The Scratching Shed

There’s something about wearing the all white strip of Leeds United that makes players insist on doing things the hard way. Top vs bottom yesterday was a perfect example. What should have been a stroll in the park for the runaway league leaders, almost turned into a disaster.

Credit where it’s due though. For a team that’s just lost ten in a row and look like they’re already relegated, Stockport were determined to make life as hard as possible for Leeds United. Had it not been for one of the most pathetic defences I’ve ever seen and a goalkeeper determined not to leave his line, Stockport could have become only the second team this season to beat Leeds United.

First things first – the pitch. I can’t describe how bad it was. Within minutes of kick-off it started to tear up and was somewhat reminiscent of Histon’s last year. Fair’s fair though, the game came close to being postponed due to the weather conditions lately and had it not been for the efforts of the Stockport fans and ground-staff, we wouldn’t have been playing at all. Besides, I played on enough bad pitches as a youngster, as I’m sure the pro’s did and we still managed to have a game.

Within the first two minutes Leeds had already turned Stockport’s defence inside out and Snodgrass fired us into the lead. Three defenders were around Snoddy as he advanced on goal, but none of them put a tackle in and Snodgrass was allowed to shoot from just outside the box. His shot deflected off the foot of one of the defenders, wrong-footing the keeper and giving Leeds a dream start. 0-1, and things were going as expected.

Stockport soon equalised though when one of their stand-out players, Carl Baker – who, incidentally is leaving them next week – went on an unchallenged run towards the Leeds goal. Eventually he was stopped by the Leeds defence, but only at the cost of a free-kick, from which County equalised. Baker took the free-kick himself, firing it low into the bottom corner, via another deflection from the Leeds wall. 1-1, and before anyone points any fingers, there was nothing Casper could have done about it.

Both keepers were kept busy as the teams exchanged blows. Bradley Johnson came closest for Leeds when his volleyed shot came back off the bar. Becchio also thought he’d scored just after the half hour mark, but the linesman decided he’d used his hand to control the ball. As half-time approached, Leeds enjoyed the better of the match but never pressured Stockport’s weak defence enough for me.

The second half started with both teams having chances, but it was Stockport who would take the lead just after the hour mark. A corner taken short from Stockport, was whipped towards the back post from the edge of the area where Leeds’ defence was once again missing and Mullins converted to give County a rare moment of celebration. After losing ten in a row, this wasn’t what the league leaders were expecting, nor were the home sides fans who were in total euphoria.

Simon Grayson made two changes shortly afterwards in search of more ideas upfront. The most important change was undoubtedly Max Gradel, who the Leeds fans had already called for. He replaced Robert Snodgrass and immediately started to torment Stockport’s fragile defence. Howson was also brought on for Doyle.

It took just five minutes for the equaliser and it was Patrick Kisnorbo with an unexpected assist. His cross found Jermaine Beckford who headed home brilliantly to restore parity. Who said Beckford was rubbish in the air? 2-2.

Gradel was busy running the Stockport defence ragged and Grayson made his final change replacing Lucciano Becchio with Tresor Kandol. The better chances were going Leeds’ way by now as Stockport looked happy to take a point.

Relying on such a poor defence was County’s downfall and ultimately cost them points as Max Gradel’s cross was poorly cleared, landing nicely for Leigh Bromby who struck beautifully on the half volley to send Leeds back infront with just two minutes remaining. 2-3. Queue a hysterical celebration from Bromby, who clearly hadn’t rehearsed anything in training.

County tried to chase the game and get themselves a point, but the World’s greatest time-waster, Casper Ankergren had other ideas. When the ball went out for a Leeds goal-kick in the dying moments, Casper did his usual routine of lining the ball up, walking back slowly, re-aligning the ball, walking back slowly again, knocking the mud off his boots on the post… etc… etc. Understandably annoyed by Casper’s antics, one of the Stockport fans behind his goal launched a snowball at him, for what had to be the funniest moment of the match.

Casper’s time-wasting proved to be irrelevant though as Jermaine Beckford wrapped things up in injury. Tresor Kandol played him in and although his shot was a little tame, it found it’s way under the County keeper to secure the win for Leeds. 2-4, job done. Beckford clearly enjoying himself again and everything rosy once more in the Leeds United camp.

"The referee's a..."

Whilst the goalscoring had finished, the totally inept referee who had been handing yellow’s out like they were Christmas cards decided to go one better by sending off a County player. His challenge on Gradel wasn’t the best admittedly, but they’d already lost the game and Gradel was fine so I simply can’t see what the sending off achieved. 

Clearly one of those ref’s that was adamant the fans came to watch him rather than the football, he managed a total of eight yellow cards (six for Leeds) and one red. An impressive haul by anyones standards. His final booking was one of those rare moments I agreed with though. Patrick Kisnorbo - who’d otherwise had a relatively good game - decided to shout at David Poole as he was leaving the pitch. A stupid thing to do as the player had already been sent off and seen his team go from in front to two behind and was probably feeling bad enough already. Kis received a yellow card for his antics, but it could easily have been red with the way the cards had been dished out.

This was a poor game by our standards. We weren’t great defensively and never pressured a weak Stockport defence enough. The conditions didn’t help as players slipped all over so Leeds were never able to really take control.

Stockport deserve credit mind. Considering they’re struggling as much as they are it was a spirited display from them, but Leeds have more talent at their disposal. Having the luxury of being able to bring on Max Gradel, who can change games in seconds, is something most teams don’t have. Thankfully, we got the job done and end the year with a victory.

Elsewhere, Charlton could only manage a draw, so Leeds will start the New Year eight points clear at the top of League One. Back across the Pennines next for Leeds, who will be playing a largely unheard of team from Salford in the FA Cup.

I’ll get a match review on in the morning, but already managed to find some highlights of the win, so enjoy. An early goal for Robert Snodgrass before Leeds went 2-1 down. Jermaine Beckford headed us level after just five minutes though, before Leigh Bromby scored a beauty and Becks rounded things off in injury time.

Not a vintage performance from Leeds, who, as usual insisted on doing things the hard way, but a great result to round off the year. Credit where it’s due for Stockport though who gave us a good game and attacked throughout.

Massive thanks to the fans of Stockport too who helped clear the pitch and stands so todays game could go ahead.

Couldn’t help but laugh at the weather-related stories coming from the official Leeds United site and official Stockport County site over the last few days. 

"Argh snow! No one leave their house!"

 With the two sides due to meet tomorrow, Stockport County’s fans helped to clear the pitch earlier in the week so the covers could be laid and hot-air blowers put in place. However, snow and ice were still present on the stands meaning the match could still be cancelled amid fear of potential injury to fans. With the health and safety brigade sharpening their pencils and ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers setting their sat-navs, Stockport issued another plea for fans to help them clear the stands this morning. 

Back in Leeds meanwhile Father Bates returned from a night of delivering lumps of coal to naughty boys and girls to issue a statement thanking Leeds United’s groundsmen for their hard-work in ensuring all matches could go ahead as planned and the training facilities were in good shape. 

They did a great job, as I’m sure you’ll all agree and I’m glad they’ve got the recognition they deserve. I am quite puzzled as to why there was any snow on the pitch in the first place, given the underground heating Elland Road has, but assume it costs more than Bates is willing to pay to flick that particular switch on (or it only works when the snows cleared? I prefer my original reason).

Brolin makes Leeds United return!

What did seem a little tactless however was the photograph the offical Leeds United site decided to run with which shows a snowman on the side of the pitch (left). While Stockport are busy begging fans to come in and clear their pitch and stands, our lads have time to build snowmen? Tut, tut! 

Of course, I’m only joking. I appreciate the lads work extremely hard and would like to thank them personally for their work not only over Christmas but throughout the entire season. I’ve seen some sorry excuses for football pitches on my travels around League One, but Leeds’ always looks in good condition. Also, thanks to all the Stockport fans who have worked hard to give tomorrow’s game the best possible chance of going ahead. I know County don’t have the same resources Leeds do and it’s good to see the fans pulling through to help the team.

Christmas can often be a tough time for clubs competiting on so many fronts and Leeds United have been handed an extremely tough run of six league games and two cup games throughout the festive period.

A series of shots firing back off the woodwork and excellent saves from Kettering Town’s goalkeeper, Lee Harper made progress for Leeds United hard. It took 200 minutes for Leeds to finally make the break through when Mike Grella came on as a sub in the replay to fire us into a 2-1 lead. From there on in, the floodgates opened and Leeds United eventually progressed to the third round with a 5-1 win (AET).

That result set up a third round tie at Old Trafford with Manchester United. Maybe the War of the Roses game has been a slight distraction for us, or maybe it’s the mounting injuries and need to rotate our squad week in, week out that has led to a minor dip in League form, but so far in December, we’ve seen our lead over Charlton Athletic cut to just two points; albeit, with a game in hand.

December started with an away visit to Oldham Athletic. Simon Grayson made several changes to his squad with plenty of loan players starting the tie, including Max Gradel and Sam Vokes upfront. A cold Boundary Park had more Leeds United fans inside than it did Oldham and the lads didn’t disappoint. Max Gradel ran his heart out throughout and his persistance earnt him two assists for Neil Kilkenny and the returning Lucciano Becchio as Oldham struggled to compete with Leeds United’s second team.

Next up was the West Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town. Whilst Huddersfield had the best attacking record in the league, Leeds had the best defensive record. Huddersfield occupied one of the play-off places not far behind Leeds so this was never going to be an easy fixture. Leeds did manage to take the lead twice though and despite not being at their best, I felt it was two points dropped leaving Elland Road that day. I’d accept Huddersfield were probably the better team, but after taking the lead twice, I felt we should have been able to hold on, although a draw was probably a fair reflection of the game.

A rare trip to Boundary Park was next as Leeds met Brentford for the first time in almost half a century. For myself and the other travelling Whites, it was a long return home after witnessing a poor game, played on a poor pitch hindered by a poor referee. Neither team deserved to win the game, but the dismal performance set a few alarm bells ringing amongst the Whites fans. Brentford is definitely a place we should be taking three points from but never really looked like doing so and the match ended 0-0.

Our fifth game in fifteen days brought us back to Elland Road for the JPT clash against Accrington Stanley. The first competitive meeting for the two sides should have been a straight forward victory for the Whites and on paper, looks like it was. The final score of 2-0 however doesn’t tell the full story. Leeds’ defence was extremely poor throughout, leading Simon Grayson to bring Patrick Kisnorbo on with twenty minutes to ensure progression. The five man back line seemed to sort things out a bit, but Leeds had definitely rode their luck with shots coming back off the inside of the post on two occasions.

The light at the end of the tunnel is finally shining for Leeds though. With Lucciano Becchio back to full fitness, Shane Higgs and Bradley Johnson training again and the extensive injury list finally shortening, Leeds should be a stronger side for this weekends visit of Southampton.

It’s been a tough run for the Whites that’s seen the team struggle with the chaotic schedule. Our early season form was built on the consistency of the line-up, but when Larry was forced into making wholesale changes, the teams looked weakened. That said, we’re still top of the League and however poor we may have been at times, we’ve not been defeated throughout a challenging month. Although our lead has been cut from six points to two on Charlton, we’re still eight clear of third and that’s all that really matters. As nice as it’d be to end as champions, I’d take second in a heartbeat.

After Southampton this weekend, the squad finally gets a chance to regroup with no midweek fixture next week. The next game will be the Boxing Day clash against Hartlepool before we head to Edgeley Park to take on Stockport County just two days later. The final game of 2009 gives us six days to prepare for our trip to Old Trafford, where you can only hope the Manchester United players are fatigued from too much partying.

A poor run maybe and I’ll be glad when it’s over, but we’re still picking up points, still top of the league and still with a decent gap over third place. Had we been offered this at the beginning of the season, I doubt many would have turned it down.

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This is a huge gamble. Writing about Anthony Elding about an hour before a potential banana skin cup tie against Kettering.

But I can’t help it. This lad has haunted me for years and I choose that word carefully. I really only noticed him when he was signed to Leeds United and strangely it was because a friend of mine is a Stockport County fan and his better half was born in Boston. Elding was similarly born in Boston and played for Stockport, so there was a bit of an obscure connection. He was a bit of an enigma for County in not being especially loved by the fans, but when he got a hard time or a bad review, he usually hit back with goals. That’s the best answer a footballer can give.

Now he has popped up again, playing (presumably, I haven’t seen the team sheets) for Kettering where he is on loan. Ironic though it is, this will probably be the most I will have seen him play because he never really got much of a look in at Leeds. I know that he and his family are huge Leeds supporters because he used to watch Leeds games alongside us mere mortals in the stands when he was injured during McAllisters time in charge.

You have to kind of like the lad. He proved elsewhere that he can score, he’s a huge fan and the Beckford and Becchio combination coupled with an injury meant that he never got a chance with us, the club he loved.

That was why I carefully chose the word ‘haunting’. I’m just hoping that he isn’t going to be the FA Cup ghost, that last year was Histon, coming back to spook me. If we get 5 goals clear, I hope he gets one to revive his career. Other than that, I intend to be my usual compassion-less bigot for the full 90 minutes and that includes you Mr Elding, Leeds fan or not.

Almost a quarter of a way into the 2009-10 League One season, I thought now would be a good time to look back on how we’ve done so far.

Leeds United 2-1 Exeter City
The season started at Elland Road against newly promoted Exeter City. Leeds United and Simon Grayson were looking to put the heartache of another failed attempt at promotion via the play-offs behind them and were focused solely on achieving automatic promotion.

The good news was that Jermaine Beckford was still a Leeds United player and his brace earnt us all three points as we made hard work of the League One newcomers. His 89th minute winner was met with chants of “sign your contract for the lads” from the 27,000 fans inside Elland Road.

Wycombe Wanderers 0-1 Leeds United
The first away game of the season was also our first competitive match against another newly promoted side, Wycombe Wanderers. After a first half dominated by the hosts, Leeds re-grouped and returned a different team. Lucciano Becchio’s 61st minute goal was to be the winning goal as Leeds and Shane Higgs kept their first clean sheet of the campaign.

Walsall 1-2 Leeds United
It was another late show from Leeds United in Walsall as the hosts took the lead late on from the penalty spot. With eleven minutes to go, it looked like Leeds were set to drop their first points of the season but an 83rd minute equaliser from Bradley Johnson setup an Hollywood finish for Jermaine Beckford who secured all three points with a winner four minutes from time.

Leeds United 3-0 Tranmere Rovers
Back to Elland Road for a visit from the Scousers. After scraping victories in the first three games, Leeds will have been happy with a much more comfortable result. First half goals from Bradley Johnson and Jermaine Beckford gave us a two goal cushion at half time before Lucciano Becchio wrapped things up in the second half.

Colchester United 1-2 Leeds United
Spirits amongst Leeds United fans were the highest I’ve seen them in a long time before the Colchester game. The travelling fans were in full voice and more optimistic than ever after the 3-0 demolition of Tranmere.

Bradley Johnson once again fired Leeds United into the lead as his impressive early season form continued. Colchester grabbed an equaliser from the penalty spot, but Jermaine Beckford secured all three points and kept our 100% record intact with a 64th minute winner.

Leeds United 2-0 Stockport County
Simon Grayson’s side broke records against Stockport as the club recorded it’s most successful start to the season and most consecutive league wins. Records that had previously stood since the days of Don Revie.

Jermaine Beckford was out injured so Mike Grella made his first start of the campaign and within 9 minutes he’d opened the scoring and fired Leeds ahead. Lubomir Michalik made it 2-0 before half-time which turned out to be the final score after a goal-less second half.

Southend United 0-0 Leeds United
The away trip to Southend was moved to a Friday night at the request of the local Police, so anything other than a loss would see us go top of the table. Uptil this point both ourselves and Charlton had won every game, but Charlton currently had the superior goal difference.

A scrappy and hard fought battle ended 0-0 as both teams struggled to create good chances. Shane Higgs was called into action as Southend had the best chance of the game when they were awarded a penalty. The spot kick was struck well enough, but Shane Higgs guessed right and earnt Leeds a point.

Leeds United 4-1 Gillingham
After dropping our first points of the season away to Southend, Leeds were looking to get back to winning ways at home to Gillingham. It took less than 15 minutes for Bradley Johnson to fire Leeds ahead and he netted his fifth of the season just before the half hour mark to give us a 2-0 lead at the break.

Jonny Howson got his first of the season straight from the restart before Barcham pulled one back for Gillingham. It proved to be nothing less than a consolation goal though as Jermaine Beckford rounded things up in the final minute to make it 4-1 to the Whites.

Milton Keynes Dons 0-1 Leeds United
MK Don’s were being hyped as our toughest test of the season so far and they didn’t disappoint as Paul Ince’s side battled well with the Whites. The teams cancelled one another out for much of the game and neither side looked like they’d make a breakthrough.

When MK Dons were reduced to ten men though, Leeds had the advantage and for once managed to capitalise on it. It took 45 minutes but Robert Snodgrass’ late goal earnt Leeds an unexpected three points.

Leeds United 1-1 Carlisle United
A tired looking Leeds side lacked the spark they’d had at home so far and struggled to kill Carlisle off after Jermaine Beckford missed a penalty and fired us into the lead from the rebound.

Leeds had won fifteen consecutive games at Elland Road by this point, but the last team to beat us put an end to that record. A freekick was met by Scott Dobie who equalised with fifteen minutes left on the clock. Despite a late flurry from Leeds, they couldn’t find a winner.

Although the Elland Road winning streak is now at an end, Leeds remain the only undefeated side in the country as we head into this weekends top of the table clash against Charlton. Another 36 games like these and come May there’s no doubt we’ll be heading back to the Championship.

Back in March, a Tuesday night fixture against Yeovil ended in a convincing 4-0 win to the Whites. Jermaine Beckford scored an hattrick and Leeds lost only one of the remaining fixtures that season. Things were looking up, but for Simon Grayson there was still work to be done. In the same fixture Lucciano Becchio missed Leeds United’s fourth penalty of the season.

Grayson knew he had a potentially costly problem and promised he would find a “designated penalty taker” who would take them on a regular basis. Fast forward a couple of months and Leeds were still having problems from 12 yards. Unlike Becchio’s miss against Yeovil, the one Jermaine Beckford missed against Millwall in the playoff semi-final would prove to be much more costly.

The last time Leeds scored from the spot was when Robert Snodgrass bagged his second in the 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient back in April. Most of you will remember Leyton getting a player sent off as a result of that penalty, but coming back from 2-0 down to earn a point with ten men. This is the only penalty Leeds have scored in the last six attempts.

With that in mind, it seemed appropriate for Robert Snodgrass to have another go against Stockport. The result was far less convincing though. An extremely feeble attempt gave the keeper little trouble and it remains glaringly obvious that Leeds still have a problem.

Clearly we need a solution. Simon Grayson promised to find it back in March but has so far failed to deliver. I don’t think it’s his fault though. I think the problem is that there’s a lot of extra pressure on the players to score from the spot now. They’ll be well aware of how unsuccessful we’ve been from there and Jermaine Beckford’s costly miss against Millwall will be fresh in their memory.

Snoddy may well be the man for the job. His miss on Saturday was a woeful one but if he was to take them permanently and build his confidence up then it may become a different story. Either way, missing penaltys as often as we are is unacceptable.

If all else fails, I don’t mind stepping up and giving it a go. I mean, how hard can it be…

The team Simon Grayson has built may have missed out on promotion last term, but their achievements so far have broken records which stood for four decades. The greatest start to a season and the most consecutive league wins were records previously held by the great Don Revie’s team of the late sixties and early 70′s, but records are there to be broken and that’s exactly what Mike Grella and Lubomir Michalik did on Saturday.

Although Simon Grayson’s Leeds United play two divisions below the one Don Revie’s great side did, his achievement shouldn’t be undermined. The turn around at Elland Road is remarkable. The team look confident, comfortable and capable of beating anyone. Even without Jermaine Beckford, Patrick Kisnorbo and Rui Marques, Grayson proved his squad had the depth to get the results. Mike Grella got his first Leeds United goal in his first start and Lubomir Michalik returned to the first team and gave Grayson something to think about.

The buzz around Elland Road remains and is building all the time. The confidence levels of the fans have reached a new high. It’s been a while since we had reason for such optimism and everyone seems to be enjoying it. The pre-match entertainment came courtesy of the other 100% league side, Charlton Athletic, who kicked off before us and won 2-0. Leeds would be looking to match them and remain level on points. I’d decided we could beat Stockport 6-0 and take the top spot, such is my confidence at the minute.

There was some area for concern as the teams warmed up. Jermaine Beckford was missing, the defence was unproven and the referee sent two of our players off last season. Mike Grella started in place of Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol was keeping the bench warm.

It didn’t take long for any doubts to be forgotten though. Within minutes of the kick-off Leeds took the lead courtesy of New York born Grella. A classy finish by the American and Leeds settled in for an easy game. 1-0.

A new stength in the side quickly became evident as Leigh Bromby’s long throw expertees were unveiled. He threw a few into the box which caused Stockport’s defence trouble throughout and gave us an extra attacking option.

The second goal came just before half time when Robert Snodgrass shot from a free-kick. The Stockport keeper made a mess of his save and spilled it to Lubomir Michalik who was more than happy to clean up. 2-0 to Leeds and the game was as good as over. On another day we could have gone to town on Stockport and scored a few more but it was a poor match in all honesty. Robert Snodgrass could have made it three in the second half but his feeble attempt at a penalty kick was saved with ease. Still one problem left to sort out then!

There’s little more to say about the match as it was a pretty dull affair overall. We could have had more but never seemed to put in too much effort. The stand-in defence did well enough but were never really pushed. Stockport are a poor side that will undoubtedly struggle this season. I know we’ve already had this debate but how this was a Cat A is anyones guess? The fact that only 22,000 could be bothered turning up for the fixture says it all. I’m hoping Jermaine Beckford’s injury isn’t too serious as I remain unconvinced by Mike Grella’s finishing ability despite his goal. He’s a good player that works hard for the team, but he doesn’t have the killer instinct yet.

100% record intact, five points clear of third place and looking comfortable. However dull the game was, you can’t complain while winning!

TSS man of the match – Jonny Howson
Jonny’s impressed me all season. He’s stepped up to the next level this season and fights hard for the team. He creates chances, passes well and gets stuck in.

Stockport County visit Elland Road on Saturday in what could be a record breaker for Leeds United and Simon Grayson. Leeds have won their last fourteen league games at Elland Road and seven out of seven this season so far in all competitions home and away. Both of these records match ones set by the great Don Revie and could be beaten by Simon Grayson should we be victorious on Saturday.

Both Patrick Kisnorbo and Rui Marques are away on international duty for the fixture so Simon Grayson will be forced to change his two centre-backs. With Richard Naylor still out injured new signing Leigh Bromby could go straight into team.

Like many clubs in the lower leagues these days Stockport have had their fair share of financial troubles. They were placed into administration towards the back end of last season and subsequently bought by a group of local businessmen. The lovely people at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (remember them?) have since been hassling the club for money as they continue to try and rid themselves of old debts.

Stockport are currently managed by former Liverpool and Everton defender Gary Ablett who took over after their administration last season when former manager and Stockport player, Jim Gannon left to manage Motherwell after four years with the club.

So far this season Stockport sit mid-table. It’s worth noting that they’ve done much better away from home than they have at home so far. Although they’ve only played two away matches, they’ve won one and drew the other, whilst at home they’ve lost two and drew one.

Head-to-head, we’ve had just eight meetings, six of which were in the 1920′s in the old second division (Championship). The other two fixtures were last season when Leeds won both games. Away we won 3-1 after falling 1-0 down, with goals from Becchio, Delph and Christie whilst at home we beat them 1-0 with an early goal from Jonny Howson. Overall we’ve won four, lost three and drawn once.

The game could see a slightly boosted attendance as the club have announced Liverpool tickets will only be available to members, season ticket holders and those that can produce a stub from the Stockport game. The match has been deemed a catergory A though, so we’ll have to wait and see if that puts anyone off. The Liverpool game is also midweek and on Sky Sports so some may decide to stay at home and watch it.

Unsuprisingly, the bookies have us nailed on favourties to win on Saturday. The best price I can find on Leeds winning the tie is 3/8 whilst a draw is 4/1 and a Stockport win ranges from 6/1 to around 8/1.

Last five league fixtures 
Leeds - WWWWW
Stockport – DWLLD

Just received an email from EST1960 who is completely mythed by the price of tickets for this Saturday’s visit of Stockport. To quote from the email he says “..how on earth is Stockport a CAT A game? It’s £26 for the cheapest tickets so I’m having to pay £78 for me and my two sons!”

I get quite a few emails from fans and pricing is a common theme, but EST1960 raises a good point here which is the catergory decision for Stockport. Catergory A would usually suggest a big fixture against one of our fellow title-contendors, or at least some kind of rival, but Stockport are neither. They flirted with relegation last season and aren’t doing too well this time round either. For me, they’re a catergory C fixture or B at the absolute maximum.

It’s interesting to see the arrangements for the Liverpool game. If you aren’t a season ticket holder or member, then the only way you can get a ticket is by producing a ticket from the Stockport game. There’s no way Bates could have predicted a draw against Liverpool beforehand but it’ll certainly raise the attendance this weekend now.

I’ve never taken much notice of the catergory listings for games as I hold a season ticket, but from what I’m told it’s not uncommon for teams of no real significance to be deemed a catergory A game. I’ve been thinking about this for much of the day now and can’t come up with any justification at all for how Stockport could be considered catergory A. For me, there’s only 3 or 4 teams in this division I’d class as catergory A games and Stockport wouldn’t come close.

Surely it makes more sense for Ken to keep the prices down and attract more people? If you charged an average price of £20 for tickets and got 30,000 in this would equate to roughly the same as 23,000 paying £26 and a bigger attendance means more money spent on merchandise and refreshments. There’s no way of saying whether 30,000 would turn up with them prices but even if it was only an extra 2-3,000 you’d make the extra revenue on sales within the ground.

My major qualm with Elland Road ticket prices remains the empty seats. There’s no point having empty seats at all. Even if we gave them away to school kids for free it’d be better than them being unused and it’d also increase revenue with the kids spending money within the ground. It’d also welcome the next generation of Leeds fans into Elland Road who will one day be the ones paying to see the Whites play.

Prices quoted are the cheapest seats in the North and South stands.