The Scratching Shed

With World Cup hysteria sweeping the… erm… World, Leeds United has taken a bit of a back seat here on TSS, mainly because – like everyone else – I’ve been busy watching the World Cup. There’s also been very little news for us to dig our teeth into, with the papers too busy concentrating on Capello’s tactics to invent rumours for us to debate. As I say, there’s very little of it, but here’s the news from the last couple of days…

Gary Speed MBE

Gary Speed back in the day

We start with the news that former Leeds United midfielder, Gary Speed, has been awarded a MBE for his contribution to the game.

Speed made his début for Leeds United in 1989 and went on to make 312 appearances for the club, scoring 57 goals in the process. He also boasts a record of 85 caps for Wales, the most capped outfield player ever.

Speaking of the advice which guided him through his impressive career, Speed said;

“The best advice I was given was to try your best, and remember you never stop learning. I was still learning about the game when I retired from playing.” Read the rest of this entry →

Much like the rest of Jermaine Beckford’s time in Leeds, his exit has divided the fans once again. The majority – myself included – thank him for his contribution to Leeds United and wish him all the best in the Premier League. The rest however, have criticised Beckford for his lack of loyalty and what they perceive to be money grabbing.

Talking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, former Leeds United “striker,” Peter Lorimer (new one to me too!) offered a voice of reason to the upset and disheartened Leeds United fans who believe Jermaine Beckford would have been nothing without Leeds, and he owes us more;

“He came into the professional game at quite a late age and you can’t criticise him for taking the move.

“He’s going to the Premier League and he’ll earn an awful lot of money there. It’s easy to say that money shouldn’t motivate a footballer but careers can end at the drop of a hat and he’s securing his future.

Leeds legend, Lorimer is absolutely spot on. Whilst we’re all sad to see Becks leave, he shouldn’t be leaving amidst yet more criticism. During his time at Leeds United he did exactly what we paid him for – to score goals. And lot’s of them! Now he’s found a new home at Everton on a four year contract where he’ll make enough money to secure his retirement. Whether he succeeds or not is irrelevant. Offered the same opportunity, I defy anyone to turn it down. He’s done what’s best for himself, his family and his future and we should wish him every success.

Meanwhile, Lorimer was also quick to point out Leeds’ desperate need for a replacement. He said that it was “imperative” Leeds found a 20-goal a season striker before the start of the new season to replace the goals Beckford’s departure creates. Still no real news on any possible replacement, but we have been linked with Hamilton midfield, James McArthur, who played alongside Snoddy at U21 level.

Once again, farewell Becks and good luck! In the words of Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels) “It’s been emotional!”

Footage of the Leeds United 2009-10 awards dinner has been doing the rounds on YouTube, featuring a very drunk and unsurprisingly outspoken Ken Bates.

Readers should be advised that the following videos contain a lot of foul language!

The first video shows Ken Bates growing increasingly agitated at his constantly ringing phone, and having a few digs at Simon Grayson!

Is it just me, or does Kenneth seem to enjoy the attention a little too much?

The wild scenes at Elland Road on Saturday, followed by some hardcore partying that ran well into Sunday morning are now behind us and the focus shifts to the possible transfer targets of this summer.

Strikers

No one will be surprised to see that the biggest story today is Jermaine Beckford. The majority of Leeds United fans are already resigned to the probability of Beckford’s departure, but Simon Grayson offered some room for optimism by telling reporters that Beckford had received a new offer from Leeds United. Grayson went on to add that it wasn’t easy when the competition is from Premier League clubs (Everton, Newcastle) but he remained hopeful that the striker would stay.

I’m reluctant to say that I think he’ll leave because I said that in January (and at this time last year), but it seems unlikely that he’d turn down the chance to play for Everton to remain at Leeds. Whatever happens, Beckford should be remembered for the goal-scoring machine he was. For all the controversy, he always did what we paid him for and for three consecutive seasons, he’s been our only consistent source of goals. I wish him well.

With or without Beckford, we need some more fire-power upfront. Regular readers will remember my relentless insistence that we sign Gary Hooper back in January and he remains a likely target. The striker position is often the biggest page turner, so don’t be surprised to see us linked with everyone from Gary Hooper to Billy Sharp to Cristiano Ronaldo (not that he’d be welcome). Losing Beckford leaves us looking very weak in this area. Those that remain – Becchio, Kandol, Somma and Grella – are either unproven or fail to provide goals on a regular basis, so it’s essential that we bring one, if not two more experienced strikers into the team.

Midfield

The midfield is an area many fans have been concerned about all season. When it’s good, it can be the engine that powers us past teams in second gear, but for too long towards the end of the season it became inconsistent and offered little support to a shaky defence. That said, I don’t necessarily think we need whole scale changes. Jonny Howson remains inconsistent, but I often feel that’s because he’s left playing a position that doesn’t suit him. When sent on solely to attack like he was against Bristol, he showed us exactly what he’s capable of.

I’m not overly concerned about the midfield because I think the Championship is a different style of football that may suit some of our players more. It’s certainly not as scrappy and as rough as League One and we now have the added bonus of not being everyone else’s FA Cup final. It’s been repeated by everyone throughout the season, but what we do need is a Batty-esque type player. Someone who will mix it up and offer support to the centre-backs. Doyle’s tried to play this role, but not always successfully. Elsewhere, it’s just shedding the deadwood and adding quality depth (which applies across the entire team). I’d like to see Arsenal approached about the possibility of a season long loan for Sanchez Watt, who has shown real glimpses of class, but may not be ready for a top four Premier League side.

Defence

This seasons defence has been a story in it’s own right. From the best defence in the league to one that looks like it had never played together before, all in the space of nine months. It’s hard to say who will be able to cut it in the Championship, but my primary concern would be the full-backs. We’ve struggled in the absence of Ben Parker all season, and this should have been resolved in January.

I’ve been puzzled for a while as to why Rui Marques didn’t return to the team because him and Kisnorbo were the best central partnership we’ve had in 2009-10. Richard Naylor has been a great servant of the club, but his time must surely be up. There’s a few others too that need to be set free, so I suspect the defence will be where most of our changes are made.

Finally, there’s the goalkeepers Higgs and Ankergren. Both have served us well this season and it’ll be a shame to lose either of them, but it’s hard to see Simon Grayson not moving for a new number one. That said, both could probably play in the Championship so if the money is a little thin, we might be set for another season of watching Casper’s goal-kicks head straight into the stands.

So, long summer ahead…

I guess whatever happens this summer depends entirely on money. Anyone who thinks the majority of this team couldn’t make it in the CCC is kidding themselves – after all, this is the same team that knocked Manchester United our of the FA Cup, gave Liverpool and Tottenham a run for their money and destroyed League One for most of the season.

Whole-scale changes are unlikely and unnecessary. What we need to do is trim the deadwood and replace it with some quality and depth, but there’s a lot of players in this team more than capable of playing at the next level and it’s only fair they are given the opportunity to prove it.

Jermaine Beckford

Can’t do a deadline day write-up without including the number one talking point of the last month or so. Some stories are still suggesting Beckford may leave today which I guess no one can rule out until the window closes, not least Leeds United.

If there’s no planned deal already – and some papers would have you believe he’ll be at Everton by tomorrow – then there’s always the possibility of a last second panic buy from any club who feel they haven’t quite brought in everyone they’d have liked. If that’s the case, and he does leave, then he leaves on the back of one of his finest displays against Colchester where he forged an instantly brilliant partnership with McSheffrey.

I’m torn as to whether I want him to stay or not. One part of me says no player can be fully commited with one eye on moving come May, whilst another part of me can’t help but think we need him to do what he does. Leaving today would be especially hard on Leeds as I doubt we have any replacement lined up, after Barnard snubbed us for Southampton.

Either way, whatever happens, I’ll hold no animosity towards Jermaine. He’s done well for Leeds United and no one should be criticised for wanting to excel in their career.

The signings so far

The only permanent addition thus far was that of Max Gradel, which will have delighted Leeds United fans after the youngster had an impressive loan spell with the club. He’ll now be fighting for a regular place in the first team and I wouldn’t bet against him after seeing him run the show away to Oldham earlier this season when he played for the entire 90 minutes.

Then there’s the loan signings, who in all fairness are easy to praise after their impressive contributions against Colchester. That said, I think if you’d have asked any Leeds United fan the areas we needed to strengthen in January, a lot would have suggested the full-backs needed sorting and I know many thought another attacking threat wouldn’t hurt. In Lowry and McSheffrey, Simon has delivered both. Whilst neither of them are permanent transfers, they’re both quality players who attracted a lot of interest from Championship clubs, and who Leeds have done well to acquire.

So, anyone else want to join the party?

Other than Simon Grayson suggesting he may be bringing others in, there’s very little been said about other possible additions. It’s hardly surprising really considering the way in which Leeds United have conducted business in recent years, but it does make TSS that little bit harder to write when no ones got a clue whats going on. I guess we’ll find out by the end of the day either way.

Only a few days remaining now of the January transfer window and things have started to liven up a little. The early part of these windows is so quiet that they may as well have a transfer day instead and relieve the fans of the panic they endure during the 31 day period.

Unsurprisingly, Jermaine Beckford is in the papers once more. This time it’s the Mirror and they’re linking him with an immediate move to Everton for £2m. It’s claimed that Becks has already signed a pre-contract with Everton, but apparently, they mean very little and with other clubs now sniffing around and trying to capture his signature they may be wanting to close the deal sooner.

On a more positive note, Leeds have finally secured their first signing of the window bringing in Max Gradel permanently from Leicester. Max has signed a two and a half year deal at Elland Road after handing in a transfer request to Leicester on Friday.

No fee is mentioned in the Sky Sports report, so you can safely assume Bates has stuck with the norm of not revealing them and Max is our latest ‘undisclosed fee’. I’d hazard a guess that we haven’t paid much more than £250,000 though so this presents great value for money for Leeds.

Gradel is clearly delighted at securing the move telling Sky Sports that;

“I’m just happy to move on. It’s a very, very big club and has massive fans. I’m very happy,

“I’m happy to be part of this club as they are very ambitious. I’m going to show my proper football now, I’m very happy.”

And we’re more than happy to have you Max. The ‘massive fans’ he refers to must have been the slightly overweight pair who were sitting in front of me at White Hart Lane the other day. They’d clearly been enjoying the Chicken Balti pies at Elland Road.

Max goes on to reveal that Nigel Pearson didn’t want him to leave Leicester, but the youngster knew first team football was the best option for his career and couldn’t stand the thought of returning to the reserves.

As suspected, the supposed end to the Beckford saga was a false dawn as Simon Grayson has suggested Beckford has already signed a pre-contract with Everton where he’ll leave for at the end of the season.

Whilst the Beckford news is hardly a shock, Sky Sports are reporting something a little more interesting alongside it. They’re claiming that Leeds United have agreed a deal with Southend United to bring in Lee Barnard for one of those “undisclosed fees” our Kenneth is so keen on.

The second part is great news if true. Barnard is a more than capable striker who should add a new dimension to the Leeds front line. Anyone who saw Becchio miss a header from six-yards at the end of yesterdays game and Mike Grella prove largely uneffecient throughout would have been left under no illusions that Leeds need to strengthen the front line. Kudos to Simon for realising that.

Lee Barnard is 25 years old and has had a bit of an uneventful career before joining Southend in 2008. Since then, the forward has made 73 league appearences for the club, scoring 35 goals in the process. Coincidentally, Barnard started his career at this weekends opponents Tottenham. He spent six years under contract at White Hart Lane moving around on loan to various clubs, but never made it in Spurs’ first team.

As for Beckford, although I aren’t even slightly surprised I am disappointed. The team is clearly unsettled at the minute which has brought with it some dismal performances and a poor run of form and I can’t see how this will help matters. I have no doubts this is why he pulled himself off the transfer list and would bet money he’s getting a nice signing on fee for his troubles. It’s simply a waiting game for him now and I can’t help but question how much desire he’ll have to play for the Whites in the meantime. This is probably why Grayson is looking to bring Barnard in now.

The ups and downs of LUFC will replace the LUFC news in brief round-ups I’ve being doing every couple of days. The posts will generally be a quick round-up of all the Leeds United related news from other sites, newspapers and so on.

There’s only one Robert Snodgrass

There’s a rumour circulating today of a £500,000 bid from Everton for Robert Snodgrass. Snoddy seems to have caught the attention of a lot of clubs after his impressive performance against Liverpool in the League Cup, but did sign a long-term contract with the Whites at the start of the season. Snodgrass has recently spoken of his desire to help Leeds back to the Premier League too, so any move seems unlikely.

Robert Snodgrass has also withdrawn himself from the Scotland squad that will play Japan in Yokohoma on Saturday. It was Snodgrass’ first call-up to the Scotland team but he still hasn’t recovered from the injury he sustained during the 1-1 draw with Carlisle.

Forest target Sheehan

Nottingham Forest are reportedly looking to make a move for out-of-favour, Alan Sheehan who is currenly on loan at Oldham Athletic. It’s claimed that Billy Davies will make a loan offer for Sheehan with a view to buy when the January transfer window opens.

Man City dispute settled amicably

Leeds United and Manchester City have settled their dispute over the signings of Louis Hutton and George Swan. The two 14 year olds were captured by the Eastlands club at the beginning of the season and it looked like the whole thing would end up being settled by the Football Compensation Committee after Leeds rejected Man City’s offer of £50,000.

No details of the agreement have been revealed by either club, but Leeds United have said an “amicable private agreement” has been reached. You’d expect a fair sum given that it’s Bates they were negotiating with who would quite happily have taken the whole thing to court.

Doyle wants to stay at Leeds

Coventry City loanee, Michael Doyle has revealed how he’d like to make a permanent move to Leeds United. The midfielder has created an impressive partnership with Jonny Howson this season and looks to be enjoying his time at Elland Road.

The 28-year-old is on-loan at Elland Road for the entire season and is eager to see Leeds promoted and earn a permanent deal. Speaking to the Telegraph & Argus, Doyle said;

“I want to stay at Leeds – there are no two ways about it. “But if we don’t get promoted, I don’t think there will be any chance of me staying. It’s just that the club want promotion and I want to be promoted with them.

“Hopefully at the end of the season the manager will come to me and say ‘we want to keep you’ but that’s a long way off and I am sure it is a long way from his thoughts at the moment.

“He knows he has got me here for the season and I would love to stay but we’ll just have to wait and see how things work out.

“You cherish playing for clubs like this, so I will grasp every minute, enjoy it and hopefully have a winners’ medal at the end of the season.

“From the first day I arrived at Leeds, everyone has been fantastic to me – players, staff and fans.”

Football League snubs Grayson, again! 

The Football League have once again snubbed Simon Grayson and handed the manager of the month award to the boss of Bristol Rovers. No disrespect to the winner, Paul Trolloppe, but his team aren’t sitting at the top of the division, nor are they the only undefeated team in the country.

Could be worse though, Simon. You could have a silly surname like Trolloppe – or you could have just been battered 5-1 by Norwich!

Since Chelsea were banned from signing any players for the next two transfer windows, everyone seems to have thrown their opinion into the mix regarding the tapping up of youth players, so I figure it’s only fair I have mine.  

Every lower league club has been a victim of the higher clubs tactics. I bet there’s not a single club outside the Premiership that’s never trained a youngster upto the age of 16, only to see him snatched from their grip just as he turns old enough to sign a professional contract.

Since our relegation, we’ve been a constant target for the Premier League clubs. The reputation we have for developing youth talent is recognised throughout the country and there’s always a scout on hand waiting to move in and steal our latest development. Perhaps it’s divine retribution. Leeds will have snatched plenty of players from the smaller clubs back when we were a major force in this country, but it’s not until you’re sitting on the other side of the fence that you realise how frustrating it can be.

The FA brought in the transfer tribunal so clubs would be compensated for the money spent on developing young players. Leeds have done well from this netting millions over the past few years with the most recent award being £600,000 (plus possible add-ons) for Garbutt just a few days ago. It’s a good first step, but not really enough.

UEFA have now started to act on this suggesting that players should be tied to the club that trained them ’til the age of 18. This again is a positive, but I personally feel it should be older. 21 for me is a good age. Afterall, the player is highly unlikely to make the starting XI until he reaches this age and will most probably spend his time out on loan at lower clubs. Bringing this in will be tough though as it’s unlikely to meet the European Union’s working laws.

Shaun Harvey’s raised a good point saying that compensation is no longer adequate punishment for clubs that breach the rules and tap up young players. The compensation rule has been in place a while now but has failed to deter the major clubs. Harvey suggests it may be time to start docking teams points for breaking the rules and I couldn’t agree more. If clubs that are struggling financially and are forced into administration are to be docked points then this should apply to the Premier League clubs that are causing the problems too.

Fabian Delph is a prime example of the kind of money clubs should be getting for their talent. Most clubs are paid off so cheaply that it makes little difference to the bottom line of Premier League clubs finances. However, when the clubs have the player tied down and he’s unable to leave without both parties agreeing, the lower clubs get a decent sum of money for their talent. There’s a major difference bewteen £600,000 and £6,000,000! The kind of difference that could stop lower clubs from going into administration in the first place and give them the chance to compete in the Sky Sports savaged football leagues.

For me, the Sky Sports funded Premier League is destroying football with it’s uneven distribution of money. When the lower clubs develop a player capable of earning them some money (or helping them achieve promotion) he’s snatched away from them for pittance. If a rule was brought in whereby young players could only leave through mutual consent, it would go a long way to levelling the uphill playing field.

The ban imposed on Chelsea is an excellent move from UEFA. It’s taken a while for them to get into gear, but they have to start playing hard ball for the long term benefit of the game. If they were to follow this with bans (or points deductions) on Manchester City, Manchester United and anyone else found guilty of tapping up then it would bring an end to this ridiculous and totally unfair culture once and for all.  More of the same please UEFA!

Stockport County visit Elland Road on Saturday in what could be a record breaker for Leeds United and Simon Grayson. Leeds have won their last fourteen league games at Elland Road and seven out of seven this season so far in all competitions home and away. Both of these records match ones set by the great Don Revie and could be beaten by Simon Grayson should we be victorious on Saturday.

Both Patrick Kisnorbo and Rui Marques are away on international duty for the fixture so Simon Grayson will be forced to change his two centre-backs. With Richard Naylor still out injured new signing Leigh Bromby could go straight into team.

Like many clubs in the lower leagues these days Stockport have had their fair share of financial troubles. They were placed into administration towards the back end of last season and subsequently bought by a group of local businessmen. The lovely people at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (remember them?) have since been hassling the club for money as they continue to try and rid themselves of old debts.

Stockport are currently managed by former Liverpool and Everton defender Gary Ablett who took over after their administration last season when former manager and Stockport player, Jim Gannon left to manage Motherwell after four years with the club.

So far this season Stockport sit mid-table. It’s worth noting that they’ve done much better away from home than they have at home so far. Although they’ve only played two away matches, they’ve won one and drew the other, whilst at home they’ve lost two and drew one.

Head-to-head, we’ve had just eight meetings, six of which were in the 1920′s in the old second division (Championship). The other two fixtures were last season when Leeds won both games. Away we won 3-1 after falling 1-0 down, with goals from Becchio, Delph and Christie whilst at home we beat them 1-0 with an early goal from Jonny Howson. Overall we’ve won four, lost three and drawn once.

The game could see a slightly boosted attendance as the club have announced Liverpool tickets will only be available to members, season ticket holders and those that can produce a stub from the Stockport game. The match has been deemed a catergory A though, so we’ll have to wait and see if that puts anyone off. The Liverpool game is also midweek and on Sky Sports so some may decide to stay at home and watch it.

Unsuprisingly, the bookies have us nailed on favourties to win on Saturday. The best price I can find on Leeds winning the tie is 3/8 whilst a draw is 4/1 and a Stockport win ranges from 6/1 to around 8/1.

Last five league fixtures 
Leeds - WWWWW
Stockport – DWLLD