Neil Warnock spoke to LUFC White Knights the other day, and spoke to Yorkshire Radio today following David Norris’ signing. There wasn’t much on Snodgrass leaving, though Warnock did tell YEP today that the amount of time the takeover is taking probably harmed his chances of convicing the Scot to stay. Thanks to occasional writer Colin for uploading a clip of the YR interview. Here’s the highlights:

Chuck Norris

I like the energy he shows and I’ve been a fan of him since he was at Plymouth.

I think the way we are at the moment, you can’t get enough players in the area.

He’s got an eye for goals. I’ve already mentioned Paul Green can score a few goals. I think Norris knows how to get into the box at the right time. I think with losing Snodgrass we’ve got to look at scoring goals [from midfield], even though I’m looking to sign strikers.

David always wanted to sign for us. He was hoping, and hanging on for us.

Icing On The Cake

We saw what Varney was contributing in a match last night against Bodmin. [Like Norris] he’s a good professional, and I think that’s what we need.

But we still need one or two as icing on the cake.

Rodolph Austin should be concluded soon, and we’ve got a couple of targets in sight. Then there’s a couple of areas we’re still a bit thin on and a few players looking to leave as well.

We’ve had enquiries about Paynter, O’Brien, and a couple of other players, so we’ll have a look at that as well.

The White Knights Interview: Replacing Snodgrass

We need to replace players like [Snodgrass] with top, top players.

At the moment I don’t think we’re good enough to go up, if we can get the 3-4 players we need now as the icing on the cake, I think we have a very good chance of playing to the top level.

It’s all about getting those 2-3 quality players now to give us what we need to get to the top end of the table.

Loan Market

[The loan market’s] always there, I prefer not to use it if I’m honest unless it’s the odd one. I think it’s very good if you want to get your player some experience or you want a talented player in cheap, but that’s not where we are. At my age it’s got to be done yesterday really.

Wages and Fans

But the money I’ve found out people have been paying players the last 2-3 weeks, it’s 3-4 times what we pay at this level. It’s astronomical really.

While I was told the demoted teams were slashing their wage bill, the money they’ve paid has been way above what we can pay.

We’re always up against it but the benefit we have is we’ve got the best crowd in this division home and away and I think we’ve got to take advantage of that.

I don’t think there’s a player I’ve spoken to that didn’t want to come to Leeds United because it’s a massive club.

Youngsters

Young Dominic [Poleon] scored a great goal last night, I thought he’s looked sharp in pre-season, I liked Sam [Byram] at right-back, he’s come through the ranks and done ever so well, but they’re a bit short of first team yet, but they’re good prospects.

NB: Warnock wasn’t considering the loan market or youngsters to replace Snodgrass, these were topics he was asked questions on.