Mighty Leeds Weblog

Mail 28/4/12 Teenage debutant Harry Panayiotou scored a last-second winner as Leicester ended the season on a high and condemned Leeds to an unwanted club record. Martyn Waghorn's first-half goal had looked to have sent United to an 11th home defeat of the season, only for Danny Webber to equalise with eight minutes remaining. But, with seconds left on the clock, Panayiotou touched in Ben Marshall's effort, leaving home manager Neil Warnock and his players to confront the linesman about an alleged offside. Warnock's fury may have been more about a season of underachievement at Elland Road than the goal itself, but the veteran boss - who has promised a summer of change - may hear more about the incident after he appeared to throw his chewing gum at the official at the full-time whistle. And, while 17-year-old Panayiotou may have won it for Leicester, their manager Nigel Pearson - like Warnock a mid-season appointment - will be well aware of the hard work ahead this summ...

Enterprise Insurance have extended their sponsorship agreement for a further two years and will continue to act as main sponsor until the end of the 2013/14 season. Chief Executive Shaun Harvey said: "We are delighted... We have developed an excellent working relationship with Enterprise Insurance during the course of this season and have launched a number of Leeds United branded insurance products through the partnership, including the increasingly popular Leeds United Insurance Compare website. We look forward to developing our relationship further with Enterprise and helping them to promote their business to a worldwide audience." Commenting on the extension of the sponsorship agreement, Enterprise Insurance Managing Director, Andrew Flowers, said "We are delighted to continue as the main sponsor for Leeds United. It's a terrific club and over the course of this season we have seen the real benefits of a marketing partnership with a globally recognised brand suc...

Yorkshire Evening Post 27/4/12 Neil Warnock has been willing this season to end since the Ides of March or thereabouts. His wish will be granted when Leeds United sign off with a dead rubber against Leicester City. United’s boss realised some time ago that a Championship miracle was beyond his club, and he saw no harm in voicing that opinion. “Roll on next season,” said Warnock repeatedly, even while mathematical calculations had Leeds in contention for a play-off position. Certain supporters took umbrage with that, writing to Warnock to complain about what they saw as a premature surrender. “I must admit I’ve had a few letters about my comments,” he said. “They were asking for their money back for this year. One guy wanted 50 quid back because he’d lost a bet with a mate at Burnley. It’s all my fault that we didn’t finish above them. “But I’ve got to stand for that. I’m relieved it’s almost over and I don’t think it could have been much better. It’s time to move on. Long-term I h...

Yorkshire Evening Post 23/4/12 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock was tempted to miss Leeds United’s game at Cardiff City and scout players for next season instead. For much of the 1-1 draw he endured, his unconventional idea seemed eminently sensible. It is hard to know what he has left to discover about the squad at his disposal but he can have learned little on Saturday. Little, that is, beyond the fact that his low opinion of it ought not to change. Warnock summed up a laboured match in one cutting sentence. “If we had anything about us we’d have won that today.” Leeds don’t and they didn’t, hence the need for a new broom and a clean sweep. Their persistence and a 73rd-minute goal from Luciano Becchio earned them a point – as good a result as the club tend to accrue in Wales – but the frustration for Warnock was his team’s inability to take hold of a game so sterile and so flat. At face value the final scoreline made satisfactory reading. Leeds have a grisly record at Cardiff and Eddie...

Yorkshire Evening Post 22/4/12 By Phil Hay Leeds United defender Leigh Bromby will undergo major surgery this week after suffering a knee injury which team-mate Alex Bruce described as “sickening”. Bromby is facing months of rehabilitation from the ruptured patellar tendon he sustained in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Cardiff City. The 31-year-old passed out on the pitch after collapsing in agony with no-one around him, and United’s players looked visibly distressed as medical staff tended to him on the field. Bruce, who partnered Bromby in the centre of United’s defence until the centre-back was stretchered off in the 28th minute, said: “It was sickening to see. Obviously playing next to him, to see your mate in agony like that knocks the wind out of you to say the least. He’s a great lad and very popular in the dressing room. It was upsetting.” Bromby travelled home with United’s squad on Saturday afternoon and the club were waiting for swelling around his knee to subside before send...

Yorkshire Evening Post 18/4/12 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock revealed that his first summer transfer deal was effectively signed and sealed after a 1-0 defeat to Blackpool officially ended Leeds United’s season. Warnock expects the unnamed signing to arrive at Elland Road during the first week in May, beginning a process of rebuilding which is set to intensify after last night’s loss at Bloomfield Road. A 79th-minute goal from Spanish midfielder Angel subjected Leeds to another disappointing result, confirming mathematically that United will fall short of the Championship play-offs. The Elland Road club have two matches remaining, one away to Cardiff City this weekend and the other at home to Leicester City on April 28, but Warnock is deep into his planning for the 2012-13 season with nothing left to vie for. The United manager said: “We’re lacking in certain areas but we can’t do anything about that until the summer. Two games to go then I’ve got no excuses in pre-season. “I’m looki...

Mail 17/4/12 Angel Martinez's first goal for Blackpool handed Ian Holloway's side a significant victory in their pursuit of an npower Championship play-off place. The former Espanyol midfielder pounced on a loose ball 10 minutes from time to sink a spirited Leeds side that finished a man down after Darren O'Dea earned a second yellow card. Wing duo Matt Phillips and Tom Ince had Blackpool on the front foot during the first-half, but Leeds were a threat from set plays and on the counter attack. Robert Snodgrass and Luciano Becchio went close as Neil Warnock's side grew into the game after the interval, but Martinez sent the majority of a sell-out crowd home happy. Middlesbrough's 0-0 draw with relegated Doncaster means Blackpool are four points ahead of the seventh-place side going into the final two games of the season. Lomana LuaLua - who bagged a brace in a 5-0 victory over Leeds at Elland Road in November - came into the Blackpool line-up in place of the il...

leedsunited.com 16/4/12 The contracts of homegrown defender Ben Parker and Finland international Mika Vayrynen have been cancelled by mutual consent. Both players contracts were due to expire in the summer, but an early termination has been agreed. Ben is likely to remain at Thorp Arch until the end of the season to continue training with the squad. Ben was the longest serving player at the club, having first tasted senior action back in the summer of 2006 when he featured heavily in the club's pre-season games. He spent the 2006/07 season on loan at Bradford before making his Leeds debut at Macclesfield in the Carling Cup in August 2007. His league debut followed a few days later against Southend United and after featuring regularly during the first half of the season, he moved to Darlington on loan following the arrival of Gary McAllister as manager. Ben featured regularly the following season, scoring his only goal for the club at Northampton in the FA Cup, but disaster stru...

Yorkshire Evening Post 16/4/12 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock has warned Leeds United’s most valuable players that they would be “idiots” to seek a move out of Elland Road when the season ends in two weeks’ time. Warnock urged his influential squad members to keep faith with the club during a summer of transition after a 4-1 defeat of Peterborough secured his maiden home win as Leeds manager. The 63-year-old watched from the stands when United beat Doncaster Rovers at Elland Road on the day of his appointment in February, but goals from Billy Paynter and Ross McCormack on Saturday saw Leeds claim a first victory with Warnock on the touchline. The club’s form in the interim has made the Championship play-offs all but unreachable and Warnock’s attention has already turned to the task of rebuilding his squad with the aim of competing for promotion next season. He and chairman Ken Bates met last week to discuss the summer transfer budget and the offer of new contracts to key players on the...

Yorkshire Evening Post 15/4/12 Goal-shy striker Billy Paynter finally found his scoring boots to help Leeds United to a crushing come-from-behind win over Peterborough that earned Neil Warnock his first home victory as manager. The 27-year-old, signed from Swindon two years ago, had managed just one goal for the club prior to this afternoon and, when he was announced as one of five changes made by Warnock following defeat to Derby on Monday, his name was greeted with sarcastic cheers from fans who had grown tired of waiting for him to prove his worth. He answered them today, though, scoring twice as Warnock’s men replied to Joe Newell’s opener in some style, with Ross McCormack also grabbing a brace to take his tally for the season to 19. Paynter’s first and McCormack’s double came in a chaotic 180-second burst either side of the interval and killed off a Posh side who are still not mathematically safe from relegation and require a point to survive. Today was Paynter’s day, howe...

Sky Sports 14/4/12 Drastic action is needed, says Leeds boss Leeds boss Neil Warnock is set to stay at the Championship club next season after productive talks with chairman Ken Bates. Warnock arrived at the club in February and has endured a difficult start to life at Elland Road with Saturday's win at home to Peterborough ending a run of three consecutive defeats. And Warnock has admitted he had doubts about staying at the club because he is not interested in merely treading water - he wants a record eighth promotion. But after extensive talks with Bates, the 63-year-old has been reassured he will be given the tools to achieve that goal next season. "Before I spoke to the chairman I possibly did have doubts about next season," Warnock told the Yorkshire Evening Post. "I said when I first came here that I didn't want to be around mid-table. Next season's a big season for me. "I don't want to work many more years and if I felt we couldn't...

Yorkshire Evening Post 13/4/12 Leeds United manager Neil Warnock has given the clearest hint yet that he will lead the club into next season after a week of productive talks with chairman Ken Bates. Warnock admitted to harbouring doubts about United’s future prospects in the Championship ahead of a number of scheduled meetings with Bates, but the 63-year-old said he “felt like taking the challenge on” following fresh discussions about his plans for the summer. He and United’s owner spoke several times this week to review the club’s transfer budget and strategy for a close season when Warnock wants to see “major surgery” and “drastic action” taken on the squad at the Elland Road. Warnock is nearing the end of the first stage of his contract with Leeds – a deal which runs until the summer of 2013 but includes a clause allowing him to leave the club when this season ends – and he warned again that he had no desire to coach a mid-table team in a year when he hopes to seal a record eigh...

Yorkshire Post 10/4/12 By Wayne Gardiner Neil Warnock pledged to never again preside over a Leeds United team like his current one after they slumped to another abject defeat. It was United’s 10th home reversal of the season, with goals from Craig Bryson and Steven Davies confirming their position as Championship also-rans. Warnock, known as a promotion expert, was given the Elland Road reins after Simon Grayson’s sacking in February and has spent the last seven weeks running the rule over the squad he inherited. He now feels he has got their number and has vowed to put things right over the summer. “The end of the season can’t come quickly enough,” he said. “I said to (Derby manager) Nigel Clough at the end, ‘Enjoy this, Nigel, because you’ll never see another Leeds United team or a Neil Warnock team like this’. “We had a lot of players playing today that know they won’t be here next season. We’ve not got enough Leeds-type players. “We don’t revel in the atmosphere and that’s ...

Mail 9/4/12 By John Edwards Neil Warnock faces one of the busiest summers of his managerial career if he is to achieve his goal of promotion before signing off at Elland Road next season. With retirement beckoning at the end of his short-term Leeds contract, Warnock knows he has little time to build a squad fit for the Barclays Premier League and admits he is using the rest of this season to decide on individual futures. Chairman Ken Bates put it more bluntly in his programme notes, claiming: 'The players are beginning to fall into three categories: 1 Keep, 2 Get Rid, 3 Undecided.' Category two is in danger of being oversubscribed, judging by the evidence of a third successive defeat riddled with defensive shortcomings, basic errors and more indiscipline. An eighth red card of Michael Brown's career, for a high challenge on Theo Robinson, was Leeds's third in as many games and left them a man short for 64 minutes. Given Jake Buxton and Nathan Tyson squandered tw...

leedsunited.com 7/4/12 United manager Neil Warnock was full of praise for the attitude shown his side after Friday's clash at Reading, despite suffering defeat. Despite losing out to two late goals, the boss found plenty to take heart from after a fiery clash. United had Zac Thompson sent off early in the game, but a no-nonsense approach from Warnock's side and a real workmanlike display saw Reading's usual attacking flair stifled. "The players were fantastic under the circumstances," said the boss. "We had a makeshift team and I didn't think they had a shot on goal until they scored. "We played really well under the cosh and I was pleased. "But I've never seen players surround the referee like they did there. It does influence him. We're told not to do it but everybody seems to. "Straight away he gives the red card and I thought the kid was unlucky, having watched it three or four times. The ref only see...

Yorkshire Evening Post 7/4/12 By Phil Hay In the end it was better than Neil Warnock expected – a day when those Leeds United supporters who laughed off his joke about staying at home found some satisfaction in ludicrous adversity. Leeds took the long road to Reading with their squad coming apart at the seams and were backed into a corner by inexperience and recklessness, but a desperate situation found their players willing to dirty their hands. United’s manager, Neil Warnock, reacted to his team’s defeat to Watford last week by suggesting his team lacked “something between their legs”. That something was found at the Madejski Stadium where Zac Thompson’s 13th-minute red card set the Alamo in motion. With 10 players and no end of credit, Leeds fought their way to within six minutes of a goalless draw. Warnock would have accepted any stalemate as a creditable result before kick-off, on an afternoon when his choice of players was woefully inadequate, but it represented ...