Diary of a Leeds Fan (26/03/05/04/18)

Monday 26/3

Bailey Peacock-Farrell makes his debut for Northern Ireland under 21’s against Iceland under 21’s. Pretty impressive debut too as he kept a ‘clean sheet’ in the draw.

Liam Cooper and Stuart Dallas work the telephone’s at the club as the deadline for reapplying for season ticket approaches.

Tuesday 27/3

Pontus Jansson captain’s Sweden against Romania, unfortunately for Pontus the Romanians won the friendly international 1-0.

Pierre-Michel Lasogga repeats his earlier article that he’d like to be a Premiership footballer, I’d like to be a millionaire but I work at JS! Can’t see the German striker being at Leeds after his loan period expires at the end of this season.

Liam Kitching is shown a straight red for a two-footed challenge on Robert Ramshaw and the referee gives him his marching orders. The youngster follows Alex Mowatt, (who was sent off at the weekend) in getting an early bath. Kitching is on loan at Harrogate Town.

Lewis Cook makes his debut at senior international level for England in the friendly with Italy as a second half substitute for Lingard.

His Grandfather can now go to the bookies to collect his 17k winnings, also a very proud moment for Lucy Ward and Neil Redfearn who were instrumental in Cook’s development at Leeds. England draw 1-1 with the Azzuri, Vardy with the England goal. Italy equalise thanks to a late penalty decision by the VAR system.

Lewis Cook of England.


Wednesday 28/3

Lewis Cook on his England debut “Delighted and honoured to make my @England debut last night at Wembley. Thankyou for all your support.. dream come true 🦁🦁🦁”

Angus Kinnear said that all money that comes in from Season Tickets will “100% will be used to reinvest in transfer fees and wages” and an “exciting summer” is forecast.

He added “Our objective of building a team that competes in the play-offs has not changed. We always knew that it would take time to return Leeds United to where they should be and that the journey would start by building strong foundations.

“Lessons have been learned and we are excited to see the benefits of a carefully planned transfer window and pre-season.”

Another strange one is this, as owner Andrea Radrizzani said previously that the wage bill will be cut from the 7 million pounds the club has spent this season. Someone clearly isn’t telling the truth!

Paul Heckingbottom on the Bolton Wanderers game: “We have to be mindful of who we're playing, every game we're going to be facing someone who is fighting for points for one reason or another. There's a desperation in those games and it can become like a Cup final. They're a team scrapping and fighting for points, they’ll come determined to make it difficult for us and they'll look forward to playing at Elland Road.

"We have to try and impose ourselves on them. They're a good side and they're showing that."

Off the injury list are Samuel Siaz, Stuart Dallas, Andy Lonergan and Liam Cooper who have all trained this this week and may be fit for Bolton. Kemar Roofe is a week away from training but Laurens De Bock could be out for a while. Pontus Jansson was rested today after his long journey from Romania, but he should be fit for Friday.


Thursday 29/3

Statement from ITFC: “Ipswich Town Football Club can today confirm that manager Mick McCarthy and his assistant Terry Connor will leave the Club at the end of this season.”

On leaving Ipswich Town Mick McCarthy said; “I won't be leaving with any regrets. I have given everything for Ipswich Town and I will see out my contract in the same way."

I’m probably not the only Leeds fan that would love to see ‘Mad Mick’ prowling the technical area at Elland Road alongside ex Leeds striker Terry Connor. In my opinion McCarthy is one of the best man motivators in the game and he’s a Leeds fan so he ‘gets’ what the fans expect of their team.

We’ve met before
Leeds 2 Bolton 1 Champ March 16
Leeds 1 Bolton 0 Champ August 14
Leeds 1 Bolton 5 Champ March 14
Leeds 1 Bolton 0 Champ January 13
Leeds 0 Bolton 2 Premier L Nov 2003

Preview
Good Friday brings Bolton Wanderers to Elland Road, a match up that brings a team finding some form(only 1 defeat in 6) and Leeds! With most fans resigned to another season of failure it’s all about restoring some pride back into the white shirt.

There will be close to thirty four thousand fans for the game, incredible for a team that has only won two games since Boxing Day. The ‘bring a friend’ scheme will obviously have raised the attendance but it still shows the loyalty of Leeds United fans.

Wanderers sit too close for comfort to the relegation zone but have seen an upsurge in their form, they have only lost once in the last six games, a 3-1 defeat to local rivals and playoff hopefuls Preston. Before the international break they beat Aston Villa 1-0 at the Macron Stadium and by all accounts have been performing well for manager Phil Parkinson.

Leeds on the other hand have only one win in eight games under the new Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom, admittedly his first six were difficult games against teams in or around the top six, but only one point against Reading and Sheffield Wednesday have already made a few fans doubt the appointment of the new HC already.

I just hopeful my Granddaughter(it's her third game at ER) see’s a rare Leeds home win. Leeds 2-1.

Will Buckley on his time at Leeds: “My time at Leeds didn’t go well," he told the Bolton News. I was only there for a short time but I didn’t play and it would be nice for me to go back there and get a win, maybe a goal. They(Leeds) are a big club and they started really well when they beat us on the opening day of the season. I thought they looked a really good team, we have picked up a lot since then so I think it will be a lot closer game.”


Friday 30/3

Leeds v Bolton Wanderers

Team News: Two changes for Leeds. Forshaw out injured, Pearce drops out too. Samuel Saiz on the bench. Pierre-Michel Lasogga to partner Caleb Ekuban with two upfront. Ronaldo Vieira in for Forshaw in centre midfield.

Team: Peacock-Farrell, Berardi(c), Jansson, Pennington, Dallas, O’Kane, Vieira, Hernandez, Alioski, Lasogga, Ekuban.

Me and my ‘Bring a Friend’ my Granddaughter Abi with Billy.

The Game
Ryan Ingham’s review

http://www.weallloveleeds.co.uk/latest/match-report-leeds-vs-bolton-wanderers

Pablo Hernandez scores then celebrates the second goal. Opening goalscorer Caleb Ekuban joins in the celebrations.

Post Match

Paul Heckingbottom: “The best bit about this job is the games and the best thing about those is winning, It was deserved. We spoke about Bolton and how a big part of their resurgence is in how difficult they are to play against. Playing top of the league or bottom of the league, home or away, they’re a competitive side and they’re organised so we wanted to be on the front foot, aggressive and set the tempo. It’s something we’ve been stressing all week.

“It was us who made the game difficult for ourselves by not capitalising when we were on top and conceding when we were at a comfortable stage of the game. The chances we missed, there were a lot that we should have put away but we’ve won. I’ve been critical of the team when we’ve conceded late goals or sloppy goals so I’ve got to be complementary in how we defended.”

Adam Forshaw’s absence was to an injury he had when he arrived from Middlesborough but has worsened over the last few weeks; "We found he's got a tear in his thigh, whether it's related or not we'll never know, him pushing himself to get back in contention. "He's devastated about it and we're not having any luck in that respect but we can't moan about it.”

Liam Cooper’s absence was also explained, Leeds’ captain aggravated the injury that kept him out before in training and could be out for a while.

Phil Parkinson: “We started slowly,"

Parkinson told his post-match press conference. "We always knew coming here today - in front of a big crowd against a team that could've potentially been nervous - we needed to start well. At 2-0 down we could've let our heads drop but we didn't, we got the goal back and we had a couple of good chances to get the equaliser.”

"We've got to give our lads credit that they kept going but equally we need to analyse the start of the game and what we need to do better.”


Saturday 31/3

Andrew Butterwick reviews the much needed win over Bolton Wanderers.

http://leedsfan.blogspot.com/2018/03/leeds-utd-v-bolton-wanderers-good.html

Thank you Andrew, enjoy your break.

It is amazing that with little to play for that over thirty five thousand fans came to see a game between 14th and 19th in the Championship.
As they say “We’re not famous anymore” but we can still pack ER!

The reaction of fans was one of relief for only the second win of the year and the plaudits went to Pablo Hernandez, Ezgjan Alioski and Caleb Ekuban for the shifts put in yesterday. Myself, although I can’t disagree with the players mentioned but I thought Eunan O’Kane had one of his better games recently for Leeds, ‘dug in’ when Bolton threatened after their goal.


Sunday 1/4

Heidi Haigh on the LFU meeting with Angus Kinnear, welcoming fans from South Africa, Coventry, Carlton and New Zealand and her blog with pictures from the 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers.

http://www.followmeandleedsunited.co.uk/leeds-united-v-bolton-wanderers-30th-march-2018-ikat-elland-road

Thank you Heidi.

Superb picture I just found of you from a few years back on Twitter.

Premiership.
Chelsea 1 Spurs 3. The last time they won at the Bridge was 28 years ago and...
Margaret Thatcher was still Prime Minister
Nelson Mandela had just been released from prison.

First-ever McDonald's opened in Russia
Sinead O'Connor was No.1 in UK charts
Leeds United were promoted to Division One at the end of the same season.

Take a look at who’s in Division One that season!

Monday 2/4

Caleb Ekuban on his first goal in eight months(his first Leeds goal was against Port Vale in the EFL Cup): “I was so happy. I really enjoyed the moment, I could have had three of those moments but I’m really pleased with my first (league) goal of the season. I saw the ball coming towards me and I tried to strike it behind the goalkeeper, fortunately it went in. It was a great goal, a fantastic goal, call it every kind of goal you want but, for me, it was an amazing goal.”

On this day in 1970: Celtic left Elland Road with a valuable advantage in the first leg of their European Cup semi-final. The Scottish Champions taking a 2-0 lead into the second leg.

West Bromwich Albion and Alan Pardew have agreed to mutually part company following discussions between both parties. The Midlands club look certain to be playing Championship football next season.

Ex Leeds striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbiank was sacked as Northampton Town manager. Chairman Kelvin Thomas said "We are sorry to see Jimmy depart as he has worked very hard for us but felt a change at this point was in the best interests of the club. We thank Jimmy for his work as manager of Northampton Town and we wish him the very best for the future."

We’ve met before
Fulham 1 Leeds 1 Champ March 2017
Fulham 1 Leeds 1 Champ October 15
Fulham 0 Leeds 3 Champ March 15
Fulham 2 Leeds 0 Premier L Mar 04
Fulham 1 Leeds 0 Premier L Dec 02

Preview
Tuesday night’s are not usually Leeds’ fans favourite day of the week for a game of football, so a trip on this day to an inform Fulham is probably one of the least places they’ed like to be visiting after a diet of too much chocolate and a few pints over the Bank Holiday.

That saying, five thousand plus Leeds fans will be journeying from all over England to West London in the hope that their favourites can stop Fulham’s 17 game unbeaten run. It won’t be easy as yet again the host’s have stormed up the league and into the top six after a indifferent start.

If Cardiff City slip up in the last furlong of the race to automatic promotion, the Londoners will be ready to pounce. They have a strong squad, with a good mix of experienced players and some very exciting youngsters.

Paul Heckingbottom will be without Adam Forshaw and Liam Cooper for the game, both could be out for the foreseeable future. He has to decide if to keep faith with the team that won on Friday or change it to include fit-again Samuel Siaz.

Although there were pleasing aspects of the win over Bolton, trying to get three points against a very well organised and exciting promotion chasing team will be a different matter. Fulham 3-1.


Tuesday 3/4

Fulham vs Leeds United

Team News: One change. Samuel Siaz comes into the starting eleven. Lasogga drops to the bench.

Team: Peacock-Farrell, Dallas(200th League Appearance), Jansson, Pennington, Berardi(c), O’Kane, Vieira, Alioski, Siaz, Hernandez, Ekuban.

The Game

David Watkins reviews the 2-0 defeat at Fulham in his own inimitable way

http://dlw100.wixsite.com/leedsunited/fulham-apr-3-2018

Thank you David.

Post Match:

Paul Heckingbottom: “For me the only difference in the game was the big moments, four or five of them. I felt we were really on top at that moment and if we take that chance, we become favourites. There are lots of things to take from the game - frustration, anger, to be pleased and disappointed, there was everything in it.”

“For me we more than matched them and the big moments cost us. They were clinical, they were good and that’s why they won the game. They’ve got some real top players who Premier League clubs would love to take, who Championship clubs would all have in their team. This might be the year for them.”

Slavisa Jokanovic: On catching Cardiff City "It depends on (Cardiff), we can do it, we can try and repair ourselves and be ready for our next game. It is our ambition to fight for three points every week. But everything depends on Cardiff, they must lose.They have five points and that is a big difference. We will try and do our job, it's a race, we will try and chase.”


Wednesday 4/4

Leeds United’s financial accounts for the 2016/17 make interesting reading. Phil Hay reports on where the money went out and came in.

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/football/leeds-united/player-sales-turn-a-small-profit-at-leeds-united-as-latest-accounts-are-revealed-1-9096635

Thanks to the YEP.

A victory and a defeat, in both games the Leeds strikers continue to pass up the chances their teammates create for them. Maybe it’s time to give Sam Dalby an opportunity to get the goals, he could hardly do any worse!

I must mention the superb support the club continue to get, nearly seven thousand fans travelled from around England and elsewhere to support their team on a wet Tuesday night. You are a credit to the club.

Last note. In April 2000, two Leeds fans travelled to Turkey to watch their team play in a European semi final but never returned to their families. It’s as sad today as it was when I heard it for the first time eighteen years ago.

We will never forget you boys!

At 3pm news broke that Ray Wilkins had passed away. Although Ray represented one of our rivals we wish his family all the support possible. A man in his early 60’s Ray had become a strong voice for football and a good character.

Leeds United send their condolences on Ray’s passing;

MOT

By Keith Ingham