Mighty Leeds Weblog

Independent 27/1/13 Leeds United 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Ian Herbert By the end, there were plastic bags and crisp bags skittering across the turf of a club which has long since been cast out of the big time and onto the Premier League’s refuse tip. But that was the only rubbish on view. This was a day when Leeds simply didn’t flinch in the face of a fixture with history which, to quote their manager Neil Warnock’s observations beforehand, “runs off the tongue naturally”. For his Tottenham counterpart Andre Villas Boas there was the substantial gamble of starting the game without any recognised striker – a risk which he is willing to take with the remainder of the Premier League campaign, judging by his declaration last night that Tottenham will not be bringing in new players. But the minimal chances his side created made the absence of Jermain Defoe or Emmanuel Adebayor a theoretical concept, even though Defoe might have done better with the chance that the rookie Jonathan Obika...

Mail 27/1/13 By Wayne Gardiner, Press Association Toothless Tottenham bowed out of the FA Cup at the fourth-round stage on Sunday as they were beaten at npower Championship side Leeds. With Jermain Defoe reportedly injured and Emmanuel Adebayor on international duty, manager Andre Villas-Boas went into the Elland Road clash without a recognised striker and it showed as Spurs, Clint Dempsey's consolation strike aside, repeatedly failed in front of goal. Leeds actually had striking problems of their own ahead of the game - leading scorer Luciano Becchio was not involved as a move away from Elland Road looms - but they gave no suggestion of it as Luke Varney and then Ross McCormack found the target to send Spurs packing. McCormack's effort was a stunning 50th-minute strike that gave Neil Warnock's side some breathing space. Varney's 15th-minute opener had earlier set the tone, with Leeds sharper in the final third. With no out-ball up front, Villas-Boas relied heav...

Yorkshire Evening Post 21/1/13 By Phil Hay Elland Road on Saturday had more empty seats than full. This on an afternoon when Leeds United registered a sixth successive league win at home. Not even the introduction of half-season tickets could better the stadium’s average. Those statistics were juxtaposed as the debate raged about how the club and their manager should be judged. It may not matter to him in the slightest but Neil Warnock is patently aware that certain supporters regard Leeds as a team lacking in culture. More of that criticism was heard after their 1-0 victory over Bristol City. “You can’t please everybody,” Warnock said, “even after six straight wins. They’d rather see you play like Real Madrid and lose. But the Championship’s a hard league and I don’t think many teams could get six home wins on the trot.” For him, Saturday’s game was entirely about the result. United’s owner, GFH Capital, has said nothing about the security of Warnock’s position as manager – a col...

Yorkshire Evening Post 21/1/13 By Phil Hay Neil Kilkenny admitted he was surprised by the dwindling crowds at Leeds United after making a return to Elland Road during Bristol City’s 1-0 defeat on Saturday. The Australian international, who spent three-and-a-half years as a Leeds player, was at a loss to understand the low-key atmosphere as Elland Road witnessed its smallest attendance of the season for a league game staged on a Saturday afternoon. A second-half goal from Ross McCormack earned United a precious win – their sixth straight league victory at home – and kept the club on the fringes of the Championship’s play-off positions while worsening Bristol City’s prospects of survival. Kilkenny was part of the Leeds squads who won promotion from League One in 2010 and finished seventh in the Championship the following year but crowds at Elland Road have dipped significantly since he moved on to Ashton Gate in the summer of 2011. “When I was here we used to get 30,000 most weeks ...

Yorkshire Evening Post 19/1/13 ROSS McCormack earned Neil Warnock’s praise for heading Leeds United to a sixth successive home league win as Sean O’Driscoll made a losing start to his reign as Bristol City boss. Warnock admired McCormack’s all-round contribution as the resurgent striker collected his second goal in as many games in the 1-0 win at Elland Road. “I thought if anyone was going to score today it was Ross,” Leeds manager Warnock said. “It was a cracking goal, he deserved it and he covered lots of ground. He was a fraction away from putting one in at the end of the first half and looked very sharp.” Boos rang out from Leeds fans after a dull opening 45 minutes but Warnock said: “We knew it would be hard work because they have a new manager and are fighting for their lives. “We got a grip at half-time and were a lot more positive in the second half. “Tom Lees and Lee Peltier were fabulous at the back for us. Unfortunately, you can’t please everyone, even when you have...

Yorkshire Post 19/1/13 Sean O’Driscoll’s first game in charge of the npower Championship’s bottom club ended in defeat as Ross McCormack’s second-half header helped Leeds to a 1-0 success against Bristol City at Elland Road. O’Driscoll took over at Ashton Gate this week, less than a month after his acrimonious departure from Nottingham Forest, and for 65 minutes watched his new charges hold their own against a Leeds side who were barracked by their own fans for an anaemic performance in front of goal. McCormack’s second strike of the week changed the mood, though, putting Leeds on their way to a sixth successive home league win, a statistic that goes against the sarcastic cheers that have started to accompany every shot they have at goal. They remain in touching distance of the promotion hopefuls, however, and manager Neil Warnock will now look to new owners GFH Capital to provide him with what he needs to try and close the gap. For O’Driscoll, this was his second encounter with...

Yorkshire Evening Post 18/1/13 By Phil Hay Neil Warnock admitted today that managing Leeds United was proving to be one of the most difficult jobs of his career – but claimed he had no regrets about stepping into the post 11 months ago. The 64-year-old reflected on his position at Elland Road after a week in which he faced up to a grim defeat at Barnsley, open criticism of him by United’s supporters and doubts about the future of the club’s leading goalscorer, Luciano Becchio. Warnock took charge of Leeds in February of last year, replacing Simon Grayson and accepting the remit of winning promotion this season, but that target appears remote with United five points adrift of sixth position after 27 matches. His time as manager has coincided with the protracted takeover of Leeds by GFH Capital – a deal which took seven months to complete and left Warnock short of funds in the summer transfer window – and increasing unrest among the club’s fans provoked chants of ‘time to go’ agains...