The Scratching Shed

19-year-old, Nile Ranger

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leeds United 2010/12 away kit

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whites bound defender?

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

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

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

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

Going nowhere!

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

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

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

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

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

A 3-1 victory over Norwegian side, SK Brann was tainted by the injury of arguably Leeds’ most important player, Robert Snodgrass.

Leading 1-0 thanks to a Luciano Becchio opener, Leeds United were applying the pressure and searching for a second when Robert Snodgrass fell victim to a horror challenge by notorious Danish thug, David Nielsen.

With only 25 minutes gone, Snodgrass was taken off the pitch by stretcher and replaced by Max Gradel. The Leeds United offical site reports;

There was a concern for Leeds… when Snodgrass was the victim of an horrendous challenge and was stretchered from the field.

Leeds United doubled their advantage from the resulting free-kick, with Neil Kilkenny’s cross finding Lloyd Sam who made it 2-0, but it was no compensation for a horrific challenge that could result in a lengthy spell on the sidelines for Snoddy.

SK Brann made it 1-2 shortly before half-time, but Luciano Becchio restored Leeds’ two goal advantage just after the break. The tackles meanwhile continued to fly in and Lloyd Sam was lucky to escape from another horrific lunge as the game was played to a nasty temperament throughout.

A couple of positives for Leeds with Luci scoring twice and Lloyd Sam getting in on the action, but Snoddy’s injury will be the big talking point and a devastating blow before the season has even begun. Fingers crossed it’s not quite as serious as it looked!

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

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

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

Matt Derbyshire

Matt celebrates Greek cup win with Olympiacos

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

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

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