A great story mate and start to the season. I'll make sure to keep updated.

Cellino falls out with Rösler over selection

After 14 wins from 21 games, Massimo Cellino is beginning to lose patience with manager Uwe Rösler.

It comes as little surprise that it's taken only three months for Massimo Cellino to dig up a problem with current Leeds boss Uwe Rösler to the West Yorkshire sides' fans.

The Italian has reportedly held talks with the East German in recent weeks after frustrating him by not playing his players.

Marco Silvestri, Tommaso Bianchi, Giuseppe Bellusci, Gaetano Berardi and Mirco Antenucci have only made a combined 8 appearances in the league out of a possible combined total of 85 appearances. That isn't even including Casper Sloth, Nicky Ajose and Souleymane Doukara who have all been demoted into the under-21's since Rösler's arrival at Elland Road.

Cellino's loanees Brian Montenegro and Adryan had to have their loans terminated before the season even began, with Rösler complaining that Montenegro 'wasn't good enough' and Adryan 'didn't fit in anywhere' as reasons to termination. This angered Cellino, but only told The Daily Mirror yesterday, despite the events taking place in pre-season. We're in October now.


Leeds owner Massimo Cellino

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Cellino said to The Daily Mirror: "Rösler came up to me pre-season and give a complaint to me... Wanting my players to err, to leave! I say "To leave?! These are my players they can't leave! Unbelievable!"

"He say errr, yes. He ask me to er, to er, put them up for leave, the transfer list. I say no, next thing er... Souleymane [Doukara], Casper [Sloth] and Nicholas [Ajose] come up to me and complain! "The boss move me to shit team"

"The boss?! He's not the boss! I'm the f*cking boss! They still have not played first team since then. It's silly! I call him to say what he's doing and claims they are not up to standard! I don't sign them to be shit! Look at er, Bentley! Daniel Bentley, one of his signings, he leave straight after joining! And he calls my players poor!

"He better watch himself now, he cannot carry on treat my players like sh*t! He must er, review his decisions in detail and apologise to them affected people."

Rösler has only been in charge of Leeds for three months, joining in July.

Damn Italian chairman's, they're fucking crazy

It's been quite a disappointing month has November. We picked up six points against the two lowest teams we faced during this month, and picking up just two from Blackburn Rovers and Derby County, as we started with a loss to Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium in front of almost 30,000 fans. It's been quite boring without the Capital One Cup to be part of, as we wait until January for our next domestic challenge - the F.A. Cup.

Fixtures

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Cardiff City vs Leeds United

1/11/2014
Cardiff City Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp
Booked: Liam Cooper, Charlie Taylor
Attendance: 29,656

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Leeds United vs Charlton Athletic

4/11/2014
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Jermaine Beckford (2)
Booked: Sam Byram
Attendance: 25,782

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Leeds United vs Blackpool FC

8/11/2014
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp, Max Gradel (3), Alex Mowatt, Sol Bamba
Booked: None
Attendance: 28,536

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Blackburn Rovers vs Leeds United

22/11/2014
Ewood Park
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: None
Booked: Sol Bamba, Max Gradel
Attendance: 16,594

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Leeds United vs Derby County

29/11/2014
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Max Gradel, Jermaine Beckford
Booked: Liam Cooper
Attendance: 28,744

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League Table

We are already performing way above where I expected us to be at this point in the season, and now not only the play-offs look a likely possibility, but so does automatic promotion and maybe even champions with our blossoming form. I think Christmas time will dictate how our season will fare.

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December

As we now approach Christmas time, there are not many threats to play in December. Most teams are around mid-table or in the bottom half out of who we play in the next five games with Ipswich the lowest in the table in 17th, and Derby the highest placed team in 8th place. We have a game in hand on Alex Neil's Norwich City who look to challenge us at the moment for second spot.

Rösler plans a winter clearout

Following Cellino's outrage over selection, Rösler plans to go completely against the Italian's wishes in January.

In a recent press conference at Elland Road, Phil Hay - the chief executive sports writer at the Yorkshire Evening Post questioned Rösler on Cellino's outburst in the Daily Mirror a fortnight ago.

The East German international replied: "It is Cellino's opinion yes, he is my boss. But I manage and coach these players every day of almost every week.

"I see who is worthy of a spot here and who isn't, Cellino manages the club, I manage the players. Simple. I shouldn't have to feel like I have to choose players to make effectively an outsider happy.

"The fans have opinions on players, I have opinions on players, the owner has opinions on players. Opinions are everywhere in football and you can't make everyone happy for that exact reason. I choose who I believe will win us games, and so far that idea has moved us into the top six for almost all season.

"If Cellino wants to give me a proper reason why the players he named in the interview should be playing, I would be very happy to have that discussion with him sooner rather than later."

Rösler's words in the conference will definitely rise tension in the boardroom with Cellino but it's what he said next that would go completely against the owner's requests.

"If Cellino refuses to give me a valid reason why those players should be played over the ones who are now in the side week in week out, I see no need for them and in January I will be hoping to find a new team for them - they're a waste of good wages if they aren't being played regularly.


Doukara, Ajose, Berardi and Bianchi celebrating a goal for Leeds

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"I understand that the three players in the development team, Souleymane [Doukara], Nicky [Ajose] and Casper [Sloth] are playing well, so well that they have achieved top spot in their group. Sean Milner takes that team and reports back to me about who's doing well, who's not and things like that.

"Those three players all come back with positive reports, but that is in the development league and the players in the first team have been putting in more effort than them in training so I believe it would be unjust if I just take them out to suit the owners' needs.

"Doukara would have to take the place of Billy Sharp or Jermaine Beckford who have scored 20 goals between them this season. Sloth would have to take the place of Powell, Cook, Murphy or Morsy - all four have been absolutely outstanding in the midfield three we play.

"Ajose may play out on the wings, who Gradel, Mowatt, Pringle and Byram have hosted this season, they've scored 24 goals between the four of them. That's more than the two strikers that we rotate! We can't just damage that form by putting a totally different player in!

"I can't see futures for any of the players named by Cellino while I'm in charge. Whether the owner likes it or not, they're just not good enough for this league."

The players named by Cellino a fortnight ago were Nicky Ajose, Souleymane Doukara, Mirco Antenucci, Casper Sloth, Marco Silvestri, Giuseppe Bellusci, Tommaso Bianchi and Gaetano Berardi. That's eight players, and with 20 players in the first team currently that means Leeds will either have to recall players from loan deals, cherry pick players from the youth teams or with the money they could potentially receive from transfers, recruit new signings.


£950,000-rated keeper Daniel Bentley may return from his loan spell.

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If Silvestri was to leave Elland Road, it means Daniel Bentley would have to cut short his loan at Leyton Orient where he is supposed to stay until the end of the season. Chris Dawson, Chris Speed, Tyler Denton and Kalvin Phillips may be recalled along with Bentley. Alex Purver, Jack Vann and Clarke Oduor could potentially be brought up into the first team should those named players leave.

Leeds have been linked with players such as former Juventus winger Leonardo Spinazzola, Leicester City's Liam Moore, Wigan's Emyr Huws and Bristol City's Luke Freeman and Jed Wallace of Portsmouth in recent weeks, heading into the winter transfer window. Whilst it's extremely unlikely all of those players will be recruited, it's certainly a sign of intent and ambition that Leeds want to go further.

After a poor month of last, we've managed to pick up our form again as we go unbeaten during the last month of 2014. Some of the teams we played were good quality as well, such as Derby, Wigan and Nottingham Forest. We picked up nine points from them teams, with our only loss on points with a 1-1 draw against Fulham. The stand-out player this month for me was definitely Billy Sharp, a hat-trick against Forest, a brace against Ipswich and other goals against Fulham and Derby capped off a wonderful month for the poacher.

Fixtures

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Ipswich Town vs Leeds United

6/12/2014
Portman Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp (2), Max Gradel, Alex Mowatt
Booked: None
Attendance: 14,772

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Leeds United vs Fulham FC

13/12/2014
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa
Attendance: 28,301

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Nottingham Forest vs Leeds United

20/12/2014
The City Ground
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp (3)
Booked: Sol Bamba, Liam Cooper
Attendance: 20,590

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Leeds United vs Wigan Athletic

26/12/2014
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Max Gradel, Nick Powell, Alex Mowatt, Jermaine Beckford
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa, Sol Bamba, Billy Sharp
Attendance: 26,449

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Derby County vs Leeds United

28/12/2014
Pride Park
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp, Max Gradel, Sam Byram
Booked: Sam Byram, Liam Cooper
Attendance: 33,465

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League Table

For the first time this season, we manage to take top spot in the Championship table. We haven't been outside the top six since matchday 5 when we beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 and almost 20 games later we sit at the top of the heap. With many teams lurking below us, it will be a tough fight to stay top, but I believe it's achievable.

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January

Although it looks like an average month, we will be without some of our African players who jet off to Equatorial Guinea to play in the African Cup of Nations. That group of players include the Ivorian's Sol Bamba and Max Gradel while Sam Morsy plays for Egypt. Bournemouth are the only team within the top six going into the New Year, but Huddersfield are in 10th and will be fired up for a Yorkshire Derby.

8 leave, 1 arrives at Elland Road

Big names like Marco Silvestri and Giuseppe Bellusci have found their way out of Elland Road since the transfer window began.

It's a well-known fact that East German manager Uwe Rösler isn't a fan of the European contingent within the Leeds United camp, and that fact has been proven this winter.

The first to leave the West Yorkshire side was Bury-born striker Nicky Ajose. Ajose left Leeds just six months after his arrival from Peterborough United, making no appearances under Rösler, as the man who initially brought him to the club - David Hockaday was sacked way before Rösler's arrival.

Up next was one of the biggest fees of the window, as Tommaso Bianchi went all the way back to Italy. He joined Serie A outfit Hellas Verona for a fee of £1,100,000 shortly after his summer arrival from U.S. Sassuolo for an undisclosed fee. Cellino is said to be very unhappy about this particular sale. Bianchi only made one appearance in his Leeds United career.

Casper Sloth was hyped up by Leeds' Scandinavian supporters groups when he arrived from Aarhus for £600,000 in the summer. But the Danish midfielder was demoted straight away to the under-21 team a few days after Rösler's arrival was confirmed by the club, he led the under-21 side to the top of their group but now he finds himself sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the same league as Leeds for £750,000.


Souleymane Doukara in action for Leeds.

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After an expensive summer move to Yorkshire from Catania, costing Cellino £1,000,000 to bring Doukara to the club, it was definitely a waste. Doukara didn't make single appearance under Rösler, with Billy Sharp and summer signing Jermaine Beckford donning the lone striker role in Rösler's 4-3-3 formation. Souleymane Doukara leaves Elland Road to go to France's Ligue 2 where he joins Valenciennes FC for a fee of £825,000.

Giuseppe Bellusci's departure to ChievoVerona brought in the second highest fee for the Whites this season as the Italian Warrior left Elland Road for Marcantonio Bentegodi for a fee of £2,400,000 with just four appearances under his belt for Leeds with Rösler in charge.

Despite his age of 30, Leeds have still managed to muster up a very tidy profit for the Italian striker. Mirco Antenucci arrives at Ipswich Town's Portman Road for £775,000 - £375,000 more than what Leeds bought the 5'10" striker from Ternana in the summer. Antenucci was mostly kept out of the side by Billy Sharp and Jermaine Beckford this season so his chances were limited. But a move to Championship rivals Ipswich could rekindle his great form he maintained at Ternana last season.


Marco Silvestri leaves Leeds for the biggest fee thus far in the transfer window.

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The next name to leave Elland Road is the biggest fee Leeds have attained for a player this season, as Marco Silvestri moves back to his homeland in Italy to join Udinese for a grand fee of £2,900,000 with Leeds receiving 25% of his next transfer fee should he leave Udinese at any point in his career.

Gaetano Berardi has been limited in terms of appearances this team as a result of Charlie Taylor's superb performances at left-back and Tendayi Darikwa enjoying what seems the best football of his career at right-back. The Swiss has been limited to just two league appearances under Rösler this season following his undisclosed fee arrival at Elland Road. He now leaves for £850,000 to Championship rivals Reading FC who currently sit in 9th place in the league.

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Leonardo Spinazzola arrives on a free transfer

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Following the recent news that Leeds United have been put under a transfer embargo, meaning that they cannot sign any player for a fee, only for free agents and loan deals, they signed their first player of the transfer window as Leonardo Spinazzola arrives in England following the news of his release from Juventus in the autumn term. So the Italian influence has all but gone, but Cellino had to leave his stamp on the team by adding the right-winger this winter.

You can definitely tell how much we are missing the likes of Sol Bamba, Maxi Gradel and Sam Morsy this month as we only pick up eight points out of a possible twelve as opposed to last months display of thirteen out of a possible fifteen. What's worse is that both Ivory Coast and Egypt have both progressed into the knockout rounds of the African Cup of Nations which means we will miss the absent trio going into February. However you cannot fault the young lads who have stepped into their place. Jack Vann, Leonardo Spinazzola, Dane Allinson, Jack Turnbull and Alex Purver have all featured this month in the Africans' absence and have performed with maturity and quality way beyond their years.

Fixtures

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Reading FC vs Leeds United

3/1/2015
The Madejski Stadium
F.A. Cup 3rd Round

Goalscorers: Max Gradel, Billy Sharp
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa, Liam Cooper
Attendance: 9,976

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Bolton Wanderers vs Leeds United

10/1/2015
Macron Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Liam Cooper, Luke Murphy, Billy Sharp
Booked: Giuseppe Bellusci, Alex Mowatt
Attendance: 15,391

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Leeds United vs Reading FC

14/1/2015
Elland Road
F.A. Cup 3rd Round Replay

Goalscorers: None
Booked: Liam Cooper
Attendance: 18,298

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Leeds United vs Birmingham City

17/1/2015
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Dane Allinson, Alex Mowatt, Billy Sharp (2)
Booked: None
Attendance: 36,272

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Leeds United vs AFC Bournemouth

24/1/2015
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Alex Mowatt, Billy Sharp
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa, Jack Vann, Jack Turnbull
Attendance: 30,017

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Huddersfield Town vs Leeds United

31/1/2015
The John Smith's Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Billy Sharp
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa, Alex Purver, Lewis Cook, Nick Powell
Sent off: Tendayi Darikwa
Attendance: 24,590

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League Table

Once again we finish the month at the top of the table, but by a much smaller margin and a lot more competition with three teams now a win away from possibly taking our top spot away from us. But we have a very great goal difference, being almost ten goals in front of the next highest who are Bournemouth. But with the African players still away on international duty I cannot see us going too far in February.

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February

It's this month where we desperately need our top players - but we don't at least for the Brentford game. We play against frightening propositions like Brentford and Watford who sit just behind us in the table, with Watford behind us on goal difference and Brentford jus two points away they are must-win games for us if we want to win the league. Along with that we play Middlesbrough and Reading who are chasing the play-offs and will hope to get every point they can, so we need to be really up for this month.

After a breakthrough into the first team last month due to the mass exodus in the January transfer window as well as the African Cup of Nations, Jack Vann has taken up his role excellently.

Since Giuseppe Bellusci's arrival at ChievoVerona and Sol Bamba's absence in Equatorial Guinea playing in the African Cup of Nations, Uwe Rösler looked upon his development teams for options following the news of a transfer embargo being placed upon Leeds - ruling out any possible deals for decent players.

Jack Vann was chosen as first-choice to play alongside Liam Cooper at the back in the first-team. His under-18's team-mate Jack Turnbull was also picked to be back-up on the bench.

The 17-year-old had played 25 games in the under-18's and under-21's team before his selection by Rösler. He scored one goal, created five goals and picked up three man of the match awards in these 25 appearances.


Bamba has more competition now at the back courtesy of Vann's introduction.

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Vann has made 7 appearances so far for the first-team and Rösler has no reason to take him out of the first-team just because Sol Bamba has returned from international duty.

Despite it being not a successful month as others, Vann and whoever was his defensive partner kept the back four solid which is great stuff from such a raw age.

The Head of Youth Development at the club, Sean Milner, pointed Vann out to Rösler after many quality performances and for that recommendation, Vann was chosen over a reasonably experienced centre-back in Jake Skelton who had just turned down a loan move to Blyth Spartans in expectation that he would get a first-team opportunity.

The quality of Vann was tested to the max against AFC Bournemouth - a top quality opposition. Vann was chosen to play alongside Jack Turnbull after Liam Cooper was suspended. It really tested Vann's leadership qualities to almost man-manage a debutant, ignoring the fact that he was only a 17-year-old kid.

Leeds drew that match 2-2 and Rösler showed appreciation towards the youngster in his post-match conference saying: "Jack [Vann] is a wonderful player. He reads the game brilliantly and he is a very composed individual, with the ability to dictate the flow of the game from the back. Not many players, never mind centre-backs can do that, and Jack can do it at his age.

"We have a future captain on our hands here in Jack. He organises the defence with excellent leadership qualities and his tackles and effort fires up the rest of the team no end. The boy has a bright future ahead of him at Elland Road."

It's been a bit poorer this month, yet we still went unbeaten despite drawing three of the games. We picked up a win against one of the games we needed to win courtesy of a Robbie McDaid last-gasp debut goal for us in the 90th minute which sent us to the top of the league at the end of February as we begin to get nearer towards spring. We finally have all of our temporary absentees back in Yorkshire now as their international duties ended with Sam Morsy's Egypt knocked out in the quarter-final by Nigeria, losing 3-0. Whereas Max Gradel and Sol Bamba's Ivory Coast won the tournament, with Max Gradel scoring in the final to finish top scorer of the whole tournament - two goals ahead of Emmanuel Emenike's six goals.

Fixtures

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Leeds United vs Brentford FC

7/2/2015
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Leonardo Spinazzola
Booked: Liam Cooper
Attendance: 29,695

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Reading FC vs Leeds United

10/2/2015
The Madejski Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Nick Powell, Alex Pearce (own goal), Michael Hector (own goal)
Booked: Sol Bamba, Charlie Taylor
Attendance: 15,663

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Leeds United vs Millwall FC

17/2/2015
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: None
Booked: Tendayi Darikwa, Liam Cooper, Max Gradel
Attendance: 35,281

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Middlesbrough FC vs Leeds United

21/2/2015
The Riverside Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Max Gradel (2)
Booked: Jack Vann, Jake Skelton
Attendance: 20,729

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Brighton & Hove Albion vs Leeds United

24/2/2015
American Express Community Stadium
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Alex Mowatt, David Stockdale (own goal), Billy Sharp
Booked: None
Attendance: 23,873

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Leeds United vs Watford FC

28/2/2015
Elland Road
Sky Bet Championship

Goalscorers: Max Gradel, Robbie McDaid
Booked: Jack Vann, Liam Cooper, Charlie Taylor, Sam Morsy
Attendance: 29,484

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League Table

Following that 90th minute winner by Robbie McDaid on the last day of the month, it meant that we were sent back to the top of the league after, by our standards, an average month. Our goal difference keeps getting better and better but I want to create more of a points gap than goal difference gap now to make sure we can't mess anything up from here.

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March

Comparing next month to this month, it seems like a very calm month with Wigan the only team we face inside the top six. We face Blackpool at the end of the month who are pretty much relegated as they haven't even got past the ten point mark yet. I hope we can emulate our 6-0 win against them earlier in the season but at Bloomfield Road this time. All the other teams we face are below mid-table (-12th) so I hope we can pick up a lot of points in March.

you can do it, just hold to that 1st place spot

Good story so far mate, doing well in the league. My brother and Dad support Leeds so will continue to follow this for sure.

walkinshaw: Thanks for your support mate

Pauker: Bloody hope so

Devzie92: Thanks buddy, hope you'll be satisfied with it more as it goes on

Yeboah the pick of the bunch

We've hit the time of the season when the next generation of superstars are to be dug up from academies around the world.

Some teams will be dealt a good hand, some teams will be dealt a poor hand in this years youth induction week.

Leeds United are definitely renowned all across the globe as being one of the great footballing machines, producing some great players ever since the Revie days when Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray blossomed under The Don. That select few players went onto win three league titles under Revie, playing alongside fellow graduates Norman Hunter, Paul Reaney, Jack Charlton and Gary Sprake.


Leeds legends Billy Bremner and Don Revie stand together in the F.A. Cup Final of 1972.

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In recent years the Whites have produced more and more quality like Terry Yorath in the 1970's, Gary Speed and David Batty in the 1980's and the 1990's perhaps being one of the greatest decades for Leeds' production of players, with the graduation of Harry Kewell, Jonathan Woodgate, Ian Harte, Alan Smith, Gary Kelly and Paul Robinson - who finds himself back at the club he began at aged 35 now.

Since the beginning of the millennium Leeds have gone onto produce more and more top quality players such as Aaron Lennon and James Milner in 2002, Danny Rose, Jonny Howson, Fabian Delph and Elliott Kebbie who you may not have heard of because of his failure to fulfil his potential at Spanish club Atlético Madrid but has since been linked with a move to Hull City.


The late Gary Speed, loved and missed dearly by Leeds following his death.

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Many of today's first-team is made up of academy graduates. Sam Byram, Charlie Taylor, Chris Dawson, Lewis Cook, Alex Mowatt and Kalvin Phillips have all played a massive part in what has been a sensational season under Uwe Rösler. I'm sure Tom Lees - another Thorp Arch product would love to be back at Elland Road now!

But now it is the time for this years candidates to come to the table for Leeds. Many have signed scholar contracts, 16 players have all penned deals to keep them at Thorp Arch for years to come before deciding whether to stay at the club at the age of 17.


Tom Lees in his Leeds United days, left after some poor performances to Sheffield Wednesday.

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Leeds have picked up many quality graduates this year according to it's Head of Youth Development Sean Milner. Milner said: "It's good to have such a range of great quality youngsters at the club and keeps up the tradition and reputation that we have here at Leeds of our outstanding youth facilities here at Thorp Arch.

"We believe that the players we took from this years induction will be beneficial to the club's playing matters in the near and late future. It's important that we have the superb quality staff we currently have on our books to train these players to be the best they can be before handing their qualities over to the first-team as soon as they are deemed good enough, which I believe all of them are."

Milner selected a graduate named Ayodele Yeboah, coincidentally the namesake of previous fan favourite Tony Yeboah. No doubt the Elland Road faithful will hope this Yeboah will have the same impact as previous Yeboah's have. Ayodele operates as a left-winger only, but that may change under the coaching of the academy staff at Thorp Arch in the years to come. Sean Milner described the 16-year-old as 'explosive' and 'tricky' when consulting first-team head coach Uwe Rösler about the inductions and looks set to be one of the star players in a new generation for Leeds United.

Nurture Yeboah right and he could become a legend a leeds