Time to impress

To is the day of reckoning for the 3 players on trial with Leeds united Paul Telfer, Marcus Haber and Luciano Becchio are all on trial and today will more than likely be the day the Leeds boss makes his mind up on the players.

I think the decision as already been made on Telfer and I fully expect him to be confirmed as a Leeds player in the next couple of days but the situation up front is a different story.

Leeds have let Leon Constantine, Tomi Ameobi and Antony Elding all leave the club but have all ready brought in Enoch Showunmi and Robert Snodgrass.

It’s my opinion that Snodgrass will play as a left sided attacking player so I don’t really think we should class the player as one of our strikers although he will be able to fill in if and when needed.

Tres Kandol and Jermaine Beckford are the main 2 strikers who were already at the club and now Enoch as joined so that’s three so could both Haber and Becchio receive contracts from Leeds I don’t know but I think it’s a possibility.

Leeds play Barnet later today and both strikers will play a part and I’m sure we will know by the end of day one thing that is for sure is both men will be looking to get on the score sheet today.

Robert Snodgrass signs and Anthony Elding leaves

Under 21 Scotland international striker Robert Snodgrass has joined Leeds United from Livingstone. A compensation package for the young striker has been agreed and he has signed a three-year contract with Leeds united.

The striker said this was a dream move for him:

“This move is a dream come true,” said Robert.

“There were a few other clubs from the south that were interested, but this is a club of big stature.”

“Over the years a lot of Scots have done well here, and I want to try and get to the next level now.”

“There’s a couple of weeks before the season starts,” he added.

“I’m looking forward to getting started and getting sharp.”

And the same day Striker Anthony Elding has joined Crewe Alexandra for an undisclosed fee.

Gary McAllister had told the striker opportunities would be limited this season, And Elding decided it was time to leave Leeds united.

With the striker situation becoming a bit clearer now there looks to be one more place up front available and I would think it would go to one of the trial players.

So both strikers will have a lot to prove on Saturday against Barnet.

Robert Snodgrass to Leeds?

Reports in Scotland claim that under 21 Scotland international Robert Snodgrass is in talks with Leeds united.

Snodgrass plays for Livingston at the minute but has turned down a new contract and has said he wants a new challenge south of the boarder.

Snodgrass has scored 7 goals in 49 games for Livingston after he made his debut 2005.

He played in the under 19 European championships with Scotland and in 2006 Snodgrass had a 5 day trial with Badalona but did not secure a contract.

Snodgrass can also play has a wide attacking player, a position Leeds need to strengthen in so this is one rumour worth keeping a eye on.

SHELBOURNE 1 , LEEDS UNITED 1

Leeds United took on Shelbourne in their 3^rd pre season game in Ireland. With trial striker Becchio in the squad it was a good chance for Leeds fans to take a look at him.

Leeds United: Martin, Richardson, Sheehan, Douglas (Bayly 62), Marques (Michalik 46), Huntington (Telfer 62), Prutton (Gardner 62), Howson (Sweeney 62), Becchio (Haber 73), Showunmi, Johnson (Parker 49). Subs: Ankergren, Lucas.

Becchio was named in the starting line up with fellow trial players Haber and Telfer named on the bench. I was surprised not to see Telfer in the starting line up but maybe the manager had already seen what he wanted to see we will have to wait and see the outcome on his future.

Huntington started the game as the captain; McAllister has chosen a different captain in every game so far with Rui Marques and Frazer Richardson having the arm band in the previous games even though Douglas is the official team captain.

Becchio looked confident straight away just shooting wide after a good brake from Johnson. The striker looked lively in the opening minutes and seemed to be looking for a contract.

It was quite a slow game so far with not many chances for either team Johnson had a free kick blocked and that was about it.

In the 18^th minute Becchio had a clear run at goal but a last-ditch clearance denied his chance it was clearly on his wrong foot but the striker was still getting in good positions.

The 23rd minute saw a good chance for Howson, Prutton delivered a good cross, and Howson’s first time volley hit the upright.

Alan Martin made a big mistake in the 24^th minute miss kicking a clearance and Anthony Flood scored an easy goal for Shelbourne.

The game was starting to get a bit heated with a few rash tackles from both teams and Shelbourne’s leading goal scorer had to be taken off in 35^th minute due to an injury. And with 5 minute left of the first half Leeds had picked up 3 yellow cards.

On the stroke of half time Showunmi had a shot knocked just wide but the corner resulted in Leeds utds first goal. A good cross from Johnson and Huntington was there to head in and make it 1-1.

The first half was hard thought with Becchio doing well. Leeds never really seemed to get in to their stride but still a good work out for the lads so far.

Lubo Michalik came on in the second half for Marques and was the only change for Leeds. Leeds nearly scored in the 58th minute, Douglas shot from inside the area after Showunmi held the ball up well.

Becchio had another chance when substitute Sweeney whipped in a free-kick from the left but Becchio hit the ball straight at the keeper. The game was still been played in an aggressive style with Alan Sheehan becoming the 4^th Leeds player booked in the 66^th minute.

On the 70^th minute Becchio came off for Haber. Becchio had done well considering Leeds had created that many chances.

Haber had a good chance on 79 minutes when he ran on to a long ball forward, but his shot was wide of the mark. He also headed a Sweeney free-kick wide of the mark.

As the game started to come to an end Sweeney hit the post with a curling shot and that was an end to the action.

The second half was pretty poor with no real stand out performance from any one. Leeds had some good chances but a draw was probably a fair a result.

Leeds united will need to prepare for Barnet now which will prove to be tougher opposition. I would expect to see McAllister start to pick the team and tactics he expects to start the season with apart from I fully expect to see Becchio start up front.

Booked: Rui Marques, Bradley Johnson, Jonathan Douglas, Alan Sheehan

Att 3,127

Luciano Becchio on trial

24 year old Argentinean striker Luciano Becchio has joined Leeds united on trial and the player will feature in Wednesdays night’s game against Shelbourne.

Becchio played in the third tier of Spanish football at Merida UD scoring 28 goals in 50 appearances and the striker also had spells with Barcelona and Mallorca.

With Leeds currently looking for 2 more strikers it will be interesting to see how Becchio does with a good performance he could well become one of the new strikers at the club.

Haber did get on the score sheet the other day but as been less than impressive over all while been on trial at Leeds and McAllister may well decide to go for Becchio instead.

I’m quite excited by Becchio maybe it’s because he is Argentinean but at some point Barcelona thought he was worth a look and at 24 the striker still as time on his side.

Leeds United Legends: Billy Bremner

Billy Bremner is one of the first players that is thought of when people talk about Leeds United legends and a statue of the player can be seen by all outside of Elland road.

Bremner was first spotted playing schoolboy football in Scotland and signed for Leeds United in 1959 just after the player turned 17.

Don Revie first picked Bremner for Leeds in 1960 and he became a un droppable player for the next 15 years becoming the heart of the Leeds United midfield. Bremner was a skilful player but was most known for been a tough player who would do whatever it took to win the game. Bremner also scored a few goals scoring 90 goals in 587 games for Leeds.

Bremner’s first title came in 1964 when Leeds won the second division, the following year he almost won the double but lost the division 1 title to arch rivals Man utd on goal difference and to Liverpool 2-1 in the cup at Wembley a game Bremner scored in.

In 1966 Bremner became the captain of Leeds for the first time after Bobby Collins got injured; Bremner became the captain for the game and remained captain for the rest of his time at Leeds.

Bremner was a key player in some of Leeds United most famous games including the 1970 Fa cup final against Chelsea and the European cup winner’s cup final in 1973 against Ac Milan.

During his time at Leeds both the player and the club where just as famous for losing titles as they were for winning titles, just losing out as many time as they won.

Bremner left Leeds in 1976 to join Hull after Don Revie left Leeds to become the England manger.

Bremner returned to Leeds united as manger in 1982 where he almost got promotion just losing out to Charlton in the play off final. He was sacked and replaced by Howard Wilkinson in 1988.

Billy Bremner sadly passed away at the beginning of December 1997 just 2 days before his 55^th birthday.

Bremner was voted Leeds united’s greatest player of all time and included in both the English and Scottish football hall of fame.

He even got his own verse in the song glory glory Leeds utd

Little Billy Bremner is the captain of the crew
For the sake of Leeds United he would break himself in two
His hair is red and fuzzy and his body’s black and blue
But Leeds go marching on.

Billy Bremner truly is a Leeds united legend

BRAY WANDERERS 2 LEEDS UNITED 3

Today saw Leeds utd play in their new striped  kit for the first time. McAllister decided to start with a totally different team today giving trial player Marcus Haber his first start for the club. With Haber doing very little in his first game this could have been his last chance to impress.

Leeds United team: Lucas, Gardner, Marques (Bayly 64), Michalik, Parker, Prutton, Douglas, Johnson, Sweeney, Haber (Showunmi 70), Robinson (Howson 75). Subs: Ankergren, Richardson, Sheehan, Huntington, Telfer.

Leeds started the game well creating plenty of chances but it was Bray who took the lead with a 30 yard 9^th minute strike which Lucas had no chance with.

Leeds quickly got back in to their stride with Peter Sweeney creating a good couple of chances and hitting the post.

Leeds started to take control of the game and looked to be comfortably dominating but Bray once again scored in the 32rd minute, Ger Rowe slotted the ball away after a pass from former Leeds trainee Alan Cawley.

At half time Leeds where playing well, but Bray where able to keep catching the team sleeping and able to take advantage on both occasions. There had been some good play from Leeds utd but overall a disappointing first half for Leeds utd.

The best point for Leeds in the first half was Peter Sweeney; the player did not feature much under McAllister after been signed in January. But the player had a solid first half creating a couple of chances and been involved in most of Leeds utds good play and attacks.

Haber on the other hand created very little and did very little to impress in the first half but started the second half much better creating space and a good chance for Sweeney who shot just over the goal.

Leeds got their goal in the 55th minute from a corner, Robinson took the corner and Marques arrived at the far post to power home a header and he nearly did it again straight away only to be denied by the Bray keeper.

Haber got his first goal for Leeds utd in the 68 minute getting Leeds back on level terms; the striker was able to tap the ball in from close range after Prutton delivered the pass.

Haber continued to play better in the second half getting in to good positions and was unlucky not to connect with a cross from Robinson just before the midfielder was replaced by Howson and Haber was replaced with Showunmi.

Howson looked lively when he came on and put Leeds in front in 83^rd minute scoring an easy chance after some good work from Enoch Showunmi.

The game finished 3-2 to Leeds utd; Leeds played well in the game but did not always keep up their level concentration over all it was a good game with Sweeney and Robinson playing well.

Haber played well in parts but was poor in others so I’m still not sure about him and don’t know if he will become a Leeds utd player.

Ken Bates: Cause or solution of our problems

In all my time as a football fan and a Leeds fan I have never seen peoples opinion so split on one person has it is on Ken Bates I myself don’t even know what I truly feel about him.

A lot has happened to our team since Bates has been the owner but how much of it was his fault and how much of it did he make worse.

When Bates first took over we where days away from folding if reports are to be believed, And he was the only person willing to take the gamble and put the cash up to keep us going so for that we have to be grateful to him.

With the level of debut the club had it was inevitable we would go into administration at some point so can we really blame that on Bates. A lot of people complain about the way he did it but surely he was just doing what was best for the club so can we really blame him for the administration?

Then comes the big one the -15 points, was this bates fault or would it have happened no matter who was in charge? The -15 points was because the Inland Revenue would not agree to the Iva was this bates fault and could it have been avoided.

Only time will tell on this one if all teams that go into administration get -15 points then it was not bates fault and again he will have done nothing wrong.

So that brings to where we are now League 1 but we now have a stable squad and are debt free yes it sucks in this league but I feel the club is more together than it has been in years.

Elland road is full of pure Leeds fans again not the ones who just turned up for the Champions league. The -15 points brought the fans together and gave the team passion so was it really that bad to get them.

This season is do or die for what I feel about Bates, if we get out of this league this season and if he can deliver our Stadium back then I think we have to accept that bates has done a good job.

Who is the new player?

It was announced a few days ago that Leeds had agreed a fee for a unnamed player and that a deal was close. The general feeling is that it will be Jay Bothroyd and if it does turn out to be him it will have been the worst kept secret ever.

Bothroyd has found himself on the transfer list at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leeds have shown interest in the striker before so it would make sense for him to be the mystery player.

Bothroyd scored 12 goals in 55 games for Wolverhampton.

There have also been rumors this morning that Billy Sharp could also be in the frame. The striker scored 53 times in 82 games for Scunthorpe United and would be a fantastic buy for Leeds but i can’t see this been anything else but a rumor.

So to sum it up i expect to see Jay Bothroyd as a Leeds utd player in the next few days unless McAllister has managed to keep Every one in the dark.

Paul Telfer

I have to say i didn’t expect much from Telfer and thought he would be another player who come on trial then we never see him again.

But he looked good yesterday and fitted in to the team straight away and for a 37 year old looked fit. He was solid all game and im starting to think he will become one of our signings.

United boss Gary McAllister has all ready spoken about how they are friends

“Paul Telfer is an old team-mate of mine. He’s got over his toe problem and he’s right at the front in terms of training.”

“He’s a good age, but he’s one of the fittest I’ve ever played with, he’s got plenty of experience, and we’ll be looking to get him some games.”

And with another good performance i think McAllister may make Telfer a Leeds utd a player and imo he would become a good 3rd or 4th choice center back.