February 97

28th February

RealAudio match commentary
The official Leeds United site will be conducting a trial of RealAudio commentary on the 8th March, along with the rest of the home games until the end of the season. You can download the RealAudio plug-in from http://www.real.com/
(Thank you Planet)


Today's Daily Mirror

PALMER GOES TO WAR WITH GEORGE

Carlton Palmer has been ordered to train with Leeds' juniors after a furious row with George Graham. The pair's uneasy relationship erupted into open warfare when Graham axed his club skipper for the first time at Sunderland last Saturday. Palmer hit the roof and told strict disciplinarian Graham that he didn't want to play for him again. The Leeds boss saw that as a threat to his authority and immediately ditched Palmer from his first team-plans. Now the former England Midfielder has been frozen out of Graham's day-to-day work-outs and forced to train with the kids and reserves. Graham's no-nonsense style has left him at odds with Palmer almost from the day he took over from the sacked Howard Wilkinson five months ago. Everton and Nottingham Forest are both ready to offer the 31-year-old an escape route but will be kept waiting. Graham is reluctant to let any of his senior players leave until they've past his safety target of 40 points. But it's only a matter of time before the 2.6 million signing from Sheffield Wednesday is on his way after his latest bitter bust-up.

Palmer row

George Graham has denied a rift with Carlton Palmer. Graham said: "These stories are lies. I have not even had a discussion with Carlton. He has not been ordered to play with the juniors and reserves. I picked the team on merit at Sunderland last week and I don't have any problem with that."

27th February

Pompey duo
Terry Fenwick has denied reports that he is to sell Russell Perrett and Mathias Svensson to Leeds for 4m. Leeds boss George Graham was said to have been impressed by their performance in the FA Cup tie at Elland Road. Fenwick said: "We've not heard from Leeds and if we were to, we wouldn't be interested. We're building things up here. We're in the position where we are no longer looking to sell people. When players do leave, it will be our decision that they go"

25th February

Today's Daily Mirror

PALMER'S IN ELL!

Carlton Palmer's 1.5 million move to Everton is back on after a fall out with Leeds boss George Graham. Club skipper Palmer has never hit it off with Graham, and now accepts that his Elland Road days are numbered. Everton boss Joe Royle had a 1.5 million bid for the former England midfielder turned down two months ago. He's about to try again after seeing his midfield resources depleted by an injury to Joe Parkinson and John Ebbrell's imminent departure. And Leeds wont stand in his way this time. Palmer has frequently been at loggerheads with Graham over the way the 52 year old Scot has reshaped Leeds since replacing Howard Wilkinson five months ago. He would have become an Everton player before Christmas but for Leeds' perilous plight near the foot of the Premiership table and a worrying injury list. Graham decided he couldn't leave himself short of cover and rejected Royle's bid. But he's since signed giant defender Robert Molenaar and seen Lee Bowyer regain his form and fitness after a serious eye injury. The Leeds boss is also convinced that teenage prospect Mark Jackson is best equipped for the job of midfield anchor man. Palmer has always considered that to be his most effective role, despite being equally at home in the centre of defence. But he had his worst fears confirmed on Saturday when Graham axed him for the first time and left him on the bench. Now Royle is set to complete a 1.5 million deal after earmarking Palmer for that key position at the heart of Everton's midfield.

24th February

News Of The World
"Leeds are planning a 10M splash for Les Ferdinand and Aston Villa midfielder Sasa Curcic." Curcic is apparently imminent(4M), with Graham hoping to land Ferdinand(6M) in the summer.

23rd February

Leeds live video broadcasts!
Leeds United's plan to launch an Internet broadcasting service next season. The club is planning to launch pay-per-view full-motion video "broadcasts" from its Web site, and has begun local trials in partnership with Planet Online, the Leeds Internet provider. Akers said: "We will endeavour to offer coverage of 19 home fixtures, as well as any Coca-Cola and FA Cup matches. Leeds also hopes to sign agreements with other clubs so that it can offer coverage of away matches." Match prices have yet to be fixed but Akers estimates a fee of about £9.95, with match-day prices rising to about £15.
Quotes
Graham said: "We needed to get back to a good performance and a good result, we got both today. I changed the format to the tried and trusted 4-4-2 even though we only had two days to work on it. It is a credit to my players the way they handled it. Players don't get credit in this country for adapting to different tactics. The only disappointment was the finishing. We could have won by more and Tony Yeboah could have had a hat-trick."

22nd February

Result
Sunderland 0 Leeds 1

20th February

Quotes
Graham said: "We came to Liverpool and hoped to make it difficult but some of the goals were elementary. The second-half was a damage limitation exercise but then we got hit with a sucker punch from a free kick." Graham incurred the wrath of the travelling Leeds fans by bringing on Ian Rush, instead of Tony Yeboah, for the last 17 minutes. Graham was greeted with chants of 'Are you Wilko in disguise?' Graham said: "I am not afraid to make decisions that I feel are right for the club. If you do well, the fans will cheer you, so have got to accept the flak as well. It is part of the job. Rush was returning to his old club and Tony is the kind of player who takes a long time to get fit."

19th February

Result
Liverpool 4 Leeds 0
(What a week...)
Yeboah and Sharpe
Tony Yeboah and Lee Sharpe are in line for a recall to the United team for the Liverpool match at Anfield tonight. Graham said: "I may have a surprise up my sleeve but I'll keep Liverpool guessing until the last minute." He added: "I certainly won't have to motivate the team for a game at Anfield. It is an excellent opportunity for us to get back on the right path after Saturday's FA Cup disappointment."
Kostis
George Graham has made a secret trip to Greece to watch AEK Athens' 2million-rated midfielder Chris Kostis. Graham is scouring Europe for new players and last weekend flew to Athens to see the 24-year-old playmaker in action. Kostis has been watched by a string of Spanish clubs and looked certain to join Seville last summer. But the deal fell through and the player has set his sights on earning another lucrative move to a higher standard of club football.

18th February

Yeboah
Yeboah has denied reports that he is demanding to leave. Yeboah was reported to be upset at being left out of the FA Cup side that lost to Portsmouth. He said: "I have not spoken to these newspapers for over a month and I don't know where these stories came from. I am fully fit now and it would be nice to be picked at Anfield tomorrow night and score against Liverpool."

17th February

Two rumours from the weekend's Daily Mirror
1.Lee Sharpe has been linked with a possible swap deal for Leicester's Heskey.
2.A possible 3.5M bid for Ranger's Gazza.

16th February

Quotes
George Graham had no complaints about Portsmouth's victory, "I think the 3-2 score line flattered us. We prepared well for the game. We were ready for them. What I wasn't ready for, and what I didn't expect, was so many Leeds players playing way below par. We had eight or nine individuals who were below par today and you just can't get away with that. I saw Portsmouth win 3-0 at Birmingham last week and they played very well. I thought there were a well-organised side who were confident in the system they were playing. Today the two centre forwards were playing wide but that shouldn't have bothered Radebe and Molenaar. They can both play in the full-back position so tactically it should have been no problem for us." Speaking of Molenaar, Radebe and Gunnar Halle. "Our three centre backs have been excellent for us over the last month but today they had a really bad day together."

15th February

Result
Leeds 2 Portsmouth 3

14th February

Flo
According to Norwegian local press Leeds are interested in Norwegian international striker Tore Andre Flo. He is currently playing with SK Brann. He is rated at about £3m.
Leeds live on Sky
Leeds V Blackburn on Monday 7th April

13th February

Yeboah and Sharpe
Yeboah last night scored for the third successive game in the reserves. Sharpe came through his first 90 minutes since injuring his groin as the reserves lost 3-2 to Liverpool at Anfield.

12th February

RealAudio
Those awfully nice chaps at Planet have announced RealAudio match commentary is on its way - beginning in March. Keep an eye on the official Leeds page for details.
Scowcroft
George Graham is said to be considering a bid for Ipswich Town's £ 2m-rated striker James Scowcroft.
Yeboah
Leeds reserves travel to Liverpool tonight. Tony Yeboah is hoping for a good performance to book a place in the starting line up for the FA Cup tie against Portsmouth on Saturday.
Sky Sports 3 on Thursday at 11pm
BOBBY CHARLTON'S FOOTBALL SCRAPBOOK
Bobby Charlton and Dickie Davies are joined by Duncan McKenzie to discuss the match between QPR and Everton in 1977 and Leeds V Everton in 1975.

11th February

Today's Daily Mirror
REAL BLOW FOR LEEDS
Real Madrid last night cast a huge shadow over Leeds hopes of landing Georgi Kinkladze. Leeds boss Graham wants the Manchester City player to inject some flair into a workmanlike midfield. He's ready to go up to 6mill to prize him away before the transfer deadline or in the summer, but mighty Real have already bid 5mill and have the resources to beat Leeds in a bidding war.

10th February

Kinkladze
Graham is planning a £5million raid to take Georgi Kinkladze out of Manchester City. Graham has put the Georgian at the top of his shopping list for the summer when he plans to put some class into his hard-working side.
Sinclair
Graham has also been alerted to Villa's interest in QPR's Trevor Sinclair. Graham could make a fresh attempt to beat Villa's interest.
Devlin
Graham has denied reports that he wants Birmingham striker Paul Devlin. Graham was at Birmingham's game on Saturday but only to check on FA Cup opponents Portsmouth. He said: "You shouldn't listen to these sort of rumours."

8th February

Beesley
Paul Beesley has completed a £500,000 move to Manchester City.

7th February

Yeboah
Yeboah made a goal scoring comeback in Leeds reserves last night against bottom of the table Liverpool. He said afterwards: "I enjoyed the game and felt quite fit. I almost scored a second goal, but Liverpool's keeper made a fantastic save. We have another reserve game at Liverpool next Wednesday, then I hope I can come back for the cup tie against Portsmouth."
Beesley
Frank Clark is about to sign Leeds defender Paul Beesley. Clark has agreed a fee and Beesley will make the move subject to passing a medical.

6th February

Davies
Leeds Scouts watched 20 year old Kevin Davies in Chesterfield's game against Bolton on Tuesday.

Today's Daily Mirror

Yeh, I'll get fit

Tony Yeboah attempts his latest comeback tonight, hoping to climb aboard the FA Cup joyride. Leeds, joint second favourites to win the cup, have reached the last 16 without their 3.4mil striker, who has started only one match for them since March. Yeboah fell out with manager George Graham in a fitness dispute and then reached a truce. Now he faces Liverpool reserves tonight intending to prove he is over the hamstring trouble that recurred while playing for Ghana last month.

King George means business

George Graham cut short Leeds FA Cup celebrations last night and warned his players: "Don't start getting flash." The former Arsenal boss stunned his old club by masterminding a shock fourth-round win for unfancied Leeds at Highbury. He allowed himself a brief clenched-fist salute when the final whistle signalled a 1-0 passage to a home fifth-round tie with Portsmouth. But he soon brought a jubilant Leeds camp down to earth by saying: "The cup may have given us a taste of excitement, but I'm still concerned about our league position. "You won't catch me getting flash, and I won't allow my players to, either. I will not let complacency set in at this club. We've got a run of vital league matches coming up, and we won't forget our priorities."

5th February

Graham on the Glorious Arsenal victory
George Graham said "They played right into our hands." Leeds are the first English team to beat Arsenal at Highbury for more than a year. Graham said: "I wanted to come back with my own Leeds side and although it is not quite that yet it was still very satisfying. It was great defending but I also thought Arsenal looked jittery at times at the back and we could have had more goals than the one in the first half." He added: "We had to adapt against a very physical side and on a bumpy pitch." Graham also took time to praise his own players he said: "I thought Gary Kelly was outstanding with his marking job on Paul Merson. They planned to use Lucas Radebe in that role but he phoned in today telling us he could not play because of flu. But Kelly was never far away from Merson and I also thought Gunnar Halle was probably the man of the match for the way he contained Ian Wright. When Arsenal put John Hartson on at the start of the second half I knew exactly what to expect, the long ball. They played right in to our hands and in many respects the last half hour was very easy for us although tiring. I had David Seaman with me at Highbury for six years and I have had Nigel Martyn for six months. I put them in the same bracket. Seaman is certainly still the England No 1, but Martin is not far behind and I can't understand why he was not named in the England squad last week. If somebody had phoned me and asked I would have recommended him because he has been doing a great job for us and did another one tonight."

4th February

Result
Arsenal 0 Leeds 1
Today's Daily Mirror
MEANIE GEORGE
George Graham prepared to make his second appearance at Arsenal as Leeds manager and vowed: "We'll be a lot meaner this time." The former Arsenal manager still winces at his return earlier this season when Leeds trailed 2-0 almost before he sat down. He is back tonight in the FA cup fourth round. "The league match at Highbury was awful," he said. "It was a relief that we conceded only one more goal in the next 85 minutes." Leeds drew 0-0 with Arsenal, their 11th clean sheet in sixteen matches since the Highbury debacle, and Graham said: "There's still a long way to go, but we are definitely getting better." Brian Deane has recovered from a bang on the head, while Carlton Palmer is fit after flu. Graham must decide whether Ian Rush stays in the eleven.

3rd February

Revivo
According to Israeli press, George Graham has offered Celta Vigo 4m$ for Haim Revivo.

2nd February

Quotes
Graham insisted that television replays showed Deane's first disallowed effort and Rush's late strike should have stood. "It is extremely frustrating to have two good goals ruled out and the sad thing is that it's by one of the best referees supposedly. If a player is level he's on side and I can't understand why they (referees) have not pushed this rule through with enthusiasm."
Graham was pleased with the clean sheet, but admitted the need for a greater cutting edge. "The clean sheets are fine but we've got to move on and become more creative."
Graham admitted Leeds performance had been "a great improvement" on the one they gave in October. "You've got a choice against Arsenal. You can either sit back and admire their players or get among them, and we got among them."

1st February

Result
Leeds 0 Arsenal 0
Strange but true?
Yesterdays Irish Star reports that Inter Milan manager Roy Hodgson is considering making a bid for Brian Deane.






E-mail Jon Bunting
JonB@rawhead.demon.co.uk

Copyright © 1996 Jon Bunting (nick anything you want)