WALMOT

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/norman-hunter-leeds-fans-tributes-18106025 A very sad day to be a Leeds fan as another Legend is taken cruelly from us by this terrible virus

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/norman-hunter-leeds-fans-tributes-18106025 A very sad day to be a Leeds fan as another Legend is taken cruelly from us by this terrible virus

@Kheredine @Kheredine2018 · 34m . @spfl says 'missing' @DundeeFC vote slip (voting 'No') gets to them AFTER Dundee wrote to them saying "any attempted vote from club should NOT be considered as cast". The plot thickens significantly. Vote is 'cast' - vote doesnt arrive - 'dont count our vote' - vote arrives? This tweet from Kheredine doesnt help either.

Former Huddersfield owner Dean Hoyle must be repaid loans of £35m made to the club by 31 August 2022. As chairman and lifelong fan, Hoyle guided the club from League One and into the Premier League in 2017. However, the 52-year-old sold his stake in the club to a fellow local businessman Phil Hodgkinson in May 2019 after recovering from a serious pancreatic condition. Huddersfield have struggled badly since their relegation last season. The Terriers were only three points above the Championship relegation zone when the season was suspended because of coronavirus. Their accounts to 30 June 2019, released on Thursday, confirm the debt that must be repaid to Hoyle - and offer one explanation for why they did not invest as heavily in the transfer market as some fans hoped. Under the agreement, £15m must be paid within five working days of the end of this summer's transfer window, with an additional £10m due on 31 August in both 2021 and 2022. Hoyle is also due an additional £10m, although there is no firm repayment date for this sum. In addition, a further £31m loan was taken out by the club, but that will be covered by Huddersfield's parachute payment for 2020-21. "The financial impact of relegation is cushioned by Premier League parachute payments, expected to total £91m over the next three seasons," said Hodgkinson. "We will use these funds to assist in our squad transition, settle outstanding transfer fees, invest in our infrastructure as well as servicing and repayment of our debt."

Michel Kitabdjian, the official who refereed the infamous 1975 European Cup final, has died aged 89.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/leeds-hero-kalvin-phillips-desperate-21647407?utm_source=sharebar&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sharebar

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/mar/09/marcelo-bielsa-a-method-actor-in-footballs-theatre-of-the-absurd A really good read.

The ref getting pelters from Leeds fans and an ex Ref:- https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/is-having-laugh-ex-referee-17523041

Xhaka should have been off for his first two challenges as both were yellow cards how he got away with another two is beyond me. If this had been a championship game and ref he would have been gone, Taylor bottled it, the three bookings he dished out were pale in comparison.

Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND). He won eight Grand Finals, three World Club Challenges and two Challenge Cups in 17 years with the Super League side. Burrow, 37, who also won 15 caps for England, retired in 2017 and is now the club's reserve team head coach. "I know I have a big challenge in front of me but knowing that I have the love and support of so many people will give me inspiration and strength," he said. "I am very positive about the situation and intend to battle the condition as I still feel fit and well. "I would like to ask for privacy at this time so I can adjust to the battle I have ahead and so that I can spend time with those closest to me ahead of Christmas and New Year." MND is a degenerative condition that affects how nerves in the brain and spinal cord function. There is currently no cure. Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield, who played alongside Burrow for both Leeds and England, said the news was "devastating and heart-breaking". Sinfield Weir was honoured with the Helen Rollason Award, which recognises outstanding achievement in the face of adversity, at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year event on Sunday. Former England captain Sinfield said: "Throughout his career, Rob overcame the odds to become a legend of the game and I know he will tackle this challenge with the exact same positive determination. "As a club, Rob will receive our full support and we will be working with him to chart the way forward." Leeds have announced that the testimonial for Jamie Jones-Buchanan against Bradford Bulls on Sunday, 12 January at Headingley will now be a joint-fundraiser for both players. added that Scotland rugby union great Doddie Weir, who revealed in June 2017 that he had been diagnosed with MND, has met with Burrow.

Marcelo Bielsa has history on mind as he plots to end Leeds’ top-flight exile At the end of a week in which Don Revie’s iconic team received the freedom of the city, Leeds travel to Huddersfield on Saturday with a cautious optimism promotion can be secured Marcelo Bielsa’s side are unbeaten in eight Championship games, having won the past five, and are second in the table. What do Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Don Revie’s famously formidable Leeds United team of the 1960s and 1970s have in common? The answer, potentially a fiendish pub quiz contender, is that all three have been recipients of the freedom of the city, with surviving members of Revie’s squad receiving this rare civic honour as recently as Wednesday. As a suited and booted Norman Hunter, Johnny Giles, Allan Clarke, Peter Lorimer, Eddie Gray et al gathered to mark an arguably overdue occasion, Revie’s latest successor was plotting the conclusion of another achingly long wait. Marcelo Bielsa does not really do social formality – the 64-year-old Argentinian attended the club’s recent black tie, 100-year anniversary celebrations in tracksuit and trainers – but he does have an acute appreciation of Elland Road history and knows it is high time Leeds ended a Premier League exile now in its 16th season. They travel to struggling Huddersfield on Saturday lunchtime unbeaten in eight Championship games and having won the past five yet remain two points behind the leaders, West Brom, and only five ahead of third-placed Fulham. If the scars of last spring’s late promotion stumble remain raw, there is cautious optimism it will be different this time. Even so, tricky challenges loom, most immediately at Huddersfield where Bielsa must replace the suspended Kalvin Phillips. Not only does the team’s all-important quasi-sweeper customarily fill the anchoring role between midfield and defence, but Phillips segues seamlessly into the backline when the full-backs advance as Leeds overload opposition rearguards by switching from 4-1-4-1 to a fluid 3-3-1-3. “It seems like Bielsa’s players are operated by remote control,” says Huddersfield’s manager, Danny Cowley. “You only get to that place with very good coaching.” His brother and assistant, Nicky Cowley, is equally admiring. “Bielsa manages to get his team all playing with one brain,” he enthuses. Ben White almost certainly possesses the necessary intelligence to deputise for Phillips. The 22-year-old Brighton loanee has excelled at centre-half, confounding those who suspected Bielsa had erred in offloading the influential, if sometimes slightly rebellious, Pontus Jansson to Brentford last summer. White’s blend of technical assurance, passing vision – his accuracy ranks in the top 20 of Championship outfield players – and crisply incisive tackling has not only tightened the defence but left him under near-constant surveillance from Liverpool. Jürgen Klopp will doubtless be intrigued to see how White fares in a new position. A somewhat bigger impending hurdle for Bielsa is the strong possibility that Kiko Casilla, the team’s £35,000-a-week former Real Madrid goalkeeper, clean sheet specialist and seemingly near indispensable sweeper-keeper, will be banned for between six and 12 games should he be found guilty of racially abusing the Charlton forward Jonathan Leko. Casilla has denied the Football Association’s charge stemming from an incident in September and his case is due to be heard by an independent FA commission before Christmas. Considering his deputy is Illan Meslier, an untried 19-year-old French keeper on loan from Ligue Two side Lorient, Bielsa may require temporary cover next month. The worry is that identifying on-budget candidates possessing the intricate footwork and high-accuracy short passing synonymous with Casilla – and the side’s build-from-the-back credo – could be easier said than done for the club’s algorithm-juggling director of football, Victor Orta. Angus Kinnear, the Leeds managing director, although fully endorsing the FA’s laudable zero-tolerance racism stance, questions the credibility of the ruling body’s justice system. “We fully support such a serious allegation – which Kiko vehemently denies – being subjected to full investigation and disciplinary process,” he says. “Our only concern is that the burden of proof for an FA hearing is ‘not beyond all reasonable doubt’ – the court standard – but ‘on the balance of probability’. We believe that, in cases of this seriousness, the higher standard of proof is more appropriate; one man’s reputation is at stake.” Back on the training ground, Bielsa’s bar is famously high but there have been times – see Athletic Bilbao and Marseille – when his teams have apparently burnt out. The way in which Leeds pass at breakneck pace while, courtesy of kaleidoscopic positional inter-changing, pressing opponents and space is wonderful but the sheer intensity involved is undeniably draining. “You come off the training pitch properly tired,” says the former Leeds forward Kemar Roofe, now with Anderlecht, as he recalls routinely rehearsing five separate formations and full-blooded 11 v 11 training games. “You’re empty, you can’t do extra finishing practice. But I learned the body can do so much more than you believe.” If the daily regimen is unrelenting – players face daily weigh-ins, skin-fold tests and strict diets – it is undeniably a meritocracy with Bielsa selecting XIs on what his eyes tell him rather than price tag, reputation or favours. This means the Arsenal loanee striker Eddie Nketiah has not been involved as much as his parent club would like and, despite Bielsa wanting to retain him, he may be recalled next month. Newcastle’s Dwight Gayle seems an obvious replacement but would cost £15m, challenging in the era of financial fair play rules. Although Liverpool are considering loaning their promising young forward Rhian Brewster, who is also interesting Borussia Dortmund, they want game-time guarantees that Bielsa declines to grant. Compromise is not a word that features in the Leeds manager’s extensive vocabulary but his preferred sole striker, Patrick Bamford, requires support so some sort of diplomatic new year attacking accommodation may need reaching if promotion is to be secured. Then the campaign for Bielsa to be granted the freedom of the city can properly begin.

https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/eddie-grays-inspirational-speech-full-17365112

Dom Matteo recovering from a brain tumour operation:- https://www.leeds-live.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/leeds-united-dominic-matteo-update-17267747 Wish him a speedy recovery.

Keogh's agent having his say:- Richard Keogh's agent claims the player's seven years of service to Derby was not properly considered when they sacked him for gross misconduct. Keogh, 33, was sacked for his involvement in a crash that left him injured and led to two team-mates pleading guilty to drink-driving. "To be kicked to the kerb is a really difficult pill to swallow," Keogh's agent Cos Toffis said. "He's bled in that shirt, fought in that shirt and cried in that shirt." Keogh, who captained the club until the incident, sustained knee ligament damage and was ruled out for more than a year after a car driven by Tom Lawrence crashed into a lamppost on 24 September. Midfielder Lawrence and Rams forward Mason Bennett were fined six weeks' wages by the club, while Derby magistrates' court ordered the players to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work, gave them a 12-month community order and banned them both from driving for two years. Keogh's role as skipper and the added responsibility that came with the position were factors in his sacking, BBC Radio Derby reported on Thursday. But in an interview with talkSPORT, Toffis said he was "absolutely shocked" when his client was dismissed after seven years with the club. "It was something we were paranoid about, but at no point did we think it was going to happen," he said. "The only thing I pleaded for is that Richard be treated like family - he deserved to be treated like family. "Richard played 356 games for the football club and whenever a player commits and dedicates to a football club the way Richard has, I think you become part of that family. "I don't think I can put into words how much he's hurting and what his family are going through. "Richard is in a really bad way, it's heartbreaking. Richard's world has been absolutely rocked." Asked if Keogh should have known better than to get into the car with his team-mate after a night drinking, Toffis said: "I'm not going to accept that. "I can't really go into the events of the evening, but I do have a side of the events so I can't accept what you just said." Keogh had 14 days to appeal against Derby's decision from the point that it was made last Wednesday. However, Toffis said no conversations had yet taken place with the club regarding a possible reconciliation. "The decision was made by them, they closed that door when they made that decision and since they did my phone hasn't rung," he said. "I'm a football agent, my phone number isn't blocked to anyone. If they ring there'll be a conversation of course." Toffis also said that Keogh, who was originally ruled out for 15 months, is "ahead of schedule" with his rehabilitation and is aiming to return by November 2020. "He is the most determined character I've ever come across in my life," he added. "If there is one thing he will do, it's play again."

Stoke finally sack Nathan Jones.

No surprise really as he was the one who instigated the late night drinks after the other players had all gone More from the BBC website:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50242841

Great read from Jon Howe about saturday's day of celebration for LUFC 100th birthday:- From all directions the Leeds United fans came. Down the never-ending winding decline of Wesley Street. Over the bridge across the M621 at Holbeck. Up Elland Road from the Drysalters, where you duck under the railway bridge and the looming East Stand greets you like a warm embrace. And down the dank, pot-holed and graffiti-strewn ginnel that links Whitehall Road to Gelderd Road like a life-support machine. This was no ordinary game. And even pre-match rituals had to change, even though the nervous tension, the nagging frustration and that desperate search for some defining joy was all there once the referee’s whistle blew. And from all directions the Leeds United legends came. From southern and central Africa. From the Hollywood Hills. From all corners of Leeds and the UK. And from a serene existence of well-earned anonymity and obscurity. This was no other game for them either. They may have returned to Elland Road countless times before, but never in these numbers and never in these circumstances. And for some, never with Leeds United in better health. It certainly helped give the first game after the club’s 100th birthday some energy and belief, rather than a sole reliance on sepia-tinted memories and a wallowing indulgence in wistful regret. There was plenty of that as well, but at least Leeds United are looking up at the stars from a position where things feel attainable again, and a competent and fully merited 1-0 win over Birmingham City was a suitable backdrop to a day that served to remind us what a beautiful beast we are so helplessly hooked up to. So many players, not enough trophies, but a barrow-load of memories, and it was all on display as former heroes were paraded from every era they could be. At the end of a week where the club had been heavily criticised for putting a high price on fans’ dedication, and where personality had overshadowed what should have been uncomplicated and pure, the centenary game versus Birmingham City played out as a wholesome occasion, uncorrupted by marketing and a re-selling of history and handed over to the fans as an opportunity for healthy, honest and ruddy-cheeked affection. There has been much discussion as to what constitutes a ‘legend’, but this was no occasion for raking over who was worthy and who wasn’t. The best thing the club has done is unashamedly recognise every era, good or bad. We can’t change history and neither can those who took part. You wear your scars with pride as well as your ribbons. These players all chipped away at the coalface and hauled Leeds United through to a 100 year celebration. It’s been quite an effort to get here, and for every Revie, Wilkinson and O’Leary era, we needed a Raich Carter, a Jimmy Adamson and a Kevin Blackwell era to get us to where we are. So it was fantastic to see the likes of Roy Wood, Jackie Overfield, Neil Aspin and Peter Haddock walking out to be greeted by the masses. It was great to see them mingling with Lucas Radebe, Tony Yeboah, Nigel Martyn and the gold-plated trophy winners whose names are up in lights. Every football club has its unsung heroes, every football club has its nowhere men; those people who played a part but history barely remembers. They are as much a part of the club’s foundations as anyone else, because without their selfless toil when the chips were down, where would the club be? If you have only ever managed to get to one Leeds United game, you can still call yourself a Leeds United fan, and if you have only played one game for Leeds United you can still call yourself a Leeds United player. By setting foot on that pitch and representing the club, you have influenced its history. Even if you are Izzy Brown. Even in the Midland League when Leeds United had just formed, and even in the Second World War when games weren’t officially recognised, but you represented Leeds United in the only fixtures they were playing and helped drag the club through an uncertain period. Leeds United’s real existence was perilous and strife-torn then, and let’s be honest, the 1980s weren’t much different. So the tag of ‘nowhere men’ may seem disparaging, but it is meant to represent that gulf between being one of the hundreds of bricks that built Leeds United and being one of the lights that shines from the top. You can’t have one without the other. Every individual name on the Leeds United appearances list adds up to make ‘Leeds United’ a big name. And we have players now who, when the club celebrates its 150th birthday in 2069, will be wheeled out for fans to remember via some kind of immersive digital tech experience where they can virtually hug Luke Ayling, Stuart Dallas and Gaetano Berardi. And doubtless future generations will quizzically ask their parents “who the hell are they?” And you can answer that they helped dig out a precious 1-0 win in the centenary game in 2019, and they racked up over 100 first team appearances and provided some vital solidity and continuity, but never quite became the star names. And you can also answer that Kalvin Phillips was once a nowhere man, but he managed to cross the line to become a somewhere man; a player that has achieved star status and will go on to great things, hopefully with Leeds United. A legend in the waiting if you like. Phillips could have found a comfortable domicile along with the legions of also-rans; a player who showed promise, who had all the attributes, but never quite stood out from the crowd. He was that player until he met Marcelo Bielsa; a man who can transform seemingly anybody from a nowhere man into a somewhere man. On Saturday Phillips turned in yet another effortlessly dominant performance and he even won the game; a fitting headline on such an occasion, because the match-winning goal was scored by the player born and brought up within a couple of miles of Elland Road. And because, in reality, there are no nowhere men where Leeds United are concerned and Saturday’s centenary celebrations confirmed that with undiluted love and regard. Every nowhere man belongs somewhere and has become someone. They have played for Leeds United and, along with every fan, are part of the greatest story ever told. And there is no better place on earth to be.

Trevor Cherry and Terry Cooper.

Marcelo Bielsa on Kalvin Phillips: “And now he will stay forever in the history of the club with this goal. A clear act from God.”

Three great Scotsman and two Englishmen make Five Leeds Legends.

Leeds United at 100: Revie team awarded freedom of Leeds To mark the club's 100th birthday, the Leeds United team of 1967-74 has been awarded the freedom of the Under the management of legendary boss Don Revie (pictured), Leeds United won two First Division titles, the FA Cup and the League Cup between 1967 and 1974. It is the most successful period in the club's history The Leeds United team of that era included Eddie Gray, Peter Lorimer and England World Cup winner Jack Charlton. They are first ever group to receive the freedom of Leeds from Leeds City Council.

He is the third manager to depart Reading in just 19 months after Jaap Stam parted company with the club in March 2018 and Paul Clement was sacked midway through last season. Reading are now looking for a ninth manager in 10 years, which just about sums up the shambolic last decade. They over-achived and are paying the price.

Barnsley part with their manager:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49966021

Typical FL botch job.

Derby County captain Richard Keogh could be out for up to 15 months after sustaining knee ligament damage on the night of a crash that led to the arrest of two of his team-mates. Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett were charged with drink-driving following the incident in Derby's Allestree area on Tuesday, 24 September. Derby said that Keogh, 33, had been hurt in an "alcohol-related incident". The defender was initially ruled out for the rest of the season. However, the Republic of Ireland centre-back may now be out until December 2020. The crash followed a team-building dinner, and Derby have said there will be a "rigorous internal investigation".