Mighty Leeds Weblog

Leeds United loanee Jaidon Anthony says manager Daniel Farke is among the ‘most detailed’ coaches he has worked with when preparing for matches. By Joe Donnohue Anthony has only been at Leeds a matter of weeks but already has been struck by the level of detail that goes into Farke’s planning for games, he says. The 23-year-old joined co-hosts Matthew Lewis and Michael Bridges on the Official Leeds United Podcast prior to this weekend’s fixture at Southampton as the pair quizzed Anthony on working under Farke. “It's a bit of both, really,” the Bournemouth loanee said, when asked whether Farke choreographs attacking patterns of play or gives his forward players free reign in games. “I think he's probably one of the - obviously it's only the early weeks - most detailed managers I've worked with, I think. “The meetings are very long and he plans out exactly what he wants us to do. And then it's up to us as players. “We have a lot of options when we're

Teen star Archie Gray has set his sights on lofty Leeds United ambitions and the eventual aim of representing the Whites alongside a particular younger teammate. By Lee Sobot Gray has made an impressive ascension to the first team this season at just 17 years of age and already has nine starts under his belt ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime showdown against Championship hosts Southampton. Speaking to LUTV in an interview with his great uncle and Whites legend Eddie, the young midfielder said his aim was ultimately to win titles with Leeds as he set his sights on representing the club in the Premier League and the notion of playing alongside his younger brother Harry. Pressed on the task of eventually getting Leeds back to the Premier League, Gray said: “Definitely. That's something I have dreamed of when I was younger, winning titles with Leeds, it's what you dream of, especially as a Leeds fan. "You can't really ask for anything more. Obviously we want to do ou

By Phil Hay Of all the signings completed by Leeds United last season, Georginio Rutter’s was the most complicated. His move from German club Hoffenheim — for around £30million ($37m) — broke Leeds’ transfer record but still, the wheels turned more slowly than they should have done. Rutter’s agents were in England for a week before contracts were signed. Rutter had arranged a celebratory meal with his family for the end of that week and in the hours before he was finally unveiled, at around 9pm on a Saturday, it was agreed all round that the dragging of heels had gone on long enough. At Elland Road, there was a difference of opinion about how the transfer might be structured. Andrea Radrizzani, Leeds’ then chairman, had floated the idea of taking Rutter on loan with an obligation to sign him permanently. As it was January, any obligation would be set for the end of the season (and, presumably, dependent on Leeds surviving in the Premier League). But Radrizzani was in his fi

By Phil Hay “The best thing about it? He did it in one take.” Daniel Cappellaro is giving away a trade secret here. As creative and adept as freestyle footballers like him are, not everything they film comes off first time. Even the best of them endure days where the ball won’t stick, where it comes free of the string and flies off the boot, forcing the camera crew to reset. “Some people get a bit touchy about this,” Cappellaro says, “but I’m not ashamed to say that sometimes what you’re trying needs a few shots. But what Farke’s done there, he’s absolutely killed it. It’s so good.” 🥶 Light work pic.twitter.com/kMh013B5BX — Leeds United (@LUFC) September 23, 2023 Cappellaro is a street footballer, a futsal player, a coach and a freestyler who fits the mould of that industry: close to half a million followers on Instagram, commercial deals aplenty and a global profile gained through the blinding tricks he can do. He’s halfway around the world, in the Australian city of Melbo

By Phil Hay The body has aged but the face not so much. Sprinting to the corner flag was Sam Byram as Leeds United remembered him, smiling like the kid who could not believe his luck. However much older he is than the last time, the adrenaline gripped him at Elland Road, the pinch-yourself vibes were no less real. A lot can be read into the way footballers react to a goal and the race to mob Byram after his header put Leeds 2-0 up against Watford was more than just the release of a team who knew the game was won. Here was a player who cut his teeth at Leeds, almost completely unheralded at the outset. Here was a player who, since then, had seen injury pile upon injury until wear and tear left him without a club four months ago. Here was a good story, the human element of an unforgiving profession. Something in the celebration said the mental strain of his body letting him down previously had resonated with the rest of the squad; that Saturday’s goal mattered to him personally, an

By Phil Hay Ange Postecoglou has it right. Managers and players have a duty to work, to earn their corn and toe the line calmly between despondency and exuberance. But supporters? Live a little and dream the dream because football was not designed to imitate mundane life. Football is supposed to be where mundane life stops. Daniel Farke saw that on Sunday as the away end at Millwall sucked him into the type of playful act he seemed more comfortable leaving to others: three waves of the arm to whip up the crowd and acknowledge a victory which got Leeds United’s section of the ground bouncing. Kalvin Phillips had that post-victory routine down to a ‘t’. Farke was almost too polite to partake, but where is the fun if not there, at a stadium where Leeds usually spend full-time reflecting on another chasing? Ideally, one riotous win at The Den would have become two on the spin at Hull City on Wednesday, with Farke drawn into the same celebration, either unable to resist or unwilling t

By Phil Hay Out in the New Den’s car park, police horses line up and each away bus snakes through the gap between them. South London fashion is out on the streets either side of the arriving coaches; Top Boy meets Flannels, that sort of thing. Here, as one journalist put it on Twitter yesterday, is the XL Bully of the EFL fixture list, a game liable to turn at any moment. Leeds United pull up and walk into the stadium, obscenities flying at them. The welcoming party are vaguely kind to Jamie Shackleton and Charlie Cresswell. Those two were on loan here last season. Luke Ayling wasn’t and someone slates his haircut, prompting the Leeds captain to flash a wide smile in return. He loves a bit of it. It is not as if Ayling was not forewarned. And he’ll end up laughing at full-time too, with a collector’s item of a victory in his back pocket. Millwall-Leeds; three years apart but the same as ever it was at Sunday’s reunion, with not a ticket to be had for the match ahead. How to cat

Leeds United Under-21s’ head coach Michael Skubala says supporters at youth team games have played a part in Archie Gray’s first-team breakthrough this season. By Joe Donnohue Leeds teenager Gray has featured in each of the Whites’ first ten games across all competitions this season, starting the first nine under Daniel Farke. The 17-year-old made his professional debut in the Whites’ opening day draw with Cardiff City back in August but has taken to senior football with relative ease, earning plaudits for his mature performances in the second tier. Over the past two seasons, the great-nephew of Leeds icon Eddie Gray was, when fit, a regular under Skubala for the club’s Under-21s. Speaking following his team’s 2-0 win versus OGC Nice in the Premier League International Cup, Skubala credited exposure to crowds at youth level with Gray’s acclimation to the intensity of a first-team atmosphere on matchdays. “I think it's so important for their development to understand how

GLORY DAYS Written by: Rob Conlon Anyone who has listened to the sporadic Championship Manager 01/02 Extra Ball series will have fond memories of Brett Ormerod. He’s the striker the lads plucked from Blackpool to partner Alan Shearer in attack and latch onto through balls from Pablo Aimar (but rarely Joe Cole). In Champ Man, Ormerod became a virtual folk hero. In reality, he was briefly the bane of my childhood. Ever since my second visit to Elland Road, I’ve associated red and white stripes with Ormerod, who joined Leeds on a one-month loan in September 2004 from Southampton and made his debut against Sunderland, after turning down Sheffield United. Rejecting the chance to move to Bramall Lane was a good start to his Leeds career, mainly because it upset Neil Warnock: “Steve Wigley (Southampton boss) told me that Ormerod was going to Leeds and I am very disappointed. Perhaps I should have talked to the player first but it’s a lesson for me even at this stage of my career. Perh

Leeds United boss Daniel Farke feigned disappointment on Thursday when none of the assembled local media brought up his first touch in the win over Watford. By Graham Smyth The German's stone-dead trapping of a high ball received an Elland Road ovation and unsurprisingly went viral over the weekend. He was asked about it following the game and joked that if his players had his quality on the ball everything would be a lot easier. By the time the pre-Southampton press conference rolled around five days later that moment wasn't particularly on the radar of the quartet of journalists who gathered at Thorp Arch to speak to Farke. Had the national newspapers sent someone along then it might well have been brought up again, being the kind of light hearted topic that can elicit some nice colour to go alongside the more mechanical updates of team news, injuries and the upcoming match. But Farke's 'match day minus two' press conferences are not drawing the nationals

Daniel Farke pre-Southampton press conference every word on best fans, Patrick Bamford, Mateo Joseph, Ilia Gruev and Helder Costa Leeds United will return to action with a Saturday lunchtime showdown at Southampton, ahead of which Whites boss Daniel Farke held his pre-match press conference on Thursday. By Lee Sobot Farke’s side climbed into the Championship’s top six with last Saturday’s impressive 3-0 victory at home to Watford which represented United’s third league win of the season and first at Elland Road. Seven days later, Leeds will face another of last season’s relegated sides on Saturday lunchtime with a 12.30pm kick-off at Southampton. Russell Martin’s south coast side began life back in the Championship by taking ten points out of an opening possible 12 but the Saints have since slipped to four consecutive defeats and now find themselves sat in 15th place, three points behind sixth-placed Leeds. Whites boss Farke held his pre-match press conference at Thorp Arch on