Yorkshire Evening Post 13/12/06
Wise: Just 10 more wins
by Phil Hay
Dennis Wise today swept aside concerns over Leeds United's Championship position, insisting the club were well on the way to the magical 50-point mark.
The Elland Road boss has set his sights on 10 victories from United's remaining 24 league games after claiming 30 more points will allow his players to repel the threat of relegation.Leeds are third from bottom in the Championship and have taken 20 points from their first 22 matches, and Wise's side will begin the second half of the season inside the relegation zone unless a convincing victory over Ipswich Town this weekend is coupled with a heavy defeat for Barnsley at Leicester.A total of 50 points is considered by most managers to be enough to preserve Championship status, and a tally of just 43 was sufficient to avoid a place in the bottom three last season.Gillingham, however, were relegated with 50 points to their name two years ago, and Walsall amassed 51 before dropping out of England's second tier at the end of the 2003-04 campaign. But Wise is unwilling to contemplate the possibility of United falling into League One.Asked if the Championship table was beginning to concern him, United's boss said: "It wasn't great when I came here so that isn't going to bother me."We have to get a certain amount of points by a certain time. Time's far from up, put it that way. If they keep performing the way they have been it will change. There's a fair few points to be had and you need between 48 and 50 points. I am confident."Wise's squad will be strengthened at Ipswich this weekend by the return of Ian Westlake, left, who completed a one-match ban against Derby and is free to face the club he left to join United.Captain Kevin Nicholls is also on the verge of a recall after an 82-minute outing during Leeds reserves' 2-0 defeat at West Brom on Monday.The midfielder has not featured for United's first team since undergoing knee surgery at the start of October.

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