Yorkshire Evening Post 24/2/08
League promise "robust defence" of Leeds United action
By Phil Hay
The Football League are poised to respond to Leeds United's High Court writ – and have promised to present a strong defence of their decision to deduct 15 points from the club.
The League have been ordered to reply to the High Court by Tuesday after being served with legal papers by Leeds on February 5, and their board are planning to "robustly" contest United's judicial claim.
The Elland Road club are suing the League over the ruling taken in August which saw Leeds deducted 15 points after failing to exit administration through an agreed Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).
The Football League said the move contravened their rules on insolvency and justified the points penalty, but Leeds will argue that the punishment was unfair and unreasonable when their case is heard in the High Court.
League chairman Lord Brian Mawhinney wrote to clubs across the country this week to confirm that the body would fight to uphold the unprecedented deduction.
Mawhinney wrote: "The board discussed this matter fully at its meeting last Thursday (February 14).
"It has retained experienced solicitors and counsel and has instructed them to defend the 15-point deduction robustly on behalf of the League's board and clubs."
United have spent six months constructing their argument against the League, and their request for a judicial review was driven by the refusal of the Football League or the Football Association to open an independent inquiry into the 15-point penalty.
Leeds will ask the High Court for the earliest possible hearing after expressing concern over the effect that a decision taken after the end of the season could have on the final League One table. Mawhinney's letter made no mention of the timescale envisaged by the Football League.
But the expectation among officials at Elland Road that Barnsley would support United's claim appears to have been dampened by a week of confusion at Oakwell.
Mawhinney's letter confirmed that Barnsley's name had been included on the writ submitted by Leeds to the Football League, a revelation which the former Conservative MP admitted had taken him by surprise.
Support for Leeds is though to have been offered to Bates by Barnsley director Barry Taylor, but Oakwell chairman Gordon Shepherd moved quickly to distance his club from the legal battle on Friday after insisting the case was not Barnsley's to fight.
Taylor's show of solidarity for Leeds is understood to have been made without Shepherd's knowledge, and it is unlikely that Barnsley will play a part in proceedings once the case begins at the High Court.
Yorkshire Evening Post 23/2/08
Tresor's strike too little too late
By Phil Hay
Leeds United 1 Crewe Alexandra 1Tresor Kandol's first goal for 19 games arrived late at Elland Road but with the stark realisation that the reward it brought was too little for Leeds United.
The striker's 86th-minute header averted a defeat to Crewe Alexandra which would have shaken badly a club with aspirations of promotion, but the impact of yesterday's 1-1 draw was visibly apparent in the faces of Gary McAllister and his players.
Leeds, by their own admission, have lost their way since the start of 2008, and there is little left at Elland Road to frighten visiting teams, but it will concern McAllister to have seen the trouble taken by his side to prise a point from a clash with Crewe.
The Cheshire club have won two of their last 18 games and possessed no sort of encouraging form in the lead up to yesterday's match.
They are, potentially, a team heading for relegation, yet McAllister did not bother claiming that the draw snatched by his side had been well-deserved. Such a claim would have been groundless. On the contrary, the result did an injustice to a Crewe team who had enough of the game to have been out of sight when Kandol nodded home his equaliser.
With four minutes remaining, it was a strike which brought a sliver of relief to the watching crowd, but there is little comfort to be found in the disjointed performance and mediocre result produced by Leeds.
Their sequence of seven games without a victory is growing more expensive by the week, and the fact that United moved a point closer to the second automatic promotion place in League One as a result of their draw is less striking than the five-point deficit which lies between them and the play-offs.
Jermaine Beckford was absent from yesterday's game through a one-match suspension, and Leeds missed both his pace and his eye for goal.
The striker was due to serve his ban against Doncaster Rovers last week until a frozen pitch culled the fixture at late notice, and his penance yesterday saw Tore Andre Flo start his first match since United's defeat to Doncaster at Elland Road on January 19.
That fixture was the start of the six-match winless run that stalked Leeds before yesterday's game, and in spite of the improvement shown by his players against Nottingham Forest 11 days earlier, McAllister saw fit to rearrange his line-up in preparation for Crewe's arrival.
Bradley Johnson was dropped to the bench, leaving McAllister free to include Frazer Richardson in his starting team as an improvising right winger.
The formation, with David Prutton in the centre of midfield, was slightly unorthodox, but the arrival of four chances in the first five minutes indicated that United's players initially understood their manager's thinking,Flo's first opportunity came inside a minute when he ran free of Crewe's defence and scraped a shot from 18 yards over the crossbar, and a strike from Alan Sheehan deflected over Ben Williams' goal via a deflection from central midfielder Gary Roberts, one of two players with the same name in Crewe's line-up.
It took Crewe half-an-hour to play their way into the match, by which time their clean sheet had been threatened on several more occasions.Rui Marques, United's captain for the day, hooked an overhead kick over the bar at the far post after a cleverly-worked corner involving Sweeney and Flo, and Kandol's long-range effort was turned away low down by Crewe's embattled goalkeeper.
The barrage continued with Richardson's curling attempt from outside the box which slipped beyond the post, but when Crewe's confidence and invention surged around the half-hour mark, the remainder of the half became increasingly uncomfortable for McAllister's side.
Kenny Lunt produced their first meaningful contribution when his scuffed volley had Casper Ankergren scrambling to defend his near post, and Nicky Maynard spared Leeds with a fierce and wayward finish after Ankergren's parry from Lunt left the striker unmarked in front of an open goal.United's keeper was no more able to intervene after Prutton was penalised for a foul on Byron Moore a yard outside the hosts' box. Lunt curled a well-directed free-kick over Ankergren's wall, and the ball struck the woodwork before the Dane could move.
Sweeney had forced Williams into a lively block two minutes earlier after driving Richardson's cross goalwards, but it was, surprisingly, Leeds who were in greater need of the interval by the time referee Mike Pike brought the first half to a conclusion.
The respite was brief. Two minutes after the restart, Lunt's through ball found Roberts onside, and his pass across goal was tucked beyond Ankergren by the on-running Maynard. On the evidence of the previous 15 minutes, it was a goal that Crewe deserved.
The break of the deadlock required an urgent response from Leeds, and Jonathan Howson's flicked header was clawed away from goal by Williams as United attempted to repair the damage.
Richardson's ambitious strike from all of 30 yards had Williams scrambling again in the 56th minute, but Byron Moore almost turned home a second goal for Crewe moments later after meeting Lunt's cross at the near post.
McAllister had already called on Sebastien Carole from the substitutes' bench by then, and Anthony Elding and Johnson were sent on from the bench with 24 minutes to go. But his side were fortunate to remain a single goal adrift when the second Gary Roberts in Crewe's line-up ran clear onto George Abbey's long pass in the 73rd minute and drove a weak shot against Ankergren's legs with only the keeper to beat.
Roberts' was a wasted opportunity, and one which Leeds were able to exploit. With four minutes remaining, and pressure soaking into Crewe's defence, Carole's deep cross reached Kandol at the far post and the striker buried the easiest of headers. It could not avert the feeling that Leeds had fallen a long way short again.
League promise "robust defence" of Leeds United action
By Phil Hay
The Football League are poised to respond to Leeds United's High Court writ – and have promised to present a strong defence of their decision to deduct 15 points from the club.
The League have been ordered to reply to the High Court by Tuesday after being served with legal papers by Leeds on February 5, and their board are planning to "robustly" contest United's judicial claim.
The Elland Road club are suing the League over the ruling taken in August which saw Leeds deducted 15 points after failing to exit administration through an agreed Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).
The Football League said the move contravened their rules on insolvency and justified the points penalty, but Leeds will argue that the punishment was unfair and unreasonable when their case is heard in the High Court.
League chairman Lord Brian Mawhinney wrote to clubs across the country this week to confirm that the body would fight to uphold the unprecedented deduction.
Mawhinney wrote: "The board discussed this matter fully at its meeting last Thursday (February 14).
"It has retained experienced solicitors and counsel and has instructed them to defend the 15-point deduction robustly on behalf of the League's board and clubs."
United have spent six months constructing their argument against the League, and their request for a judicial review was driven by the refusal of the Football League or the Football Association to open an independent inquiry into the 15-point penalty.
Leeds will ask the High Court for the earliest possible hearing after expressing concern over the effect that a decision taken after the end of the season could have on the final League One table. Mawhinney's letter made no mention of the timescale envisaged by the Football League.
But the expectation among officials at Elland Road that Barnsley would support United's claim appears to have been dampened by a week of confusion at Oakwell.
Mawhinney's letter confirmed that Barnsley's name had been included on the writ submitted by Leeds to the Football League, a revelation which the former Conservative MP admitted had taken him by surprise.
Support for Leeds is though to have been offered to Bates by Barnsley director Barry Taylor, but Oakwell chairman Gordon Shepherd moved quickly to distance his club from the legal battle on Friday after insisting the case was not Barnsley's to fight.
Taylor's show of solidarity for Leeds is understood to have been made without Shepherd's knowledge, and it is unlikely that Barnsley will play a part in proceedings once the case begins at the High Court.
Yorkshire Evening Post 23/2/08
Tresor's strike too little too late
By Phil Hay
Leeds United 1 Crewe Alexandra 1Tresor Kandol's first goal for 19 games arrived late at Elland Road but with the stark realisation that the reward it brought was too little for Leeds United.
The striker's 86th-minute header averted a defeat to Crewe Alexandra which would have shaken badly a club with aspirations of promotion, but the impact of yesterday's 1-1 draw was visibly apparent in the faces of Gary McAllister and his players.
Leeds, by their own admission, have lost their way since the start of 2008, and there is little left at Elland Road to frighten visiting teams, but it will concern McAllister to have seen the trouble taken by his side to prise a point from a clash with Crewe.
The Cheshire club have won two of their last 18 games and possessed no sort of encouraging form in the lead up to yesterday's match.
They are, potentially, a team heading for relegation, yet McAllister did not bother claiming that the draw snatched by his side had been well-deserved. Such a claim would have been groundless. On the contrary, the result did an injustice to a Crewe team who had enough of the game to have been out of sight when Kandol nodded home his equaliser.
With four minutes remaining, it was a strike which brought a sliver of relief to the watching crowd, but there is little comfort to be found in the disjointed performance and mediocre result produced by Leeds.
Their sequence of seven games without a victory is growing more expensive by the week, and the fact that United moved a point closer to the second automatic promotion place in League One as a result of their draw is less striking than the five-point deficit which lies between them and the play-offs.
Jermaine Beckford was absent from yesterday's game through a one-match suspension, and Leeds missed both his pace and his eye for goal.
The striker was due to serve his ban against Doncaster Rovers last week until a frozen pitch culled the fixture at late notice, and his penance yesterday saw Tore Andre Flo start his first match since United's defeat to Doncaster at Elland Road on January 19.
That fixture was the start of the six-match winless run that stalked Leeds before yesterday's game, and in spite of the improvement shown by his players against Nottingham Forest 11 days earlier, McAllister saw fit to rearrange his line-up in preparation for Crewe's arrival.
Bradley Johnson was dropped to the bench, leaving McAllister free to include Frazer Richardson in his starting team as an improvising right winger.
The formation, with David Prutton in the centre of midfield, was slightly unorthodox, but the arrival of four chances in the first five minutes indicated that United's players initially understood their manager's thinking,Flo's first opportunity came inside a minute when he ran free of Crewe's defence and scraped a shot from 18 yards over the crossbar, and a strike from Alan Sheehan deflected over Ben Williams' goal via a deflection from central midfielder Gary Roberts, one of two players with the same name in Crewe's line-up.
It took Crewe half-an-hour to play their way into the match, by which time their clean sheet had been threatened on several more occasions.Rui Marques, United's captain for the day, hooked an overhead kick over the bar at the far post after a cleverly-worked corner involving Sweeney and Flo, and Kandol's long-range effort was turned away low down by Crewe's embattled goalkeeper.
The barrage continued with Richardson's curling attempt from outside the box which slipped beyond the post, but when Crewe's confidence and invention surged around the half-hour mark, the remainder of the half became increasingly uncomfortable for McAllister's side.
Kenny Lunt produced their first meaningful contribution when his scuffed volley had Casper Ankergren scrambling to defend his near post, and Nicky Maynard spared Leeds with a fierce and wayward finish after Ankergren's parry from Lunt left the striker unmarked in front of an open goal.United's keeper was no more able to intervene after Prutton was penalised for a foul on Byron Moore a yard outside the hosts' box. Lunt curled a well-directed free-kick over Ankergren's wall, and the ball struck the woodwork before the Dane could move.
Sweeney had forced Williams into a lively block two minutes earlier after driving Richardson's cross goalwards, but it was, surprisingly, Leeds who were in greater need of the interval by the time referee Mike Pike brought the first half to a conclusion.
The respite was brief. Two minutes after the restart, Lunt's through ball found Roberts onside, and his pass across goal was tucked beyond Ankergren by the on-running Maynard. On the evidence of the previous 15 minutes, it was a goal that Crewe deserved.
The break of the deadlock required an urgent response from Leeds, and Jonathan Howson's flicked header was clawed away from goal by Williams as United attempted to repair the damage.
Richardson's ambitious strike from all of 30 yards had Williams scrambling again in the 56th minute, but Byron Moore almost turned home a second goal for Crewe moments later after meeting Lunt's cross at the near post.
McAllister had already called on Sebastien Carole from the substitutes' bench by then, and Anthony Elding and Johnson were sent on from the bench with 24 minutes to go. But his side were fortunate to remain a single goal adrift when the second Gary Roberts in Crewe's line-up ran clear onto George Abbey's long pass in the 73rd minute and drove a weak shot against Ankergren's legs with only the keeper to beat.
Roberts' was a wasted opportunity, and one which Leeds were able to exploit. With four minutes remaining, and pressure soaking into Crewe's defence, Carole's deep cross reached Kandol at the far post and the striker buried the easiest of headers. It could not avert the feeling that Leeds had fallen a long way short again.