a new bar is opening and the manager is from Leeds and a supporter who wants the club to call his bar its own. That bar is due to open approx Sept/Oct. With promotion comes more exposure to TV and already we have four showings out here which is great for the club and hopefully with the added bonus of having our own home to watch it in.

Since becoming official the exposure has been fantastic i.e. your good self being in contact and the visit of Leeds youth followed by a few months later with the first team coming out for a break. While the first team was here, I asked if they would meet us, I finally got in touch with Ian Miller who agreed a place and a time and we meet up. The only disappointing thing about that night none of the team did. My personal opinion was Ian never told the team, but Simon Grayson and a few staff did and a good night was had by all.

I mentioned to SG that it was my aim to bring the first team out on a mid-winter break and also dropped the hint that there are people in this region willing to invest in the club. That is still part of my plans and some backroom work has already begun.

I try to get my Leeds fix in at least a couple of times a year and I will have it on the opening day of the season when I plan to watch Leeds V Derby at ER. Then watch the Forest/Leeds game the following Sunday back in Dubai with the club.

Many thanks to both Paul and Kevin for giving us an insight into Leeds United life in Dubai. It’s good to see that our reach continues to stretch far and wide and I wish the Dubai Whites the best of luck as they continue to expand. It’s great to see that no matter how far a field we Leeds United fans travel, there will always be other like-minded souls ready to offer us refuge and show us the ropes.

Anyone living in Dubai who wishes to join the Dubai Whites can find full details on the official Leeds United website. Alternatively, you can email me using the contact button at the top and I’ll be happy to pass your details on to Paul.