Mighty Leeds Weblog

Scratching Shed 19/2/13 Paolo Di Canio is now the second favourite to become Leeds United’s next permanent manager after he resigned as Swindon Town manager last night. Sky Bet have odds of 4/1 on Di Canio being GFH’s first managerial appointment while Nigel Adkins remains a narrow favourite at 7/4. Adkins and Di Canio are followed by Neil Redfearn at 10/1, Owen Coyle and Sean O’Driscoll at 12/1 with Phil Parkinson and former Leeds United captain Gordon Strachan at 16/1. Other former players in the list include Richard Naylor, Nick Barmby and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, all with odds of 20/1, Lucas Radebe, Noel Whelan and Gary McAllister at 33/1 and if you really want to give your money away, Tony Yeboah at odds of 66/1. Gus Poyet meanwhile is considered to be no more likely to get the job than David O’Leary, both sharing odds of 25/1, while another name constantly thrown around by fans, Robert Di Matteo, isn’t even in the list. Champions League to Championship a little too far-fetch...

Fear and Loathing in LS11 18/2/13 As I prepared to call Gary Cooper a thought dawned upon me – I’d never interviewed anyone before with the intention of writing an article; I had no clear idea of how to structure such a conversation or translate the results into something cohesive, just a long list of questions, loosely banded together by category. This could be a painful process… Within moments of exchanging “hellos” though, it quickly became apparent that this wouldn’t be a case. Although he may spend his working life as a CCTV operations manager for the local council, it appears that while LUST’s chairman is as naturally comfortable in front of the camera as he is behind it, that also extends to the telephone – when it comes to discussing Leeds United, getting him to chat is the least of my problems. For those in need of a brief history lesson – and I include myself in that bracket – The Leeds United Supporters Trust (LUST) actually dates back as far as the late 1990s when the fo...

Yorkshire Post 18/2/13 By Richard Sutcliffe
at Etihad Stadium EVEN in a season of almighty Cup upsets, this meeting of the haves and the have-nots always seemed unlikely to satisfy those football romantics keen to see another Premier League club humbled. So it proved, as Manchester City made a mockery of their recent 
indifferent form to tear apart Leeds United, who simply had no answer to the power and pace of a team put together for the best part of £250m. With Yaya Toure setting the tone in midfield and the Argentinian pair of Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero in irresistible form up front, the Blues cruised into the quarter-finals to keep alive Roberto Mancini’s attempt to make it 11 consecutive seasons in which his side have reached at least the last four of a domestic Cup competition. During a run that began at the helm of Fiorentina and Lazio in Serie A before taking in a stint at Inter Milan and then his move to Manchester, there can be few times when Mancini’s procession int...

YEP 18/2/13 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock admitted he was ready to stand aside as Leeds United manager after a 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City yesterday brought his position to a head. The 64-year-old effectively started Leeds’ search for their next boss by confirming that he planned to leave his post if the club, as expected, failed to win promotion from the Championship this season. Warnock faced another round of criticism from United’s supporters as he watched the Premier League champions outclass his team in a one-sided fifth-round loss at the Etihad Stadium. The ex-Sheffield United coach is out of contract in June and, with his squad eight points adrift of the Championship play-offs, he admitted last night that he expected GFH Capital, the club’s Dubai-based owner, to begin seeking his replacement. Nigel Adkins – sacked by Premier League club Southampton last month – is likely to be a leading candidate for the job. Warnock, who was named as United manager a year ago to the ...

Sky 17/2/13 Leeds United manager Neil Warnock says he does not deserve the fans' abuse he received during the FA Cup defeat to Manchester City. And Warnock believes he 'deserves a medal' for enduring what he feels has been a difficult past 12 months at Elland Road. Pressure is growing on Warnock in light of his failure to mastermind a promotion challenge this season and chants of "Warnock - time to go" were heard from the away end at the Etihad Stadium during Sunday's 4-0 defeat to City. "It's their prerogative (if they want to sack him), if they think it will help, I'm not against it. Whatever is best for Leeds United. But with what's gone on over the last 12 months I think I deserve a medal." Neil Warnock Quotes of the week Warnock's contract as Leeds manager expires at the end of the season; he has told owners GFH Capital he will not be staying on next season and has claimed he would leave earlier if he was asked. "I do...

Yorkshire Post 17/2/13 Neil Warnock accepts he will not be manager of Leeds United next season if they fail to win promotion. Leeds are 12th in the Championship, eight points adrift of the top six. Warnock is coming under increasing pressure from the fans to quit having failed to mastermind a promotion challenge, and cries of ‘Warnock - time to go’ were the printable catcalls aimed at him from the away end as they lost 4-0 to Premier League champions Manchester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday. His contract is up at the end of the season and he has told owners GFH Capital he will not be staying on next season, while he today claimed he would leave earlier if he was asked. “I don’t deserve that (abuse) after the year I have had, but I am unlucky to have been at three clubs with three takeovers,”nhe said, referencing previous spells with Crystal Palace and QPR. “I understand their feelings and the noise they make shows what sort of club it is. “If we go up, the owner...

Manchester City 4 Leeds United 0 Ian Herbert "Underneath, there's a bubbling inferno, ready to explode," Danny Mills had said before the game. Right observation. Wrong team. A match which seemed to have potential symbolism for Manchester City wherever you looked – a newly opened tram line yesterday to the stadium where Roberto Mancini appeared to be heading off the rails – instead left Leeds' Neil Warnock as the manager wondering why bother waiting until the summer to call it a day. Warnock offered applause to his club's supporters at the end – which was generous in the extreme, since their response of "Warnock, Warnock, time to go," was one they had used all afternoon. This was a fixture between clubs under Gulf ownership of vastly different kinds, with Dubai-based GFH Capital, who took over to wild Elland Road over-optimism in late December, already admitting they're short of cash. That kind of subtle point can be lost when a manager – one wh...