The Scratching Shed

With Leeds United not in action until tomorrow, I thought we’d take a look at what happened elsewhere this weekend.

Millwall and QPR move level top of the Championship with consecutive wins that leave their goal margin at +7 each. It was a case of newly promoted vs newly demoted at the Den, with last years League One play-off winners destroying Hull City 4-0 in one of those games where it’s unfortunate that they both couldn’t lose. Meanwhile, QPR had things rapped up early against our Yorkshire rivals, Sheffield United with all three of their goals coming in the first 23 minutes of the match.

After a poor start to the campaign, Kevin Blackwell has been sacked by Sheffield United after a humiliating home defeat at the hands of former Blades manager, Neil Warnock.

Read the rest of this entry →

Hallelujah!

After finally guiding Leeds United out of third tier hell, and despite ‘enticing offers from other clubs’ (Ken Bates’ words, not mine), Simon Grayson has finally put an end to speculation over his future by agreeing a new three year deal with the Whites.

Larry has experienced the same rollercoaster of ups and downs as every Leeds United manager must inevitably face, but in the 18 months he’s been here so far, he’s come out of it smelling like roses almost every time.

Save for a dodgy season end as Leeds United insisted on doing it the hard way, Simon Grayson has got pretty much everything right. Aside from a few ineffective loan signings, his often controversial dealings in the transfer market have plugged all the right holes, allowing Leeds United to finally move forward after almost a decade of demise. Signings like Patrick Kisnorbo and Max Gradel have brought much needed strength and excitement to a team previously void of ideas, with gaping holes in key areas.

Read the rest of this entry →

With the closure of the loan transfer market came Simon Grayson’s last throw of the dice for our promotion dreams. With injuries to key players Jermaine Beckford and Patrick Kisnorbo, Larry had one final chance to get things right to save Leeds United’s promotions dreams, and most probably his job.

However much I like Larry, the one thing he has to do this season is secure promotion. An incredible start meant it was ours to lose, and of course, we’re doing our best to make sure things aren’t easy. If he fails at the final hurdle, no matter how close he comes, it simply isn’t close enough. Tough as that may be, he’s in charge of one of the countries biggest clubs and with such a big job, comes big expectations.

The first area Larry addressed was the most obvious one. When Kis went off injured against Millwall, our defence fell to pieces. With Rui still injured, a replacement seemed the best way forward and for that, he turned to Preston North End and their out-of-favour centre-back Neill Collins.

Already, an unhappy and disillusioned Leeds United faithful have been quick to criticise this move due to his lack of success at Preston. I must admit, I have my own reservations too, but if you take a closer look at his history, you’ll see he’s been quite successful elsewhere; most notably, Wolves.

This could be an absolutely disastrous signing, as many of Simon Grayson’s loan signings have been. It’s a signing forged in desperation and adversity, so it’d be no major shock if Collins wasn’t the answer to our prayers. However, I’m feeling quite optimistic about his arrival. He’s a player with an established career at a higher level, desperate to prove his worth and undoubtedly looking to secure a future away from Preston. Only time will tell, but he’s definitely got a lot to play for so shouldn’t need much motivation.

Sticking with the defence, Shane Lowry returns from Aston Villa to fill the troublesome left-back vacancy that has been a constant weakness since Ben Parker was sidelined through injury.

I’ll probably take heavy criticism for this, but I was actually quite impressed with Lowry. He didn’t make the brightest of starts admittedly, but before he returned to Villa injured, he looked like he’d started to gel with the rest of the team and was certainly more successful than Andrew Hughes. Won’t be the most celebrated of signings, but he’s here to fill a void and it was a necessary move on Grayson’s part.

Finally we come to Sanchez Watt who joins us on loan from Arsenal. The Gunners are expecting great things from this youngster who Wenger brought in as a 15-year-old. When it comes to youngsters, no one has a better eye than Arsene Wenger so the young winger may be the one to watch as our season draws to a close.

Coming from Arsenal, he may be just what we need in that he’ll be familiar with passing the ball on the floor (something the rest of the team have clearly forgotten). Watt is also said to have electrifying pace and likes to run at players. Just the attacking threat we needed on the wing then?

A few months ago, the above three signings would have had my mouth watering, but after such incredible flops as Cardiff’s Capaldi, seeing will most definitely be believing as far as I’m concerned. It’s a shame the depth of the squad wasn’t used more when it should have been as a team of Leeds United’s size really shouldn’t have to resort to desperate last minute loan deals.

Going in the other direction is Liam Darville to Rotherham United and Andy Robinson leaves for Tranmere. I guess it was only a matter of time with Robbo, but his move highlights the kind of players we have available to us that have gone unused since Simon Grayson’s arrival. If the loan signings pay-off and we get automatic promotion then you can’t really question Larry’s judgement. However, if the season ends with Leeds United still in League One, the departure of Andy Robinson and David Prutton will be brought under intense scrutiny.  

So, the dice are rolled, jobs are on the line and tens of thousands of supporters expect. No pressure.

Over the years some of the greatest players in the world have played for Leeds United. Unfortunately, so have some of the worst. When it comes to terrible transfer dealings, we’ve had more than our fair share of flops. Here’s a small selection of those badly scouted few that have graced the lush green lawn of Elland Road.

Roque Junior
When word got around that World Cup and Champions League winner, Roque Junior would be joining Leeds on loan from AC Milan, the fans were delighted. The thinking was that such a talented player would be able to help the struggling club climb back up the table and stave off relegation.

Unfortunately for Leeds, Roque simply couldn’t adapt to the English game and it soon became clear as to why AC Milan were so willing to loan him out. Roque made just five appearences for Leeds before we helped him pack and took him to the airport, just to ensure he’d left the city for good. These days, Roque seems to have found his true level at Third Division Montenegrin club, OFK Igalo.

Kevin Nicholls
£700,000 was the fee Leeds coughed up for Kevin Nicholls. Two injuries later, the genius that is Dennis Wise was at the helm of the club and whilst Nicholls was still recovering from his latest injury, Wise pulled a masterstroke by awarding him the club captaincy.

After just an handful of games (13 to be precise), Nicholls stuck two fingers up at the club that had stuck by him through two injuries and awarded him captaincy, by demanding a move back to Luton Town.

If there’s one thing Dennis Wise did do right during his time at Elland Road, it was recouping the money we’d spent on the disgraced midfielder. Wise stubbornly refused to let Nicholls leave unless Luton could come up with what we’d paid for him. When they couldn’t, Preston North End came in and took him off our hands for £750,000. 18 games later, he’d managed to get out of his contract and return to Luton.

Darren Huckerby
At an astonishing £3,000,000 per goal, Darren Huckerby’s 40 appearences for Leeds will be remembered by most as a total failure. As much as the Leeds fans wanted him to do well, he never really found his feet at Elland Road and struggled to force his way into a first team that included Mark Viduka, Alan Smith and Michael Bridges.

After a year and half at the club, Huckerby left for Manchester City where he rediscovered his scoring boots. Although relegated with the team, he stayed on and helped them regain their Premier League status, only to be pushed out of the team by the arrival of Nicolas Anelka.

Huckerby now seems to have retired after finishing his career in the MLS with Californian team, San Jose Earthquakes. In 2008, he was voted the MLS Newcomer of the Year. (Only in America)

For me, Darren Huckerby personifies Leeds United’s transfer dealings around that time. He added nothing to a squad full of talent and his purchase only served to add to the clubs increasing expenditure. When we should have been buying players of sheer quality that could help us take the next step, we bought average footballers fit for a mid-table side.

Paul Okon
A product of the doomed Terry Venables regime, Paul Okon had spent his career moving from club to club and failing to find a permanent place at any of them. After 21 games at Leeds, it became glaringly obvious why. Although he had suffered from injury and was initially lacking match-fitness, time failed to improve the Australian and he was constantly caught out of position and failed to keep up with the pace of Premier League football.

Tomas Brolin
For me, Tomas Brolin is by far the worst signing in the history of Leeds United. Leeds fought off three Italian clubs to secure Brolin’s signature and after a £4,500,000 fee was agreed, the fans were expectant.

Brolin failed to live up to the hype though and the overweight, slow and out of place looking striker made just nineteen appearences for the Whites scoring four goals in the process. Google “worst Premier League transfers” and Brolin will feature prominently in every list you can find, such is the legacy the man left behind.

I’ll end with a quote from one such list. The following comes from The Times Online and tells you all you need to know about the legend that is, Tomas Brolin.

“Hard to imagine that Leeds United, normally a model of fiscal probity, paid £4.5m for the Swedish meatball in 1995. A good footballer treats his body like a temple. Brolin’s was a bouncy castle.”