An Investment Update

Source: Yorkshire Evening Post

Leeds United's Chief Executive David Haigh has said he's trying to buy Elland Road back and he will invest a 7-figure sum into the club for transfer funds that Leeds have been so desperately lacking in the past ten years.
Elland Road was sold in 2005 by former chairman Gerald Krasner to Jacob Adler for £8,000,000 to ease the clubs financial crisis a little. It was then subsequently sold to Teak Commercial Limited, a firm based in the British Virgin Islands, ironically the place where former chairman Ken Bates used the people of the British Virgin Islands almost as slaves back in 1968. The take-over by Dubai-based bank GFHCapital in December 2012 was a bit rocky to start with, with the loyal fans of Leeds United not knowing whether to trust these Asian businessmen after seeing many clubs go under with Middle-Eastern owners at the helm. But with new signings of Luke Murphy from Crewe, Matt Smith from Oldham, Marius Zaliukas on a free and Scott Wootton from Manchester United, it looks as if a new era is arising from the depths, a trusted manager with trusted owners. The beast that is Leeds United may be awoken this season...

This could be a great story, hopefully you'll be able to take Leeds to the Premier League title, good luck!

Good luck!

McDermott Announces Squad Numbers

Source: MirrorFootball.co.uk

Leeds boss Brian McDermott has revealed his squad numbers for the forthcoming season.

Sam Byram takes over the number 2 jersey from Lee Peltier, who moves to 30. Stephen Warnock takes over his favoured number 3 shirt from Adam Drury, who moves to number 27. Captain Rodolph Austin swaps numbers with Leeds' first £1,000,000 signing since 2005 Luke Murphy as Austin becomes number 6 and Murphy becomes number 8.

Luke Varney takes over his favoured number 12 shirt from previous owner Jamie Ashdown, who will now wear number 40. New recruit Vicente who has just been signed on a free transfer by Brian McDermott will wear his favoured number 14 shirt, with Aidy White vacating his old number and taking the 28 shirt to make it possible. Another new signing Karim Boutadjine takes the number 23 shirt.

Marius Zaliukas will wear the number 24 shirt for his new club. New recruit Mark Howard has taken the number 26 shirt, with Dominic Poleon vacating his old number and taking the number 33 shirt. Paul Green takes the number 32 shirt which he wore at his time with Derby County.

Michael Brown will wear the number 35 shirt for the coming season. And new signing Sotiris Kyrgiakos wear the previously vacant number 38 shirt

Rodolph Austin is a great leader and deserves what number he wants...but do you have a number 10?

2013-12-25 10:20#151143 AAN : Rodolph Austin is a great leader and deserves what number he wants...but do you have a number 10?

Yep, Noel Hunt is number 10 and agree with you on Austin, shame he isn't too consistent but he's a superb leader

Hello LUTV subscribers and welcome to the monthly Leeds United overview from the month of August with me, James Stanley and Leeds United legend Eddie Gray.

This month is Brian McDermott's first month in full charge with his own squad put together. First of all lets start with his signings:

Mark Howard

Leeds United fans were crying out to McDermott, getting across a message saying to buy a center back and he's got a great player in Howard. He's spent most of his playing time in Denmark after spells with Brondby and AGF but he did start off at Manchester United which is a bit of a downer for fans.



Vicente

After a fall-out with former Brighton boss Gustavo Poyet, Vicente was released and no clubs were interested in signing him as the season was almost over but Leeds have got themselves a class player here. He's spent most of his time in the top-flight of Spanish football and has adjusted to the English game in his two seasons at Brighton. He has also won 38 caps for his national side, Spain, scoring 3 goals in the process.



Esteban Lopez

After being released by Newcastle United last season, Lopez played in the English Trialists match, a match where scouts from just about every club come and take a look at players who are struggling to find a club and if they're good enough the clubs sign them. Well, Leeds sent chief scout Terry Potter to take a look at the players on offer and after a weeks trial with the first team at Leeds manager McDermott said Lopez looked 'a quality player for the future'. He has been sent on loan to Exeter City to gain experience.



Karim Boutadjine

After a promising start in the pre-season matches, Boutadjine was injured very seriously in his first competitive match of the season and unfortunately is out for 5 to 6 months. He looks a very promising player but hopefully his injury won't affect him when he comes back.



Sotiris Kyrgiakos

Kyrgiakos is probably McDermott's best buys judging on reputation and recent games. He's played for a wealth of big European sides during his career such as Liverpool, Rangers, Panathinaikos, A.E.K Athens and Frankfurt and while he's reaching the end of his career he still has the quality that has signed him for all those great teams as we have seen these past few matches. A superb buy from McDermott there.



Jay Bothroyd

After falling down the pecking order last season at Queens Park Rangers, he was released by manager Harry Redknapp after spending most of last season on loan to Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Although, McDermott has said Bothroyd needs to work harder in training to be in for a shout every week for a starting 11 place. Bothroyd was the Championship's top scorer when playing for Cardiff City in the 2010-11 season with 18 goals in 38 matches.



Roland Linz

After spending most of his time off in Thailand when he was sacked by Reading, McDermott went to watch a bit of football, Thai side Muangthong United were playing in the Asian Confederation Cup and one man caught his eye, that man was Austrian striker Roland Linz. A few years back, McDermott's scouts at Reading spotted a player playing for FK Austria Wien. That was Roland Linz and what a signing he's proven to be with 4 goals in his first 7 matches for the Whites.



Nuno Gomes

After spending last season at Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers, they released him, saying he was too old. But after playing 3 games for Leeds he's been a standout performer. He hasn't scored any yet but he's got himself one assist.



Tommaso Rocchi

With McDermott claiming Rocchi is a back-up player after Noel Hunt's injury, he's proved he is more than that. He's added a lot of flair to the Leeds side and with this possibly being his last season what better way than to spend it at Leeds winning promotion after a glittering career with spells at Juventus, Lazio and Interzionale. We can all dream.



Not one single player has left Leeds permanently, all departures have been loans and here they are:



It's been a rocky start to the season for Leeds, being knocked out of the Capital One Cup 1-0 by Chesterfield then losing 6-2 to Queens Park Rangers at Elland Road but still sitting in 8th place at the end of August. It's been ok for us so far.

Very good signings mate! but what will you do with so many strikers?

interesting choices, you've added either a lot of experience or a lot of age. + keeping them happy might be difficult considering numbers

McDermott On: Leeds United

Hello and welcome to LUTV, I'm James Stanley and earlier today I interviewed Whites boss Brian McDermott on how he feels things are going so far at Elland Road so far. Here it is:

Stanley: Hi Brian, welcome onto LUTV team-talk.

McDermott: Cheers James, it's a pleasure

Stanley: So today we're going to ask you how you think things are at the moment, our strengths, weaknesses, everything really.

McDermott: Okay, it's been an on and off start to the season so far, James, in pre-season we did very well, unbeaten in all 3 games and kicked off against Brighton on the first day very brightly, we went 3-0 up by half-time by 2 great goals by Luke Murphy and one from Noel Hunt but I felt in the second half we escaped what could of been a come-back. We were solid at the back until about 70 minutes and the defence and midfield seemed to switch off a little and we conceded 2 goals in the last 15 minutes and on the first game of the season, both teams are always wanting to get off to a good start and get the optimism going through the fanbase. I felt the new lads have settled in really well, some of the lads who are sitting out at the moment will get their chance but they've got to make sure they take it well. Not going to lie James, I was shocked when I came to the club and the head coach, Neil Redfearn told me there was no scouting system in place but we've solved that and we've brought in 3 scouts David Hamilton, Mark Harrison and Simon Hunt, they've come back with some good players that I might bring in in January or maybe a trial just to see how they settle in. But yeah, I was disappointed to find no scouting system was in place.

Stanley: Brian, the fans have been begging to ask you what the owners, GFH Capital are like?

McDermott: They're great lads, the financial stature and ownership of the club in the past ten or so years have been a bit wobbly but we're definitely on the right track now, we have some great owners here now who have lots of determination to reach the Premier League, due to the new Financial Fair Play rules I haven't really been able to get the signings I want but sadly we'll be looking to offload a few players in January to be able to sign a few players who will add unique quality to the side. I've given a shortlist of players to the owners and they seem to be happy and agreed to provide the funds but we have to be careful of course due to the Financial Fair Play rules.

Stanley: Can you tell us who is on the shortlist?

McDermott: No, sorry. If I do and we can't afford the man then I don't want to send negativity across the fans, so sorry.

Stanley: Last question; Are you enjoying it a Elland Road?

McDermott: Absolutely, the place is full of history and positivity, it's a good time to be a Leeds fan now, trust me.

Stanley: So that was Whites boss Brian McDermott speaking to LUTV. Thanks Brian

McDermott: Cheers James.

Great updates, nice interview, keep it up!

Great detail with the update. Good luck at Leeds

LUTV Update: September

Quite a disappointing month for Brian McDermott's Whites in the month of September. This is LUTV's monthly overview broadcast, I'm James Stanley, I'm here with Whites legends Eddie Gray and Dominic Matteo and we're covering Leeds United's season.

Stanley: So gentlemen, what's your thoughts on how September has panned out?

Gray: Well, the new signings I feel haven't entirely settled in yet and with so many strikers to choose from you'd expect us to be scoring left, right and center but it's not working. Brian needs to get a good attacking coach in soon and get the strikers and some of the midfielders on a finishing course, that'll benefit us strongly I reckon. When I played under Don Revie, he had a rota for the week of what we were going to do. Now I don't know if Brian has a rota but one day the defenders and one keeper would go do some defending and the midfielders, attackers and one keeper would work on attacking and so on. I have full faith in Brian but I managed Leeds for 3 years back in the day and the pressure from the fans was unbelievable! Brian is in the exact same position as I was. Leeds were 5 years past there real glory days and fans wanted an immediate return to them days and the pressure got to a level where I was sacked. I understand how McDermott feels, Leeds were competing in the Champions League semi-finals about 10 years ago, the same fans then are still watching Leeds week in, week out and they were used to seeing a title-winning side in 1992 and a Champions League semi-final side in 2001 now they're watching a mediocre Championship side. That is exactly what happened to me in 1983, fans were used to seeing European Cup finalists in 1975, First Division winners in 1972 but they were watching a mediocre Second Division side. I'm speaking from experience here James.

Matteo: That's exactly what I was thinking Eddie. When I see Leeds losing 2-0 to Bolton or 6-2 to QPR I immediately think to myself "What happened?". I was part of that team who reached that semi-final, it was my first season at Leeds, the optimism was sky-high. When I see teams like Bolton, QPR, teams like that winning against us I feel so bad for Brian, he shouldn't be in that position. If it wasn't for some silly spending 10 years ago, he wouldn't be! Sure, this month has hardly been great but that isn't all down to Brian.

Stanley: Thank you Eddie and Dominic. Now, lets take a look at the results and highlights of September:





And finally, McDermott has signed another center back in 9-time German international Manuel Friedrich on a free transfer. After spending his career so far in Germany after spells with Mainz, Mainz II, Werder Bremen, Werder Bremen II and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Friedrich spoke about his first season away from his homeland as 'refreshing' and at 34 years old this may be his last season playing football. Friedrich started the 2-1 loss to Burnley on the 21st of September and was subbed on in the 2-0 win over Millwall on the 28th.

I like how your updates are a tv show.

A good start to the story. I've always wanted someone to take Leeds on and repair the damage of a few years ago now!