Whites busy trying to recruit - Jones
YEP 8/1/13
Straight after Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Birmingham City, Mick Jones stated that he had ‘never heard his phone ring so much’ throughout the afternoon with the persistent caller being Neil Warnock.
The Leeds United boss, who missed the game due to a virus and was forced to follow the action via radio at home, was on the blower at regular intervals to speak to his assistant – with his mobile also doing overtime in the days before the tie.
As it is now with Warnock doing plenty of groundwork speaking to a raft of agents and clubs to try and facilitate some business in this month’s transfer window, which has around three-and-a-half weeks to run.
Warnock has previously spoken about the need for patience on the recruitment front, but that should not be mistaken for a lack of action. And don’t for one minute think that his recent ailments have stopped him from regularly contacting representatives of players with calls in a bid to broker some business.
While Warnock is keen on doing business on the incoming front, there is also the key issue of quality control, according to Jones, who says the last thing the club will fall into the trap of is bringing in players purely for the sake of it.
Faces change at many clubs, but the quality stays the same and that is something Jones and Warnock, long in the tooth in the management game, are extremely wary of.
But therein the problem can lie. In simple terms, quality costs and that is the conundrum facing United in their quest to become Championship contenders instead of wannabees in the business end of the campaign.
Assistant-boss Jones said: “I think we need to add in three or four positions to make us better. We need a stronger squad and a better squad.
“We need players to come in who are as good if not better than those who are coming out. The one thing about the manager is that he will not sign anyone for the sake of it.
“As far as I know, the owners are thinking the same as Neil. We want good players at the club to supplement what we have got and then make a charge.
“There are a lot of enquiries and phone calls going on. The only problem is that when Leeds United come on the phone, finances double or treble in some cases. In one case in particular, we were talking £1.5million more than the real valuation. But it is Leeds on the phone. We have got to understand that.
“If you said to me: ‘Have you had a good season?’ I would think ‘it is not been a bad season, but it has not been a great season.’
“We are not like QPR when we ran away with it (Championship title in 2010-11), but we are coming up on the rails now. There has about 10 furlongs to go and we are sitting handily, but we need one or two things to happen in the market.”
Getting the existing players onto the training ground, never mind recruiting new ones, is currently occupying the attentions of Jones and United, who quarantined their training ground ahead of the weekend cup clash with Blues with many squad members struggling with a virus.
Jamaican international midfielder Rodolph Austin was sent home from Elland Road before the game, with El-Hadji Diouf and Sam Byram forced to start the game on the bench, with both feeling unwell.
United are thankful for small mercies in that they have been afforded a welcome break in their fixture schedule this week and have a full week to prepare for Saturday’s Yorkshire derby at rock-bottom Barnsley.
The time will enable players – and boss Warnock – to get back to peak health, with the full extent of the problems revealed by Jones following Saturday’s cup tie.
Jones said: “Sam and Diouf suffered in the week, while Austin came in but we had to send him home.
“I said to him beforehand ‘from one to 100, how are you feeling?’ He said ‘70 per cent, but I want to play.’ I just said ‘You are not playing, you’re going home. I want you out of the building.’
“I couldn’t have him in the dressing room because this thing that’s going around, it’s obviously infectious.”
After Saturday’s cup business, attention again switches to the resumption of the league campaign at Oakwell in four days’ time and while Warnock and his management team will be grateful for the extra preparation time after an arduous run of six games in two-and-a-half weeks, so are the players. United may not have won many points for artistic merit in recent weeks, but a return of six wins from nine Championship matches is not to be sniffed at.
Yet breaking down United’s home and away form merits attention.
On the positive side, Warnock’s troops have won five successive league matches at Elland Road, recovering admirably from a desperate 6-1 home reverse to Watford on November 10.
What has not been so edifying are Leeds’ vital statistics recently on the road, where they have tasted successive defeats at the KC Stadium, City Ground and Pride Park and been decidedly second-best in each.
Since their 3-2 victory at Ashton Gate – a lucky ground for United in recent seasons – just one three-point haul has been pocketed in eight away league outings, that coming in a memorable 4-2 derby verdict at Huddersfield Town on December 1.
The home and away form of late smacks of one word, inconsistency with travel-weary United seeking to redress the balance this weekend at Barnsley, whose problem has been one of homesickness – you have to go back to September 1 for their last Championship victory at Oakwell.
The form played a major part in Keith Hill losing his job on December 29, with defender Jason Pearce challenging United to add to their home malaise.
He said: “They may have a new manager in by then which could have a good effect on them, but we just have to go there and apply ourselves properly. The mindset of the lads have got to be right.
“We have a full week to prepare for Barnsley away. I don’t think we have had a full week’s training for a while. It will be good to get that full week of training because the gaffer will get a few ideas across of what he wants to do as it will be a tough game.
“We’re in a good position in the league to mount a charge on the play-offs.
“The league is so open and as a squad we need to get that consistency. We need to keep winning our home games and pick up points away.”
Straight after Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Birmingham City, Mick Jones stated that he had ‘never heard his phone ring so much’ throughout the afternoon with the persistent caller being Neil Warnock.
The Leeds United boss, who missed the game due to a virus and was forced to follow the action via radio at home, was on the blower at regular intervals to speak to his assistant – with his mobile also doing overtime in the days before the tie.
As it is now with Warnock doing plenty of groundwork speaking to a raft of agents and clubs to try and facilitate some business in this month’s transfer window, which has around three-and-a-half weeks to run.
Warnock has previously spoken about the need for patience on the recruitment front, but that should not be mistaken for a lack of action. And don’t for one minute think that his recent ailments have stopped him from regularly contacting representatives of players with calls in a bid to broker some business.
While Warnock is keen on doing business on the incoming front, there is also the key issue of quality control, according to Jones, who says the last thing the club will fall into the trap of is bringing in players purely for the sake of it.
Faces change at many clubs, but the quality stays the same and that is something Jones and Warnock, long in the tooth in the management game, are extremely wary of.
But therein the problem can lie. In simple terms, quality costs and that is the conundrum facing United in their quest to become Championship contenders instead of wannabees in the business end of the campaign.
Assistant-boss Jones said: “I think we need to add in three or four positions to make us better. We need a stronger squad and a better squad.
“We need players to come in who are as good if not better than those who are coming out. The one thing about the manager is that he will not sign anyone for the sake of it.
“As far as I know, the owners are thinking the same as Neil. We want good players at the club to supplement what we have got and then make a charge.
“There are a lot of enquiries and phone calls going on. The only problem is that when Leeds United come on the phone, finances double or treble in some cases. In one case in particular, we were talking £1.5million more than the real valuation. But it is Leeds on the phone. We have got to understand that.
“If you said to me: ‘Have you had a good season?’ I would think ‘it is not been a bad season, but it has not been a great season.’
“We are not like QPR when we ran away with it (Championship title in 2010-11), but we are coming up on the rails now. There has about 10 furlongs to go and we are sitting handily, but we need one or two things to happen in the market.”
Getting the existing players onto the training ground, never mind recruiting new ones, is currently occupying the attentions of Jones and United, who quarantined their training ground ahead of the weekend cup clash with Blues with many squad members struggling with a virus.
Jamaican international midfielder Rodolph Austin was sent home from Elland Road before the game, with El-Hadji Diouf and Sam Byram forced to start the game on the bench, with both feeling unwell.
United are thankful for small mercies in that they have been afforded a welcome break in their fixture schedule this week and have a full week to prepare for Saturday’s Yorkshire derby at rock-bottom Barnsley.
The time will enable players – and boss Warnock – to get back to peak health, with the full extent of the problems revealed by Jones following Saturday’s cup tie.
Jones said: “Sam and Diouf suffered in the week, while Austin came in but we had to send him home.
“I said to him beforehand ‘from one to 100, how are you feeling?’ He said ‘70 per cent, but I want to play.’ I just said ‘You are not playing, you’re going home. I want you out of the building.’
“I couldn’t have him in the dressing room because this thing that’s going around, it’s obviously infectious.”
After Saturday’s cup business, attention again switches to the resumption of the league campaign at Oakwell in four days’ time and while Warnock and his management team will be grateful for the extra preparation time after an arduous run of six games in two-and-a-half weeks, so are the players. United may not have won many points for artistic merit in recent weeks, but a return of six wins from nine Championship matches is not to be sniffed at.
Yet breaking down United’s home and away form merits attention.
On the positive side, Warnock’s troops have won five successive league matches at Elland Road, recovering admirably from a desperate 6-1 home reverse to Watford on November 10.
What has not been so edifying are Leeds’ vital statistics recently on the road, where they have tasted successive defeats at the KC Stadium, City Ground and Pride Park and been decidedly second-best in each.
Since their 3-2 victory at Ashton Gate – a lucky ground for United in recent seasons – just one three-point haul has been pocketed in eight away league outings, that coming in a memorable 4-2 derby verdict at Huddersfield Town on December 1.
The home and away form of late smacks of one word, inconsistency with travel-weary United seeking to redress the balance this weekend at Barnsley, whose problem has been one of homesickness – you have to go back to September 1 for their last Championship victory at Oakwell.
The form played a major part in Keith Hill losing his job on December 29, with defender Jason Pearce challenging United to add to their home malaise.
He said: “They may have a new manager in by then which could have a good effect on them, but we just have to go there and apply ourselves properly. The mindset of the lads have got to be right.
“We have a full week to prepare for Barnsley away. I don’t think we have had a full week’s training for a while. It will be good to get that full week of training because the gaffer will get a few ideas across of what he wants to do as it will be a tough game.
“We’re in a good position in the league to mount a charge on the play-offs.
“The league is so open and as a squad we need to get that consistency. We need to keep winning our home games and pick up points away.”