Morning Everyone, McDermott will, in the next two weeks his retained list for next season. It is believed that nine senior players will get the axe. The club have a wage bill of around £20m and the vast majority of the players who have appeared regularly this season are under contract until 2015 and beyond. Those who stand to become free agents in July include Danny Pugh, Michael Brown, El-Hadji Diouf and Jamie Ashdown. Most of the rest are so peripheral that McDermott dispatched them on loan weeks ago – Paul Green, Luke Varney, Gboly Ariyibi and Adam Drury. There is no mention of players such as Tonge, White, Poleon, Lees, Hunt, Zeliukas, Austin, Kenny and Norris. These are luxury players who we cannot afford to carry if we want to progress to bigger and better things next season. Would ANY of the above players in your opinion command a fee? If we managed to get rid of all the above players, our wage bill would be more than halved. Since Snodds and Howson left our midfield has been really really poor, one of, if not the worst midfield in the Championship. They cannot keep the ball, and they cannot pass. Result, we have to chase the game, meaning we get tired, and we resort to playing hoofball. Agree? please log in to view this image Who thinks we could spend big in the Summer? How many players would we need to invest in? In promotion next season a realistic ambition?
Morning all. We won't receive fees for any players were releasing. As for who's coming or likely to com. There are so many unknowns still. What wages will Cellino offer? If we have a foreign coach, will it likely be foreigners well sign. What players will want to come to Leeds given the unrest of recent years. All factors that will greatly influence next seasons squad. I do expect him to put together a top six team for next season. He's not the sort of guy to spend millions just to assemble another mid table outfit. Couple of worrying contracts, Morisson till 2017, hunt another year and Stewart 2017. All three a massive waste of money
Morning Eire, We could have an agreement with the Wallies that if we beat Barnsley at the weekend, they have to keep Morison?
Morning Elland. Free agents: Danny Pugh - worth retaining. versatile. Michael Brown - worth retaining. Best DM we've got El-Hadji Diouf - bye bye Jamie Ashdown - Where is he? Still injured? If so, bye bye Paul Green, Luke Varney, Gboly Ariyibi and Adam Drury - All bye bye. Back soon
Pugh to go, Brown maybe and Ashdown is back for a development game(I thought before the injury that he wasn't a bad replacement for Paddy. I'd get rid of all of them TBH.....
On the others: Tonge - Not sure, probably let go White - Worth retaining for his pace alone, but could now be a luxury Poleon - Still work in progresss, but worth retaining Lees - Retain Hunt - bye bye Zeliukas - Retain unless we've got a class act CB on the way. Austin - Definitely retain Kenny - MP5 & 1 round Norris - bye bye
Just noticed the comment above on Ashdown. If he comes through the development game, he could save us a fortune in trying to find a new keeper if we can't keep our loanee
He has barely kicked a ball in the last 12 months as he had a bad toe!!! He has spent the time setting up his own business... http://www.footballtradedirectory.c.../leeds-keeper-jamie-ashdown-launches-new.html
Morning Shaks. Im looking forward to the first couple of signings. Will be a fair indication of Cellinos intent. Until then, we'll just be throwing pointless names about the place
Fair point Eire. One thing's for sure, we have money available this coming TW that hasn't been available for a long time. So I would expect to see a few marque signings. Minor change of subject, the 39 at Heysel, was that following the Liverpool game or another match entirely? I know 'pool fans caused trouble at a game at Heysel, as well as a match in the Hellenic republic (Greece for the uninitiated).
Morning all, If Cellino knows his stuff he'll no doubt have been shocked at the lack of technical ability the majority of our players possess, namely Lees, Wootton, Pearce, Austin. Can see all of them leaving in the summer. Of our defenders, he'll probably keep Byram, Zalliukas and Warnock, with Charlie Taylor getting more and more game time next season, eventually becoming first choice LB. If all the above happens, adding one or two more technically sound CB's, I'd be happy with that. Oh and a new manager would be great.
I think the play-offs may be the best route next season lads, it may just be a stretch to get auto promoted, well it depends what happens in the Summer I suppose and who comes and go's. I'm not sure we'll spend big but I sure hope that the money is well spent on player's who are capable of moving us in the right direction. Perhaps 6 players to be signed in-order to achieve a tilt at promotion.
STH, you make a fair point. I just want to see us performing as though top 6 is nailed on from day 1. If we make top 2, so much the better. And it's not about the long ball or the short tippy tappy stuff, it's the right ball. So I just want to see real improvement on the last couple of seasons. We should be much more stable as a club. So why shouldn't we make top 6 at a canter, and possibly top 6 with a bit of good fortune?
I don't think we need major surgery at the back, which is strange considering the number of goals we concede. Pearce has been excellent this year, one of the few players to have a good season. Zaliukas started off great but he's gone off the boil a bit, hopefully he sorts himself out for next year and we have two decent centre halves already. If Byram gets his fitness sorted he's fine, and Warnock is good enough for left back. The main problem is midfield - because we can not retain possession for the life of us. That's the area I'd sort out first, followed by goalkeeper. Defence will be improved just by having those other two areas sorted
