A rare Saturday off for Leeds United fans, but the rest of the teams carried on with out us. Norwich were held to a 1-1 draw at Swindon thanks to a last minute equaliser from Greer, whilst third place Charlton also drew at home to Gillingham (2-2).

Meanwhile, Colchester lost away to Walsall whilst Southampton and Huddersfield both recorded away wins at MK Dons and Leyton Orient. Overall, it’s been a pretty good day for Leeds United then. Swindon and Norwich shared the spoils which haults Swindon’s climb, leaving them four points behind ourselves (having played a game more). Charlton also failed to take their chances and drew so Leeds could open a seven point gap up on Monday with a win over the in-form Millwall.

Millwall will present a strong challenge for the inconsistent Leeds United side, but aside from the trip to Southampton, we’ve looked a bit better lately and I’m pretty confident the Sky Sports factor will help us achieve a much needed win.

Somma makes it six

Elsewhere today, on-loan Leeds United striker Davide Somma netted another two goals for League Two side Lincoln City to help them to a 3-2 win over Torquay United. The striker has now managed six goals in as many games for Lincoln. The idea of going out on-loan will have been to try and impress the manager back in Leeds and work his way into our plans, and with such impressive goal-scoring stats, I imagine Simon has been taking as much notice as the rest of us.

Scum fans rig Leeds poll

Those pesky glory-hunting cretins (Manchester United fans) have been busy casting votes in a Leeds United fans greatest player poll to change the obvious outcome of Billy Bremner to Eric Cantona.

This calls for an instant response. Update your firewall, run your virus scanner, defrag your hard-drive and be incredibly cautious around any pro-ManU sites. This is the start of the E-hooliganism wars. A bit like the 80′s but ran by geeks. The FA needs to act now!

Blackwell heading for dole queue

Seems Sheffield United fans have finally tired of Kevin Blackwell and want him replacing in the summer. They point to poor transfer signings and horrible displays of football as their main reasons (deja vu anyone?)

Never liked the man while he was the Leeds boss. Found him intolerable in interviews, his signings were largely atrocious and the football on display was less interesting than the George Graham days, so can totally empathise with the Sheffield lot. Still… Couldn’t help but laugh.

I probably should mention before continuing that I’ve always felt Wayne Bridge was massively overrated and wouldn’t have had half the success he has without conveniently being left-footed. Something we often have a shortage of when it comes to team selection in England. That said, no matter how it’s cut and diced and how important Terry is to England, no player should ever feel uncomfortable wearing the national shirt because of another and it’s indicative of Terry’s ‘f**k everyone elses feelings, I’m number one’ attitude that he’s shown little remorse and refused to drop from the squad as a result.

JT has built up such an unparallelled arrogance over the last ten years or so, that I wasn’t even slightly surprised to see him attempt to cling onto his captaincy throughout the entire drama. When you’ve gotten away with as many thuggish acts as he has and been forgiven by your wife, your club and everyone else, it’s only natural you’ll start to believe you’re untouchable. To Chelsea fans it’s only added to his popularity, but that won’t surprise anyone thats seen the kind of thugs this team has produced over the years. I bet Terry never thought for one second Capello would actually strip him of his captaincy.

The underlying problem with that decision however is that it changes nothing. Yes, Rio Ferdinand will wear the armband and fulfill the glorified figurehead role that the national captaincy is, but on the field John Terry’s arrogance still means he’ll feel the need to dictate everything, attempt to control the entire team and shout at others for his own mistakes. Essentially, nothings changed and the only reason JT is upset is because he liked the ego-massaging abilities the title brought with it (and no doubt the money).

Personally, I think all decisions within the England team should come down to football and Capello seems to be on the same page. That said, when it comes to a point where there’s this level of bad publicity and other players feel they can’t play for their country because of one mans actions, I think the culprit should be dropped. Terry is bringing nothing but negativity to the side as far as I’m concerned at the minute and for that reason, and that reason alone, he shouldn’t be in it.

In light of all this, it seems a good time to remember probably the worst transfer decision in the history of the Premier League and the various rumours that followed. That transfer is of course, Howard Wilkinson’s sale of Eric Cantona to Manchester United.

Howard Wilkinson had just guided Leeds United to their first league title since the 1970′s and 1992 seemed like the year we would rise again. Mr Wilkinson however had other ideas, deciding to sell footballs hottest prospect – one, Eric Cantona – to bitter rivals, Manchester United for the measly sum of just £1.2million.

Leeds fans around the world were in total disbelief having witnessed the players match-changing ability in our title winning season. Meanwhile, Manchester United fans were having the times of their lives celebrating what many knew would be a crucial signing by the soon to be knighted Alex Ferguson.

Whilst Leeds struggled to get anywhere near the standard of the 1991-92 season, Cantona’s signing proved to be a catalyst for Manchester United’s success who went on to dominate the top flight for what is now, nearly two decades.

In reaction to the move, those Leeds United fans that weren’t furious at Howard Wilkinson’s short-sightedness, began to coin theories of why he was sold so cheaply. Top of those theories was the one involving Leslie Ash, who is Lee Chapman’s missus. The rumour would have you believe that Eric Cantona had been sleeping with the fish-lipped WAG behind the back of Lee Chapman and that the animosity it had caused within the team left Sergeant Wilko with no other choice.

Of course, the rumour was a complete myth dreamt up by some Leeds United pranksters or Howard Wilkinson apologists, but it didn’t stop the majority of the country believing it. To this day, Manchester United fans still sing a song about that fateful “affair”. Terry won’t be living this down too quickly either, after all, mud sticks!

The FA Cup fourth round clash will once again be shown live on ITV, making it the fourth consecutive televised tie for Leeds United (I’m counting the one shown of theFA.com as we received the television fee for it).

The game has been scheduled for a 5:15pm kick-off on January the 23rd. Leeds haven’t played Tottenham Hotspur since January 2004 when Spurs beat us 1-0 at Elland Road. Although the history of the tie shows very little between the two sides, Leeds haven’t beat Tottenham since 2001, when we beat them 2-1 both home and away.

Possibly our most historic victory over Spurs was back in 1992 when we beat Spurs 5-0. Leeds United were champions at the time and Eric Cantona scored the Premier League’s first ever hattrick.

JPT area final – Leeds v Carlisle

Dates for both the two-legged JPT area final have now been confirmed. We’ll play Carlisle at Elland Road on the 19th of January with tickets on sale today at Cat C prices. The return leg at Carlisle will take place on the 9th of February which is a Tuesday with an evening kick-off time of 19:45. With a place at Wembley up for grabs, this should be a good game.

Tamas Vasko

No, I’ve never heard of him either but if you were to believe reports in the Daily Mirror (and no one would blame you for being sceptical) he’s about to join Leeds United on-loan. Tamas is a centre-back so Leeds are presumably looking for cover for Rui Marques whilst he’s on African Nations duty.

He currently plays for Hungarian club, Ujpest Dozsa (wiki link) and has spent the last few seasons on loan, most notably at Bristol City where he made 19 league appearences and also contributed a goal.

On the approach to Old Trafford I came across a man with a masterplan to make money by selling those cup game scarves you see baring the colours of both teams with a 50/50 divide. Clearly he’d underestimated how much we both hated one another as I can’t see many Leeds United fans buying a scarf with Manchester United’s name and colours on it (and vice versa). He didn’t look to be having much success as I passed that’s for sure.

By this point there was Police everywhere as you may well expect. Apparently there’d already been some trouble between the fans in the station and a couple of fights outside the ground, but on the whole and considering the occasion, it wasn’t as bad as may have been expected. I didn’t encounter any problems with the opposition fans anyway and all the Leeds fans I saw were being their usual charming selves. I guess if anything was to kick off, it’d have likely happened after the game but there’s a funny thing about winning that makes our naughtier few better behaved.

The security element of the tie was doing their best to treat us all like animals. As the Police warned some fans to calm their passions “or else” I moved by swiftly before another unjustified altercation with the law that I could do without. Travelling away often presents itself with instances where the Police decide you have less rights than a terrorist and very little right to complain thereafter – regardless of whether you’d done anything wrong or not!

The temptation of asking the steward who searched me on the way into the ground if he’d at least buy me dinner first was hard to resist, such was the mans thoroughness and clear love of his job. I did resist however as there were more law enforcement officers around and they didn’t look like they’d need much of an excuse to arrest any fan they felt was being problematic, so it was through the turnstyles and in to Sold Trafford for the first time in almost six years.

You have to give credit to Man United’s manager for his approach to this game. As big a distaste for the bloke as we all may have, he rarely makes a mistake in his preperation for media frenzy matches like these and he wasn’t about to start now. All week he’d been stressing publically how big a match this would be for Leeds and the supporters of both teams. He’d told of how we shouldn’t be underestimated and warned his team for a battle and that’s exactly what they got.

From the off Leeds looked to take the game to ManU and it was clear we were in for a two-way battle. Most minnow teams like ourselves go to Old Trafford and look to leave with a respectable scoreline, but Simon Grayson was having none of that. If we’re going to play, we’re playing to win.

Chances fell both ways with Darren Gibson firing wide for ManU and Jermaine Beckford heading over the bar for Leeds. Danny Welbeck quickly settled into the game for Manchester United and was making a real nuisance of himself down the right. Andy Hughes was left wondering what had happened as Welbeck burst down the flank with pace and sent a good cross straight across goal, with no Man United player able to make a connection. Meanwhile, the older Donkey Brother was getting his usual reception from the Leeds faithful and was booed everytime he touched the ball.

Becchio had a good chance for Leeds with a headed attempt from Kilkenny’s cross but headed well over the top of goal. It was the best chance so far and Becchio knew he should have done better. Meanwhile, the crowd was in full voice as the Man United fans repeated “We all hate Leeds scum” again which they mixed with a song about Cantona and some nonsense about Rooney. Hard to hear them whilst munching Prawn sandwiches in all honesty. Leeds on the other hand had no time to snack and were busy working there way through a much wider range of songs. This was probably around the ‘we’re not famous anymore’ stage of proceedings.

On the pitch the exchanges were just as lively. Leeds were fighting for every ball and attacking at every available opportunity. Simon Grayson’s tactics of pushing men forward when in possession made for a brilliant end to end battle, but there were several nervy moments when the Reds countered and their pacey players like Welbeck broke free.

Beckford celebrates the goal of his career

It was roughly twenty minutes in to an action packed first half when Leeds countered quickly and took the lead. Jonny Howson picked out Jermaine Beckford who had been busy giving the over-rated Wes Brown the run around with an excellent long-range pass that landed nicely for Beckford. His first touch took him wide of the goalkeeper and his second was a tame shot that beat the goalkeeper and slowly but surely crossed the line! Cue crazy celebrations in Old Trafford and silence in the home stands. “1-0 in your cup final!” Wes Brown meanwhile may as well have been sat in the stands.

Man United quickly tried to get back on level terms and had it not been for a Jason Crowe goal-line clearence, Wayne Rooney would have done so almost immediately. That was about the best Man United could offer in terms of a reply in the first half and as tempers began to flair, the horrible Wes Brown got himself booked for a foul on Lucciano Becchio. One of several poor challenges he made in a game where it was a miracle he didn’t get sent off.

After a cheerful half-time for Leeds United fans, we returned for the second half and rather unsurprisingly, Man United were throwing bodies forward. Their whinging players futile appeals for a penalty were dismissed by the ref after Howson dispossessed Welbeck and just minutes later, the tempers flaired again as Micky Doyle was brought down for a free-kick. Jonny Howson – who played an absolute blinder - decided he could take on Gibson and Brown and as tempers flaired, the ref had to intervene and calm matters down before normal service was resumed.

The ref - who despite his reluctance to send Wes Brown off for a series of challenges where he never got anywhere near the ball - had to issue some more yellow cards as the tackles started to fly in all over the place. Both Naylor and Gibson found their way into the book, but in truth, both teams could have received a lot more yellow cards but a very good ref allowed the game to flow throughout and tried to keep his cards in his pocket.

Nayl’s was solid and hungry throughout, as was Kisnorbo. Even the usually criticised Hughes and Crowe were sticking the tackles in and making life hard for Manchester United. The midfield were closing down and challenging players whenever Man U were in possession and Becchio seemed to play the majority of the match back there with them. When we had possession, we were never afraid to pass it about and run with the ball, particulary Johnson and Howson who deserve a special mention. The whole team as one were performing brilliantly and you have to give full credit to Grayson who was tactically spot on.

Man United, who had started strongly enough with a good defence and near-on £60m in strikers decided to make some more changes to try and win the battle of the midfield. Giggs and Valencia came on, but surprisingly Welbeck was removed which was a bit of a relief as the lad’s pace had caused us problems throughout. Strange move, but I’m sure there was motive to the madness.

Owen joined proceedings not long after but despite so many attacking options, Man U were still struggling in defence and Jermaine Beckford once again broke free to narrowly fire wide when one on one with the keeper. Hearts in mouths by now, as Rooney prowled and Owen looked to get in on the action.

Leeds would get another chance however, by which point Snoddy had joined proceedings in replace of the outstanding Jonny Howson. A free-kick in a good position had his name written all over and he struck beautifully, only to be denied by the bar. Despite leading, one more would have settled some nerves as we approached the end of the game and the inevitable five minutes of added time came. As the crowd mocked the officals with chants of ‘Fergy time,’ Man United looked for one final chance, but Casper, Nayl’s, Kis and whoever else could get their body in the way kept the Champions at bay.

The final whistle blew and Leeds celebrated a result we’ve not managed in 29 years. Victory at Old Trafford for the FA Cup minnows and third tier team. Every Man United fan you taunt over the coming days will inevitably claim it was a weak team or that the referee didn’t give them 29 minutes of ET and three penalties, but there’s no taking away from what Simon Grayson’s lads achieved today. They did us proud and thoroughly deserved their victory. A special day for Leeds United that I expect we’ll look back on in years to come as the first sign of our resurrection.

TSS man of the match
Jonny Howson for me. I could hazard a guess that ITV went for Becks and it wouldn’t be undeserved. He made Wes Brown look second rate throughout and was always a threat, but Jonny rose to the occasion like the Leeds lad he is. He knew what the rivalry meant and gave it absolutely everything. All the team played their part and all of them deserve the praise they’ll receive but Jonny grew today for me. He was like Leeds’ answer to Stevie G.

The draw for the fourth round gave us another trip down memory lane as we head for Tottenham Hotspur. Ken Bates will no doubt be delighted too at another obvious money spinner, which will once again undoubtedly be on TV.

A great start to 2010 I’m sure you’ll agree. Happy new decade for Leeds? Let’s hope we’re celebrating just as much in May! One things for sure now though. If Beckford does leave in the coming days, he’ll leave Leeds United a hero, in the meantime though, I’m sure you’ll enjoy his goal again!

"You just listen to me Becks and we'll have this baby back in no time!"

Allan Clarke has added fuel to the never ending Jermaine Beckford saga by telling our leading goalscorer that Newcastle United aren’t a big enough club and he’ll never play for anyone bigger than Leeds. Quite right too. Clearly, this has annoyed a few barcodes mind.

Clarke said;

“Jermaine is doing a great job for Leeds, the fans love him, and he is already with the biggest club he’ll ever play for.

“Let’s face it, Leeds are far bigger than Newcastle, so Jermaine should stay at Elland Road and become a real hero there.”

A quick glance through the comments on the TribalFootball website is enough for you to get the jist of the Newcastle v Leeds row going on in there and what an amusing one it is too. Leeds fans agree with Clarke, Newcastle United fans don’t. (Shock!)

Newcastle point to their superior attendance figures as proof they are a bigger club. Ok, that’s a given, but then you have got a much bigger stadium and more reasonable ticket prices for the League you’re in. This leads to catchment area. Leeds is indeed the third biggest city in England and definitely has a massive area, but then so does Newcastle. An almost infinite supply of feeder towns with almost no noticable clubs to rival you and Sunderland. Let’s not forget, we have both Sheffield’s who are unquestionably big clubs, Hull and of course Manchester United (Although, admittedly we all have to tolerate their fans). Then there’s a whole host of smaller clubs with sizeable fanbases around here such as Bradford and Barnsley. In comparison, you have a monopoly over your area!

The fact of the matter is though. Who cares? You’re always going to get bigger attendances whilever you’re in a bigger stadium and higher league. We’d be getting plenty more in, in your position. You’ve already lost 8,000 fans since last season (although, I can accept ownership may be an issue – as it is with Leeds!)

Trophies next up. Leeds have three league titles, Newcastle have four. Leeds have one FA Cup, Newcastle have six. Leeds have two UEFA Cup’s, Newcastle have one. Leeds were robbed of the European Cup by a bribed referee (1975). Newcastle have never come close. What really matters here though lads is you’ve done nothing since the 1950′s, and three of your League titles were in the days before Leeds United even existed when your biggest rival was Bristol City. Hardly a massive achievement is it?

In fairness it’s been a while for Leeds too. Aside from our title winning season of 1992 under the legendary Howard Wilkinson (who then messed up and sold Cantona), Leeds haven’t done much since the 1970′s. That said, when it comes to football on the big stage, by which I mean Europe, Leeds are still the 14th most successful side in Europe in terms of matches played and won. We’re ranked there because of consistency, because over the decades we’ve qualified and competed in Europe much more than the rest of the English teams in that list - yourselves included. (You’re 87th)

Healthiest looking Geordie I could find... honest!

For me, that makes Leeds United the bigger team, but it’s all down to interpretation and whatever shade of tinted spectacles you happen to be wearing. For those of you in the black and white striped ones, you’ll point to a collection of trophies collected 60-100 years ago, whilst the ones looking through blue, white and yellow ones will point to Revie, Europe and consistency.

It’s an impossible argument that no one can win. I know this because I grew up in a small mining town near Leeds which is literally bursting with Geordies who came Southwards to teach us how to dig holes in the ground and pull lumps of black gold out. A lot of my friends therefore support Newcastle United, so I’m well versed in such arguments and know full well that they never end, and no one ever wins.

It’s totally irrelevant who is and who isn’t the better team anyway. The fact of the matter remains that Leeds and Newcastle are two massive clubs who have massively underachieved, had inept chairmen and find themselves lingering in league’s neither of them belong. Let’s focus on what really matters, which is getting back into a position where we can both challenge for honours once more.

…and as for Allan Clarke? Well, he is a Leeds United legend, he’s hardly going to side with you lot!

Obviously, the temptation to try and wind him up was hard to resist, but I think he countered well throughout. 

1 ) Hi RoM, it’s been a while since we last played one another. I hear your fans have been enjoying themselves with choruses of ‘we all hate Leeds scum,’ so I take it you’re happy with the draw?

Made up about the draw. As all the teams were being picked out it became like a countdown with us two still left in it. Felt a bit like a Football Factory moment lol. I hate Liverpool more than your lot but we get to play them twice a year already, so it’ll be great for us to meet again, and hopefully, absolutely batter you.

2 ) When Ronaldo was sold for an extortionate sum of money in the summer, everyone expected Manchester United to be big spenders thereafter, but it never really happened, did it? Do you think the money was used to pay off the debt the Glaziers have burdened your club with and what are you feelings on the owners these days?

The official reason given by the manager was that the transfer market was crazy so we’d never get value for money that summer. You have to consider when Lescott is being bought for £24m, Tevez for £47m and Ribery is being quoted at £60m, it’s probably not the best time to buy! We had agreed a deal worth £30m for Benzema but then Real Madrid came in at the last minute and offered £5m more. If we matched that, they would have offered £10m more. You can’t get in to a bidding war with them. We’ll see what happens next summer I guess but of course I won’t rule out the possibility of the money being absorbed by the debt. Since the Glazers have been here, we’ve enjoyed one of our most successful eras, but that has been in spite of them, rather than because of them. The sooner they f**k off the better. The money we pay for our seasons tickets and the transfer money that come in should be for the improvement of the club, not to pay off some debt that shouldn’t belong to us. There are always rumours that someone else is ready to buy, but realistically, they would have to pay around £1billion for the Glazers to get anything out of the deal, which isn’t going to happen.

3 ) If it’s any consolation, you cheered us lot up by making our debts look pathetic in comparison. Anyway, you hit a bit of a rough patch lately with defeats at home to Villa and a battering away to Fulham. Surely a team of your stature should be able to deal with a few injuries a bit better than that?

I suppose that’s the brilliant thing about football, isn’t it? If it was all won on paper, with which team should beat another, then there would be no point playing. We’ve put ten goals past Wigan this season, whilst Chelsea lost to them 3-1. That’s why football is great because it’s so unpredictable. I’d argue that having just one fit defender, left back Evra, is more than “a few injuries”. I’ve never known anything like it. Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Jonny Evans, John O’Shea, Gary Neville, Rafael and Fabio all being injured. I can’t recall a club ever being hit so badly in one position like that. One of the biggest problems with the injuries, when playing our second choice keeper and three midfielders in defence, was the issue of other players being out of position. For example, Fletcher has been one of our best performing players this season in the centre of the park, bossing the midfield, but he can’t have much of an impact on the game from right back! Carrick plays a big role with his creativity in feeding the wingers/strikers, again, something he can’t do from defence. We lost 4-1 to Liverpool at home last season with our strongest team and beat Chelsea 3-0 with a weaker team. You’ve got to make the best of what you’ve got and on your days things can go your way. Against Fulham it just wasn’t our day. You move on. We’ve scored eight goals in our two games since and conceded one (a penalty). That’s football.

4 ) Yeah, you certainly seem to be back on form now, which is a bit of worry for us with Sunday in mind. Surely it’s not just me that thought Jenson Button deserved Sports Personality of the Year? Ryan Giggs hasn’t even got a personality!

I’d argue Michael Owen and Kelly Holmes are more void of personality, if I’m honest! Didn’t stop them winning it though. It is awarded to the sportsperson “whose actions have most captured the public’s imagination”. Winning eleven league titles (three more than any other player in the history of English football), playing in his third European Cup final and being voted as the PFA Player of the Year by his peers is pretty good going. I feel bad for Button because it was the best year of his career, but did he achieve as much in 2009 as Ryan Giggs? Depends where you rank an individual sport against a team game I suppose. I couldn’t give a f**k about F1 and have worshipped Giggsy for years, so you’re asking the wrong person!

5 ) What happened to Smith being the new Roy Keane?

Whatever happened to Alan Smith being a Leeds legend who kissed your badge? Things change. He had some great games in the centre of midfield for us, namely our 1-0 victory over Chelsea who had gone 30 games unbeaten (and we had just lost 4-1 to Boro the week before!). That was some midfield too – Lampard, Essien, Makelele, Joe Cole. Essien got subbed off at half time because he didn’t get a sniff, which Mourinho commented on after the game. But he just wasn’t good enough. Worked hard and we loved him for it, but he just wasn’t good enough for United, sadly. We still haven’t found the new Keane, or the new Cantona… maybe some players just can’t be replaced.

6 ) No, we never quite replaced Cantona either (ARGH!!!) On a more personal note, I have a friend who comes from the outskirts of Liverpool and now lives in Leeds. In his entire life I don’t think he’s ever set foot in Manchester and he’s certainly never seen Manchester United play, but still calls himself a fan! That’s not a fan, is it!?

I honestly find the idea of supporting a team from someone else’s city, who you never go and see play, as weird. I can’t imagine doing that. But it’s very easy for me to say that, as a lad born and bred in Manchester. If I lived in the middle of nowhere and if my local team was sh*t, would I support them? I hope so. But I can’t preach about glory fans because my local team is Manchester United, so it’s not like it’s hard work to support them. Would you support Leeds if they had been in Division Three when you first started getting interested in football? I think it’s pretty sad for people who are glory supporters, because I don’t think they’ll ever connect with the club the way locals do with their clubs, but as for whether it makes them fans or not, I think it is more difficult to define.

7 ) Glad you agree he’s a glory hunter! I can’t see you or Arsenal overcoming Chelsea this season. Their squads enormous and full of talented players that could get a place in anyones team. They’re champions in waiting surely?   

Champions in waiting? Hardly. United have been playing without any defenders, yet Chelsea are only two points ahead of us with a goal difference better by two. I think that is shocking and if the situations were reversed I would be wondering why the f**k we hadn’t raced ahead of Chelsea. What excuse do they have for dropping so many points? No key injuries, no particularly difficult fixtures, yet their advantage is tiny. Add to that they’ve yet to come to Old Trafford, they beat us in the most ridiculous of circumstances at Stamford Bridge, we are always much stronger in the second half of the season and they are about to lose their two best players to the ACoN. Nothing is in the bag yet but I’d rather our situation than anyone elses.

8 ) Alex Ferguson is knocking on a bit now and has nothing left to achieve really. Is retirement looming, and who would you like as his successor?

Laurent Blanc and Pep Guardiola seem to be front runners at the moment. I’ve long tipped Blanc to the throne though and with every season does more to make himself a good shout. But Fergie’s got plenty of years left in him yet. Premiership managers seem to be having operations left, right and centre, but Sir Alex is fit as a fiddle and will continue to manage until his health changes. You say he has nothing left to achieve, but I think he’s always gagging for more trophies. Who wouldn’t want to win the European Cup three times? Who would want to win a twelve league titles? Thirteen? Fourteen? If you’re still capable of creating teams that will compete for honours, why on earth would you walk away from it?

9 ) Personally think Jose Mourinho will be your man. He wants to return to the Prem and I think Alex will view him as his natural successor. Moving on to the FA Cup clash. What kind of team should we expect on Sunday from Man United? Will Fergy give the youngsters and reserves a game, or will he field a full-strength side to try and avoid the kind of upset that would be a massive embarrassment for himself and your club? If he does field some reserve players or youngsters, who are the ones to watch?

We’re all hoping he fields as strong a side as possible, that will dish out a huge thrashing, but that might be wishful thinking. We’ve got a semi-final three days later and a Premiership game three days after that, so we can’t afford to be playing our strongest teams. Hopefully the Da Silva twins will get a game – proper feisty pair of Brazilians who really like getting stuck in. Darron Gibson will most likely start and he tends to score screamers (LINK). Danny Welbeck and Macheda might play up front, although I wouldnt be too surprised to see Owen start up front and maybe Welbeck on the wing. Gabriel Obertan is a really pacey winger who has won the fans over straight away, it would be good to see him play. I imagine we’ll have a strong bench though, with players like Rooney and Scholes who can come on and change a game if necessary. To be truthful though, there’s no way in predicting Ferguson’s lineups anymore.

10) Why on earth did you smash little old Barnsley up and are you worried about the potential for trouble as Leeds and Manchester United renew their rivalry?

I don’t know what it’s like in Division Three, but we have some horrible scrotes who want to get in the action on away days. Getting tickets for aways in almost impossible these days but Barnsley midweek was easy enough. So a load of them showed up, the kiosks decided it would be sensible to pull down the shutters and not serve beer to the people that had been waiting, and so stuff kicked off a bit. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not nice, but we’ve all seen a lot worse. A bit of ketchup getting flung about and the till robbed? Hardly murder is it.

Who’s worried about what Leeds are going to do though? Have the club said something? I have no doubt your lot will run riot in the away stand, this is the biggest game you’ve played for years, so of course people will get overexcited. Then we’ll send you and the FA the bill to clean it up, just like we did after the dippers got giddy with their Munich and Shipman graffiti in their FA Cup semi in 2006.

11) I think the Police will be worried for a start. I don’t envy the task they have ahead of them! Finally, what’s your prediction for the game?

I predict Leeds players to kick us about the pitch, maybe even score, but for United to come good. It will be a good test for our younger players and I honestly hope the scoreline gets embarrassing – that is probably wishful thinking though.

Leeds can’t lose either way in my opinion. In all honesty, you should beat us given that you’re two divisions higher and have a squad full of internationals. No ones expecting us to win, so it’s no major loss if we don’t. On the other hand, if we do pull off an upset, we’ll be hailed as heroes and you’ll suffer a massive embarrassment. Should be a great occasion either way. Cheers Scott.

Howard Wilkinson’s arrival at Elland Road in 1988 saw the same turn in fortunes we’re all hoping to see under Simon Grayson’s leadership, but was Wilkinson’s reign as successful as it should have been and was the sale of Eric Cantona the catalyst for Manchester United’s continued success?

Leeds United have long been described as the team that ’should have won more’ despite an history of reasonable success. Don Revie for example guided Leeds United to domestic and European glory, but that team played in many more finals than it ever won. His achievements at Elland Road should be in no way undermined, but the success of our glory years doesn’t come close to that of Liverpools and Manchester Uniteds.

Howard Wilkinson was way ahead of his time as a manager. He developed a youth system at Elland Road that’s still producing stars today and has been mirrored by teams up and down the country. He not only bought well, but bringing stars such as Gary Speed and David Batty through the youth system saw the team promoted in 1990 and go on to win Division One (the Premier League) in 1992. He remains the last English manager to achieve this feat.

Eric Cantona lifting the 1991/92 Division One (Premier League) trophy for Leeds United

However, the following season it all went a little wrong for Sergeant Wilko. The League Champions made a shock decision to sell influential talisman, Eric Cantona to bitter rivals Manchester United. The move was met with complete derision from the Leeds United faithful, especially since the fee was a mere £1.2m. Wilko had seemingly lost the plot.

In a bizarre attempt to justify the sale of Eric Cantona, a rumour was started suggesting Eric had been sleeping with the wives of his fellow team-mates, including Lee Chapman’s wife, Leslie Ash. The rumour was completely unfounded, although as it turned out during a pre-match pint at the Exeter game, there are some that still believe it to this day!

Whilst Manchester United went on to win the “first” Premier League title in 1992/93, with Eric Cantona massively influential in their success, Leeds took a massive leap backwards finishing the season in 17th place.

Howard Wilkinson steadied the ship and got Leeds back on track the following season. The team finished in fifth place but still had to look on enviously as Eric Cantona led Manchester United to another title. The 1994/95 season saw some respite in Manchester United’s dominance as Blackburn Rovers won the league, but they were soon back at it the following season whilst Leeds stumbled back down the league finishing 13th.

The reign of Howard Wilkinson came to an end after Leeds United were destroyed by Manchester United at Elland Road in September 1996. The match ended 4-0 with the final nail being hammered into Howard Wilkinson’s coffin by none other than Eric Cantona. The irony was lost on no one.

Never has one manager suffered so much for one decision as Wilkinson did for the sale of Cantona. The pathetically low fee of £1.2m seems pittance when you consider the success Manchester United achieved with him leading the charge. Had Leeds United kept hold of Eric Cantona, you have to wonder whether we would have continued the brief success we achieved in 1991/92 and gone on to win a whole host of Premier League titles.

Of course, there are many more things you have to factor in to both Manchester United’s success and Leeds lack of success thereafter, but there’s little doubt this was the turning point. Wilkinson should be celebrated as a Leeds United manager for the things he did achieve. The youth setup is second to none and he’s the last manager to achieve anything at all at Elland Road, despite massive spending during David O’Leary and Peter Ridsdale’s ‘living the dream’ fiasco.

Without that one sale then maybe we’d be the ones living our second glory years now. Maybe it’d be Manchester United plummeting through the divisions whilst a never-ending line of dodgy and inadequate chairman take their shot at destroying the fragile remains of their horrible club. Instead, we can only pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and try and get back to a position where we can make them mistakes once more. Always wondering what could have been.