Mighty Leeds Weblog

In a little over a week, Leeds United could be all-but safe from relegation and in a position to attack the final six games with freedom and reckless abandon. By Graham Smyth A win over Southampton at Elland Road on Saturday and another, at Watford, seven days after that, would leave Jesse Marsch and his men with 35 points, surely close to an unassailable tally for at least three other sides. Breathing room, confidence and an easing of tension that has made life at Elland Road all-too fraught for far too much of this season is the dream scenario for Marsch and an environment in which he can begin to properly introduce his ideas. It all sounds so simple. Idyllic has not been the Leeds United way, though, a fact the American will have already grasped given the nature of his first two wins as head coach. Promotion was won after a three-month delay and celebrated in an empty stadium. The first season of Premier League football in 16 years, one that held such scintillating football

By Darren Plant Leeds United have reportedly been handed a boost in their bid to retain the services of Kalvin Phillips. The midfielder has established himself as a regular in the England squad over the past two years, playing a key role as the Three Lions reached the Euro 2020 final last year. His progression has naturally led to interest from bigger clubs in the Premier League with Manchester United and Liverpool said to be monitoring the situation. However, according to The Mirror, the 26-year-old will pen fresh terms at Elland Road providing that Leeds avoid relegation from the Premier League. The report suggests that any new deal will also be delayed because of Phillips changing representatives, but it should not hinder Leeds' efforts to push through an improved contract. Phillips has endured a frustrating campaign, making just 15 starts in all competitions due to injury.

FLOORBANGER TECHNIQUE Written by: Moxcowhite • Daniel Chapman It is not for me to wonder why Leeds United chose to pile Pat Bamford’s ruptured hoof upon my reasons for dreading last weekend’s end, when I was already miserable and disoriented enough from the clocks going forward and the sun staying in the sky at night. Instead, after they issued their ‘Injury Update’ on Sunday evening, all I could wonder about were Bamford’s feet and their various aches and injuries. Pazza Bamfs has, head of medicine and performance Rob Price says, “played with a plantar fascia injury for the last twelve months, and despite treatment and a prolonged period of rehabilitation, the injury has progressed from a partial tear to a full rupture. “Patrick has been incredibly unlucky this year,” Rob went on. “His game time has been limited by different injuries including an ankle injury sustained at Newcastle and hamstring and quad injuries once back in training and matchday squads. What he needs is a pe

All at Leeds United are saddened to learn about the passing of Peter Gunby OBE, at the age of 87. Born locally in Leeds and known as a ‘right-half’ in his playing days, Gunby played for Leeds UYMI, Leeds United, Bradford City and Harrogate Town. When his playing career ended, Gunby turned to coaching and spent time developing players at former club Harrogate, as well as Huddersfield Town. After then returning to the Whites, he had two spells in caretaker charge in both 1985 and 1988. For all his services on the pitch and at the side of it, Peter was a hugely popular figure off it as well. Around the training ground, his infectious personality and caring attitude was memorable to all who encountered him. Along with his wife Maureen, Peter oversaw the transformation of Bill Fotherby’s house into an accommodation for young academy players to live in. He would make sure the house was kept up to standard by all who lived there, whilst also helping with meals and housekeeping. Pete

Orta lays into transfer guru In a recent radio interview, Leeds Director of Football Victor Orta has hit out at Italian Sports Journalist Fabrizio Romano, for repeatedly tweeting false information to millions of Leeds fans relating to a release clause in Raphinha's contract. According to Ramano, the Brazilian ace has two clauses in his contract, one if Leeds were to be relegated, and a buyout provision. It is true, that if Leeds were to return to the Championship, Raphinha could leave ER for as little as 20m, but rumours of a 65m buy out clause have proved to be untrue. Speaking on Radio Marca, Orta was quoted as saying... Raphinha doesn’t have a clause if we stay in the Premier League. I say this because a transfer guru said the other day that he had a clause for an amount and he doesn’t. Sometimes the transfer guru is wrong. He doesn’t have a clause if we stay in the Premier League. When the player knocked on the door of Leeds, the first thing I said to him was, ‘you’re going

Leeds United hero Tony Dorigo writes exclusively for the Yorkshire Evening Post and this week's column focuses on Raphinha, Barcelona's interest and a huge game against Southampton. By Tony Dorigo Transfer speculation is part of the game, everyone understands that, and Barcelona’s interest in Raphinha is just the latest example. Often, how much speculation there is over a club’s players depends where the club is in their progression. If you’re at the top of the league and trying to win titles, everyone wants to be there and do that, so stories about potential moves don’t come into it. When you’re not, if you’re down near the bottom, these things are bound to happen. For some players it can be unsettling, regardless of whether you’re the one being moved on or the one that’s staying. These things put question marks in minds. What’s important to understand is that it’s always about the collective. The better the collective does, the better it looks on you as an individual. I

Mark Jackson says it will take time for Leeds United to break old habits and learn new ones but he believes Jesse Marsch's style of play is 'perfect' for the club. By Graham Smyth The interim first team coach, promoted from the Under 23s when the American arrived a month ago, is providing somewhat of a link between the old and the new at Thorp Arch. Jackson worked closely with Marcelo Bielsa's staff, preparing young players for first team involvement and steeping the academy hopefuls in Bielsaball. His Under 23s played the same brand of football that took both the Championship and Premier League by storm during Bielsa's era, before the Argentine was sacked following a poor run of results. Marsch was due to arrive in the summer but club owner Andrea Radrizzani accelerated his succession plan and introduced the new man with a dozen games left in the Premier League season. One of the key reasons director of football Victor Orta earmarked Marsch as the man t

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has openly admitted they are tracking Leeds United star Raphinha but insists the club is not paying the player's agent Deco. By Graham Smyth In an interview with RAC1, Laporta was only too happy to mention the Brazilian winger as he discussed potential summer transfer business at Camp Nou. Barcelona, he says, consider Raphinha to be a 'great' player after almost two seasons in the Premier League. Raphinha scored six times in the English top flight in his first campaign and has nine goals to his name so far this season, making him Leeds' star man and a regular for Tite's Brazil. He is contracted to the summer of 2024 and, contrary to reports elsewhere, has no buy-out clause in his current deal if Leeds stay in the Premier League, so a huge fee will be required to prise him from Elland Road. If they were to suffer relegation, which looks unlikely after their last two wins pushed them seven points clear of the drop zone, he woul

Radrizzani holds trump cards regarding Raphinha's exit Leeds Utd hold all the trump cards relating to Raphinha's future, whether it be at Elland Road or elsewhere next season. The Brazilian ace has been heavily linked with a Summer move to the Camp Nou. If the rumours are true, has already agreed personal terms with the Catalan Giants, even though he has over two years of his four year contract remaining. Barcelona see Raphinha as the perfect replacement for Ousmane Dembélé, who will depart in the Summer, leaving a big void. Obviously, with finances tight, they don't want to part with more than what they can get away with! How can Leeds play hard ball? Barcelona need Raphinha! He is that missing piece of the jigsaw. The longer the saga goes on, the more desperate Xavi gets. Also, Raphinha will already have one eye on the World Cup which starts in November and can't afford to be frozen out by Leeds or left on the bench to rot. This would be a risky strategy but wou

By Phil Hay This article is part of a series looking at how historic transfer fees would look today. The modern-day values have been compiled using a system devised by Kieran Maguire and Jason Laws that adjusts the fees for increases in football inflation, based on revenue increases over time. You can read the full series here. With Tomas Brolin, the extraordinary thing was the impact of the car crash: from a £4.5 million transfer to Leeds United to retirement in less than three years. It was and is a mystery. Why was the signing of Brolin such a disaster? And was it always doomed to fail for him at Elland Road? Brolin, latterly, has laid the blame at the door of Howard Wilkinson and George Graham — managers, he says, who played him in the wrong position or treated him with disdain. Wilkinson’s attitude towards Brolin was that he would “rather have anyone in any position in my team who wanted to do well for Leeds United than someone who didn’t”. It all went sour as quickly the in

By Phil Hay A weekend off for Leeds United — and very few complaints about it after the madness of the past month — but Elland Road is never quiet and our latest mailbag threw up no end of questions about the state of play as the season heads to its run-in. Contract talks, transfers and recruitment plans, Marcelo Bielsa’s dismissal, Jesse Marsch’s appointment, the latest on stadium redevelopment, all of this and more was touched upon in submissions from you earlier this week. Read on for the answers… Do you know if there is any truth in the rumours about Raphinha turning down Leeds’ contract offer and agreeing personal terms with Barcelona? — Joel B. This was a question on many people’s lips after a bit of speculation in the past few days. Zach D, for instance, asked what had happened since Christmas, when Leeds were quietly confident that a new deal for Raphinha was close to being agreed. First things first, Barcelona are very much interested in him. In terms of future des

Leeds United will face a side on a very different run of recent form to their own in Saturday’s return to action against Southampton at Elland Road. By Lee Sobot The Saints have now lost four in a row - but boss Ralph Hasenhuttl insisted there was “minimal damage” in the latest defeat which the Austrian felt showed exactly what his Saints can do. Jesse Marsch’s fifth-bottom Whites are heading into this weekend’s return to action seeking a third win on the bounce whereas the 11th-placed Saints are looking to avoid a fifth defeat in succession. Southampton have not won in the league since beating bottom side Norwich City 2-0 at St Mary’s on the final Friday of February but the Saints followed the triumph with a 3-1 success at home to West Ham in the FA Cup fourth round. The south coast side’s FA Cup run was then ended on the Sunday before the current international break as all conquering Manchester City left St Mary’s with a 4-1 success. The defeat followed a 2-1 reverse at h

WORLD TITLE Written by: Rob Conlon The closest Josh Warrington got to turning the build up to his world title fight with Kiko Martinez into a WWE rally of insults was to arrive at his public workout wearing a bald cap. Martinez had made fun of Warrington’s haircut at an earlier media appearance, but Josh’s response was humour rather than animosity. The two fighters smiled together for a photo next to the ring that had been erected in Leeds market, looking like two lads ready to go on the Otley Run dressed as the Mitchell brothers. In a sport like boxing, Warrington’s humility can be viewed as a weakness. Maybe he would find it easier to get the mega fight he craves if he went viral for calling out opponents rather than arriving at a press conference wearing a t-shirt bearing a social media post mocking the creases on his forehead. That might win him more fans outside of Leeds, but it’s not the kind of thing that resonates with the people who adore him in his hometown, and they’re

When there’s a big Barcelona transfer story, the Catalan media can often be very excitable. There’s big claims, front pages, and the situation is often pushed further ahead than it actually is. That’s been the case with Raphinha, and claims the Blaugrana are working to sign him from Leeds United. Last week saw reports that there’s already been a €35m offer sent to the Premier League club, but Marca, a general Spanish sport newspaper, calm things down a little. They say that whilst the Brazilian is an option for Barcelona, there’s been no offer made yet and there hasn’t even been any negotiations between the two clubs. That’s because neither want to concern themselves with that right now. Marca say there’s ‘no hurry’, from the Leeds United perspective they don’t want the ‘distraction’ as they work to make sure they’re not relegated to the Championship. Barcelona are aware that Raphinha’s price will drop if Leeds are relegated and therefore they see no reason to rush things, wa

  Just landed two nice little tickets for this beauty. BRING ON THE CHAMPIONS, A 30 YEAR CELEBRATION DINNER WITH LUFC’s CLASS OF 92 Cedar Court Hotel, Harrogate, Friday 29th April 2022 https://mjksportsevents.co.uk/mjk-events/bring-on-the-champions/?portfolioCats=2 Dear Guest History is simply a collection of dates, events and often memories that are attached to them. For some Leeds fans, they remember all too well where they were when LUFC won the first division in, 1992. On April 29, 2022, almost exactly 30 years to the day, MJK SPORTS EVENTS are proud to bring you an audience with THE CLASS OF 92 – a Class of ’92 that took the title in a blur of white. Take a step back in time and relive the events that are now part of Leeds United’s history. We celebrated the 25th Anniversary with 8 of the players and Howard but Gordon could not attend. Now we are delighted to bring them back together for the 30th Anniversary including THE SKIPPER and HOWARD. Confirmed for this spectacular event so