5 – Radostin Kishishev

Joining during one of the worst periods of the club’s history, Kishishev joined on loan from Charlton after falling out of favour since the departure of Alan Curbishley. Wise swooped to bring the Bulgarian to Leeds after injury ruled Shaun Derry out for the remainder of the season. Kishishev showed himself to be a bright spark during a dark time as he provided some back-bone to a side that sorely needed it. Kishishev only featured 10 times but made enough of an impact that when he returned the next season it was a celebrated signing.

4 – Michael Gray

Exactly the sort of player Leeds fans could get behind, Michael Gray came in during our first season in the Championship after relegation from the Premier League. Taking over from Stephen Crainey, who Leeds fans had not really taken to since his arrival, Gray was a hard working full back who loved a tackle. He also wasn’t afraid to get forward and support the attack and it was hoped that he would join on a permanent basis at the end of the season. Instead, Leeds opted to sign Dan Harding. That may not have been a great move.

3 – Liam Miller

Initially joining the club on a three month loan during the 05/06 season, Miller’s loan was extended for the remainder of the season after establishing himself in the middle of midfield. Miller’s finest moment came in the 4-3 win against Southampton. Having been trailing 3-0 at half  time, Leeds sprang to life with 20 minutes left. Paul Butler, Robbie Blake and David Healy all scored to put Leeds level and with four minutes to go, Liam Miller stepped up to score the winner and send the travelling Leeds fans wild. His time at Leeds would end with the Play-Off Final defeat at the Millennium Stadium against Watford.

2 – Dougie Freedman

Joining on loan in March, Freedman would provide additional fire power after forwards such as Elding and Constantine failed to deliver. He would soon take Kandol’s place as Jermaine Beckford’s strike partner and he would score six goals in 14 appearances. He would score a number of important goals, including a goal against Carlisle in the first leg of the Play-Off semi-final that kept Leeds in the game. One concern for Leeds fans though was the lack of goals from Beckford after his arrival. Freedman featured in the Play-Off Final defeat against Doncaster but would return to Crystal Palace afterwards.

1 – Kyle Bartley

After years of lurching from leaky defence to leaky defence, Kyle Bartley arrived in the summer of 2016. Spending a number of years out on loan and making sporadic appearances for Arsenal and Swansea, Garry Monk brought Bartley in from his former club to become a first choice central defender with Leeds. He was soon joined by Swedish international Pontus Jannson and the two struck up a formidable partnership. One that Leeds fans were able to depend on. Another player Leeds were hoping on retaining, it was soon made clear that he would be in Swansea’s plans following their escape from relegation.

The post Top 5 Non-Permanent Loan Signings appeared first on Mighty Whites Podcast.

Player sales, lack of signings, a mad Italian man doing his best to upset absolutely everyone are just a few of the things that have prematurely ruined the summer for us. This year, however, there has been an increase in positivity from both the fans and the club itself. This got me thinking about previous years, about the ins and outs, managerial changes, ownership structures, everything.

With Leeds back in the Championship after a three year stay in League One, confidence was high and fans were excited for what lay ahead. After a dramatic win on the final day of the season to secure promotion, the club had bid farewell to top goalscorer and all-around hero Jermaine Beckford who made the move to Everton with everyone’s best wishes. Simon Grayson’s task was to bolster his squad to prepare to stay in the Championship.

It was to be a busy transfer window for the club, seeing a number of arrivals as well as some departures, keeping fans guessing about what was to come. Rui Marques, Casper Ankergren and Paul Dickov departed after their contracts expired. Alan Sheehan and Tresor Kandol had their contracts mutually terminated, ending their long stints away from the first team.

Sanchez Watt returned to the club on loan from Arsenal after being part of the promotion-winning side the year before. Neill Collins made his loan from the previous season permanent, joining from Preston.

Ross McCormack would join from Cardiff City for an undisclosed fee (reportedly around £400,000) having fallen out of favour following an injury lay-off. This was considered a good signing by most people, especially as Cardiff had turned down a £4m bid for the striker just one year earlier.

Arriving with a strong goals to games ratio, McCormack joined Luciano Becchio, Davide Somma and Mike Grella as well as another new recruit, Billy Paynter, who had joined from Swindon after his contract had expired. Paynter had scored four goals in two games against The Whites the previous season and a total of 26 goals in the league, and in the match at Elland Road he and Charlie Austin had looked a cut above anyone else on the pitch.

To add to United’s defence, in came Alex Bruce from Ipswich, as well as full backs Paul Connolly and Federico Bessone. With Ben Parker spending much of the previous season injured, Bessone came in looking like he would make the position his own. He had a very good season for Swansea the previous year with some statistics websites having him down as the best left-back in the league. Paul Connolly came in as replacement for Jason Crowe and Andy Hughes, both seen as not being of the quality needed for Championship football.

Arguably, Leeds’ first piece of business was also their biggest. Kasper Schmeichel agreed a deal after spending the season at Notts County, coming in as their record signing while Munto Finance were incharge (when they also installed Sven-Goran Eriksson as Director Of Football and signed Sol Campbell on a 5-year deal less than a month before his 35^th birthday). Schmeichel was highly rated at both Notts County and previous club Manchester City, aged just 23. He was given the number one shirt ahead of the incredibly handsome Shane Higgs and, except for a short period of injury, was the first choice goalkeeper all season.

Other incomings were; Lloyd Sam, a right winger coming in to provide cover for Robert Snodgrass and Max Gradel. He signed from Charlton having had a good season in League One, they couldn’t afford his wages so his contract was allowed to run out.

Honduran Internation Ramon Nunez, of whom little was known except that he had won MVP during the 2011 Copa Centroamericana, and that he had turned down clubs in the Mexican Premier League to try his luck in Europe.

Finally there was Adam Clayton, a youngster from Manchester City whose debut was memorable or him committing two fouls in his first minute on the pitch.

Of the new recruits, only Schmiechel and Connolly would be considered first team regulars. Neill Collins was sold to rivals Sheffield United in January, while Paynter, McCormack and Sam were regularly on the bench. Nunez and Clayton were sent out on loan and Alex Bruce had spells in the starting line-up before losing his place. Bessone was very quickly dropped from the left back spot, with Simon Grayson deeming him not mentally strong enough after a particularly poor performance against Barnsley.

After a mixed bag of results during the first quarter of the season, Leeds would lift themselves up to second place in December after a memorable victory over QPR. Unfortunately, Leeds would find consistency difficult and finished the season in seventh place, just three points outside the play-offs. Had Leeds not been in second place in December then it may have felt like a more successful season. Instead it had the feel of Leeds running out of steam and lacking quality depth to maintain the challenge (sound familiar?). Fans would look ahead to what seemed like the perfect opportunity to add to the side and push for promotion the following season.

The post Summer Dreams – 2010 appeared first on Mighty Whites Podcast.

Player sales, lack of signings, a mad Italian man doing his best to upset absolutely everyone are just a few of the things that have prematurely ruined the summer for us. This year, however, there has been an increase in positivity from both the fans and the club itself. This got me thinking about previous years, about the ins and outs, managerial changes, ownership structures, everything.

It was a summer of change at Elland Road in 2002. David O’Leary had been sacked after failing to take the club back in to the Champions League and Terry Venables had been brought in. Leeds’ financial situation was still to be fully revealed to the public so it came as a shock when the club sold record signing Rio Ferdinand to that lot from Salford. Still, Venables inherited a strong squad and it was believed by many that Champions League qualification would be attainable.

It was a relatively quiet summer for Leeds with only two players coming in. Nick Barmby arrived from Liverpool for a modest £2.75m, he had worked with Venables previously with Tottenham and England. After an injury-plagued tenure with Liverpool, Barmby was deemed surplus to requirements so was brought in to bolster Leeds’ depth on the wing.

Paul Okon was another who had spent part of his career playing under Venables, this time with Middlesbrough and Australia. It was first thought that Okon would serve as a back-up, adding some experience to what O’Leary had often referred to as a young team. Little did Leeds fans know what was going on behind the scenes.

Leeds brought in defender Teddy Lucic on loan from AIK Solna on August 31st, but that news was to quickly be pushed to the side as Robbie Keane was sold to Tottenham for £7m. Having first arrived at Leeds on loan from Inter Milan, Keane’s move was made permanent the previous summer. The real concern of this was that Keane had been in and around the first team and his transfer came at a loss of £5m.

It became clear shortly after this the true extent of the club’s financial position. Club Chairman Peter Ridsdale had been quoted as saying there was no need to sell players but Leeds had lost two international players and replaced them with cheap alternatives. Ferdinand was seen as one of the best defenders in the world, and whilst £30m was a world record fee for a defender, it still worried fans that a player of such quality was not only being sold, but being sold to the enemy.

Barmby’s Leeds career got off to a promising start with a debut goal in a win against Manchester City. Interestingly in this game Robbie Keane would also score his final goal for the club before his move South. The new recruits made very little impact however with Barmby scoring just three more times that campaign. Okon, preferred to fan-favourite Olivier Dacourt, was often berated and was clearly not good enough for a mid-table Premier League side, let alone a side seeking Champions League qualification and a possible title push. In fact, Paul Okon should be grateful for Matt Grimes as he has pushed him a further spot away from the title of worst Leeds midfielder.

Things went from bad to worse as the season progressed with Venables falling out with a number of players. Lee Bowyer, who just two years before had been problematic for defenders in the Champions League and was arguably the best English midfielder for a time, had now become a problem for Leeds themselves and was sold for a paltry £300,000 in January.

Around this time, Ridsdale had said that the Crown Jewels were not for sale. Leeds fans saw those jewels to be the likes of Smith, Woodgate, Robinson, the clubs homegrown talent. This statement became farcical when Woodgate had been sold to Newcastle for £9m at the end of January. Venables had been taking Leeds further from Champions League qualification that’s for sure, but the decisions being made around him certainly didn’t help.

In the end, Venables was sacked in March 2003 with the club being drawn ever closer to the relegation zone. Peter Reid was brought in and able to guide the club to safety after a 3-2 win over Arsenal, their final defeat before going a season unbeaten.

After finishing fourth the previous season, fans had hoped for a push to regain their Champions League status so that we could once again live the dream. In reality, this was the beginning of the nightmare.

The post Summer Dreams – 2002 appeared first on Mighty Whites Podcast.

Thinking back through the years there are many games that fit this description (sadly not due to getting laid, though sex doesn’t compare to Bowyer’s winner v AC Milan), so I thought I would write about a few of them and see if anyone cares.

The 1^st game that came into my head was the JPT Area Final 2^nd leg, at Brunton Park against Carlisle. The JPT was a trophy that I couldn’t care any less about at the start of that season, but by the time you’ve made the area final and are one game from a trip to Wembley I would challenge anyone to not start giving at least half a fuck.

At the time I was a student, living in the wasteland that is Sunderland. Fellow podcaster KC had bought the tickets for the game as I was a stereotypical broke student at the time (not for noble reasons, spent too much money getting drunk and having fun). He was in Preston so we arranged to meet in Carlisle train station and go to the game. At first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get back because the last train back was very early, but the kick-off was thoughtfully brought forward to 7pm and there was no extra time in the JPT.

After taking the Metro to (A much nicer city) Newcastle, I took a bockety Northern Rail 1960s train across to Carlisle, fortunately Leeds fans are everywhere so there was four of us to pass the 90 minute journey with discussions over the merits of players from the highs of Max Gradel to the lows of Gary McSheffrey. How would we cope without Jermaine Beckford? The one thing everyone completely agreed on was that Shane Lowry was fucking useless.

Once we got to Carlisle I met up with KC and we walked to the ground, this was when I realised that Carlisle fans saw this as a massive game, not massive like 1^st v 2^nd in the league with a big repercussions, massive like a game against your biggest rivals in an FA Cup Semi Final. In the ground the atmosphere was weird, the Leeds fans were laughing and joking, not taking it too seriously, but the more the Carlisle fans gave us shit the more this changed.

Carlisle came into the game with a 2-1 lead from the 1^st leg. The permanently old looking Graham Kavanagh (a guy I always hated because he always seemed to do well against us) and Joe Anyinsah scoring either side of a rare Jason Crowe strike.

Leeds didn’t start well, struggling to get hold of the ball and for this reason Carlisle had most of the chances in the 1^st half. Casper Ankergren made some good saves including one to deal with a free kick from Kavanagh, something which I only remember because I found it odd that he would take set pieces when Carlisle had Ian Harte at centre-back. To be honest, the 1^st half was poor and dulled the atmosphere considerably.

The atmosphere picked back up when Carlisle extended their lead. Adam Clayton (whom we all know, and at Leeds would become my favourite player. Fuck You Neil Warnock) beat Ankergren with a good finish and based on the performance a tone of resignation came over the Leeds end, although that wouldn’t last long.

At half time, there was a lot of “it’s only the JPT, who cares really?” in the Leeds end. KC, in his customary fashion immediately ran into a couple of guys he knows, which happens whenever he goes anywhere and once we had all decided we didn’t care anyway we all felt better.

Not caring lasted about 40 seconds of the 2nd half as Rob Snodgrass capitalised on some poor defending to put us level on the night. It really is amazing what a goal can do to a football fan. In the space of 10 seconds we went from calm and relaxed to baying for blood. It’s how I imagine Stan Collymore was with Ulrika Jonsson (or a more up to date reference).

Suddenly the atmosphere was great, both sets of fans fully invested. Leeds fans pulling out the songs you only hear at away games, Leeds United Calypso etc. More importantly, the players responded. Even the useless McSheffrey picked up his game having a blatant (in my memory) penalty shout turned down.

We thought we had levelled the tie when Jason Crowe scored a back post header but it was disallowed for offside (rightly if I remember correctly but we were furious at the time). I remember saying to KC: “It was too much to ask for Jason Crowe to score in both legs really”.

However, Leeds were still on top and much the better side and looked certain to get at least one goal and force the tie to penalties (no extra time). Then out of nowhere, noted gangly useless fuck Lubomir Michalik missed the ball completely on a simple clearance and we were 2 goals down. A game that most fans didn’t care much about now had the Leeds fan behind me so mad that he stamped on the back of my seat repeatedly until it was no longer attached to the stand (Away game so we were stood anyway).

Immediately after the goal, Benjamin Button, sorry Graham Kavanagh was replaced by Tom Taiwo (remember him), leading to the inevitable discussion in the crowd about him and Michael Woods and it’s fair to say £5m looks good for the pair of them with hindsight.

A couple of minutes later Simon Grayson the used his last throw of the dice, he had one sub left to use and took off Richard Naylor for Mike Grella. I always liked Mike Grella and he usually made me look foolish for doing so, but not on this day as I said to KC: “Bet you he scores the winner” (if I am being honest with myself, I am sure it was said with a note of levity, I was definitely pissed off so I wanted to lighten the mood). KC said there was “no chance” of that happening.

Leeds threw everything forward and then one of previous statements was made to look very foolish as Jason Crowe made it a goal in each leg as he lashed the ball home to bring us back into the game. The tension was palpable in the stadium now, the Carlisle fans were really on edge and seemed to think they were going to blow it. Leeds were really attacking with essentially a front 5 of Snodgrass, Gradel, McSheffrey, Becchio, and Grella.

Then with four minutes left, McSheffrey swung in a great cross and Mike Grella scored a fantastic header. The away end (which was side on) went fucking mental. You would have thought we were at the Bristol Rovers game later that year, one of those celebrations where the next morning you notice your legs are bruised to hell from bashing into the seats in front of you. It felt so good I even forgot that I had called it a few minutes earlier.

There were five minutes added on for stoppages and although it wasn’t one way traffic Leeds had more chances and could have won it. However, we couldn’t get another goal and at 4-4 on aggregate we went to penalties.

We had all the momentum, we had all the confidence, we were sure we would win the Shootout.

Ian Harte scored Carlisle’s first penalty, not shocking as he ended up scoring 18 goals from centre-back and left-back that season after we apparently said we didn’t want him back on a free transfer.

We still felt good, Then Bradley Johnson had his penalty saved. We felt less good. The next 4 penalties were all scored (Snodgrass and McSheffery for us).

Richard Keogh then stepped up. Richard Keogh isn’t just a random footballer to me and KC, he is a guy who KC has a long and storied history of signing for various teams on Football Manager, and due to this he has a soft spot for him. So, I was probably the happiest Leeds fan in the ground when he smashed the ball a mile over the bar.

We were back level, we again had hope, but as I always say about supporting Leeds: “It’s the hope that kills you.”

At this point, before every Leeds penalty, we were vociferously singing the name of the player about to step up and take it. Before every Carlisle penalty, we were chanting for Casper Ankergren.

We Score (Grella). They score. We score (Gradel). They Score. We Score (Kilkenny). They Score.

Then, Shane Lowry began his slow walk to penalty spot. Two things were different about this penalty: First, he walked up looking sheepish, scared even. Second, our fans knew he was shit, didn’t have a song for him, and weren’t making one up now.

Adam Collin saved his poor penalty. The Carlisle fans went mental. I went mental in a different way. I am fairly sure the quote was: “Fucking Shane Lowry, useless fucking c**t.”

The Carlisle fans invaded the pitch (for the JPT, bit tinpot). Attacked our players (which is disgraceful), one of them punched Shane Lowry (which I will let slide). Despite this, all the stewards and extra police with dogs (who had been parked in front of the Leeds fans for most of the second half) did absolutely nothing and more importantly wouldn’t allow us to leave.

As mentioned earlier, the last train back was very early. So when we came out of the ground I was in a real rush, but couldn’t do anything about it until the police allowed us to move of our own devices.

Just outside the ground was a Carlisle fan grabbing what I assume was his Mrs in the street and threatening her, before striking her. The police ignored this to keep an eye on the Leeds fans despite many many Leeds fans shouting at them to turn around and arrest him. I actually got bollocked by a cop for (admittedly with a raised voice) saying to a police officer: “For fuck sake turn around and do your job.” Eventually, they did grab him.

I have always said the one good thing about losing that penalty shootout is that I can’t imagine what that guy might have done if we had won.

Once away from the ground I was really pushed for time, so me and KC ran to train station, which is about a mile. Fortunately, I was less out of shape in those days but as I got to the platform my train started pulling away, it was the last one. KC’s train was about 5 minutes later so he headed back to Preston.

I originally thought I would just rough it out until the first train at 6.30am, but it was February and it was really fucking cold and all the bars were closing at about 22.30. I found a hotel with availability, paid £50 for a room that I would use for about 6 ½ hours, had a couple of beers in the hotel bar. Went to my room, text KC to complain that after all this the porn wasn’t even fucking free, and after paying £50 for a room, free was the most I could’ve paid. Got no sleep, got the first train home went straight to Uni for a 9am lecture.

I don’t think I learned much in that lecture, but what I did learn was that Carlisle is not a place to get stuck overnight and that I really fucking hate Shane Lowry.

The post It Sticks With You – Carlisle v Leeds – 09/02/2010. appeared first on Mighty Whites Podcast.

Player sales, a lack of signings, a mad Italian man doing his best to upset absolutely everyone, and Dave Hockaday are just a few of the things that have prematurely ruined the summer for us. This year however, there has been an increase in positivity from both the fans and the club itself. This got me thinking about previous years, about the ins and outs, the managerial changes, the ownership structures, everything.

In the summer of 2008, Leeds were still recovering from the play-off final defeat to Doncaster Rovers. The previous season we had put together a squad heavy on free agents, anyone we could get our hands on, and battled back from minus fifteen points to make it to the play-offs. It was believed that only a few more additions were needed to take the club out of the mire that was League One.

Gary McAllister had inherited a squad from Dennis Wise, who had departed for Newcastle in January of 2008, that had built up a strong “us against them” mentality at the start of the season. However, frailties began to show after the departure of Gus Poyet as his number two. McAllister instilled a swagger in the team, encouraging shorter passing as he looked to really dominate opponents. After the season ended, he looked to put his own stamp on the squad, and move away from some of the workhorse players that Wise and Co. had brought in.

The first arrival was Andy Robinson, a man who looked like he ate only steak and ale pies, but he possessed good technique and knew how to whip in a cross. He was considered quite a get having won the division with Swansea and signed just days before Leeds’ ill-fated trip to Wembley. With David Prutton spending most of the campaign on the right wing, a season in which he won the YEP Player of the Year, it was clear that we needed some out-and-out wingers and Robinson was the first of those.

The second winger to arrive would prove to be one of the best pieces of business Leeds conducted in years. Arriving for just £35,000 from Livingston, Robert Snodgrass arrived as a young, relatively unknown player (to those that didn’t scout for Scottish bargains on Football Manager 2007). Much like Robinson he lacked pace but still seemed to get past full-backs, twisting and turning to float in crosses for the final piece of the puzzle to head home.

With Snodgrass and Robinson there was at least some knowledge of who they actually were. When he arrived on trial, no one had a clue who Luciano Becchio was or how this long haired Argentinian had even found his way to Yorkshire. After a season of mostly Tresor Kandol as Beckford’s strike partner it became apparent that we need more from a secondary striker. Kandol’s record the year before hadn’t been all that bad, with him striking 11 times in 43 league appearances. He was very limited though and the signings of Leon Constantine and Anthony Elding had done nothing to improve the situation.

Leeds had already signed the mountainous Enoch Showunmi from Bristol City and it looked like he would be Beckford’s new partner. Instead, Becchio made the himself the obvious choice. Though not the most technically gifted, he won plenty of headers, knew how to hold the ball up and he was a very hard worker. This made him the perfect foil for the pace and finishing of Jermaine Beckford. Becchio would quickly become a fan favourite and he notched up 16 league goals in his first season.

Paul Telfer and Alan Sheehan also arrived that summer but both were confined to smaller rolls. Of the three signings above, Snodgrass was the first to truly shine, scoring nine goals from the wing, cutting inside to great effect as well as laying on a number of goals for others that year.

McAllister would be sacked in December after a 5 game losing streak that included defeat to non-league Histon. Simon Grayson, a former Leeds player would be recruited from Blackpool after taking them to promotion. With Leeds dropping out of the play-off positions, Grayson was able to turn things around and put together a strong end to the season which saw them finish 4th with a 3-0 home victory over Northampton on the final day of the season. Despite the impressive end to the season, Leeds would lose the first leg of the play-off semifinal to Millwall before a 1-1 draw at Elland Road sealed another season of League One football for the Whites.

The post Summer Dreams – 2008 appeared first on Mighty Whites Podcast.