Well, another week nearly over, and another 2 wins for Leeds. 1st we beat Watford in the 2nd round of the Carling Cup, and then today we beat Colchester United 2-1 at the Weston Holmes Community Stadium. But what happened before about 3 hours before the match had the Leeds fans getting very excited indeed, and that is in fact the Carling Cup 3rd round draw. I was delighted with it, as is every Leeds fan I know. When Phil Thompson pulled Liverpool out he looked a bit worried. He even said that he could see a cup upset coming. You never know, and personally, I think that if Leeds play at the top of their game, they can really take Liverpool to the cleaners. Anyway, the games will be played the week commencing 21st September and the rest of the draw is as follows:

Arsenal v West Brom
Chelsea v QPR
Bolton v West Ham
Barnsley v Burnley
Hull v Everton
Leeds v Liverpool
Manchester United v Wolves
Manchester City v Fulham
Sunderland v Birmingham
Peterborough v Newcastle
Carlisle v Portsmouth
Nottingham Forest v Blackburn
Stoke v Blackpool
Scunthorpe v Port Vale
Preston v Tottenham
Aston Villa v Cardiff

So, Leeds started this week off with a win against Championship team Watford, who are managed by one of their former defenders Malkay Mackay. Watford have had an average start to the season, but it was always going to be a test, we were the favourites going into the match, even though some Watford fans thought otherwise. Well, all i’ll say is, we gave them the game they wanted, and we dominated throughout, and Malkay Mackay said on the Watford website that we played well and deserved the win. I agree with that, but we should have won the match within 90 minutes, not within 120 minutes! Again, Leeds played well as I said, and Robert Snodgrass got the goals he was due. Both of them were well finished and as I said he really deserved them. But the highlight of the night was Lucas The Kop Cat pushing Watford’s goalkeeper to the edge, here is a video of it.

Well, today Leeds United travelled to the Weston Holmes Community Stadium to play Colchester United, and guess what, we won, 7 won in a row now in all competitions, and Simon Grayson has broke a new record, how many more will he break? Anyway, back to the matter in hand, todays game had something in common with the Walsall game earlier in the season, the same person gave away the penalty (Manuel Rui Marques), and the same people scored (Bradley John and Jermaine Beckford). Also the score was the same, so in fact, it had a lot in common with the Walsall game! Anyway, it sounded like another solid performance, but it was another game without Richard Naylor and Ben Parker, who are 2 key players to the squad, Naylor because he is captain ad he is a hard man and Ben Parker because he is a skillful player and is a lot better than Andrew Hughes, who is currently playing at left-back in the absense of Ben Parker. But all I care about is the result, the fact that we’re still joint top, and the fact that Jermaine Beckford is the top scorer in League One.

So, thats all from me really this week, but i’ll be writing again after the Stockport match, and hopefully our 100% record will still be in tact at 5pm on Saturday!

The Carling Cup 3rd round draw has been made, and Leeds United have drawn Liverpool at home. This game will be on the week commencing 21st September. This Is what it said on the official Leeds United site:

Leeds United have paired been with Premier Leauge Liverpool in the third round of the Carling Cup.

Ticket details for the Liverpool tie will be available on leedsunited.com in due course.

We have booked the Whitby Whites Rugby Club for this years Leeds On The Road for Friday 16th October. This has been agreed with Lorna Tinker at Leeds United. We don’t have a match on that weekend as we play Norwich City at home on the Monday night (this is also in front of the Sky cameras) so we should hopefully get a couple of first teamers. Details of ticket prices and start time will be on the website sometime this week.

Rugby Club Website Link
e-mail-whitbywhites@yahoo.co.uk or graemesmith1919@yahoo.co.uk

So, i’m writing again, after a fifth win in a row for Leeds, and a trip to Elland Road and Thorp Arch. What a nailbiting finish on Tuesday night, 11 minutes to go and our old friend Sam Parkin scores a penalty against us (again), no-one predicted that we were going to win after that, but thanks to Bradley Johnson and Jermaine Beckford bothe scoring, we made it 4 wins out of 4, and yesterday, we played Tranmere and absolutely battered them. From start to finish we hammered their goal with shots, and the 3-0 score line really flattered Tranmere, infact, after the match, they announced that the Woowork was actully their man of the match, to be honest i’m not suprised!

Well, another win under our belt, but it wasn’t half nail-biting, for 78 minutes neither team sounded as though they were score, then Rui Marques stupidly gave away a penalty, and a man who likes scoring against us, Sam Parkin, put the ball away, it looked as though we were going to get our 1st defeat of the season, but thanks to Bradley Johnson banging in a header and Jermaine Beckford slotting the ball home from 20 yards, we pulled off yet another victory. Again though, we seemed to struggle in front of goal. We really need off kill games off earlier rather than later, ask any Leeds fan and they’ll agree with that.

So, on Wednesday, I went to Elland Road and Thorp Arch with the Whitby Whites. It was a good day as per usual. Norman and his ‘trainee’ were out cutting the grass and marking it out. You would think that nowadays Norman would use some of machine to mark it out, well he does, but he still marks it out with a piece of string. Can you believe it, in fact, he still does the penalty spot with a pot of paint and a brush!

We were at Elland Road for about an hour and a half and we went to a few places. We went up to the executive seats, Batesy thinks this area has the best view in Elland Road, but I think not, there is a better view, and that is up on the gantry. This is where the radio and TV crews go on a matchday and do their reporting. Stix told us that it is one of the biggest in the country, and it seems like it, it runs most of the length of the west stand, and it is that long due to Euro ’96. UEFA told Leeds to extend the gantry so it can hold the world press, when yu look up onto it you can see where it has been extented.

Again, Stix Lockwood took the tour, like he did last year, and blimey he knows a few stories about Leeds United, but I won’t tell them, because if I do i’ll be typing for a long long time! Anyway, the Thorp Arch part of the tour was also good, with us going to most parts of the Premiership quality facilities, stating at the indoor pitch. We had a kick around in there before we lost the ball, what actually happened is someone kicked the ball and it got stuck on the top of a heater on the ceiling!

After that we looked around various places at the training ground, including the baths, the pool, the gym and the physiotherapy room, and the facilities are fantastic, you can tell that this was built for a Premiership team. One of the many good things that Howard Wilkinson brought to Leeds United Football Club, thank you Sgt. Wilko!

So, on Saturday, we battered Tranmere, and the 3-0 score line flattered Tranmere, after the match, John Barnes said that the score could have been 6 or 7 nil in the end, he must have been watching a different game, because the Leeds game I was watching, we should have won 12 or 13 nil, that’s how well we played, or how poorly Tranmere’s defence played! We absolutely mullered them, they were poor at the back, and they were saved on a lot of occasions by their goalkeeper, Luke Daniels. If we perform like that every match, we’ll walk the league, we might even reach a cup final! I hope you don’t mind winning the Johnstones Paint Trophy everyone!

I would just like to say thank you to Leeds United for putting a piece in the programme about Billy Parkin’s death. He will be sadly missed and we have lost an important member of the Whitby Whites. Rest In Peace Billy.

Finally, we have set a date for the 2009 Leeds on the road. This will be on the 16th October at the Whitby Rugby club, we don’t have a match on this weekend as we playon the Monday night against Norwich City. All the details including start time, ticket prices and guests will be announced in the coming weeks on the website so please look out for that.

So that’s all from me for this blog, and I will be writing again after the Watford gae, when hopefully, I will have sum more news on our upcoming Leeds On The Road.

Well, I am writing again after a 3rd win in a row, this time, it was Wycombe wanderers who bowed down to the awesome might of Leeds United. But from what I heard from the Yorkshire Radio commentary we struggled for parts of the game, but as i’ve said before, who cares if they struggle, it’s the 3 points that matter. So, 3rd in the League now, not bad after 2 league games, please say that we’ll be around that area for the rest of the season!

Well, it sounded as though we were lacking a bit of quality in the first half, in fact we sounded quite poor, but that’s only radio, so theirs only one way of knowing, ask somone who was there. Luckily I know a few people who were there and they said we were poor in the 1st half, but we came out of our shell and played better in the 2nd half. Which is good. It was good to see Luciano Becchio get his 1st goal of the season, and a good one at that. I like Luciano, he’s a worker and that’s what I like to see from Leeds players. He gives 110% every match, he does quite well even though doesn’t speak much English. I met Luciano last season, and he seemed to be picking up the lingo, but slowly, but I think he’ll get used to it soon, and once he get’s going, he won’t be able to stop, he’ll be like a talking clock.

Well, as I said, Becchio is a good player, it looks as though him and Beckford could be deadly this year, in fact, Wycombe manager Peter Taylor said that the Wycombe defence struggled to cope with Becchio and Beckford. Sound’s promising, let’s hope they score even more together this season, the managed 53 together last year, who knows how many they could score this! Last year Beckford bagged 34 and Becchio scored 19. A very good record for a strikeforce, Beckford scored more goals than Boro put together, so he wouldn’t fit in there if he signed. Also, he won Golden boot for England and the Soccer AM Golden Shoe, his initial reaction to the 2nd one was “what the hell am I meant to do with this!”

We have a lot of strikers at Leeds, and it’s going to be hard to choose from them when Becchio or Beckford, or both are injured, I would put Mike Grella in as the first choice, and Enoch Showunmi as my second. Then I would put Kandol and Elliot on the bench. When Kandol is on form he has the potential to come off the bench and be a match winner, he showed that at Gillingham in May 2008. He also showed it against Newcastle United in a friendly match for the reserves, but I still don’t think he should be a first teamer, he still needs to work on his anticipation, that’s what got him banned from driving for 18 months back in 2004! I wonder how many driving tests he failed before and after the ban!

Well, that’s all from me for another blog, I’ll be writing again Wednesday evening after I return from the Elland Road & Thorp Arch tour. I will be writing about that, and I will also be writing about the Walsall game, hopefully we’ll top of the league after that match!

Here, you can watch the whole of Scott Mills The Musical here. I have put this on for a bit of fun, just watch out for the fake chappers, he has a ***chester united shirt on!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Well, I am writing again, and I am glad that we are at home in the Carling Cup 2nd round to Watford, can we hammer them into the ground like we did against Crystal Palace, or will we do what we did at Derby last year. We will only know on the night. All I know is that we will up our game hopefully and grab a good win and progress to the 3rd round. The ties will be played the week commencing 24th August and the draw is as follows:

Blackburn Rovers v Barnsley 
Blackpool v Wigan Athletic
Bristol City v Carlisle United
Cardiff City v Bristol Rovers
Crystal Palace v Manchester City 
Doncaster Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur
Gillingham v Blackburn Rovers
Hartlepool United v Burnley
Hull City v Southend United
Leeds United v Watford
Leyton Orient v Stoke City
Newcastle United v Huddersfield Town
Norwich City v Sunderland
Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough
Peterborough United v Ipswich Town
Portsmouth v Hereford United
Port Vale v Sheffield Wednesday
Preston North End v Leicester City
Queens Park Rangers v Accrington Stanley
Southampton v Birmingham City 
Swansea City v Scunthorpe United
Tranmere Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
West Bromwich Albion v Rotherham United
West Ham United v Millwall
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Swindon Town

So that’s the draw and most teams will be satisfied with it. I certainly am, and I hope the other Leeds fans out there are too.

So, on Monday night, we played Darlington in the Carling Cup, and Big Enoch Showunmi put the ball in the back of the net and showed he was still has an eye for goal after 7 months out, although, he wasn’t always on target when shooting, although he is still a fans favourite after them 7 months and this video is a clip with the Enoch Showunmi chant shows that.

Unfortunately, I can’t find the video that shows Enoch taking a shot in front of the Leeds fans and hitting the ball with the outside of his boot by accident, I was laughing, and i’m sure everyone else was, in fact, it was so bad it was like something that I would do, and trust me, given half a chance I would!

Anyway, that shot got me thinking, which other ex/current Leeds players would do that, and I came up with a list of 5. This list is as follows:

1) Thomas Brolin
2) Michael Ricketts
3) Danny Cadamateri
4) Lamine Sakho
5) Carlton Palmer

I’m sure that you will agree with me on that, but if you have any others email them into me and I will put them into the next podcast which will be in series 2 of the podcast, which will hopefully start this Sunday, so if you do have any for me, email me them at whitbywhites@yahoo.co.uk, and I will put them in the next podcast.

So onto that win against Darlo on Monday, well we were OK, but we struggled at times, especially in the 1st half. But Mr. Grayson dug his teeth into them at half time and they looked a totally different team, and Mikey Grella played very well, he got his reward with a new 3 year contract, thank god for that eh.

Another person that has shone this week is Tresor Kandol, our Congolese striker who hasn’t played a competitive game in a Leeds shirt since May 2008. He hammered home 4 for the reserves against the Geordies in a warm up match.

So, that’s all from me for this blog and i’ll be writing again on Sunday giving my verdict on the Wycombe game, and on any other news for that matter. But for now keep the faith and we’ll be marching on together to Wycombe on Saturday.

As you are aware, the away ticket dispatch policy was reviewed ahead of the 2009/10 season, all away tickets will now be sent to the main contact of the application and not the individual members. This is a change to our existing policy and will be monitored and reviewed regularly throughout the season. This remains subject to change.

Away tickets are not transferable and only valid for the member whose name they are registered to.

When processing away tickets, Ticket Services record the seat details against each individual member and the customer number of each member is on the reverse of the match ticket.

Once tickets are received by the main contact of the away ticket application, we strongly advise the main contact/branch secretary to distribute the away tickets in person rather than sending tickets through the post as we cannot guarantee that tickets will be duplicated by the Away Club if Leeds United have not dispatched the tickets themselves. It is imperative that you ensure that the correct ticket is given to the correct member and the customer number on the reverse of the match ticket corresponds to their membership/season ticket card.

If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me (Lorna Tinker-Lorna@leedsunited.com).

So please be as careful with your tickets as you are with your cards.

If you need to contact Lorna you can email her at Lorna@leedsunited.com

Well, the Football League season is back again, and 97 goals were scored during the 1st matches. Including a 5-0 win for Gillingham against Swindon (it looks as though our old friends David Lucas and Jonathan Douglas did well), Colchester hammered the 2nd favourites for promotion (Norwich) 7-1 and Sven’s men put 5 goals past League 2 promotion favourites Bradford. It was a shame that we couldn’t have that sort of start at Elland Road, but, as a Leeds fan I know a big win only happens once in a blue moon for us. But at the end of the day, a win’s a win, and that’s all that matters.

We started off brightly yesterday, with quite a few shots in the 1st 10 minutes. Thankfully we made an early breakthrough with Jermaine Beckford finishing a fantastic run from Ben Parker with a goal. After that we were still going strong, but when Ben Parker was taken off it seemed to go downhill! especially when Andrew Hughes came on at left back, we looked weak at left back, and we struggled a lot more than we should have done. Also, when they had a man sent off, people were amazed at how we struggled even more, it was after they had their player sent off that they scored a fantastic free-kick which left Shane Higgs powerless. Why we struggle against teams with 10 men I don’t know, it really baffles me, it happened on occasions last season aswell. Anyway, back to the matter in hand, when they scored their goal, it felt as though we were losing, we just didn’t look as though we were going to pull off a win, but in the dying minutes, who should pop up but the one and only Jermaine Beckford, who was the key man for us last season. So with 2 minutes to go, we had taken a 2-1 lead, although it was against the run of play, but who cares, all I care about is us getting 3 points, i dont care how easily or how hard we do, as long as we get the win, that’s all that matters. Beckford was easily man of the match to me, although Micky Doyle was far behind, he had a good debut, but I wasn’t impressed by Barry Corr punching him in the back just to get past him, how dirty can you  get! I’m glad the ref saw it and sent him off!

Well, we got 3 points, and as I said earlier, i don’t care how much of a fight Exeter put up, it’s the win that counts, although, a good performance would make it an even better win. Even if we do the same for the next 45 games and win i’ll be happy, but if that does happen, we would need to up our game in the Championship, because if we play like that every week, we would find it very hard. But then again, we will up our game and get a respectable mid table finish, or maybe even a play-off place if were lucky. So, that’s all from me this week, i’ll be writing again next Sunday giving my verdict on the Darlington & Wycombe games and whatever else happens during the week!

Every season more and more home grown players burst on to the scene with well over 8,500 young players between the ages of 8 and 18 registered with League clubs.

Following the introduction of the new ‘Home Grown’ players rule and use of seven substitutes we could see even more youngsters making their name this season.

Here we have a look at who could be stealing the headlines this season in Coca-Cola League 1

Aidan White (Leeds United)

Aidan White made his first team breakthrough in August 2008, as an 18-year-old. He started the Carling Cup match against Crystal Palace, which Leeds went on to win 4-1.

Just a week later and the defender was picking up a Man of the Match award for his performance in the 2-1 win over Bradford City in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

He went on to make nine appearances last season but will be looking to push on this campaign.

He made his international debut back in march, coming on as a substitute for England U17′s in a friendly against the Czech Republic but more recently he was named the England U19 squad.

Jonjo Shelvey (Charlton Athletic)

The midfielder became Charlton’s youngest ever player, when he made his first team debut in April 2008, at just 16 years and 59 days.

The 17-year-old came through the ranks at The Valley representing the club at U16, U18 and reserve team level, as well as captaining the England U6′s to Victory Shield success.

Shelvey was being watched by a host of Premier League scouts but spurned their advances by signing his first professional in February, shortly after his 17th birthday.

He finished last season with 20 appearances and four goals to his name and has continued to be the subject of speculation with Chelsea rumoured to be the latest club showing an interest.

Alex Smithies (Huddersfield Town)

Local born goalkeeper Alex Smithies burst on to the scene last scene after patiently providing backup to Matt Glennon.

His debut came back in December 2007 following the sending off of Glennon, he made one further appearance that season.

His first appearance last season came in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy as the Terriers were knocked out 1-0 at Darlington. A two month wait for his next appearance followed but the 19-year-old certainly took his chance when it came.

He was selected ahead of Glennon for the visit of Walsall in December 2008, when a last gasp goal from Michael Collins secured a 2-1 win. He went on to become the first choice at The Galpharm, making 28 appearances.

He has also represented England at U16, U17, U18 and U19 level.