With Adam Smith following Andros Townsend out of the door, and with Fabian Delph’s wages now off the books, Warnock has freed up the funds necessary for him to make his own- albeit temporary- mark on the team.

Unsurprisingly, the focus is on Leeds United’s defence and a loan deal for Leicester City’s Matt Mills sounds like it’s almost complete. Sky Sports revealed earlier today that the two clubs have agreed terms for the £5m summer buy to join Neil Warnock at Elland Road. This means the decision is now with Mills, who is understood to be unhappy at Leicester after a fall-out with Nigel Pearson.

Elsewhere, The Sun claim that Warnock has his sights on Bolton Wanderers defender Paul Robinson, whilst speculation surrounding the future of Danny Webber continues to grab the headlines. The 30-year-old free agent is believed to be considering a move to China.

Ahead of Tuesday’s Yorkshire derby we’re joined by Andy Dalton from Amber Nectar – A blog about Hull City and beer (a joke about the alcohol being necessary to watch that lot here is far too easy!)

Good win away to Ipswich at the weekend – following your opening day loss to Blackpool and League Cup exit to Macclesfield Town, is it fair to say that was a little unexpected?

In a way, not really – City’s away form was much better than their home form last season, the team seemed to prefer playing on the road with less pressure on them and the early indications are that it may continue that way this season

A safe 11^th placed finish for The Tigers last season, were you happy with that and what are your expectations for the current campaign?

Given the mess we came down in, 11^th was just fine – it’d be nice to build on that a little and push for the play-offs, which is probably the realistic aim of more than a dozen sides in the division, but failing to finish in the top half would be disappointing

There were less goals scored in matches involving Hull last season than any other team. Seems you saved the exciting games for when you played us with 8 goals evenly split over the two matches (both 2-2 draws). Fair to say watching Hull was a little boring last season?

That probably depended on how many away games you got to – regular travelers saw the best sequence of away form in the club’s hundred year history and loved it, whereas home-only fans were probably bored stiff all season long…

What are your thoughts on Nigel Pearson – is he the right man to take you forward?

I’m a huge fan of Nigel Pearson. He steadied a badly listing ship last season, broke a club record on our travels, has signed a crop of exciting young players and generally appears to be steering City in the right direction.

Who is likely to cause Leeds the most problems Tuesday night?

Keep a close eye on Robbie Brady on the wing. He’s on loan from your friends at Old Trafford, and is in every sense a typical 19 year old winger – lots of skill, tricks, confidence pace…and of course the maddening ability to both delight and frustrate, often at the same time

We don’t seem to be very well-liked amongst Hull City fans, why is that?

A lot of it dates back to when City were stuck in the lower reaches of the League and Leeds were doing well, and the Yorkshire media didn’t exactly give us a fair crack of the whip. Then there were Hull-based Leeds-supporting gloryhunters (who are virtually an extinct species now) rubbing everything in…oddly that animosity has dissipated quite a lot since a gap of three divisions in Leeds’ favour became two in ours in those crazy few seasons and now sees us level.

What are you feeding Nick Barmby to keep him going at 37 years of age?

Whatever it is I wouldn’t mind some. He’s a consummate pro who’s doing all he can to prolong his career, plus he probably quite likes the adulation that you invariably get as a home town boy

If you could add any current Leeds United player to the Hull City team, who would it be?

Jonny Howson – he’s always looked a class act in midfield and a real driving force behind the team, and his suspension for tomorrow is very good news for City. He could easily play in the Premier League.

Championship 2011/12 – three up, three down?

Boringly, I’d nominate West Ham and Leicester for the top two, with Brighton perhaps pinching the last place; relegation for Barnsley, Coventry and Doncaster

And finally, what are your predictions for the game?

We’re quietly confident of a first win at Elland Road in 24 years, which probably spells imminent disaster; another 2-2 wouldn’t be a surprise, or a disappointment.

Thanks to Andy for taking part. 

During last night’s game at the KC Stadium, Liam Rosenoir was taken off on a stretcher and ended up in hospital following a collision with Lloyd Sam.

The challenge, which Simon Grayson quite rightly describes as an “unfortunate accident” has brought fury from the Hull City boss who had this to say;

“It was a shocking challenge, a bit of a coward’s challenge.

“I am not happy with it all as he led with the arm.”

Regardless of whether Lloyd used his arm or not, these kind of challenges are commonplace in football and I’ve seen much, much worse ones in every single game so far this season. It’s unfortunate, but football is a contact sport and from time to time, people will get hurt.

If this was David Batty booting someone and walking off with a smile on his face I could understand Pearson’s comments, but there was clearly no malice involved in the challenge and I’m sure Lloyd Sam feels bad enough about the unfortunate incident already without Pearson slandering him in the press.

Lloyd Sam has shown the kind of professionalism Nigel Pearson could learn from by not only refusing to rise to the Hull City manager’s childish rant, but by contacting Rosenoir to offer his apologies and ensure he’s OK.

The Hull defender said he knows the challenge was purely accidental and that there was no hard feelings between himself and Sam. Whilst he remains in hospital receiving treatment, Rosenoir is said to be recovering well.

We wish him all the best.

Genius and hopeless in equal measures.

It’s unusual for me to head to Elland Road early for a midweek match, but with a rare Wednesday off work I decided to soak up the atmosphere before kick-off. It proved to be a good call too, as I bumped into an Irish Leeds fan I’d met several years earlier in Spain for a Champions League game (Barcelona) and have ran into intermittently around Elland Road and at the occasional away game ever since.

When we first met this particular fan several years previous, we drunkenly dubbed him ‘Stats’ on account of his never-ending knowledge of all things Leeds United. Bumping into Stats always seems to be a timely reminder of how far we’ve fallen since our original meeting and tonight was no different with the opposition Hull City having graced the Premier League more recently than we did.

Nevertheless, Stats was his usual informative self dropping little bits of random trivia such as tonight was Becchio’s 100th start for Leeds United and reminding us we hadn’t won at home since the 28th of September. Ironically, the 28th of September was also the last time Hull had won a game anywhere and with Leeds not drawing a game in the last eight, the chances of those stats remaining after this fixture seemed pretty slim.

So, armed with a whole new array of informative trivia to pad this match report out with, I headed into Elland Road just in time to see the teams lining up. Hull had decided that strikers were overrated and chose not to field one, whilst Grayson stuck with the 4-5-1 formation that had won us the last two games. Kasper Schmeichel was back between the sticks after attending the birth of his baby boy Max and Bradley Johnson was also named in the starting XI.

On paper, this had a home win written all over it but a combination of our dreadful defensive record, constant inconsistency and dismal home form had me a little nervous. Johnson’s return to the starting line-up didn’t do much to lift my spirits either, and the fact that this was a derby game meant the form book and respective league positions meant absolutely nothing.

As the game got under way, it looked as though Hull City had come to park the bus and Leeds enjoyed the majority of possession early doors. Pearson had clearly done his homework and Jonny Howson had little freedom to maneuver with a Hull City player assigned to be his shadow. Meanwhile, Robert Snodgrass was having more luck and strove down the wing leaving two players for dead before firing a cross into the box which was cleared by the defense but showed a real statement of intent from the Whites.

Within minutes of Snoddy’s run, Hull went up the other end and won a freekick courtesy of a clumsy challenge from Bradley Johnson. Hull were causing Leeds no real problems at the time, but Bradley Johnson decided to dive at one of their players anyway and was extremely fortunate not to get booked for what was an extremely poor and careless challenge.

On-loan Spurs youngster, Bostok stood over the ball but with a distance of 35 yards between him and the goal it seemed inconceivable that he’d shoot. The Leeds defense clearly agreed and decided a two man wall would be sufficient, choosing to pack the box with bodies instead. What followed was an absolute thunderbolt of a shot from Bostok, straight into the top corner leaving Kasper Schmeichel helpless and the Leeds United fans shell-shocked. Goal of the month written all over it.

Leeds struggled to regain composure thereafter and there was a period in which possession was wasted and balls hoofed long before anyone took control of the game once more. When Leeds did get moving again, Snodgrass was once again the inspiration providing a great pass to which created room for a cross. The cross landed just behind Becchio who couldn’t turn and shoot so laid it off to Howson instead, but Jonny fired the chance wide of goal.

Spurred on by the opportunity Leeds once again went in search of an equalizer with Kilkenny forgetting he can’t shoot once again and Bradley Johnson hitting a tame shot at goal which the Hull keeper had no problems collecting.

Just after the half hour mark, Johnson redeemed himself though thanks in no small part to a defensive error from Hull. Luciano Becchio capitalised on the mistake, laying it off for Johnson who smashed it into the bottom corner to restore parity and net his third of the season. 1-1.

Leeds rode their luck a little after the restart with Alex Bruce clearing a Bostok effort off the line. Kevin Kilbane also wasted a free header for Hull, but Leeds were also searching for another and Hull’s desperation to keep us out led to the referee dishing out several yellow cards in the visitors direction. The scores remained level at the break though, as the fans poured into the tunnel to escape the bitterly cold autumn weather at Elland Road.

Suitably warmed up by what I can only describe as sugary and coloured boiling water (I think they just boil the lager and add sugar?) the opening stages of the second half saw Becchio denied by the crossbar before heading wide from a Snodgrass shot.

By now, Leeds clearly had the edge and when Snodgrass crossed it in for O’Brien, the on-loan centre back made no mistake and sent Leeds United in front with a header. 2-1

The game remained scrappy and when Becchio went down in Hull’s half, few people paid much attention to his complaints (he does tend to roll around a fair bit) but the replay showed the Argentinian had taken a completely unprovoked elbow to the head from a Hull defender. Jonny Howson seemed to be the only person on the pitch that had noticed it, and in is role as captain complained to the referee who in fairness, couldn”t have seen it either. Howson’s protests proved unsuccessful and as the Leeds fans figured out what had happened we decided we weren’t impressed with the incident either.

Hull escaped with all eleven men on the pitch though and both teams continued to scrap away. Leeds had the best chance when Johnson headed wide from a Kilkenny free-kick. The midfielder should have done much better and was noticeably annoyed with his own effort.

It didn’t matter though as Leeds were in front and the referee was about to make our job easier by reducing Hull to ten men. It was the goalscorer, Bostok who went from hero to villain as he was sent walking for a second bookable offense. Bit of a soft sending off in fairness to the lad, but poetic justice for the elbow Becchio took earlier.

At this point, I joked that Leeds would probably blow it with such an advantage but even in my most pessimistic of moods I could never have believed we actually would. Hull had no striker on the pitch and aside from the little first half flurry following the goals, Kasper Schmeichel had been a spectator. It was damage limitation for Hull at best… or so I thought!

But then, you always have to account for Leeds’ self-destructive nature and our insistence on making life hard for ourselves. Moreover, you also have to remember we have the rarely consistent Bradley Johnson on the pitch who must have sensed a small amount of praise heading his way, so decided to cancel it out by throwing two points down the drain.

The equalizer itself is destined for The Best Blunders 2010-11 DVD and deservedly so. Credit to Hull, they’d somehow managed to get a late corner and despite their numerical disadvantage threw everyone forward in an attempt to level the game. They needn’t have bothered though as the ball looped off Johnson straight beyond an angry Kasper Schmeichel. 2-2

Even with Lloyd Sam, Davide Somma and Billy Paynter brought on to bolster the attack, it was too late for Leeds to restore their lead and Hull were left to celebrate an unlikely, and extremely fortuitous point at Elland Road as the Leeds fans went home cursing the never predictable Bradley Johnson.

TSS man of the match

For the second game running it has to be Robert Snodgrass. He was beating players down the wing, creating chances, putting crosses into the box and was definitely our biggest threat throughout. The difference he’s made since his return has been remarkable. Just like last season Snoddy has reestablished himself as the key man in the Leeds starting XI and it’s imperative that we keep him free of injury for the rest of the campaign.

At this point, I’d usually do the ‘ups and downs v Hull’ but the match report ran a little longer than usual (1500 words!) and there’s plenty of them so I’ll do that separately tomorrow.

Who the f**k are Hull City?

Hull is a  small fishing town full of ex-Leeds fans that jumped on the Hull City FC bandwagon when the Tigers (ra, ra, ra) thought they were big enough to sustain a place in the Premier League.

The Premier League dream was realised in 2008, but still no one cared about Hull and after struggling to attract quality players and investment, they were sent back down in 2010. Currently 20th in the Championship, it seems the natural order of things is slowly being restored as Hull head for financial Armageddon and another relegation.

Previous encounters

There’s little history between these two clubs as Hull and Leeds have spent much of their existences playing at different levels. For the most part, Leeds have been the superior team, but the universe swung wildly out of control a few years back allowing the Tigers (ra ra ra) a brief spell of superiority (in terms of league position at least).

The last time we did meet was a season of mixed fortunes for the two sets of fans. Leeds were heading to League One for the first time in our history whilst Hull City were heading to the Premier League for the final time in theres. Despite the contrasting directions of both clubs, Leeds still maintained their superiority with a 2-1 win over the Tigers (ra ra ra).

Season so far

Whilst we Leeds United fans whine about inconsistencies that see us in 8th place in the Championship, spare a thought (or a laugh) for Hull who are struggling down in 20th position having scored just 10 goals in 15 games.

The Tigers (ra ra ra) will need little motivation ahead of this one, but neither will their manager, Nigel Pearson who is worried his job may be on the line if he can’t turn things around quickly.

Team news

Leeds welcome back Kasper Schmeichel after he missed the Coventry game to attend the birth of his son. Max Gradel and Amdy Faye are set for last minute fitness checks after missing Monday’s training with knocks picked up at the Ricoh whilst Richard Naylor, Sanchez Watt and Patrick Kisnorbo remain on Leeds’ injury list.

Hull City are also without some key players, most notably Jimmy Bullard and Caleb Folan. Former Leeds player, Nick Barmby plays for the Tigers (ra ra ra) but was warming the bench at the weekend and isn’t expected to start.

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.

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.