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Showing posts from August, 2010
leedsunited.com 31/8/10 NUNEZ SIGNING Leeds began transfer deadline day by agreeing a deal with Honduran international Ramon Nunez. The 24-year-old, who can play in midfield or attack, signed-on for United after impressing manager Simon Grayson and his staff sufficiently during a month-long trial. Nunez, who has made regular appearances at international level for Honduras played in this summer's World Cup finals. United have received a work permit for the player who first joined United on a trial basis at the start of August. He scored in a friendly match against Bradford Park Avenue. LUBO OUT ON LOAN Central defender Lubomir Michalik today joined League One side Carlisle United on a loan deal until January 3. The 27-year-old Slovakian international was a regular choice at centre back for Leeds during the first half of the 2008-2009 season but struggled to retain his place in the side once Richard Naylor joined from Ipswich Town. Michalik first came to Leeds on loan from Bolton W
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Yorkshire Evening Post 29/8/10 Grayson looks to take heat off Somma Three goals in four days spilled the secret of Davide Somma's talent but Simon Grayson wants to protect the striker from unfair expectation during his first full season as a senior Leeds United player. Somma announced himself with two goals on his league debut against Millwall last weekend and his header in the Carling Cup tie with Leicester City on Tuesday night gave further credence to talk of his finishing prowess. The 25-year-old returned from a successful loan at Lincoln City last season with the reputation of a natural goalscorer and quickly caught the attention of Elland Road on his comeback from a three-match suspension eight days ago. Grayson introduced Somma from the bench with United's match against Millwall finely balanced at 1-1, 15 minutes from time. The forward's clinical finishes in the closing stages wrapped up the club's first league victory of the season and underlined his own standin
Yorkshire Evening Post 29/8/10 Long wait may soon be over for listed players Leeds United manager Simon Grayson expects to receive approaches for some or all of his transfer-listed players before Tuesday's deadline, potentially ending their frustrating summers at Elland Road. Grayson offered hope to Alan Sheehan, Andy Robinson and Lubomir Michalik – all of whom have waited for almost four months for moves out of Leeds – by stating that interest in them was likely to increase before the transfer window closes. The three players were made available by Grayson at the end of last season, along with striker Tresor Kandol. Leeds agreed to terminate the remainder of Kandol's four-year contract this month after failing to find a new club for him, but Sheehan, Robinson and Michalik remain on the books at Elland Road with the summer window set to close in little more than 48 hours time. Grayson said: "They're good lads, they've trained hard and they've done what's be
Yorkshire Evening Post 28/8/10 Grayson eyes more signings By Phil Hay Leeds United manager Simon Grayson has indicated that further signings are in the pipeline after securing the services of Scotland international Ross McCormack. United's patient attempts to sign McCormack from Cardiff City paid off yesterday when the 24-year-old striker accepted a three-year contract at Elland Road. Leeds paid an undisclosed, six-figure fee to Cardiff and concluded the transfer in time to name McCormack in their squad for today's league game at Watford, their last before the Championship's two-week international break. The former Rangers and Motherwell forward is one of the most high profile additions to Grayson's squad since United's promotion from League One, and he is a proven Championship striker having scored 23 times for Cardiff during the 2008-09 season. McCormack became the club's 10th summer signing when he put pen to paper after completing a medical, but Grayson is u
leedsunited.com 27/8/10 McCORMACK DEAL COMPLETE Scotland international striker Ross McCormack has joined Leeds United for an undisclosed sum. Ross joins from Cardiff City and has signed a three-year contract with the club. The 24-year-old put pen to paper on Friday morning before travelling south with his new team-mates ahead of Saturday's game at Watford. United manager Simon Grayson was delighted to complete the deal. "Ross is a player of good quality," said the boss. "He's proved in the Championship he can score goals and hopefully he will continue that with us." Ross, who started his career with Rangers before joining Motherwell, scored 25 league goals in 53 league starts since joining Cardiff City from Motherwell in the summer of 2008. His overall record with the Welsh side is 33 goals from 88 appearances, including two goals from three sub appearances so far this season.
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leedsunited.com 24/8/10 LATE SPOT-KICK FOXES UNITED UNITED 1 (Somma 32), LEICESTER CITY 2 (Wellens 66, Howard pen 88) United manager Simon Grayson made four changes to his starting line-up from the team that comprehensively beat Milwall on Saturday. Max Gradel replaced Lloyd Sam for his first start of the season while Davide Somma also came in for his first start in place of Sanchez Watt . Alex Bruce returned at the back in place of captain Richard Naylor and Kasper Schmeichel made way for Shane Higgs in goal. Gradel had excited during pre-season and after missing the first four games of the season due to suspension, his first contribution was to play in a teasing ball, but Luciano Becchio couldn't quite get on the end of it. After the excitement of Saturday's win against the Lions this game was always going to need something special to match up, and it was a tentative if steady opening from both sides. The opening 20 minutes produced nothing in the way of meaningful ch
Yorkshire Post 21/8/10 Leeds United 3 Millwall 1: Somma praise from Grayson By Richard Sutcliffe at Elland Road WHISPER it quietly, but something may well be stirring down Elland Road way. Leeds United, in recent years a byword for the heavy price football clubs can pay for over-reaching themselves, are back in the Championship and looking to make a big impression. Against a Millwall side sitting proudly on top of the fledgling Championship table and who had arrived in Yorkshire on the back of having won 19 of 27 league games in 2010, they did just that. After claiming a creditable draw from the trip to strongly-fancied Nottingham Forest the previous Sunday, Leeds produced a stunning display of attacking football to tame the in-form Lions. United may have needed two late opportunistic strikes from substitute Davide Somma to claim the points but no one in the 25,067 crowd could deny at the final whistle that the right team had won. Not only did Leeds score a trio of well-worked goals, t
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New pages uploaded at mightyleeds.co.uk Matches – 18/3/72 – Leeds United 2 Tottenham 1 United introduce their pre-match routine and socking tags in a move to improve their public image and then go on to give Spurs a tremendous tanning to reach the Cup semi final Read the full story at http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/matches/19720318.htm Matches – 4/3/72 – Leeds United 7 Southampton 0 Don Revie's Leeds United side give a performance that would be cited forever as their coup de grace, hammering a hapless Southampton and demonstrating the cruellest form of possession football Read the full story at http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/matches/19720304.htm Matches – 26/2/72 – Cardiff City 0 Leeds United 2 Cardiff City sought to pull off a Cup shock on a quagmire pitch at Ninian Park, but Irish schemer Johnny Giles turns in a match winning performance to put United in the last eight Read the full story at http://www.mightyleeds.co.uk/matches/19720226.htm
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Sky 21/8/10 Somma brace downs Lions Leeds bag first Championship win against Millwall Substitute Davide Somma was the hero as his brace off the bench gave Leeds United a fully-deserved 3-1 success over Millwall at Elland Road. The Lions drew first blood with defender Richard Naylor's own goal putting the visitors in front with 15 minutes played in West Yorkshire. Lloyd Sam maintained his scoring streak to bring Leeds level and the score remained the same until Somma's (79, 90) late brace clinched Leeds' first Championship success since promotion. The defeat ended Millwall's superb 100 per cent start to the campaign while Simon Grayson's Leeds now have four points from their opening three league games. Kenny Jackett's men arrived in fine form after impressive 3-0 and 4-0 wins over Bristol City and Hull, but Leeds offered the greater goal threat for much of the game and nobody impressed more than Sanchez Watt. The on-loan Arsenal winger, 19, was pivotal through
Yorkshire Evening Post 19/8/10 Grayson plays waiting game over transfers By Phil Hay Leeds United manager Simon Grayson is optimistic of landing his remaining targets before the transfer window shuts – but admitted a number of potential signings were "hanging fire" with 12 days to go. United have less than two weeks to tie up permanent deals or long-term loans with players contracted to other clubs, and Grayson said progress at Elland Road had been slow since the arrival of Adam Clayton from Manchester City on August 6. Clayton became Leeds' ninth close-season signing when he accepted a month-long loan in Yorkshire but Grayson has not concluded his recruitment despite daily discussions with agents and clubs. United have the fall-back of the Football League's emergency loan market, which opens a week after FIFA's transfer window closes on the final day of this month, but Grayson remains hopeful of completing his 10th deal before the start of September. The club app
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Guardian 15/8/10 Lloyd Sam strikes again to earn Leeds a point against Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest 1 Leeds United 1 John Ashdown at the City Ground A game that began with Nottingham Forest on fire and in the end, if you take Billy Davies's version of events, saw more stamps than Phileas Fogg's passport leaves both sides searching for their first win of the Championship season, but offers both reason for optimism. The home side, briefly, were ominously good, but Leeds United clung on and turned the tide. If it had not been for the late fracas, both managers might have gone home reasonably satisfied. Instead there was frustration. Davies has already pleaded for patience more than once this season, pointing out that it will be "nine or 10 games before we settle down as a squad" and that his side "need to shake up the pecking order by bringing players in". This Jekyll and Hyde performance gave weight to those claims. For 30 minutes they were vibrant,
Yorkshire Evening Post 11/8/10 Leeds United v Lincoln City: Job done - Grayson Leeds United cruised into the Carling Cup's second round with a rousing win over Lincoln City, fuelling Simon Grayson's hopes of claiming the scalp of Nottingham Forest this weekend. United averted any chance of a first-round upset at their expense by inflicting a 4-0 defeat on Lincoln at Elland Road last night, and their manager welcomed a strong surge in confidence ahead of Sunday's Championship clash at the City Ground. Grayson sought a convincing victory against Chris Sutton's side after Leeds' first league match of the season ended in a 2-1 defeat to Derby County on Saturday, and his players reported in for a routine warm-down this morning as thoughts turned to a major fixture in Nottingham. Forest featured in the Championship's play-off semi-finals last season and are expected to compete for promotion again, but Grayson said he would take his players south in positive mood after
Telegraph 9/8/10 Kasper Schmeichel signals new era at Elland Road as Leeds United lose to Derby County Leeds United 1 (1) Derby County 2 (2) By Rory Smith Things have changed at Elland Road. The ground may look the same – three dated stands dwarfed by the colossal, half-empty East Stand – but much of the bile and brashness have gone. This is now a place where Derby's players, thanks to Nigel Clough's sense of history, could walk the 500 yards from their bus to the stadium unmolested and unscathed in homage to their manager's father's old tricks. It is a place where an opening-day defeat, the first since 1989, in the second tier of English football can still prompt a round of applause on the final whistle from a crowd simply appreciative of Simon Grayson's side's application and dedication. There were unpleasant echoes of the past in the minor skirmishes which followed the final whistle, prompting West Yorkshire Police to make "a number of arrests" for
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Telegraph 7/8/10 Leeds United 1 Derby County 2: match report Read a full report of the Championship match between Leeds United and Derby County at Elland Road on Aug 7 2010. By Duncan White Leeds are back, but not how they wanted to be. There is no question that this grand club, back in the Championship after three years of relative humiliation in the third tier, is slowly returning to a station befitting its status, even if Saturday’s deflating defeat to Derby - their first opening day loss since 1989 - checked the sense of resurgent optimism in the city. Still, with Simon Grayson’s team showing admirable fight in front of the day’s biggest crowd in the league there was plenty to be positive about inside the stadium (especially with Robert Snodgrass and Billy Paynter to come back from injury). However, there was fighting of the less admirable kind outside. What had been a compelling game right into stoppage time was soured by the behaviour of a significant minority outside the ground.