Leeds United handed boost as ‘genuinely class’ star confirms his commitment to the club - YEP 4/8/23

Leedsunited.com 3/3/10
DICKOV DEAL COMPLETE FOR UNITED
Leeds United have signed striker Paul Dickov on a short-term contract until the end of the season.
The 37-year-old former Scotland international will provide added experience asSimon Grayson's looks to lead the club to promotion back to the Coca-Cola Championship.
Dickov, a former Arsenal trainee who has made over 400 career appearances during spells with Man City, Blackburn, Leicester, and Derby County among others, had a short spell underSimon Grayson at Blackpool in 2008.
Grayson said: "We're delighted to get things finalised and welcome Paul on board.
"He has been training with us, we know all about him and what he will bring to the squad over the next few months.
"He brings experience both on the pitch and in and around the dressing room, and he is a good short-term signing for the club."
Paul will make his club debut in the reserves at Huddersfield Town on Wednesday (7pm).
Paul has been allocated squad number seven for the remainder of the season.

World Football Insider 1/3/10
The Big Interview - Ghost of Leeds Past Inspires Duncan Revie's Soccerex Ambitions
Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie signals his ambitions for the world’s biggest football business conference as its European forum kicks off in Manchester.

Speakers at the two-day conference in Manchester include Manchester United CEO David Gill, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber and former UEFA general secretary David Taylor. All 20 English Premier League clubs will be represented, as will some of the 2018/2022 World Cup bid teams including England, Qatar, Russia and the US.

Manchester marks the rebranding and expansion of its old London Forum – launched in 2005 – into a two-day event.

“We’re moving into very different areas,” Revie told WFI of his company’s future plans. “We will be adding an African forum next year. Rio is looking quite spectacular from the actual setting and the numbers of people who are coming.

"Manchester and Singapore are looking great. We have a pretty much full plate at the moment.

“But in terms of going forward, it’s expanding the brand and expanding the product to consultancy and recruitment, which we’re now doing.”

Ironically, given this week’s setting, the idea for Soccerex first came to Revie in Manchester in the mid-1990s. Dining at the city’s Midland Hotel while a music industry conference was going on, Revie “wondered” if anything similar had ever been done for football.

“I talked to my colleagues and contacts in the football industry and they said there was a need for it,” he says. “It was quite shortly after the Premier League had been formed and there was no necessity before then. We caught the crest of a wave.”

Revie, a Cambridge educated lawyer, previously worked in the city of London and then went into hospitality with a company called Supersports, which metamorphosised into Keith Prowse – the ticket and entertainment giant. Revie eventually left to set up his own events company from which Soccerex was spawned.

The first Soccerex was staged at Wembley in 1996 and 1997, then Paris a year later. LA, Dubai and Johannesburg followed as venues; from this year until 2013 the main convention will be staged in Rio de Janeiro.

“The concept was always to have a global congress and for people to have it as a “must do” event,” says Revie.

“The biggest difference now is that we have two forums, which are two-day events. We have Manchester now and Singapore in July.”

Casting his mind back to the first convention he described it as “a good exhibition” with around 1,000 delegates, but admits that there were “not too many” paying for their entrance back then.

“But from small acorns to great oaks and we now have established ourselves and are where I thought we’d be,” he says. “I didn’t think it would take 14 years mind you, I thought it would take seven!”

Revie carries one of the most well-known names in English football and his late father Don was for a long time one of the most famous and divisive figures in the game.

An outstanding centre-forward for Manchester City and England and the 1955 Footballer of the Year, in 1961 Don Revie turned to management with Leeds United transforming them from also-rans to the country’s most formidable – and controversial – football force through the 1960s and early-1970s.

A spell as England manager ended unhappily when he was hounded out by the FA chairman Sir Harold Thompson, eventually walking out on his country to manage the United Arab Emirates – a move that sealed his notoriety back homeLess well acknowledged is Revie senior’s role in the commercialization of the game and he innovated at a time when the sport was asleep to its commercial potential. For example, the FA’s first major England shirt deal with Admiral was secured thanks to Revie’s contacts with the sportswear manufacturer.

“He had a reputation as ‘Don Readies’ or whatever, but he could actually see the prospects for football,” says Duncan. “I remember him taking me onto the pitch at Elland Road in 1963 or 1964 and it was a tip. It was just like a slag heap.

There was a shed at one end, there was a kop at the other. The pitch was awful and Dad just pointed around and said ‘One day son there’ll be boxes here, there’ll be people coming for lunch at 12, not coming at five to three. There’ll be sponsorship on the shirts. There’ll be television worldwide and it will be a complete revolution.’

“I looked at him as if he was mad, but everything he said has come to pass.”

He says in some ways, with Soccerex, he sees himself following in his father’s footsteps. “He was my Dad but he was also my hero,” he says. “But I also see it as making a living and enjoying myself along the way.”

Three years ago Revie was linked with a takeover at Leeds. Since reaching the Champions League semi-final in 2000, the club has become synonymous with English football’s penchant for excess, suffering near-bankruptcy and two relegations to League One.

Revie was hailed as a saviour by some Leeds fans, but ultimately shied away from buying the club.

“I was very close,” he says now. “I had a very agonizing time. We had the backing of the people in Dubai who had taken my Dad out there.

“But I did consult widely with the older players and my family, and they said ‘Do you really need the aggravation?’”

“I’m sure we could have done a great job, but football’s a funny business. If we’d have got Leeds back into the Championship and consolidated and then back into the Premier League people would still have been yearning.

“Dad was ten years not even out of the top four. They wouldn’t have remembered where we’d come from – i.e. the bottom of the League One – they’d have only said why aren’t we in Europe and so on. So I ducked it, but it was a mind decision not a heart decision.”

He says that his focus is entirely on Soccerex, which, having become “by a mile” the biggest convention of its kind, is expanding into other areas such as consultancy and recruitment.

“In terms of a B2B conference it makes even general sports conferences look relatively small,” he says. “We’ve got five days out in Rio de Janeiro with 4-5,000 delegates. There’s nothing to compare to it.”

In 2008, a former Soccerex director, James Worrall, formed Leaders in Football, which has received rave notices since its first conference at Stamford Bridge in October that year. Revie sees this and other football-industry conferences that have since emerged as a “back-handed compliment” to his own company.

“There are some extremely wealthy and very heavily-backed events,” he says. “But fortunately because of our track record, our contacts and our brand none of them have succeeded in getting close."

He says the future will see a mixture of consolidation of the existing event and

It’s making sure we never forget that we’re about football first and foremost.”

Written by James Corbett (james@worldfootballinsider.com)

Bradford Telegraph and Argus 1/3/10
United hit back from deficit to take lead but can’t hang on
Huddersfield Town 2, Leeds United 2
Simon Grayson was happy to come away from the Galpharm Stadium with a point after a tense League One local derby against Huddersfield.
Leeds recovered from going a goal down in the first half and hit back with two in five minutes, only for the hosts to grab a late equaliser, leaving United in second place and Huddersfield still sixth.
Grayson said: “I think a draw was a fair result, although when you get in front with ten or 15 minutes to go you like to think you can see it through. Unfortunately we couldn’t do it.
“We looked like ourselves again after a good performance on Tuesday night and we’re another point closer to where we want to be and we’re still a good position in the league.”
Huddersfield dominated the first half and went in front with a deflected shot from Anthony Pilkington, who was left unmarked on the edge of the box.
The home side should have gone further ahead but Jordan Rhodes put an easy chance over the bar and, right at the start of the second half, Casper Ankergren made a fine stop to thwart Pilkington.
That sparked Leeds into life and Jonny Howson started and finished the move for the equaliser, picking out Robert Snodgrass and then heading home the winger’s cross.
Five minutes later, Luciano Becchio headed his third goal in two games from another fine delivery by Snodgrass and Leeds looked set to go on and win.
Town were denied by a post and another fine Ankergren save but, with four minutes to go, Gary Roberts guided home a cross from Pilkington to earn Town a point.
Grayson said: “Jonny showed great awareness with the first pass and then followed it into the box and finished it off. He’s a box-to-box player and can get into those areas.
“When Luciano got the second, we thought we could go and get the third and finish the game off but credit to them, they came back at us.”

Telegraph 1/3/10
Huddersfield 2 Leeds United 2: match report
The corresponding fixture at Elland Road in early December saw Huddersfield Town take on a rampant Leeds United side on a seemingly unstoppable march to the League One title.
By Will Swanson
They had won fourteen of their first eighteen matches and held what appeared an unassailable lead.
However, come late February and the league landscape is now very different, doubts and distractions causing Leeds to relinquish that lead to Norwich City and allow the chasing peloton to close in behind.
Lee Clark’s men are among that pack and they welcomed their local rivals in fine form, holding a proud unbeaten home record and a ten-match unbeaten league run.
From the start Huddersfield held the upper hand and they deservedly took a 1-0 lead into the break through a 12th minute strike from Anthony Pilkington.
Leeds suddenly found their feet after the restart and within a five-minute spell had turned the match around with headers from Jonny Howson and Luciano Becchio in the 61st and 66th minutes.
With five minutes remaining it seemed the three points were heading to Elland Road, but after intense Huddersfield pressure Gary Roberts stole in at the far post to level.
It seemed at one stage Leeds would cruise to the League One title, now manager Simon Grayson’s sole aim is to secure the points necessary to escape the division automatically: “We wanted to make sure we didn’t lose the game.
“It’s another point to our campaign, it’s another game gone by for teams who are trying to catch us.
We’ve just got to keep focused on what we’re trying to achieve now.” Huddersfield manager Lee Clark was left disappointed: “I think the least we deserved was the result we got. “But for an unbelievable reaction save from Ankergren we could have won it, but it wasn’t to be.”