Onwards and upwards to the promised land

By Mike Courtney

What a difference a "Takeover" makes. No win in seven before the deal was announced and then three wins on the bounce. David Haigh must be tempted to sell up now and leave with a 100% record for GFH intact (Please don't Mr Haigh).

I don't know if it was the two new signings or just the weight being lifted off the shoulders of the players and staff knowing that the deal had gone through. Who
cares really 'cos the last couple of weeeks has seen the smiles, the confidence and the swagger put back on everyone associated with the club. Its a nice feeling bumping into Leeds fans on the street and seeing renewed hope that this could yet end up being our year.

But before we get too carried away in the euphoria of the last three victories, lets look ahead to a vital month ahead on the pitch and an even more important the month to follow on the transfer front once
the window opens in January.

The hunt for four in a row begins at Pride Park at lunchtime on Saturday and similar enough to the record we had at our friends up the road at Huddersfield, our record their in the recent past is not the
greatest. But as the lads proved last weekend, bad records are there to be broken and if we can continue to play the way we have been doing then Clough's boys should hold no fears for us. They are after all below us in the league and with Luciano on fire up front, I think we can head into this one with confidence, continue this great run and edge that bit closer to the playoff spots.

After that we have a week off before the visit of a somewhat resurgent Ipswich, who have had a couple of good wins under their new manager Mick McCarthy, but have had a few heavy defeats as well in particular a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Leicester. With home advantage we should claim the three points and maybe improve our goal difference at the same time.

We then have the distraction of the League Cup Quarter Final against a little known club called Chelsea before we head into the busy Christmas programme, hopefully we can get a result in that one but I think I would sacrifice it for three more points at  home to high flying Middlesboro the following Saturday. I think this could be one of our most difficult fixtures over the holidays and would nearly settle for a point, but would hope home advantage and a big crowd might help us to snatch a victory by the odd goal to keep the run going.

We then head into two tricky trips to Forest and Hull and this could be where the winning run comes to an abrupt end. Forest are just above us at the moment and I do feel we could get a result their, especially if we are on a winning run and confidence is high. Hull on the other hand will be a different prospect and I would take a point here, but fear that this game might be one too many and Steve Bruce's boys, who are going very well at the moment, might have too much for us. I hope I'm wrong.

The festive programme ends with the visit of Bolton on New Years Day and having nearly beaten them up at their place in October, I think we can start 2013 with a victory. We will then hopefully get up and running in the transfer market and get those one or two new signings, along with extending the contracts of the current  loanees, and really push on for that top six spot and, dare we dream, automatic promotion to the top flight.

Predictions:
Derby 1 Leeds 2
Leeds 4 Ipswich 1
Leeds 2 Middlesborough 1
Forest 1 Leeds 3
Hull 2 Leeds 0
Leeds 3 Bolton 1

So 15 points out of a possible 18, maybe I'm being overly optimistic but following three wins on the trot, why not. Oh and I nearly forgot LEEDS 2 chelsea 1 and the sack for Rafa.
 
All together now "When I
was Just a Little Boy............
MOT Leeds Leeds Leeds 

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