The Scratching Shed

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.

Wrap up warm lads, it’s Oldham. Again!

Once a season is more than enough to visit the freezingly cold home of Oldham Athletic, but since we drew them away in the cup, tonight will be Leeds’ second (and hopefully last) visit of the season.

I’ll follow Leeds United anywhere. From Kettering to Histon, Milan to Istanbul, it makes no odds to me. It’s become a bit of an addiction whereby I need to be at any Leeds United game or it’ll drive me insane. Coincidentally, the last game I actually missed was the first time we went to Oldham this season in the cup. My better half was ill so I had to stay at home or I’d have never heard the end of it. Although I wasn’t there, I didn’t miss a second. I watched every second of the match live on the FA’s website, spent much of the game texting people that were there and was quite simply in my own world throughout.

It’s an uncurable addiction that’s probably slighlty insane, but we all have it to some extent. You know it’s an addiction when you book tickets for a stadium that is so cold, the thought alone sends shivers down my spine. Exposed to the elements thanks to a missing stand and right on the edge of the Pennines, the fans of Oldham often have to endure a swirling, bitterly cold, frosty wind that seemingly never lets up. A night game too, oh joy! It came as no suprise to me at all that the Oldham ground staff had the covers on the pitch last night to prevent frost. Take it as a warning lads and wrap up warm tonight. Hopefully it’ll be our final visit.

Kettering Town replay shown live on ITV4

For those of you that can’t make Elland Road next Tuesday for the FA Cup Second Round replay, ITV4 will be showing it live. The announcement means Leeds United will have had three consecutive FA Cup matches shown live so far this season. Clearly, we’re just more interesting than everyone else!

Mad Max going nowhere, warn Leicester

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has warned Leeds United that “Mad” Max Gradel will be going nowhere and stresses the loan is only to keep the wingers fitness levels up while his chances remain limited in Leicester’s first team.

If he isn’t going to get in the Leicester team then it seems a little harsh for Pearson to stop him moving elsewhere, although i fully understand why he’d want to keep him. I doubt this will be the end of it either way. If Max wants to leave, then there’s little anyone can do to stop him. I’d expect him to remain at Elland Road until the end of the season and his future will be decided then.

Welcome Gledders!

Gledders has been contributing to TSS now for quite some time, but has recently taken up a more regular role and already contributed a few new posts.

I hope you all enjoy Gledders contributions to the site. Although Gledders is under no commitment to contribute, his addition will no doubt bring with it more content for TSS and hopefully help build upon the sites success.