Good Morning. It's Monday 15th January, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds trounce sorry Cardiff Leeds recorded their third consecutive 3-0 victory of 2024, against a Cardiff City team lacking any kind of bite, spirit or credibility. Traditionally, a trip to the Welsh Capital would normally have been a tasty affair, with plenty of blood sweat and tears, but not on this occasion! Confidence was low, the home crowd were quiet, and their Manager was clueless! Leeds found themselves two-up at the break, curtesy of taps ins from Patrick Bamford and Dan James, but it could have been far worse had it not been for their keeper. Alnwick denied both Rutter and Bamford from one on one situations, and with the help of the bar, managed to thwart James' attempted lob. It was more of less one way traffic in the second half too, with the post this time coming to the hosts aid after Summerville missed his spot kick, after Rutter was bought down in the box. Leeds scored a well deserved third late on after James charged through the Cardiff defence before picking out Summerville, wide on the left of the Cardiff penalty area. Unselfishly, he tee'd up Rutter, who picked out his spot from 12 yards out. please log in to view this image Coopers decade long tenure coming to an end It is highly likely that Liam Cooper's ten year tenure at the club will end in May when his contract comes to an end! The 32yo stalwart defender is one of only a few, to break through the 250 appearance barrier for the Whites in recent times. His professionalism, dogged performances and love for the club make him a fans favourite. With Charlie Cresswell being frozen out of his first team plans, Farke has no intentions of letting Cooper follow Ayling out of Elland Road this month. He knows exactly what he's going to get from the Scot, whose highly respected within the dressing room! "Somewhere down the line, though not in this window, Cooper is highly likely to follow, with all the indications that his deal will not be renewed in May. He is more involved under Farke than Ayling was, a presence on matchdays if not routinely in Leeds’ line-up, but there has been a conscious decision that most of the remaining members of Bielsa’s title-winners are too far beyond the peak of their powers. "Some in Farke’s camp are more journeyed than others, admittedly, but his is not a been-there-done-that dressing room. Farke spoke enough pre-Christmas about the atmospheric value of having Cooper, Ayling and others of that ilk on the scene to deduce that Ayling’s twinkle and broad shoulders might be missed. A tribute to him was waiting yesterday when Rutter scored and celebrated with the air guitar that Ayling once played." please log in to view this image Swap reversal could be on the cards Rumours of a swap reversal involving Luis Sinisterra and Jaidon Anthony are starting to gather pace. The exchange has clearly not worked out for either club, prompting speculation that the contract could be ripped up. Both players have circa 350 minutes of game time under their belts for their loan club, meaning they should have plenty more in the tank during the second half of the season. Whether Leeds fans would welcome back Sinisterra with open arms is highly debateable. The 24yo reportedly threatened legal action against the Elland Road hierarchy to force the loan move through on transfer deadline day, creating bad blood from both sides. please log in to view this image In other news... Charlie Cresswell is a target for both Millwall (where he spent last season on loan) and Blackburn Rovers. Even with injuries to Pascal Struijk and Liam Cooper, Cressy was not even named in the squad that beat Cardiff 3-0 at the weekend. Reports last week suggest Leeds have slapped a £4m - £5m price tag on the 21yo... Celtic, West Brom and Plymouth are all keen to take Joe Gelhardt on loan until the end of the season. With 169 minutes of league game time under his belt, the former Wigan Athletic prodigy will be desperate for a move to get some game time. With Bamford finding some form, it has been suggested that Daniel Farke is becoming more amenable to the idea of letting him out on loan... Leeds face competition from Sheffield Utd, Southampton and Rangers for West Ham defender Ben Johnson. The talented left-wing back has fallen out of favour at the London Stadium after refusing contract talks unless his £60,000 per week demands are met... Leeds are still monitoring the situation on Burnley right back Connor Roberts and Bournemouth centre half Chris Mepham, though deals for either player are unlikely to happen imminently... please log in to view this image
Morning all The Sinisterra swap has been going around for a couple of months. Dean Jones tends to have good sources and deffo has contacts at Bournemouth. I would accept Sini back as Anthony has failed for me and I would also get rid of Gnonto. The deal wouldn’t be terminated without Sini accepting the cut in wages and would need to play at Leeds as can’t be loaned out anywhere else as he played for us early in the season and scored I believe. This story may be just wishful thinking at their end and a few moans from Anthony. Sini is not getting many starts but from what I’ve seen he looks dangerous, has scored a couple and has created plenty of chances for Solanki. He’s now fully fit as he wasnt Iraola ready when he arrived
Morning all. Sinisterra would have to be on the bench for us as well, at least to begin with. Not going to happen is it and probably best all round that it doesn't.
Nice quiet week ahead before we play Preston at 12 noon on Sunday. Stupid KO time by the way and I've noticed that horse racing is now experimenting with some new race times such as Sunday evening meetings and the first race just after 10am at Lingfield later this week. Apparently it's to try and increase betting turnover on UK racing as they feel punters are wagering on overseas sports at those times which doesn't feed back into the bookmakers levy which funds racing in the UK. This of course means that stable lads & lasses will be leaving at 3am in some instances to get to the tracks on time which quite frankly is ridiculous. Not to mention the welfare of the horses who you would have thought might actually be asleep in the middle of the night. (not sure on that last point so Aski to check ) How long before we see football follow suit with KO at; 11am 1pm 3pm 5pm 7pm 9pm Not long I'd say.
Usually between 5 and 7 hours a day, between 8pm and 5 am. So providing the horse goes to bed at 8pm and needs 7 hours sleep, then they will be fine waking up at 3 am. At least 30 minutes should be in a laying down position, the rest they can do standing up. So you could always put some roller skates on the horses feet and wheel it out to the horse trailer whilst it's still sleeping if you need to make an early start Thanks to the Kentucky Equine Research website for their assistance in helping me to help Jamster with his question, apart from the roller skate bit, which I made up
La liga already have staggered kick offs Friday to Monday Alavés V 21:00 Cádiz Rayo S 14:00 Las Palmas Villarreal S 16:15 Mallorca Valencia S 18:30 Athletic Celta S 21:00 R. Sociedad Osasuna D 14:00 Getafe Real Madrid D 16:15 Almería Betis D 18:30 Barcelona Girona D 21:00 Sevilla Granada L 21:00 Atlético
Far more civilised with the earliest KO @ 3pm local time although I'm guessing it can get bloody hot during the warmer months.
Morning all A great win against a bogey team, two away wins on the bounce if you count the FA cup game, home matches to come whilst Ipswich have some tricky games coming up, it feels good if you ignore Southampton.
Pl statement due today re ffp breaches for forest and Everton again. More possible penalties incoming
It does make you wonder about Forest. Got promoted on a team of loanees then somehow managed to buy 30 players in 2 years.
Half way through the transfer window and we have lost 2 full backs and countering that by calling Shackelton and Archie Gray full backs? We are playing Firpo who has a chance of breaking down or having a nightmare and also Byrom who has a chance of breaking down at any moment. Think someone needs to get it sorted we have half the season to go. Is it true that Gruev can play CB? Because if true that’s a big help as we have Struijk out for a while and Cooper in and out. Ampadu is a bonus but when you want rid of Cresswell Moore, Hjelde it only leaves young Monteiro? Think defence needs work and time running out
They've just been charged. It's on sky sports as I type. Edit. Ah,I see you are already all over it. Sorry!
Worse than that 777 probably wont buy them now which also means the new stadium is fooked as Everton slip through the divisions. Cheating twats should have been deducted points season before last On the Forest thing it was impossible for them as they got promoted mainly with loan players. Then have to stick to PL rules and only have 3 loan players so need to bring in a shed load of new players within weeks. The problem was with the owner or his DoF who brought some shyt in and needed replacing. Don’t think they will get deducted as many points as Everton
Everton seem to think the rules don't apply to them and the thick twats are now bleating about being charged twice for the same accounting period as they can't seem to grasp that the latest 3 years of accounts have to include 2 of the years they've already had points deducted for. Perhaps someone can explain to them that you have to comply every year and therefore they are guilty a second time of overspending over a 3 year period.
Just a thought but by the end of the month we'll have 17 league fixtures left so given our current injury situation should we strengthen now, or maybe keep any available funds for a summer rebuild ? There's also the consideration that any costs incurred on players, plus wages and agents fees etc before 30th June go into this years accounts and none of us know where we stand regarding FFP.
The summer is going to be a nightmare because we don’t know what league we will be in and on top of that there’s the rats to sort out. My suggestion would be to bring in some defenders on loan because we must be solid at the back from now on and need to rely on scoring goals with what we have. Our defence can blow up at any time as we need a LB and a RB and maybe a CB. We cannot rely on Cooper, Byram or Firpo and having Archie and Shacks as back up is scary. We must go for promotion this season or could be fooked next season due to the rats and less cash coming in. Invest now
Last season bringing McKennie in on loan seemed like a master stroke, but then the injury to Tyler Adams ruined our midfield and so we were fooked anyway. Guess you never know what's just around the corner.
