If there’s one sure fire way to give Leeds United fans a desperately needed lift this January then re-signing Jermaine Beckford from Leicester City would be top of any list.

Unfortunately, I just can’t see it happening, and here’s why;

1. Saving Face

When Jermaine Beckford left Elland Road, he did so with dreams of taking the Premier League by storm at Everton. 18 months on, he’s playing for a club that currently sits four places below us in the Championship. Accepting he made a mistake before performing a u-turn seems incredibly unlikely.

The fact Leicester City are struggling more than we are should mean we’re the better bet for Premier League football next season though, shouldn’t it? Well no, not really. Things haven’t quite fallen into place for The Foxes yet, but they’ll keep throwing money at it and something will stick sooner or later.

Leeds on the other hand are achieving pretty much what we all expected them to, and there’s no real reason to believe our position will improve by much. We’re three, maybe four quality additions shy of a decent shot and it’s hard to see where they’re going to come from given the limited resources available to the manager, which incidentally, brings us on to my next point…

2. Wage Demands

The only reason Leicester City were able to prise Jermaine Beckford away from his cushy little earner in the Premier League was by offering wages well above what Ken Bates likes to dish out.

It’s all well and good having a wage cap at Elland Road, but all that really means is that when we’re attempting to sign big names like Keith Andrews, Ipswich Town will simply offer a few quid more and we’re left with Michael Brown. Our wage cap is a bit like communism – it sounds good in theory.

The theory falls apart however when you try to sign anyone that is above the standard quality of this division. Average players will accept an average wage. The better ones won’t.

3. The Price Tag 

Wages don’t matter though because there’s a huge hurdle we’d have to overcome before that which Ken Bates’ stumpy little legs simply can’t clear.

Leicester City paid £2.5m for Jermaine Beckford, and the rumour is, that they want to recoup as much of that as possible. Our starting and finishing bid of £30 and one Billy Paynter is unlikely to seal it.

In fact, I doubt we’d even offer that. Can anyone seriously see Ken Bates offering money for a player who walked away on a free? He’d never sleep again, such insanity would give him nightmares.

4. Priorities 

The single biggest reason why I can’t see this happening is the small matter of not actually needing a striker.

Transfer windows open, fans get excited and it’s always the glamour players that people want to talk about. But Leeds’ problems are not up front, nor have they been at any stage since Jermaine Beckford left.

We have a midfield held together by a 34-year old mad man with all the creativity of a paint-by-numbers masterpiece and a defence taking shifts in the injury room to ensure Ben Parker has some company. The attack is the last thing we should be worrying about.

If we were the Man City of Championship football, then signing Jermaine Beckford would be a no-brainer. Unfortunately, we’re not. We’re Ken Bates led Leeds United and there’s absolutely no way he’ll make an exception to points 2 and 3 for a player we simply don’t need.

As nice at it’d be to see Jermaine Beckford back, it would take such an almighty shift in our transfer policy that I’d give you better odds on a meteor hitting Old Trafford.

Watford are a surprisingly good side, Grayson insisted in all his pre-match interviews. Don’t under-estimate them, they’re on a good run.

The bottom line is that we have played another relatively poor team and we’ve performed badly against them again. This isn’t a Championship thing: it was the same in League One. And this isn’t an individual thing: from Prutton to Clayton, we’ve been through enough centre mids to know that it’s a tactical thing.

I’m not going to get too deeply into those tactics. I could move little circles around a green screen for an hour, but only the SkySports generation would be interested. Simply put, I reckon we’re playing too defensively and paying too much attention to the opposition.

‘DEFENSIVELY? SIMON “2-0-8” GRAYSON?!’

Yes, defensively. When we lose to these easy teams, it’s almost always with a 4-4-2. The strikers could be Andy Keogh, Michael Ricketts or Jermaine Beckford; if you don’t get the service you can’t score the goals. The wingers, too, rely on short passing from the full-backs and the centre-mids to get going. That’s the trouble, the centre-mids aren’t getting into these games.

At Vicarage road it was Pugh and Clayton. At Griffin Park two years ago (if I remember right) it was Howson and Doyle. The official line then was a “sodden pitch” that “cut up quickly”; the line from Tsar Bates’ Radio on Saturday was a “sloping pitch.” @EmptyUK summed up:  

“Eddie Gray sounds.. hammered. Just listening out for the chink and clang of a hip flask. #lufc #twitterwhites”

But the reality is that we’re facing teams whose only weapon is athleticism and who will look to go route-one given half an opportunity. Our answer isn’t to throw on Bradley Johnson as an attacking midfielder to grab the initiative (especially this season, since he’s gone), it doesn’t seem to even be to play 4-5-1 to allow the two centre-mids to defend against this battering-ram of a team, and an attacking centre-mid of whatever style  to keep them on the back foot. It’s to sit back and invite them on to us.

In that scenario, there’s only one winner and it’s not Leeds. In 2009 Max Gradel replaced the injured Snodgrass on the wing, the prolific Jermaine Beckford struggled for supply. We weren’t a poor side.

It looks ominous. We’re a great young, enthusiastic team when we go forward, but we seem to be constantly worrying about making mistakes. We slip up and there’s another scapegoat: Beckford, Naylor, Johnson; Kisnorbo, Becchio, Howson. We’re changing formation match after match, we’re changing the team around in the most bizarre of fashions. Attacking dynamo Nunez overlooked in favour of a 4-4-2 with Keogh and Becchio together. We’re only a mouthy Scottish munchkin from Villa and a non-entity from Spurs off the same problems we found ourselves in last season.

We’re good enough to play confident football. We’ve played Scum twice since our two relegations. Once we reacted to them, ended up scared to pass within ten feet of a red shirt and lost heavily; Once we set out to play our own game with confident, athletic, physical players and beat them 1-0.

So from now on, damn the torpedoes: let’s obliterate these b*stards and get promoted.

-An original article written by Gryff, mental age 10, in orange Crayola.

The latest greedy, unappreciative footballer to turn down one of Ken Bates’ incredibly generous contract offers is rising star Aidy White.

The 2o-year old Leeds-born left back has joined Jermaine Beckford, Bradley Johnson, Neil Kilkenny and captain Jonny Howson in a disturbingly long list of first team players to reject the clubs extended contract offers it has emerged.

Whilst encouraging to see the club being proactive in their contract negotiations by starting them now – as opposed to next season when there would be real cause for concern – it’s worrying that another player has found Leeds’ offer to be unacceptable.

Unfortunately, contract negotiations seem less important to Leeds United than pointless executive boxes and conference facilities, and we know from past experience that The Whites aren’t afraid to play hard ball when it comes to a players demands, regardless of the consequences.

Leeds United’s approach isn’t all bad in fairness. A lack of sentiment is important when it comes to money, there has to be an element of ruthlessness involved if you wish to run any successful business without hemorrhaging funds. But it’s hard for the supporters to see it that way when they’re paying through the nose to support the club, only to see the best players walk away whilst the funds that could have secured contract extensions are funnelled into a pointless cream-coloured vanity project on the side of our East Stand.

Chances are, this is just the start of another long-running contract saga, that should give us all reason to moan for the next 12-18 months. Or, we could all be dealt a shocking blow by news that the club have reached an agreement sooner rather than later. Stranger things have happened – Peter Ridsdale for example is still managing to find work!

Whilst Leeds’ 2-1 win at Turf Moor on Saturday was tainted by the one man rebellious strike of Andy O’Brien, The Whites faithful can take some encouragement from the show-stopping performance of Alex McCarthy.

It seems to be a running theme at Leeds United, that as one player falls from grace, another steps up to fill the void. Hoisted onto a pedestal by the mere mortals they were sent to please, the selected few have only a limited amount of time to enjoy the praise and encouragement before the same fans that elevated their status take out their hammers of reckoning, smashing away at their pedestal until they come crashing back down to earth.

It’s once they’ve landed back on earth that the true test of a Leeds United player takes place. A reactionary fanbase at the best of times, the Whites faithful and the stoic, hard-working Yorkshire spirit they’re built upon can quickly turn on a player they feel isn’t pulling their weight.

When Jonny Howson was criticised for his alleged anonymity, the Leeds United skipper appealed to fans for understanding, admitting that the deeper-lying role he’d be playing was limiting his attacking chances. His insistence that the role was ‘for the good of the team’ however was something Leeds United fans quickly came to appreciate and a more tolerant, understanding fanbase emerged.

Perhaps one of the most extreme examples of how quickly a player can fall from grace is Robert Snodgrass. Back in March, a poll on this site rated Robert Snodgrass as the best Leeds United signing since relegation, but a slow start to the season left Snoddy promising improvement when angry fans accused the Scottish winger of looking disinterested.

Accepting blame, promising improvement and responding to fans concerns are key to successfully rebuilding pedestals at Elland Road. We’re pragmatic enough (most of the time) to understand how unrealistic our expectations can often be, but our anger is seldom derived from league position.

As hard to comprehend as it may be for some players, stuttering along with half-hearted displays, steadily accruing enough points to keep us in a respectable league position isn’t always enough. It’s the heart-on-their-sleeve crusaders that really excel at Leeds United, the players who literally bleed for the cause, who chase down every ball and suffer as badly in defeat as the rest of us do.

It’s why we’d take another Billy Bremner over a George Best, Luciano Becchio over Jermaine Beckford, or Andy Hughes over Ashley Cole.

It’s not that Ashley Cole, Jermaine Beckford and George Best wouldn’t be valued additions to the club, but losing with the other three is so much easier to handle because there will never be a point where their effort and commitment is brought into question. They’re players we can relate to, who want exactly the same thing as we do and will put their body on the line to achieve it.

Andy O’Brien once had his own pedestal at Elland Road. It was built upon his German tank like reliability, that came crashing down following his return from injury. Whether his crumbled pedestal played any part in this weekends antics is open for debate, but the team suffered as a result of his refusal to play, and that’s simply unforgivable to Leeds United fans.

If the fans wrote an induction booklet for new arrivals at Elland Road, three simple words would be scrawled across the front cover – Side Before Self. It’s the one thing we expect above all else, and such an important Leeds United philosophy that it really should be written on the shirts.

Alex McCarthy’s body-on-the-line display against Burnley means the youngsters stock is quickly rising at Elland Road. Expressing his desire to stay on beyond his initial month long loan will do him no harm either, but McCarthy has only seen the best side of Leeds United’s fanbase thus far, and like Tom Lees, Adam Clayton and other new incumbents to the Elland Road hype, it’s how they deal with the crushing blows of merciless fan criticism that will really test their mettle.

Following the examples set by Jonny Howson and Robert Snodgrass I’d suggest, is a good place to start.

You can criticise Leeds United for a lot of things; for the lapses in concentration that cause shoddy defensive blunders, for their fascination with hoofball football, for the poor discipline record that already has us on five red cards for the season. You can even fault the manager at times for the wrong tactics or player signings.

But the one thing you cannot take away from Simon Grayson’s side is their spirit and resilience. I’ve spoken of a resilient Whites side picking points up on a number of occasions this season, but nothing speaks to that attribute quite like today’s win over Leicester City.

It wasn’t a pretty win, nor was it a particularly enthralling one. The game in truth was actually pretty dire. But Leeds arrived at the King Power Stadium with a determination that they would right the wrong of Wednesday night, and that’s exactly what they did.

Through sheer force of will, the Whites contained Leicester City better than they have any team in quite some time. On loan Alex McCarthy barely had a save to make as Leeds scrapped away, keeping Leicester City from breaking into the box and forcing them out wide to ensure they were never gifted a simple shooting angle.

It was containing football at it’s most basic from The Whites, but every player on the park worked hard to ensure the strategy succeeded and Leeds emerged deserving victors as a result.

Our own chances were as limited as Leicester City’s, but Adam Clayton once again proved his worth with an absolutely unstoppable goal-of-the-season contender that proved to be the difference.

Jermaine Beckford, who described his time at Leeds United as the best of his career in the programme was given a warm welcome by the Whites fans, but even he couldn’t break through Leeds’ determined defence to level the score and create an all too predictable finish to the game.

This was the kind of reaction I predicted after the humiliation at home to Blackpool midweek. We may not be the most consistent team in the league, and Christ knows we’re prone to the odd horror show, but there’s a determination in this squad that will see us over that all important play-off line come May – of that I have no doubts.

Whilst every player on the park deserves a huge pat on the back for their efforts today, I think Andy O’Brien and Patrick Kisnorbo are worthy of special mention. Much like Simon Grayson, they’ve been subject to a lot of disproportionate criticism, but both of them worked tirelessly today to ensure we kept the clean sheet and as such, fully deserve to share the match ball. On and on…

You can catch highlights of today’s win on The Revie Way.

Thanks to Mike McCarthy from Fox Blogger for joining us this week

Like Leeds you’ve had a bit of a mixed start to the season, is it fair to say Leicester have underachieved so far considering how much they’ve spent?

I don’t think anyone could seriously contend that Leicester have been anything but disappointing so far. Certainly less than the sum of their vastly expensive parts.

At times the team has looked unstoppable. Impressive home wins have stopped other pretenders in their tracks. But the side has looked ordinary all too often, and at times, truly dreadful (Millwall at home being the nadir so far).

What did you make of the sacking of Sven and who is your personal favourite to replace him?

I was disappointed to see him go. I’m not a fan of sacking managers during the campaign. It’s very rare that a season can be saved by another boss and the season was and is by no means over for Leicester.

There isn’t a Leicester fan who wouldn’t want Martin O’Neill back, but evidence he’s interested has been scant so far.

Of the other contenders mentioned often, Mark Hughes would be a good pick, but I’m hoping the owners are secretly going about trying to persuade Roberto Di Matteo away from the Assistant job at Chelsea. Unfortunately that looks about at likely as O’Neill coming back.

Jermaine Beckford is still a bit of a Leeds legend, what have been your first impressions so far at Leicester?

It’s fair to say he still has a lot of work to do to prove he’s worthy of a place in the side. There’s no doubting his ability, but his willingness (or lack thereof) to get stuck in is highlighted each time he starts alongside David Nugent.

Kasper Schmeicel probably won’t get as warm a reception from the Leeds fans as Beckford, but how’s he been for you so far?

He’s been great. A real presence at the back that was missing last season.

He’s already won Leicester a few points on his own and despite a couple of recent errors, I’ve no doubt he’ll be a key part of Leicester’s promotion campaign as the season progresses.

Who else should we be looking out for in your team on Sunday?

Watch out for Lee Peltier, a summer signing from Huddersfield, who is doing an excellent job of filling the right-back void left in the summer. Kyle Naughton understandably chose the Premier League with Norwich ahead of another season in the Championship, but Peltier offers a good attacking instincts and is solid in the challenge.

If you could sign one current Leeds player for Leicester, who would it be?

Ross McCormack isn’t bad, is he.

Finally, what’s your prediction for the game?

A home win, but both sides are likely to find the net. 2-1 Leicester.

Oh how lovely it must be for a season to go by when one of your key players isn’t nearing the end of his contract, deadlocked in negotiations with our tight-fisted board and attracting the interest of Premier League relegation fodder.

First there was Jermaine Beckford, then there was Max Gradel and now there’s Jonny Howson. It wouldn’t be quite as depressing if Leeds United didn’t already have 2012/13′s drama set in place –  a la Snodgrass, Clayton, Somma and McCormack.

Yes, it’s wrong to be using players with two years remaining on their contract to blast the clubs contract policies, but does anyone honestly believe these contracts will be sorted before we have to sit through another six months of perpetual news feeds serving up one link after another, whilst the player decides he is no longer capable of answering simple questions with anything but ambiguity?

Regardless of how naive/pessimistic you may be, those are matters we can tear our hair out over in due course – for now, let’s concentrate our follicle extraction on Jonny Howson. The Leeds born, Leeds bred, Leeds supporting, Leeds United captain should never have become a player we were in fear of losing. Over 200 appearances for the club, Mr Leeds United is the club’s longest serving player – by quite some margin too if you consider his youth career.

Yet despite the fact Jonny is a player who bleeds blue, white and yellow, talks over his new deal appear to be getting nowhere, rumours of interest from other clubs are starting to surface and the words of reassurance coming from Jonny are far from reassuring.

Speaking after the 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers Friday night, Jonny said;

“We’re still discussing things. From my point of view I just want to play in a team which can give performances like that, and if we keep doing that then I’m sure it (the contract) will take care of itself.

“I’ll put it to the back of my mind.

“They (contracts) are big decisions at any time. It’s your career and you’ve got to make the right decision.

“But my aim is to get Leeds into the Premier League and if we keep producing performances like that then it won’t be a problem.”

It’s almost like Jonny is issuing the club an ultimatum – “Match my ambition, or I’m off – football careers are too short.”

And whilst I doubt Jonny would ever leave Elland Road, it’s not hard to sympathise with his current plight. He helped us fight defiantly through the loss of Beckford, but we brought plenty of new blood in for the start of last season which will have settled any fears the team may have had.

But where does Jonny look to see a similar level of ambition this season? His concerns are similar to that of the support; the transfer window was a massively depressing couple of months where Leeds United made a net loss in terms of quality.

For the time being, Leeds are in good form and Jonny, like the fans, is at relative peace. But he wants to play Premier League football while he’s still young enough to improve with the experience, and if Leeds United can’t deliver a team capable of doing that then, like the fans, Jonny may become restless.

When news of Max Gradel’s departure broke I was sat outside Manchester Airport waiting to pick someone up, which is probably for the best, because the last thing Leeds United fans needed at that moment in time was an “I told you so” speech.

I’ve expected Max Gradel to leave for a while now. When there’s as much speculation as there has been, you can only assume his agent is trying to engineer a move elsewhere. Added to the “please guide me God” tweets from the man himself (Gradel that is, not God) and the unconvincing reassurances from Ken Bates and Simon Grayson, it always seemed inevitable.

Regardless of my views on Ken Bates and his cancerous impact on our beloved club, I’ve always remained hopeful. I knew little money would be spent this summer because Bates doesn’t believe in spending it on footballers. Nothing annoys him more. For Ken, long-lasting assets like hotels and bars are much more important than bags of meat and bones that can kick an air-filled piece of leather around for 90 minutes. They make him money, footballers cost him.

This Bates-defying belief I’ve maintained throughout his reign has helped me overcome two administrations, relegation to League One, a total loss of form in our promotion season, the Jermaine Beckford saga and even the red card of Max Gradel v Bristol plus much more besides. Through it all, I always had belief that Leeds would defy the odds and rise again. I’m a tough nut to crack – but at some point in pre-season, my outer-shell shattered.

What this hard, outer-shell left behind was a Leeds United fan submerged in apathy. One that met Max Gradel’s departure with a reaction of “ah well, life goes on…” rather than the contrasting rant of the messenger. Expectation governs these reactions – when you expect the worst, you can only be pleasantly surprised.

This fundamental change inside me has helped me accept Leeds United are not the biggest club outside the EPL any more. I know that’s a theory we all like to perpetuate, but what reasoning do we have for it really? The biggest fanbase? All that means is that there is more people to moan when things go wrong.

The truth is, you can’t call yourself the biggest club outside the EPL when your star players leave to play in a French league no one really cares about. Nor can you call yourself the biggest club when you’re unable to compete with Ipswich Town on wages. Football’s biggest club is measured by financial might, power in the transfer market and ultimately, success. Leeds United have none of that.

What Leeds United are nowadays is a club at odds with itself. We’re the Newcastle United of the Championship. A mid-table side with unrealistic expectations fueled by a fanbase that defies our level of success. Sure, every once in a while we’ll flirt with success and overreach, but that invariably leads to a huge crash landing soon after. We constantly build ourselves up for painful falls, we just can’t help ourselves.

Apathy is the last escape of all football fans. I’m not kidding myself, I know it’s a temporary state of mind that will undoubtedly be broken by a good run of form, but for now, there’s something comforting about it. With no expectations, I’m at peace knowing another kick in the balls will be along in no time and that Gradel’s exit will seem trivial by comparison.

With that in mind, I wish Max Gradel nothing but the best. In the grand scheme of things, he was just a small footnote on the long history of “ups and downs” this club will continue to endure. On and on…

Simon Grayson has told West Ham United to multiply their rejected £2.5m offer for Max Gradel by three or four times and he’ll consider parting with Leeds United’s 2010-11 player of the season. 

The Leeds United manager challenged his Ivorian winger to show West Ham what they are missing this Sunday by putting in a performance that forces the Hammers to return with an increased offer.

“West Ham made an offer for Max this summer, but it was not acceptable.

“Will he want to show West Ham what they are missing? Every time a player pulls on the shirt, you want him to play to the maximum of his ability – and that’s the case with Max.

“If he goes out there and scores a hat-trick and they come back in with three or four times the money they offered previously, then it’ll be something to think about.”

With just one year left on his contract at Elland Road, the reality is that Simon Grayson is unlikely to get anywhere near the figure he’s demanding.

The decision to release such a statement now could be taken as a “come and get him” plea from Grayson who fears contract negotiations will not yield the desired result for Leeds. It’s an entirely speculative suggestion, but the timing of this does seem a little odd.

But The Whites have shown before that they are not scared to lose out on a potential windfall by keeping hold of players until their contracts expire. Several offers were rejected for Jermaine Beckford with Leeds United keeping him until his contract expired at the end of the 2009-10 season, whilst Neil Kilkenny and Bradley Johnson both left on frees this summer.

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s clash, Grayson believes Leeds United could cause an upset at Upton Park with the odds stacked against them.

“Hopefully, we can go out there and become coupon busters. It is their remit to win promotion at the first time of asking, but I know we have a team who are capable of beating anyone on our day.”

Max Gradel has today revealed that he has yet to receive a new contract offer from Leeds United. 

It’s been a nervous transfer window for Whites fans with West Ham United submitting a bid for the Ivorian winger and continuous speculation linking Gradel with a myriad of Premier League and Championship clubs.

With only a year left on his current deal, some fans fear a repeat of the Jermaine Beckford saga which saw the highly-rated striker leave on a free after his contract with the club expired.

Max Gradel responded to fans cries to sign his contract with the following;

 “Since I came to Leeds, I’ve always said that I want to be at this club. My contract finishes at the end of this season and I’ve been waiting for another contract but I haven’t been offered one yet. I don’t know what’s happening and I’ll wait and see.

“My wish was to do it as early as possible but it’s not down to me, it’s down to the club. I can’t sign a deal if there isn’t any deal to sign. But really, all I want to do is concentrate on football and play football.

“There’ll be higher expectations of me but I love pressure and it makes me play better. My aim would be to score more than 18 goals this season.”

The news has been met with a mixed reaction from Leeds United fans across the social networking sites and forums. Some feel Gradel’s situation is just another example of the club leaving it too late and making themselves vulnerable whilst others take a more pragmatic view, insisting that Max Gradel’s contract is a non-issue at the moment.

There’s a couple of ways you can look at this really. The first is that Leeds United are waiting for the transfer window to close before deciding on Max Gradel’s future because if they signed him up to an extended contract now, only to receive an acceptable offer later, they’d have already coughed up a signing-on fee that was largely pointless. His agent could also use the open transfer window and ongoing speculation as a bargaining chip for negotiating.

Another school of thought is that Max still has a year left on his current deal. He signed a two and a half year extension in January 2010, so when was the right time to renegotiate? Six months after the original deal when he’d just been sent off v Bristol and nearly cost us promotion? If we’re going to renew everyone’s contracts after 6-12 months, there’s little point in them signing a 3 year contract in the first place.

The fact of the matter is, that most contracts are renegotiated around the 6-12 months remaining stage. Leeds United have said before that they don’t discuss new deals during the transfer window, and that makes sense when you consider the player could end up leaving if an offer “too good to refuse” arrived. It could just be the funding Bates needs to build his new Travelodge after all.

Leeds United fans’ concerns are completely understandable. What happened with Jermaine Beckford has fans fearing that all our best players will walk away once we’ve nurtured them into stars and put their name on people’s radars, and there’s always a chance they will – this is 21st century footballing culture after all and loyalty is a rare commodity.

But, the new contract we’re all so desperate for Gradel to sign will be offered. Max will be given the opportunity to remain at Elland Road and sign a new deal. If he accepts then that’s great, happy days! If he doesn’t his mind is already elsewhere and there’s little we can do about it.

If Max wants to leave, contracts are irrelevant, players hold all the cards. Sure, we might have got a couple of million for him if he had a longer contract, but you’re kidding yourself if you think that money would have been spent on improving the squad and not Ken Bates’ vanity project.