Dominic Matteo: Return of the Legend

Short but sweet. For 13 years, this has been a chant sung by the Leeds United faithful. It's a reference to my goal against AC Milan at the San Siro- it was a good headed goal but it wasn't fucking great if I'm being totally honest. I suppose there's just a better ring to 'fucking great goal' than 'good headed goal'.

Although I became a cult hero at Elland Road, my career began at Liverpool where I spent 8 years. I was signed by David O'Leary in the summer of 2000 for £4.25m as he looked to build a side to compete in the Champions League in the coming season. My headed goal at the San Siro set us on our way to the knockout stages of the competition as we nicked a point away at what was at the time, arguably one the best teams in the world.

That dream run in Europe came to an end in the semi-final against Valencia, and would be followed by a major shit storm which still haunts the club to this day. We were forced into our record sale of Rio Ferdinand for £30m in 2002, and they made me the new captain. My first season as captain was when problems off-the-pitch started to show on it, as we went from a 5th place finish to 15th, narrowly avoiding relegation. We weren't so lucky the following year and were relegated in 19th. I was part of the mass exodus that followed to help the club pay the bills as I moved to Blackburn on a free transfer.

My three-year stint at Blackburn was considerably less eventful, and I moved to Stoke in January 2007. Captaining the side to promotion would be my last notable achievement before I retired the following season, with my UEFA qualifications my next goal.

Since then, I've been involved with Leeds as an ambassador during the reign of GFH, but Cellino got rid of all of that when he took over. When Brian McDermott left his role as manager it was then that I realised that this is my new calling in life. I will return. Dominic Matteo, former Leeds captain, turned Leeds manager, the toughest job in football.

I arrived at Thorp Arch full of optimism. No one was expecting sparks from us this season but I had other ideas. I wanted promotion. I don't care if we storm the league or sneak into sixth and win the playoffs, I wanted to be in the Premier League as soon as possible. This is too big a club to lazily hang down in the Championship and call it good enough.

Although I probably should have come across a little easier when I first met the players. The expectation of promotion was apparently "too much pressure" for Giuseppe Bellusci. If it's too much for him to handle, that's his problem, not mine.

I was a little wiser when discussing expectations with the board. The players will briefly feel under pressure, but they can't sack me, not directly at least. I told the board mid-table wouldn't be a problem, mainly so I could get an extension on my contract despite cocking it up in our bid for promotion. In return, they gave me a £150,000 transfer budget and a £556,000p/a wage budget. Not much, but we don't need a lot given the major influx of players that came in during the summer.

As I watched over training, a few players caught my eye. Last season's captain- before club hero and recent departure Ross McCormack took the armband- Rodolph Austin looked like a changed man. Low on confidence last year, he wasn't showing it in the early stages this year with his immense work rate and tough tackling style. He is prone to long shots however, something which would have to be changed if his accuracy doesn't improve.

Brazilian loanee Adryan also grabbed my attention. Most comfortable in the hole, Adryan is only 18 years old, but he looked like he'd been playing for his national side his whole life with his immense trickery and mouth watering skill moves. I would love to see him pass the ball more though.

But what really captured my imagination in the first few days at the club, was the ability of 17-year-old Lewis Cook. He was a creative player, albeit in the old-fashioned sense, a bit like if Gary Speed was a central midfielder, but this boy could play. He had ridiculous confidence for someone his age and rightly so, he ran his opponents ragged in the 11 v 11 games, scored twice against the reserves, and I could see that Cook was going to be a name printed on millions of replica shirts in years to come.

Equally impressive was Alex Mowatt. Like Cook, he is a central midfielder that can run like nobody's business and link up play flawlessly, and it gave me great pride to see another product of the academy making himself heard in the first team.

Our other youngster needed no introduction. Sam Byram is a right-back, very capable at carrying out his defensive duties but he really excels going forward.

Alarmingly though, we struggled for strength in depth at left back. We had Gaetano Berardi, Aidan White and Charlie Taylor, but White just didn't seem to impress me on the ball for all the pace he possesses and Taylor- despite what my staff had been telling me about his potential- just didn't seem ready yet. And Berardi was more of a traditional full back. I was looking for more of a wing back- due to our lack of wingers, we needed wing backs to help us out wide.

One name that stuck out was Rodrigo Alborno, whose file had been put in my pigeon hole, presumably sent in by his agent. Without hesitation, I looked through footage of him playing on loan at Serie B side Cittadella last season. It was like watching a left-sided Sam Byram. The young Paraguayan was adept at performing his defensive duties and brilliant going forward. He was just what I needed, and without a second thought, I got on the phone to Inter Milan's Roberto Mancini to hammer out a deal.

Pre-season fixture 1: Leeds United vs Glasgow Rangers @ Elland Road

Don't let the fans' buzz confuse you, this pre-season friendly was merely about the fitness. I wasn't expecting fireworks because I knew it would take time for the players to gel and form a solid diamond formation. I had two XIs in mind, one to play the first half, the other to play the second.

8,445 was a decent turnout for a meaningless first friendly but again, I knew the original intended purpose of this fixture. The lads needed some football under their belts ahead of our trip to South Africa for our friendly tournament and this was their chance.

Leeds first half XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Bellusci (c), Bamba, Berardi, Austin, Mowatt, Cook, Sloth, Doukara, Sharp

Leeds second half XI: (Diamond) Cairns, Wootton, Cooper, Del Fabro, Taylor, N'Goyi, Bianchi, Murphy, Adryan, Montenegro, Antenucci (Mulhern 71)

I expected the first half XI to be the better of the two XIs I had assembled, on paper it looked the strongest, but football isn't played on paper. It's played- in this case- in front of 31,000 empty seats in a meaningless friendly.

We looked strong in the first half and tested their keeper a few times, but we never really had a firm hold of the game. And it was while we were taking forever to find our feet that we went behind.

You know how I said this friendly was meaningless? Well here came something that actually managed to piss me off. Haphazard, lazy, sloppy. Three words out of many more that you could use to describe the marking as a corner came in from our right and found the head of Ross Lyon who was in acres of space. 1-0 Rangers.

I didn't bother with a team talk at half time, and just sent the second half XI out as they were. We looked much better in the second half, we passed it about brilliantly, in fact we passed them to death. I kind of felt bad for the second half XI that they had a game to chase through no fault of their own.

We carved them open a number of times, unfortunately the finishing just wasn't there. Antenucci picked up a knock with 20 minutes remaining so I decided to bring on our young and very talented forward Frank Mulhern.

Unfortunately, we were unable to turn our immense second half dominance into goals, and walked away 1-0 losers, something the second half XI didn't deserve.

Leeds United 0-1 Glasgow Rangers (Ross Lyon 38)
Att: 8,445

In the hours following our defeat against Rangers, we finalised a season-long loan deal for Rodrigo Alborno until the end of the season. It was a signing that gave us balls on the left-hand side, Berardi struggled to break down their play effectively in the last game and I don't seem to recall him getting involved in attacking moves either.

We boarded the plane from Manchester Airport to Johannesburg via Amsterdam on the Sunday and there were a few dropped heads in the XI that played in the first half. This wasn't a good sign as the second half XI seemed to be enjoying themselves. So once the seatbelt light went off, I called the first half XI over to where I was sat, instructing the second-halfers to clear some space. I gave them a debriefing, telling them that the performance wasn't great, but it was our first game in pre-season and there was a long way to go yet. We had just under a month for it to click and we can learn from our mistakes.

Lewis Cook picked up a knock in the first half and I didn't want to risk him playing two fixtures in consecutive days, so I told him he can come with us to Johannesburg if he wanted to, but I wouldn't be playing him as we didn't want to risk any casualties. He would instead be doing a lighter fitness programme than what the rest of the team had been assigned. I couldn't face losing my most promising youngster before the season has even got underway.

Rodrigo Alborno came with us and he seemed to be settling well in conversation with Marco Silvestri and Mirco Antenucci. This meant that young Frank Mulhern would be staying at Thorp Arch to train with the U18s again to continue his development there, alongside a couple of other decent prospects in centre-back Jack Vann and central midfielder Alex Purver.

When we arrived at Faircity Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments, Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP)'s chief football writer Phil Hay was waiting for me to discuss pre-season. I like Phil, I've worked with him a couple of times when he's invited me to do a piece on Leeds United in the YEP, so it felt surreal that I would be talking to him in a manager-journalist atmosphere. I sent the lads off to their rooms to get unpacked whilst I talked to Phil at reception.

"How's it been so far?" He asked.

"I'm loving it. I love being the manager of a club that means so much to so many people and it's something that gives me a buzz when I wake up each morning" I replied.

"What did you make of the Rangers game?" Was the next question. Normally our conversations were pretty casual but he seemed to be pretty forward on this occasion.

"Well Phil, you can't win them all" I began "We were a bit sluggish in the first half but the boys who played the second half worked their socks off and that was very encouraging to see. It was nice to see Frank (Mulhern get himself out there and involved in the game as well so that should help him with his development"

"I've noticed he's not here this time though" Phil said. No flies on him I guess.

"No, the last game was just an opportunity to throw him in there and he might pop up at other points during the season, just to ease him into first team football rather than throw him in at the deep end. If the other youngsters work hard they'll also get that opportunity. Another reason was that I could only name a 23-man squad and with Rodrigo (Alborno) arriving yesterday I felt it was important that he came down here with the lads to help him settle quickly and get some early game time under his belt, see what he's capable of"

"Do you have any plans to bring in wingers?"

"Not at the moment. We're going to try and get by on the diamond and if it doesn't work, we'll have to look into alternatives, but that will be a last resort. We've had enough players arrive this summer and I think I'd be pushing it with the balance of the squad if I brought in any more"

"Dom, it's been a pleasure" said Phil, who stretched out his hand for a handshake. I shook his hand and agreed to meet him in the restaurant later for a general chit chat and catch up. This conversation was purely for journalistic purposes.

I went up to my room, knackered from the flying. Training wasn't to start until 2pm the next day, which was ideal (obviously set by me) because I needed my sleep and I'm pretty sure my players did as well. It had been quite a slog for all of us. I told myself I'll give the fans a bit of my time when I've had a nap after training. I wasn't in the mood tonight, and I figured training in this heat, even just watching over as manager will be tiring so I'd need a snooze to recover from that.

Pre-season fixture 2: Kaizer Chiefs vs Leeds United @ Soccer City Stadium

As we made our way through Soweto, I saw the familiar comforting sight of travelling Leeds fans, minibuses, coaches and cars all with scarves hanging out of the window and tourists proudly adorned in the white shirt. Lewis Cook tagged along with us, but I had no intention of playing him, the risk was too great. I didn't keep it from him, I kept him in the know.

I took a look at the players representing Kaizer Chiefs, and the list included the likes of 2010 World Cup hero Siphiwe Tshabalala and heroic South Africa number 1 Itumeleng Khune, known for his heroic antics in the same competition.

I couldn't help but gawp open-eyed as the Soccer City Stadium came into sight. This stadium was a part of history- first African stadium to host a World Cup match and host to the first World Cup final on African soil, where Andres Iniesta scored a historic winning goal in extra time to earn Spain their first ever World Cup title.

My message to the players in the dressing room before the game was simple. "This is just any other friendly, but in a big ground and a place in a meaningless final thrown into the bargain. There's no pressure on today but what I will say is this: we're playing a very strong side today, the biggest club in South Africa. Don't worry if you don't play well, but anyone who does impress can expect to be in consideration further along the line"

Leeds first half XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Bellusci, Bamba, Alborno, N'Goyi, Benedicic, Mowatt, Sloth, Doukara, Montenegro

Leeds second half XI: (Diamond) Cairns, Wootton, Cooper, Del Fabro, Taylor, Austin, Bianchi, Murphy, Adryan, Antenucci (Berardi 52), Sharp

Like the Rangers game, it took a while to find our rhythm. The performance was a little disjointed and unfortunately for us, Kaizer Chiefs came bursting out the blocks. They were all over us initally and we just didn't have an answer for them.

The pressure told half an hour in, Maluleka raced into the box with the ball at his feet and he was brought down by a late tackle from Granddi N'Goyi. South African World Cup hero Siphiwe Tshabalala stepped up confidently and sent Silvestri the wrong way for 1-0.

They threatened again shortly before half time when Tshabalala cut inside from a wide position before attempting a crashing long range drive which just shaved the top of the crossbar. We'd done little to threaten in the first half, and went into half time a goal down.

Again, I didn't bother with the team talk, I just sent out my second half XI and they performed admirably. We started knocking the ball about and started to create some decent chances.

Antenucci was an unfortunate casualty 7 minutes after the restart, and I was forced to replace him with Berardi, playing a 5-man defence with Wootton shifted into the centre and Berardi playing in the vacated right back position. Meanwhile, Sharp played on his own up front in a false nine role with Adryan in behind him playing support striker.

Whilst Kaizer Chiefs had the ball, young Alex Cairns seemed to be having the game of his life, and he continued his excellent performance when he acrobatically tipped a fierce half volley from Maluleka over the bar.

Shortly after, we broke away down the left with Billy Sharp. The Sheffield-born striker swung in a beatiful cross which was converted with some skill by Adryan.The 4000-strong travelling army went beserk and suddenly the momentum was with us.

Almost 10 minutes later, Taylor broke down the left hand side, leaving Mashamaite chasing his shadow. He swung in a cross which Berardi met on the half volley. The movement to get there was good but the finish was poor.

With 15 minutes remaining, it was Taylor again looking dangerous down the left as he swung in yet another great cross. Adryan met it on the half volley from practically the same spot where he had scored 20 minutes earlier except this one cannoned off a defender and fell into the path of Berardi. If he knew much about it, I'm sure he would have hammered it in from 6 yards, but he didn't and he hit a weak half volley straight into Khune's arms.

Cairns kept us level multiple times during the run-in towards full time adding to an extraordinary display from the academy product which would see him earn Man of the Match award. Sharp had a half chance from outside the area, but the connection was all wrong as the ball went harmlessly off target.

The 90 minutes ended at 1-1, and the game went straight to penalties. We took an early advantage when Cairns saved Masango's penalty and Austin scored his. It wasn't long before we were level again through a missed Murphy penalty and a converted Rusike penalty. The shootout went to sudden death during which Del Fabro and Khune missed their penalties and unfortuantely for us, it was Charlie Taylor- who played tremendously in the second half- who blazed his penalty over the bar before Mathoho buried the decider.

We almost got our rewards for upping our game in the second half, and the penalty loss was cruel, particularly on young Alex Cairns who played a blinder, giving me a fresh selection headache for when Stuart Taylor was due back from injury. Oh yeah, did I mention Alex Cairns played well?

Kaizer Chiefs (Tshabalala pen 29) 1-1 Leeds United (Adryan 56)
Att: 12,004

really love your update style man, keep it up!

Lovely update, shame about Matteo's bankruptcy in real life though!

2015-08-21 22:01#218996 Jack : Lovely update, shame about Matteo's bankruptcy in real life though!

It's heart breaking stuff, couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Pre-season fixture 3: SC Heerenveen vs Leeds United @ Soccer City Stadium

Just like the major summer competition that took place here in South Africa four years ago, this one had a third place play-off, except this one came the day after the semi-final. I found myself wishing the fixtures could be more spread out, as two in two days was the last thing my players needed.

Man of the moment against Kaizer Chiefs Alex Cairns suffered an injury in the hotel that night, after a nasty trip left him with a damaged shoulder and four weeks on the sidelines. It wasn't ideal but we had more keepers on standby. Antenucci was in no fit state to play either so we had call out Frank Mulhern and young goalkeeper Dan Atkinson at last minute.

Leeds first half XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Cooper, Del Fabro, Taylor, N'Goyi, Mowatt, Murphy, Adryan, Doukara, Sharp

Leeds second half XI: (Diamond) Atkinson, Berardi, Bamba, Bellusci, Alborno (Wootton 77), Austin, Bianchi, Benedicic, Sloth, Montenegro, Mulhern

There was a cagey opening to the game with neither side making any great chances. But the first good chance of the game was buried on 38 minutes. Uth broke away for Heerenveen down the left hand side, skipped the tackle of Del Fabro before being tackled in the box by Austin, but the ball ran loose to the feet of van Duinen. The 22-year-old striker found himself virtually one-on-one with Silvestri, and stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

Moments later down the other end, some good link up play between Taylor, Adryan and Sharp put Doukara through on goal. The big French striker made no mistake and put us level.

We went into half-time level and again, I left the team talk alone and just sent my second half XI out to get us back in front.

We were in front 25 seconds after the restart when a quality cross from Rodrigo Alborno found the head of Paraguayan striker Brian Montenegro, who slammed his header into the top corner.

The majority of the rest of the second half was very much a cat-and-mouse affair, but no one could have called what happened in the last 10 minutes- I wasn't sure whether we suddenly played very well or they suddenly played very poorly or a combination of both- but we just couldn't stop scoring all of a sudden.

We doubled our lead on 81 minutes when, after a patient build up toying with the Heerenveen defence, the ball found Frank Mulhern unmarked in the box. Much to my delight- on his first touch- he slammed the ball into the top corner. It definitely gave me food for thought with regards to his role at the club in the short term.

Just two minutes later, we were 4-1 up. It seemed like the entire Heerenveen defence came out to Casper Sloth at the same, leaving Montenegro unmarked. Sloth found Montenegro whp in acres of space, coolly rolled the ball into the bottom corner.

With three minutes to go, it was five. Heerenveen were caught napping on their own throw-in when it was thrown straight to Frank Mulhern. Mulhern strode into the box with no one anywhere near him before slamming it home.

Brian Montenegro's flair and intelligence off the ball largely contributed to the win and he was rightly named Man of the Match.

SC Heerenveen (van Duinen 37) 1-5 Leeds United (Doukara 40 Montengro 46, 83 Mulhern 81, 87)
Att: 5,232

Pre-season fixture 4: Bristol City vs Leeds United @ Ashton Gate

We got the plane back to Manchester the day after the Heerenveen game. Soon as we'd got out of Manchester Airport, the coach was waiting to take us straight down to Bristol. We stayed in the Aztec Hotel & Spa in Bristol city centre, roughly 8 miles from the ground.

We had a day between the day we arrived in Bristol and the game, which was ideal because I wanted to get some training done before the game. I felt we could get by with the squad we had when we left South Africa, so there were no more players joining us at Manchester Airport.

Leeds first half XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Cooper, Bamba, Taylor, Austin, Mowatt, Murphy, Adryan, Montenegro, Mulhern

Leeds second half XI: (Diamond) Atkinson, Berardi, Del Fabro, Wootton, Alborno, N'Goyi, Bianchi, Benedicic, Sloth, Doukara (Bellusci 82), Antenucci

We started the game slow and were punished early on. Within 9 minutes we had gone a goal down. The whole back four and Rudy Austin seemed to be switch off completely, as Jay Emmanuel-Thomas threaded a through ball from the halfway line to Jonathan Douglas inside the area. The former Leeds midfielder had no problem with burying the ball, when left in acres of space.

That goal woke us up a little though. Just two minutes later, when Byram broke down the right. He delivered a perfect cross into the centre of the box, where Brian Montenegro was waiting to slam his header into the top corner.

We seemed to have learned little however, and we continued to slack in a very lacklustre first half performance. 25 minutes in, and we were behind yet again. We were caught out by a hopeful long ball from Aden Flint. Aaron Wilbraham caught Bamba and Cooper napping, and as he raced towards the box, there was only one thing on his mind. The next and final cock up came from Silvestri who let the ball pathetically roll inside his near post.

The second half was no better, and our misery was compounded shortly after the hour. Some horrendous marking and an abhorrent lack of pressure saw Jay Emmanuel-Thomas one-on-one. You know the rest.

Bristol City (Douglas 9 Wilbraham 25 Emmauel-Thomas 63) 3-1 Leeds United (Montenegro 11)
Att: 4,045

Coming up, we had two games in the North West- against Accrington and Crewe- so I figured there would be little point in to-ing and fro-ing between Leeds and wherever we were to play next. As a result, it was decided we'd remain on tour, staying at a hotel near Manchester Metropolitan University, whose football pitches we had obtained permission to use for training.

Once we got settled into the hotel, I called my assistant Steve Thompson to talk transfers. We already had two defensive midfielders, but I felt we needed another one as we still lacked a level-headed ball winner. Granddi N'Goyi isn't bad off the ball, but he's not particularly mobile. Rodolph Austin on the other hand, works like a horse and charges around like nobody's business, but he does lack intelligence as well as the ability to calm down and not get too excited. I've seen his overzealous manner land him in trouble in seasons gone by and I need someone who won't get himself into too much trouble.

"What about Sam Morsy of Chesterfield?" Steve said.

"Might be worth a punt, let me have a look at him" I said, as I pulled out notes that our chief scout Terry Potter had sent me on defensive midfielders, based on their profiles on ProZone.

Sam Morsy is 22 years old, which meant that he still had time to improve. The mental side of his game seemed to be all there- level-headed and alert, but he seemed to be lacking in the marking side of his game. I needed someone that we could bring in immediately that will probably be better than what we already have. However, I also felt that this was a side of his game we could improve with a bit of training and that we could make him the best defender at the club. With this in mind, I got onto our director of football Nicola Salerno, to try and hammer out a deal.

I needed another option in case we couldn't tempt Chesterfield to let go of Morsy. Steve and I continued to flick through the brief reports that Terry sent over based on what I was looking for, when Steve found something that got him really excited.

"Dom, check this out quick!" I immediately jumped up to look over Steve's shoulder at what he was showing me.

It was a report on former Lyon and Real Madrid man Mahamadou Diarra. He had been released by Fulham at the end of last season. He'd be one of the best markers at our level which is exactly the kind of protection I was after for our back four. I wanted to see him play and figured the only way to do that would be to get him training with us.

I rang Nicola again and asked him to arrange a trial for Diarra until the end of pre-season so I could watch him play in friendlies. I was confident we were onto something...

Pre-season fixture 5: Crewe Alexandra vs Leeds United @ Gresty Road

We didn't hear back from Mahamadou Diarra in enough time for him to play, which was a worry because after Crewe, we only had Accrington and Guiseley left to play.

I called Steve Morison up to the side for the first time, as well as the recently recovered Stuart Taylor. There was a strange feel about the place- there were just over 2300 fans in attendance and travelling Leeds fans accounted for 1800, which made it feel like a home game.

That suited us, we needed a numerous and vocal support to lift us from the defeat at Bristol City at the weekend. I rotated the centre backs to a pairing which I felt would do a better job of marking for us than we did at Bristol City.

Leeds first half XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Bellusci, Del Fabro, C Taylor, N'Goyi, Mowatt, Cook, Adryan, Doukara (Antenucci 41), Montenegro

Leeds second half XI: (Diamond) S Taylor, Berardi, Cooper, Bamba, Alborno, Austin, Benedicic, Murphy, Sloth, Antenucci, Sharp

The opening to the game was pretty cagey, with Crewe's 5-4-1 diamond formation completely shutting down our attacking moves. It took until the half hour mark for us to unlock their defence, when Adryan drifted towards the right-hand side and with some excellent dribbling, managed to get towards the byline. He swung in a cross which was met by Mowatt on the edge of the area. Unfortunately the goalkeeping was just as good the play that led towards it, as Garratt pulled off a stunning save to deny a thunderous half volley from our young midfielder.

We finally took the lead two minutes later. It was a soft penalty,one that Crewe will argue with some credibility shouldn't have been given, as Byram fell lightly under the challenge of Jamie Ness. Nevertheless, Souleymane Doukara stepped up to the penalty and comfortably stroked it home. Unfortunately, Doukara was stretchered off with an injury five minutes before half time, and was replaced by Mirco Antenucci

As I sent the second half XI, I felt confident. We went into half-time with the lead and with the way we were knocking the ball about, it was only to be a matter of time before our quality showed. We started the second half as strongly as we finished the first half, and just seven minutes into the first half, we were two up.

After being played in by Murphy, Sloth had the ball in acres of space out side the box and cracked a pile-driver from 30 yards out into the top corner.

Five minutes later, we were almost three to the good. The ball was moved fluidly up the diamond- Austin to Benedicic, Bendicic to Sloth- before Sloth played in Morison. Morison did well to beat his man and was unlucky to see his shot zip wide of the post.

Shortly after, Austin proved the need for a level-headed defensive midfielder, when he went in recklessly on James Jones, with both feet off the ground. The referee had no hesitation and showed Rudy the straight red card. We needed someone to fill that space and with no one on the bench, we had to pull Benedicic back into Austin's holding role and Sloth to the deeper central midfield position.

Five minutes from time, another golden opportunity handed itself to us. Casper Sloth found Morison inside the area with a neat through ball. Out of nowhere came a trip on Morison from Fraser Murdoch. This time, there was no doubt in anyone's mind as the ref pointed to the spot for the second time. Sharp confidently stepped up, and slammed our third of the evening into the back of the net.

Crewe Alexandra 0-3 Leeds United (Doukara pen 41 Sloth 52 Sharp pen 85)
Sent off: Austin 58
Att: 2,327

The next two friendlies flew by (so fast I never got around to the match reports). After the Accrington game- 2-1 to us, courtesy of Morison and Antenucci- we returned to our Thorp Arch base, and the players could finally head home.

The Guiseley match that followed wasn't a happy experience. Just five days before our league opener at Millwall, I wanted to field my reserves. Unfortunately, they were knackered from playing the day before so I was forced to delve into the youth team, keeping a strong side on the bench to bring on as I see fit. The side was too weakened, and we suffered an embarrassing 2-1 defeat.

With what I had seen bore in mind, I set about penning an XI that will play against Millwall. I had my heart set on playing Silvestri in goal. He was the one stand out performer in training and in games that I thought would make an excellent first choice.

At right-back I was stuck. I was torn between Sam Byram and Gaetano Berardi. Both performed their defensive duties impeccably and provided a brilliant option out wide, which given the diamond, would be vital. My gut instinct however, was to promote youth development and for that reason I chose Byram. It was vital to continue his development in the first team, especially given he had a subdued season last year in comparison with his rookie year.

At centre-back, one choice was easy, the other wasn't. Giuseppe Bellusci had put in a string of solid performances, he was the easy choice. I then had a choice to make. Dario Del Fabro had performed well alongside Bellusci and Bamba had also played well. I also hade to conside that Bamba was our captain and Liam Cooper was our vice-captain. In the end, I decided we needed a leader and so it was that Sol Bamba and Giuseppe Bellusci would be our first competitive centre-back pairing of the season.

At left-back I hadn't been highly impressed by the performances of Rodrigo Alborno or Charlie Taylor. Having said that, Taylor was impressive going forward and he was also a product of our successful academy. It was on this basis that I made Taylor my first choice.

At defensive-midfield, I thought I'd had my mind made up on day one. I was wrong. I thought Rudy Austin would be the leader driving the team forward and he had been in contention for the captain's armband. However, Granddi N'Goyi struck me as a more sensible and intelligent player, still with the tenacity to win balls in front of the defence. Still undecided on whether or not to offer Diarra a permanent contract, I opted to pick N'Goyi as my defensive-midfielder that would start at The Den.

The midfield two were a no-brainer, Mowatt and Cook had been brilliant throughout, and as academy boys, my primary instinct was to throw them straight into the XI. In the hole, I had been impressed by both Adryan and Casper Sloth. However, Sloth stood out as the more mature player, able to pick out passes and thread through balls seemingly through the eye of a needle. I felt that with more time spent on his passing side of the game, Adryan could become first choice, but for now my starter remained Sloth.

My striking pair wasn't an easy choice, as that seemed to be the position where we had rotated the most. However, the pair that struck me as a pair that clicked best was Steve Morison and Mirco Antenucci. They looked brilliant together during the first half against Accrington Stanley and left me with no doubt in my mind which two strikers would lead the line.

So there it was, my XI to kick off the season in a tricky away fixture against Millwall, historically difficult to play away from home as any team that has played at The Den will tell you. We had sold out our allocation in the upper tier of the North Stand and it seemed as though Millwall had sold out the rest of the ground, so this was bound to be a high intensity game.

Sky Bet Championship fixture 1: Millwall vs Leeds United @ The Den

To quote the old cliché, there are no easy games in football and this was going to be one such game. Unless your team has a good history at The Den, it can be a horrible place to go. The home fans will go to any means possible to intimidate the opposition players in a game in which you'll really need your away support. And even then it's no walk in the park.

Violence often casts a dark shadow over this particular fixture, whether it's in South London or LS11. On more than one occasion, there have been reports of Millwall fans taunting Leeds fans over the tragic stabbings of Chris Loftus and Kevin Speight in Istanbul. Such occasions have seen a Millwall fan ejected from Elland Road for turning up in a Galatasaray shirt (the team whose fans were the perpetrators on that fateful night) and uproar in the away end as thousands of Millwall fans waved Turkish flags at Leeds fans at The Den.

As a result, West Yorkshire Police have intervened in the allocation process for games at Elland Road, reducing the Millwall following to their hundreds. Meanwhile in South London, the Metropolitan Police have done little to reduce the numbers of Leeds fans travelling down, allowing the usual 2,000 in the upper tier of the North Stand.

As part of my job, I had to put on a cool front for the players. They were under no illusions about the intense rivalry surrounding this fixture and I had to make sure their minds were put at ease.

"Forget what goes in the stands. The only way to shut them up is to play well and bag a few goals. Then they'll lose interest" I told my players.

A piece from Phil Hay of the Yorkshire Evening Post said we'd do well to get a draw, and I agreed. I would be over the moon if we took three points back home with us, but a draw was what we were realistically looking at. In fairness to Millwall, they hardly looked a team of world beaters on paper, but they were the home team. The vitriol in the stands wasn't reserved for them.

One man that did know the Millwall fans was Steve Morison. He rejoined us after a loan spell last season, where he'd spent his second spell for Millwall. He was a fan favourite at The Den and he was about to make an appearance for us at their place. Imagine if he scored...

Leeds starting XI: (Diamond) Silvestri, Byram, Bamba, Bellusci, C Taylor, N'Goyi (Del Fabro 68), Mowatt (Murphy 82), Cook, Sloth, Morison (Adryan 68), Antenucci

As I followed my team out of the tunnel, I felt my insides turn. If we don't get settled in the first half, it's going to be a very unpleasant experience on my debut as Leeds manager.

We were almost behind within 15 minutes. Angel sent a high free-kick over from a wide right position which fell to Stefan Maierhofer right in front of goal in an onside position. Luckily for us, he cocked it up big style, lashing a high volley that almost went over the stand.

Five minutes later down their end, we threatened from a corner. An in-swinging corner from Alex Mowatt drifted into the box, and was headed narrowly over by Sol Bamba. Four minutes after that, the captain didn't make the same mistake. With the corner taken from the other side, Sol raced in front of everyone waiting for the ball, and slammed a header into the back of net. I breathed a sigh of relief and delightedly watched our fans burst into raptures over our captain bagging a goal on his debut. Almost puts my San Siro header to shame. Almost.

Another ten minutes went by before we were two goals to the good. Morison almost got in the way of Sloth's run on the ball, before he skipped to the right of Jos Hooiveld, leaving the centre-back in no man's land. Sloth then threaded a neat through ball to Morison who calmly tucked it home one-on-one. Perhaps a little disrespectful that he went and celebrated scoring for a rival at his old club's ground, but I didn't care. We were 2-0 up and flying high.

Little else happened until the break, but I came back down to Earth once it came, and I had to make sure my players did the same. I told them it was all good and well going into half time 2-0 up, but there was still another 45 minutes to be played and there was still little room for error.

3 minutes into the second half and we were cruising. Mowatt and Cook linked up in the middle with a one-two before Mowatt gave it to Sloth. As soon as Sloth got the ball, Antenucci was on his bike, and his first touch to flick it past Hooiveld was poetic. He then found himself one-on-one and brilliantly zipped the ball inside the far post. The 2,000 travelling fans went nuts whilst the 16,000 or so home fans went silent. It was a brilliant position to be in.

Ian Holloway was understandably fuming. He brought off Shaun Williams who looked like a lost puppy in the build-up to the third goal and replaced him with Ed Upson. Meanwhile, Maierhofer was replaced by the more physical Jay Bothroyd, who incidentally had a history with Leeds fans after a two-footed horror tackle on Becchio during his days at Cardiff City. Later on, Hooiveld, who had also had a shocking game at the back was replaced by Danny Shittu.

Silvestri was tested just after the hour mark, when a Lee Martin cross slipped through Bothroyd and his marker, Giuseppe Bellusci. The ball found Angel who was unmarked at the far post and I was sure we'd lose our clean sheet. Thankfully Silvestri was at his best to parry the shot out of harm's way. A few minutes later, Bothroyd headed a corner over the bar as Millwall looked to start turning the game on its head.

To absorb the attacks that Millwall were beginning to launch, I brought on Del Fabro for the booked N'Goyi to form a five man defence. Adryan was brought on for Morison (to a loud chorus of boos and abuse towards Millwall's hero-to-zero man) to keep the diamond together, as Cook moved into the defensive-midfield role and Sloth moved back to central midfield.

After that point, Millwall no longer posed a threat. Unfortunately, we did lose Alex Mowatt to injury so he had to be replaced by Luke Murphy.

Asides the injury, it was a brilliant afternoon for us, and we were delighted to come away with not just three points, but three goals and a clean sheet.

Millwall 0-3 Leeds United (Bamba 24 Morison 34 Antenucci 48)
Att: 18,393

Capital One Cup First Round: Leeds United vs Fleetwood Town @ Elland Road

I felt more relaxed going into this game than I did going into Millwall on Saturday. It was a midweek fixture at home against opposition two leagues below us. But this was a cup game, nothing is a given.

It felt nice to have a low crowd, as weird as it sounds. There was more of a tight-knit feeling when the crowds were lower, as the majority had been season ticket holders for years. It wasn't such a big occasion so we could relax a little and enjoy our football.

The South Stand and the East Stand Upper were closed, as was the West Stand except for away fans. There was still a decent turnout in the Kop, who were in good voice before kickoff. Kudos to Fleetwood, they came in numbers and appeared to have nearly sold out their 1,000 allocation at the South end of the John Charles Stand.

I felt the need to rotate the team. I wanted to put Frank Mulhern in the starting XI, but there were more senior strikers I wanted to take a look at. One thing I had no doubt in my mind about was calling Alex Cairns up to the first team. He'd recovered from his injury and was fit again, and with the way he played last time out, I was dying to see him in action for us again.

Not that I was going to play a team full of kids. As a matter of fact, I felt we had enough strength in depth to rotate everyone.

Leeds starting XI: (Diamond) Cairns, Berardi, Cooper, Del Fabro, Alborno, Austin, Bianchi, Murphy, Adryan, Doukara, Sharp

We started the game positively and looked pretty sharp. Speaking of sharp, Billy put us in front on 12 minutes. Adryan had the ball in a deep position before he laid off for Sharp. Sharp raced into the box one-on-one with keeper and slipped us into the lead.

We could've gone 2-0 up ten minutes later when Berardi found the head of Doukara, but the Frenchman headed it straight at goalkeeper Mason Springthorpe.

There was little action of note besides our onslaught of half-decent chances and dominance in possession, and we went into time 1-0 up and looking good value for another.

That elusive second almost came ten minutes after the restart, when another good Berardi cross found the head of Billy Sharp. Unfortunately, his header flashed wide of goal.

Ten minutes later, we came very close again, when Adryan tried a shot from 25 yards out which was tipped wide by Springthorpe, who appeared to be having a good game for Fleetwood.

We finally doubled our lead a minute later. Nick Haughton could only head Sloth's corner as far as Austin, who was waiting on the edge of the box. Austin played the ball into the six yard box, where Dario Del Fabro was there to bundle the ball into the back of the net. It was a goal we deserved, but I briefly felt sorry for their keeper who had been playing really well.

We continued to dominate and in the end it was a comfortable win. Credit has to go to their goalkeeper though, without whom it could have been four or five nil.

Leeds United (Sharp 12 Del Fabro 65) 2-0 Fleetwood Town
Att: 9,581