Whilst the features of the app are pretty basic, it does allow you to read all content published on the site and will send you push notifications when we update. You can also share articles via social networks, text message and email.

We have been planning to launch an iPhone App, but there is no timeframe on this whatsoever. The speed in which that happens will most likely depend on the success of the Android version as well as the development costs.

To find the app, simply search for us in the Android Marketplace or click here to visit the apps page on your browser.

The “unlimited hosting” offers you see around the internet are wildly misleading. Unlimited hosting refers to the amount of bandwidth you’re allowed, but it does not cover CPU processes on the server. The previous incarnation of The Scratching Shed was quite resource intensive, meaning it was running a lot of individual scripts each time a user accessed it, thus putting a large amount of load on the processor. On a shared hosting server, sites are limited to the amount of CPU processing they can individually use. When this stage is reached, the hosting company shuts down the site so that it doesn’t slow other sites hosted on the same server.

To cut a long story short, The Scratching Shed was using a disproportionately large amount of the servers overall resources.

That brings us on to the new site you see before you. A much sleaker, back-to-basics approach which should load significantly quicker than the previous site and will hopefully keep us running smoothly for years to come. We could have tried the less resource intensive approach with our previous hosts and prevented a lot of the downtime caused by the URL relocating, but there was a feeling we’d be in this position again one day regardless. We’d have simply been delaying the inevitable with quick fixes (as we’d done for 12 months previous). It would have been a bit like applying sticky plasters to a fatal wound, or bodging together a football team from emergency loans and free transfers – covering over major cracks with short term fixes.

Anyway, what remains is our new “retro” look site. All previous posts, comments and features have been carried over, the only real difference is the aesthetics. All feedback is welcome and we urge you to contact us if you’re experiencing any issues. You can still find us in the same place on Twitter (@TSSLUFC) and Facebook and can also subscribe to The Scratching Shed for email alerts when new content is posted.

Welcome to The Scratching Shed’s 1,000th post!

Actually, the total count is less than it should be thanks to some rubbish web hosting company who inexplicably deleted our original site from their server after we crashed it – 1,000 is what we’ve amassed since.

A dark beginning that almost saw the site fold completely, but thanks to the inherent stubbornness Yorkshire people like myself are born with, The Scratching Shed learnt from those early mistakes and a thousand posts later, here we are – still spewing slanderous anti-Bates propaganda, still riddled with inconsistencies dictated by mood at time of writing, still following the ups and downs of Leeds United.

Of course, such milestones provoke a feeling of nostalgia. One can’t help but reminisce on the history of the site and ponder what it is exactly The Scratching Shed represents? I quickly came to the conclusion that the site represents Leeds United – or more precisely, a group of fans’ views on Leeds United – and with that taken care of, I got bored and started to contemplate the following;

If Ken Bates was a supervillain, who would he be?

My initial thought was the Joker from Batman because of how much I hate clowns (Stephen Kings “It” scarred me for life), but that was the only similarity I could draw between the two so instead decided on Magneto from X Men.

There’s the obvious stuff like a profound arrogance and posse of followers hired to do their dirty work (Harvey/Mystique), but the superpower Magneto possesses (ability to attract and manipulate metal) is perfect for Bates. No longer would he have to build bars and restaurants or increase ticket prices to bankrupt us, he could simply draw all the cash from our pockets with his superpower as we enter Elland Road.

Also, Magneto divides opinion amongst his own kind, much like Ken Bates and the football community. Magneto’s not entirely bad, and what he wants isn’t too far out of sync with that of the good guys – he just has different ideas on how to reach that goal. Similarly, Ken Bates isn’t pure evil (I’d say 99% on account of the free programme he once gave us…) and he does want the same thing as the good guys (the Leeds United fans), but his idea on how that should be achieved is totally misguided.

It’s like they were separated at birth!

This is going somewhere, honest…

Anyway, my point is – I didn’t actually have one and am improvising here – that after so many posts I’m running out of ways to insult Ken Bates and poorly crafted X-Men analogies are the best I could come up with.

The day when I ran out of ways to insult Ken Bates was bound to arrive sooner or later, but thanks to the fans that have helped out on the site over the past few years we’ve managed to keep things relatively fresh.

I don’t want this to become reminiscent of an Oscar speech, but I’d like to thank (in no particular order) Timothy Hodge, Michael Green (back by popular demand here), Ryan Parrish, Gary Hartley and all the other writers – there are far too many to list – that have contributed to the The Scratching Shed over the past few years. I sincerely doubt we’d have survived this long had it not been for their contributions, and I’m eternally thankful to them all.

My biggest hope going forward is that our new Article Submission feature continues to prove popular and that the contributions provided by fans will ensure the site is still going strong when we reach the 2,000 mark. Like all blogs, The Scratching Shed is written for the enjoyment of shared experienced (alongside narcissism and vanity of course) and each and every fan that visits, comments and contributes helps facilitate our existence.

Without the fans that frequent this site, the writers would have to find other ways to vent their anger. Cats would be kicked, walls would be punched and mental health institutes would be overflowing. By reading The Scratching Shed you are therefore helping to make the world a better place and for that, we thank you all.

Marching On Together!

The Scratching Shed has always tried to provide an open forum for fan discussion, and we’d like to build on that philosophy by launching a new feature that allows users to submit an article for potential inclusion on the site.

Whilst trying to remain as liberal as possible, there is one rule we must impose for any submission to the site. The article must be original and written by you – you can quote from other sites and insert references where necessary, but we can’t publish anything that is duplicated elsewhere. It must be one of a kind.

If there’s something you’d like to get off your chest, you can submit an article by clicking here.

In an ongoing effort to clear space on the site and reduce server load, I have decided to move The Scratching Shed Leeds United forum to a third party host that provides free ad-supported forums.

Apologies to those that use the forums for any inconvenience caused, but I hope you will appreciate they were quite a considerable drain on resources and that moving them elsewhere is for the good of the site.

You can visit the new forums by clicking here. The link at the top of the page has also been redirected to the new forums.

As you can see, the comment field below has totally changed.

For the technophobes out there, all those additional buttons will probably be a terrifying sight, but fear not – commenting is as simple as ever. Just type away as normal and then enter your name and email when prompted. You can even login using Twitter and Facebook and the like with a single click of a button. Groovy, yes?

We know many of you have an aversion to change and Christ knows this site has had more alteration work than Cher, but this particular change was an unavoidable one.

It came to my attention that some users were unable to view the site properly as nested comments were dragging the template out of line and causing it to mess up the entire page. Attempts were made to alter the script, but before the computer went through the window I resorted to other measures. Whilst the problems only appear to have affected a small minority of users, the site could be almost totally unreadable for them at times – which kind of defeats the point a little…

Anyway, feel free to have a play around with it, register for an account if you’d like a pretty picture displayed alongside your name and feel free to post any questions you may have.

I’m aware comments posted before the new software was installed are not showing, these are currently being processed and should be back in place later today. 

Welcome to the new look TSS.

Work is ongoing on certain things, and you may notice some previously available features have been removed. Some of these have gone for good due to lack of demand or incompatibility, whilst others will return later either as they were or in a new (and hopefully improved) format.

The forums are one feature we will be bringing back, although they’ll be totally different from the ones we had before. This is because the previous site used a social plugin called Buddypress – something we’ve decided to move away from due to certain compatibility issues.

To that end, you will also notice the login box has been removed that registered members used previously. You can still login using the links on the right hand side although your previously used avatars will have vanished. At present, the site will not allow you to upload your own avatar directly, but you can have one next to your comments using Gravatar – simply go to the site and register using the same email address you do here.

Thanks for your continuing support of TSS, we hope you enjoy the new site.

UPDATE

The new TSS forums with endlessly more features are now available here.

The new designs have been professionally created for us by Wes of the New York Whites and his team of graphic geniuses at Confid3ntial.

We hope you all like the new look of The Scratching Shed just as much as we do and will help send our thanks to Confid3ntial for their efforts.

If you’re looking to hire the team behind TSS’ re-branding or are just interested in seeing more of the work done by Confid3ntial, you should point your browsers towards www.confid3ntial.com/theblog

Just like the team we all love, TSS has now officially had it’s own ups and down(time)s!

Now we’ve picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off, normal service can be resumed.

Luckily for TSS, we were down for the 6-4 humiliation at Elland Road a couple of weeks back – recalling the events of that night may have been enough to send me over the edge!

Welcome back everyone!

Tim Hodge. 20 years old, reluctantly attending art school in The South.

It was my dad who passed on the curse of being a Leeds United fan and I started going to games with him as a kid. I don’t get to as many games as I’d like now but do when I can make the schlep alongside my dad and little brother.

I’m the worst person in the world to watch football with as my friends and family will testify and I’m hoping that writing about Leeds United can help me control my rants and outbursts on matchdays!

When I’m not watching football I like playing (white Roberto Carlos with less pace and less skill – a bit like Andy Hughes). I enjoy a good film, a good book and a good pint.

Anxiously awaiting the return of Premier League football. MOT

Tim already has experience in the world of blogging, as he also writes his own blog which you can view here.

Alongside myself and Tim, we also have Ryan – a Leeds United fan cursed by having to live in Hull. Ryan will be taking over the ‘Interview with an away fan’ feature I randomly wrote last season, hopefully meaning we’ll have one every week before our games. With so many local rivals this season, I’m sure these will be much more interesting than the tedious match previews elsewhere.

I’d like to welcome both Tim and Ryan to the site. You’ll be seeing their stuff on TSS shortly.