Leeds United-Time To Rise Again

Superb start as Jack said, Leeds is of course a tough challenge but I am sure you can do it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_YiG7yN7PY

good luck with Barnes and those graphics are better than anything I could do so I won't complain about them

@Jack Thank you for the support! I'm hoping we get a takeover at some point soon i don't trust him at all. Thanks for reading!

@BeanyUnited Thanks mate! Yeah they could be but if we get a good early start i believe we can push for top half and maybe even playoffs. Also never seen that before….what can i say the guy knows how to sing

@ninjaskill Thank you bro! Means a lot as i said to Beany hopefully my graphics improve as the story progresses!

Authors Note: Anything beyond this point in Italics is the managers thoughts. Thank You for reading!



New Boss Barnes Announces Staff Members Released

We can confirm that 5 members of staff have today been released by new boss John Barnes. Former assistant manager Paul Raynor, former Head of Youth Development Paul Hart, former Chief Scout, Terry Potter, former Head Physio, Steve Megson and former Physio, Henry McStay, are the men that have been released.

The boss had this to say “After talking to each member of staff individually we all came to a mutual decision for the guys to leave for pastures new. I wish them all well in their future endeavours.”


Paul wasn’t a bad assistant but for me I need a man I know and trust. Therefore when I came into the club I knew he’d have to go. I’m sure he will find a new job soon. I’ll be looking to bring in an experienced man from the home nations who can motivate the players to be my new right hand man.


Former Portsmouth and QPR manager Paul Hart just wasn’t what I was looking for as my Head of Youth Development. He’s not bad at his job but I believe there is better people out there and that’s what we need to take Leeds to where we want to be.


Next up is Terry Potter. For me Terry just wasn’t enough as a Chief Scout, he only had knowledge of England, he wasn’t very good at adapting had poor levels of man management and couldn’t judge players to a level I was satisfied. Even though he had been at the club for 11 years he had to go. I’m certain we can get someone with much better ability.


Steve didn’t have the longest of second spells here but as a manager I want the best and unfortunately for him he didn’t come close to being the best in my opinion. I’m sure we can get a new Head Physio who is a lot better and possibly even younger.


Henry was a lot closer than Steve to staying at the club but after talking to him we decided he should leave. Again I’m sure we can get a much better Physio and possibly having one of the best medical teams in the league.

Coming into the club i knew changes would have to be made to start with. The problem here is consistency with new managers coming and going all the time. By letting go of those who i don't feel are good enough now and brining in new members of staff who can do great things for the club, which i hope to do in the coming days, we can start to get a consistent feel here and move forwards. Consistency is a key at a football club, when you have consistency everything becomes more fluid and easier and results become better. Hopefully this is the start of something new and something special for this football club!

It's a shame to see Hart leave the club again after so much success in bringing through the likes of James Milner and Aaron Lennon before his current spell, hope you bring in some good replacements for a decent set of staff

Some good additions there, hopefully it shows the club is pulling in the right direction mate!

Much like myself here, I always like to set my mark by bringing in some of m own members of staff! Good idea mate

So I’ve been named as Leeds United manager and I’m delighted to be here. Hopefully I can take this team to the premier league, into Europe and beyond!

The Club’s History:



The club have struggled of late. Last being in the top flight 11 years ago, with their last trophy being the 1992/93 season Community Shield. This isn’t good enough for a team of Leeds size and stature in the English game. I’ll be looking to add trophies as soon as possible. However the main aim is to firstly get this great club back in to the Premier League.

The Clubs Facilities:



The facilities look good. Elland Road can host 40,242 people which is more than enough for the foreseeable future. With top corporate facilities we should be brining in a decent amount of income from here. Whilst our Training and Youth facilities look equally impressive. I’m excited to get to work and take full advantage of them to develop some of Leeds top prospects. The only downside from what I can see is the £1.4m we have to pay a year to rent Elland Road. Hopefully we can buy it of its owner in the near future.

Squad Overview:



The squad looks strong. We have some really good players here, mainly being Lewis Cook, Alex Mowatt and Charlie Taylor. Three young English players who, if developed correctly, in my opinion could go on to be quality players and be key for England in the future. The only negative to the squad is the better players such, as those mentioned before are all young players. Lewis Cook at 18, Alex Mowatt at 20 and Charlie Taylor at 21. We may look at bringing in an older more experienced player so we have some experience in the squad.

Analysing the Team:

Goalkeepers- We currently have 2 goalkeepers in the first team in Marco Silvestri and Ross Turnball. Marco looks the better of the two and is much younger at 24 so he will be the man in between the poles for me this year. Ross does provide us with valuable experience which as I’ve previously stated we currently lack. Current plans are to get Ross to tutor young goalkeeper Will Huffer who is playing in our Under 18s side. Will may even be called straight up into the first team to become our third choice keeper. If this does happen he will be made available for the under 21s.

Defenders- At the back we have bit of a problem especially at Left back with Charlie Taylor being our only natural in that position. With no decent Left back in our reserve or under 18s side we may have to go looking and an older back up due to Charlie’s youth and incredible potential. Going across to the opposite side on the right we have Gaetano Bearadi and Scott Wooton as two natural right backs. We also have a bright player called Lewie Coyle in our under 21s who may be given the nod to join up with the first team. Moving in again to our Centre back we have the captain Sol Bamba along with Giuseppe Bellusci, Liam Cooper and once again Scott Wooton who is a natural there along with his natural right back ability. The likely starters at centre back will be Sol Bamba and Giuseppe Bellusci. Hopefully the two of them can form a solid partnership, which can take us high up the league. I’ll be asking Charlie and Gaetano to get up the pitch so the centre back pairing will need to do a job of covering when they make the overlapping runs. Whilst we talk about centre backs we cant forget to mention Leeds biggest prospect Jack Vann. Jack looks like a brilliant young defender already and can go onto become a major player in this squad for years to come. At 17 years of age ill be looking to give him some game time this season.

Midfielders- The position I feel we are the strongest in. With players like Lewis Cook, Alex Mowatt, Stuart Dallas and Kalvin Phillips. Starting at Defensive Midfield, we probably wont be using a DM this year, which could lead to Liam Bridcutt having his loan cancelled. He’s costing us £11,500 per week. At this level for a rotation player is way too much for my liking. Also he wouldn’t even be our first choice DM as Lewis Cook would fill that role. Moving forward into our Central Midfield we have three of the young stars I previously mentioned. Lewis Cook, 18, could be quality and will be the first choice centre mid. I will be looking to develop Lewis into a top quality box-to-box midfielder. Next to him will be Alex Mowatt, 20, playing as my deep lying playmaker. Hopefully Alex can help supply balls to our forward men whilst also covering at the back to help out the defenders. If either of the two mentioned have a dip in form or become injured a quick and equally as impressive replacement will be Kalvin Phillips. At 19 the youngster has mastered the art of playing as a Roaming playmaker, Ball winning midfielder, Box to Box midfielder and a Deep lying playmaker, he is potentially one of the best rounded midfielders I’ve seen at his age. Hopefully with the right development we can turn him into a star player. However, Lewis and Alex who are already class players might hamper his development. At attacking midfield right we have Mustapha Carayol who is on loan from Middlesbrough. Once again Mustapha might be seeing his contract ended, just like Liam Bridcutt, even though he is our best AMR according to my assistant Joe McLaughlin. I don’t like playing and developing other teams players whilst paying their wages (£6,000 in Mustapha’s case) knowing they wont do anything for us beyond the year. We have Jordan Bokta a 22-year-old Congense International who can play there who id much rather develop. As a backup out wide we can also use Mirco Antenucci at a worse case scenario. Switching flanks we have Stuart Dallas a man I identified as a potential key to start of. The Northern Irish international has made 5 caps for his nation grabbing 1 goal is currently valued at £2.5 million is the best AML we have. However his backup is scarce with Mustapha Carayol being the only other natural AML. If Mustapha does have his loan terminated a new AML will need to be signed as a backup option. Moving back centrally to Attacking Midfield Central (AMC) we have Casper Sloth. The 23 year old has currently got 8 caps for Denmark and could prove to be key if we do use an AMC. If not he can be used as a Central midfielder but will be 4th choice there. It could be a case of Casper being moved on to allow for more transfer money.

Strikers- For me we have to many Strikers and one may have to bite the dust. With Chris Martin, another young star, earning £17,000 a week, Lee Erwin earning £6,000 per week as is Mirco Antenucci and finally we have Souleymane Doukara earning £5,000 a week. As we have a few decent strikers in our under 21s I believe that one of the four previously mentioned Soulyemane, two of the lesser quality players we have here. Chris Martin is the best striker in the side so he can’t be sold and Lee has the potential to become a real force for us and his nation Scotland. In our youth team we have three 18 year olds who look reasonably good backups and two could potentially get a couple of games this year, namely Frank Mulhern from Ireland, Jack McKay of Scotland and Robbie McDaid of Northern Ireland who is on loan at Lincoln.

Youth Team Overview:

Our youth sides are packed with potential with 9 players expected to make decent squad players for our current team in the future. Granted we will improve so some of the players mentioned in those 9 will probably be moved on without making much of an impact. The most exciting players in our youth team currently are Jack Vann and Will Huffer. Both look like they could become greats for the club. Jack is already showing decent leadership qualities and could potentially be a future Leeds United captain. Our Youth facilities are currently labelled as “Great” with our youth recruitment being “above average”. Hopefully we can bring in and develop many more talented players to come.

New Staff Members:

We have made some movements on the staff front bringing in Terry McDermott (Former Liverpool and Newcastle player) as my assistant manager. Phil Cannon (Former under 18s manager at Everton, Derby and Blackburn) as our new Head of Youth Development. Joe McLaughlin (Former Chelsea player and Bolton scout) as our new Chief Scout and Allan Gemmill (Formerly Chief Scout at Crystal Palace and Southend) as a scout. Finally Ben Clarkson (Formerly at Southend) and Beth Slieth (Former Dumbarton physio) as our Head Physio and physio. We welcome them all and hope they can help take this club to glory.

Finances:

Currently our finances seem acceptable sitting at a balance of £4,089,284 and we are projected to make a £29 million profit come the end of the season. At championship level where TV money is scarce I will take it and hopefully we can build it up with more supporters coming through the gates with good performances. Surprisingly reports suggest Massimo Cellino is willing to listen to offers for the club, so who knows we may get a massive takeover and have millions of pounds pumped into us but for now we will stick with what we have. I currently have a transfer budget of £500k and a wage budget of £12.9k. I would of like a little more but what can you do.



Potential Shortlist:

Charles N’Zogbia- A man who has been around the block abit now playing for Newcastle, Wigan and currently Aston Villa since his move to England from Harve Athletic Club. Charles would be a great AMR and AMC for us whilst also bringing in some valuable experience. The only downside to Charles is his cost and wage demands. My Scout Alan Gemmill suspects Villa would sell for £1.9 million whilst N’Zogbia would want at least £27k per week as his wages smashing our current highest of £17k a week.

David Vaughan- David is a well recognised name across England and Wales having played for Crewe, Blackpool, Sunderland and Nottingham Forest, whilst making 39 Wales caps. Coming through Crewe’s well known youth system Vaughan moved to Real Sociedad in Spain for £300k before his return to England at Blackpool adding to his footballing knowledge. Vaughan was personally selected by Chief Scout Joe McLaughlin and I’ve been advised to make him a Leeds man whatever the price. However, we don’t have all the money in the world so if he comes close to what we expect the upper region of £750k he wont be a man we can pursue unless Forest do us a deal.

Anton Ferdinand- Another player who has been around a lot of clubs is Anton Ferdinand brother of Rio. Anton is now 30 years old and is playing for Reading. After time at West Ham, Sunderland and QPR, Ferdinand spent time in Turkey at Bursaspor and Antalyaspor before returning to England to play for Reading. Even though he hasn’t quite go the Quality he once had I believe Anton would be a great signing for the club as he would add to the experience we currently lack. With wages at £15k a week we could afford them the only stumbling block could be his price tag of around £1million-£3million which is money we just don’t have.

Matty Taylor- Matty, the man who scored that thunderous half volley from almost his own half against Bolton all those years ago has travelled around a fair bit since. After starting his career at Luton he moved on to Portsmouth before leaving to the team he hit the goal against Bolton again moving on to West Ham and is currently at Burnley. Matty is now 33 years old and still looks a decent player who could do a good job at left midfield for us which would likely move Stuart Dallas to go across to right midfield. Even better we could get Taylor for as little as £190k on wages of about £10k a week wages.

Andrea Luci- The first man from overseas on this shortlist is Andrea Luci a man my scouts have found. An Italian Defensive midfielder looks like he could come in for £650k and wages of £5k a week. Luci has played all across Italy for Fiorentina, Juventus, Torres, Pescara, Ascoli and current club Livorno. Luci could be a better player than Liam Bridcutt and would add some experience to the squad.

Stephen Ward- The Irish left back is a name most fans in England would of heard. Playing Premier league football for Wolves for three seasons and one with Burnley, the 29 year old has racked up 29 caps for Ireland. A potential back up to Charlie Taylor, Ward would be available for about £350k on wages of £10k.

Upcoming Fixtures:

We have six scheduled friendlies coming up. Starting off with a trip to Ireland to face Ards FC a Northern Irish side playing in the NIFL-Championship. We then face Italian outfit Parma at home before going back on our travels to Cheltenham. Our final three fixtures see us stay at home to play Darlington 1883 a non –league side. Then we face one of my former sides Liverpool in a tough test in front of our home crowd. Finally rounding Pre-season of against local side Thackley.

Great facilities and a good squad I think man. With the right additions you can definitely push for promotion!

Strong squad, well done with the staff improvements as well mate Looking forward to see who you sign

@Jack I seem to just be destroying everything you like about Leeds atm hopefully i can make it a better club and win you some trophies!

@mrgriffin2012 Yeah i agree! The only problem with the team and brining players in is the lack of funds! We started off with 500k in transfer budget and 12k in wages so we couldn't really do all that we wanted! Also players i want to move on haven't gone yet so its not giving us the money we want! Thanks for reading!

@BeanyUnited The staff that have come in are a lot better in my opinion to those we let go! Also they come in on less wages to those who left so Thanks for the continuous support mate!

Pre-Season

So Pre-season has come and gone, the busy period before the season is over and we will be looking back at how the Leeds Boys have performed. We had six games under the new boss John Barnes starting with a trip to Northern Ireland to face Ards F.C. We then came back home and played Italian outfit Parma before going on our travels once again to face of against Vanarma National side Cheltenham Town. Returning home Darlington 1883 came to town followed by the toughest challenge of the friendly games Liverpool with the final game being against Thackley.

Game 1 Ards F.C vs. Leeds United:



Our first game under new boss, John Barnes, took us up to Northern Irish side Ards F.C. Ards are a NIFL Championship 1 side, the league below the Danske Premier league the first division in Northern Ireland.

We started the game of in perfect fashion, on loan winger Mustapha Cayrol opened Leeds account under the new boss. The move started when 21 year old left back Charlie Taylor won the ball of Ards right winger and passed it inside to Lewis Cook, a man who the new boss has singled out as a potential star. With the ball being moved about across the midfield and defence Taylor hit the overlapping run and was found with a brilliant pass from Alex Mowatt. Taylor took a touch before composing himself before launching an excellent cross into Cayrol’s path. The 26 year old just had to tap the ball in and Leeds were 1-0 up.

It was long until Leeds scored again. With the defence doing there part just like the previous goal winning the ball back this time through Captain Sol Bamba, the ball was moved swiftly forward with young midfielder Kalvin Phillips being put through on goal. Phillips had his powerful shot stopped by Billy McIntyre Ards veteran goalkeeper. Once again Mustapha was there to clean it up and smashed the ball home. 2-0

But that’s how the game stayed. Despite consistent dominance from the boys in white we just couldn’t get the 3rd goal. With 24 shots only a disappointing 6 were on target which the gaffer addressed in his post match comments to us.

“The boys looked good today, we dominated possession and the defence looked solid. Yet despite how many chances we created we failed to convert and this is something we need to improve on. If we create 24 chances resulting in shots I expect at the very least 50% of them are on target. Yet we cant forget this is the first game back of the boys holidays and we are still working away a few cobwebs. Also its not made any easier when a new manager is at the club as new ideas are bought in.”

The second half also saw under 21 players Jack Vann and Lewie Coyle get a run out. This is what the manager had to say on the matter.

“I was glad the boys got some game time today, I want to get them involved as much as possible. I see the pair of them as some of the top prospects at this club along with the many others we have here. Getting as many of them first team experience as soon as possible is a massive priority for me. Training a player telling him how to become great making sure he eats right and so on is all well and good but the true development comes from game time. As young lads more and more game time will benefit them and us as a club. The fans can look ahead to many others from the youth sides ”



Next we faced of against Parma Calico 1913, with the Italians visiting our home turf in Barnes first home match as Leeds United boss. The second friendly started just like the first, with Lee Erwin getting an early goal. After Parma’s keeper sent a goalkick deep into Leeds half, Charlie Taylor won the header sending the ball forward to Alex Mowatt. With his first touch Mowatt knocked it on to left midfielder Stuart Dallas made a dash into space left open in the centre. With space opening up between thecenntre back and left back thanks to a good piece of off the ball running from Chris wood, Lee dashed into the space and Dallas hit the perfect pass. With Erwin taking a touch before curling the shot passed the keeper into the top corner 1-0.
After the goal Leeds continued to create chances and cause havoc for the Parma defence and once again in the 27 minute Leeds scored. From a freekick in a dangerous position Alex Mowatt layed the ball of for midfield partener Lewis Cook. Cook played the ball onto to Chris who sent a long ball to the right. Right back Gaetano Bearadi collected it and instantly whipped a ball into Woods path and the striker headed home. 2-0 Leeds United.

Just like after the first goal Leeds continously created chances and were the dominant team. However, they couldn’t score as halftime came around. With 11 changes made at half time, Leeds continued to apply the pressure with a throw in deep in the Parma half. From the throw a poor touch from Soulyemane Doukara gave the ball back to the Italian outfit. A long punt up the field towards striker Lauria a few passes later and the ball was behind right back Lewie Coyle and winger Giorgino hit a low cross to Lauria for an easy tap in. 2-1 Leeds.

Almost identical to the first Parma goal the move started out with Doukara losing the ball deep in Parma’s half and Messina punted the ball up to goalscorer Lauria . Lauria spread the ball wide to Ricci and after aa few touches Lauria found himself back with the ball out wide . With Corpai coming into the box from deep Lauria found him with an inch perfect pass and the ball was blasted pass Will Huffer, the 16 year old keepers into the top left corner. 2-2. Yet Leeds still applied the pressure and continously had chances yet just like game one couldn’t convert.

Post game we spoke to boss John Barnes about the game and how he thought the boys played.

“We played well overall, maintaining the high percentage of possesion just like game 1 this time keeping 58% which is pleasing and shows the way we want to play. But disapointingly once again we didn’t convert nearly enough of our chances and we paid for it. Today we created 21 chances that resulted in shots on goal with 9 going on target, an improvement on the Ards game but still not enough. Hopefully the boys will improve once again before the season starts up properly.”

Even more of our youth prospects played today, with Will Huffer, Jack Vann, Lewie Coyle, Jack McKay and Alex Purver coming on at half time.So how did the boss think they did.

“Once again the second half saw many of our youngsters get the chance to impress, increasing the amount from just Jack and Lewie from the Ards game to now having Will Huffer, Jack McKay and Alex Purver all getting a shot. Jack and especially Lewie impressed me highly again today. From the new boys most impressive was Alex who put in a solid effort from midfield and Jack McKay who was giving the Parma defence problems. Will also gave a decent account of himself despite conceading two making some big saves in that second half. All in all im very impressed with the youth we have here and those that have been given a shot are taking it with both hands.”

Game 3- Cheltenham Town vs Leeds United:



Next up for Leeds and managerJohn Barnes was a trip to Cheltenham Town, a team playing in the Vanarma National League, three leagues below Leeds. Despite the difference Cheltenham gave a strong account for themselves limiting Leeds chances to their lowest in Pre-season to that point of just 12 in the whole game. Yet Cheltenham were never in the game with Leeds keeping 60% of the ball, it was only a matter of time before the goal came. When it did come, 87 minuets in, it was worth the wait. Receiving a pass from Kalvin Phillips, Solyemanne Doukara, who was transfer listed before the game, took the ball dribbled to the edge of the area and hit a powerful shot wich nestled in the top left hand corner. The whole bench stood up and celebrated an exquiste goal and Doukara himself was mobbed by his team mates. 1-0 Leeds. With no more chances coming and Leeds just knocking the ball around, the game came to an end.

Speaking to the boss we asked him what he thought of Solymanne Doukara’s goal.

“All I can say is…wow what a hit. The boy can certainly hit one can’t he! After I put him up for sale he came to me and asked for an opportunity to prove himself before he moved on. Im glad I listened and gave him his go. A great hit from the young man and I hope he can go on and produce that quality for somebody else he needs him a little more than we do.”

Our next question was again on the goalscorer when we asked wether Doukara would remain listed.

“Yes, me and him have come to an agreement that his time here is over as he wont be featring to much in my plans. At his age he needs to be getting as much game time as possible to really make a career for himself, that just wont be something he gets here unfortuently. We have a number of quality strikers and a number of those pushing for places from the youth team, like young Jack McKay who gave a good show in the Parma game.”

Game 4- Leeds United vs. Darlington 1883:



The fourth game of Pre-season for Leeds United was up against non-league Darlington 1883. Mirco Antenucci grabbed his first of Pre-season and Leeds first goal of the game. Captain, Sol Bamba started the move from the back when he gave the ball to right back Gaetano Bearadi. Bearadi the, with his first touch gave the ball inside to 18 year old Lewis Cook who sent a perfectly weighted ball to the left flank for Charlie Taylor to collect. Taylor whipped in a cross to find Mirco who rose highest to nod the ball home from the penalty spot. 1-0 Leeds.

The second goal of the game took a while before it was scored. 65 minuets into the game and it was Cheltenham goal scorer Soulyemane Doukara who got the goal. The goal was exactly what the new boss had been talking about in his press conferences and interviews, a free flowing team goal. Passes were precise the build up was patient Leeds were playing the way the boss wanted them to play. When the ball was finally put into the box with Doukara running onto it he couldn’t miss and with his first touch he swept the ball home. 2-0 Leeds.

The third Leeds goal took nowhere near as long to come. A long ball was sent up the field by goalkeeper Will Huffer, Kalvin Phillips won the header and sent it on to Casper sloth. Sloth then played in Chris Wood who played it back into the path of on coming Sloth who banged it in to the delight of the Leeds crowd. 3-0 Leeds.

With the game coming to an end Darlington did get a consolation goal from Alan White who headed home from a Darlington corner. The final score 3-1 Leeds.

We once again spoke to the gaffer post game and he had this to say on the game.

“We were dominate, rightly so. But to keep 67% of possession is a great job from the boys and I’m highly impressed with how well we played. That second goal which was finished off by Doukara was the best goal we have scored so far, It’s exactly what I wanted, teamwork is what will get us in to a position of challenging for those play off places and that would be a great achievement this season.”

We then asked the boss if he realistically believed Leeds could reach those playoff spots.

“Realistically, yes, there’s a lot of top sides in this league and its probably tougher than the premier league it’s self as we have at least 7 teams a season who could be playing there alongside those around the bottom half. Do I think it’ll be easy? No of course it wont. Do I believe we can do it? Yes, if we do everything we can we will be there or there about.”

Game 5- Leeds vs. Liverpool:



The big game of Pre-season for Leeds United and the most exciting for the fans where 32,794 of them cam and watched the game against the new managers former side. Liverpool by far the favorites conceded the first goal as Stuart Dallas gave Leeds United the lead. The goal came after the ball was passed nicely between defence and midfield before right back Gaetano Bearadi launched into a run down the right flank. Sol Bamba found him with a great 40 yard pass before Bearadi put the ball onto Stuart Dallas’ head who sent the ball past a, stranded Bogdan 1-0 Leeds.

It wasn’t long until Leeds scored again. Another ball in from Bearadi this time found Chris Martin in open space and once again the ball was nodded home. 2-0 Leeds.

After the second goal it wasn’t just the Leeds fans who were surprised, you could see it on the players faces they didn’t even believe after 13 minuets they could be beating Liverpool 2 goals to 0. Keeping a majority of the ball the Leeds players grew massively in confidence as did the boss John Barnes. Pleased with what he had seen he decided to give his youth players a chance against a big side.

The second half team held out up until the 63rd minute when Philippe Coutinho struck the ball past youth keeper Will Huffer. That’s when the confidence the Leeds players once had evaporated, they lost all confidence and in the space of 25 minuets they had lost 4-2.

Despite losing the boss was more than pleased with the performance against a premier league side.

“Of course I’m pleased, we played very well against a premier league side for the majority of the game. We ended the match with more possession and created only 3 chances less than them. Not only that but we played 45 minuets with 4 under 21/ under 18 players in the side. It should and will give the boys confidence that as a team we can become one of the best once again.”

We also asked the boss what he thought of the 32,794 attendance a high this pre-season.

“Of course it’s a great sight to see, having as many fans packed into the stadium as possible. Hopefully we can be filling Elland Road for years to come!”

Game 6- Leeds United vs. Thackley:



Following the toughest of Leeds pre-season games came probably the game Leeds would have been expected to find easiest. Leeds have made it something of a trait in this years Pre-season friendlies by scoring early in a game, only once have they not scored inside 15 minuets. This continued when Kalvin Phillips put Leeds 1-0 up. A corner was put into the box by Alex Mowatt with the header being won by Scott Wooton and the ball being scrambled away it fell to Kalvin on the edge of the box. With an emphatic swipe of the right boot the ball flew passed everyone into the top right hand corner. 1-0 Leeds.

Only two minuets later and it was 2-0. Star man from the friendlies Stuart Dallas grabbed his second of pre-season. The goal came after a poor clearance by Thackley keeper Chapman found loanee Mustapha Cayrol out on his right flank. Cayrol ran down the wing before knocking the ball inside to Alex Mowatt who knocked it on again to left back Charlie Taylor. Taylor, another player who has stood out this pre-season put the ball into the box and Dallas pounced heading into the bottom right hand corner. 2-0 Leeds.

Dallas scored his second and Leeds third just three minuets later. This time Lewis Cook fed Gaetano Bearadi the ball on his right flank, with a great cross, Bearadi grabbed his fourth assist of Pre-season as once again Dallas headed home this time into the bottom left corner. 3-0 Leeds.

But that’s how it stayed. Despite constant pressure Leeds couldn’t find a way through and Thackley held firm. The boss was once again pleased with the efforts of his players.

“A great end to Pre-season in my books. The boys look ready fitness wise, we are playing good football and keeping the ball well and I’m excited for the season ahead. Hopefully we can translate everything we have worked on the past month into some great work in the coming season.”

Managers View:

My first Pre-season at Leeds has been a success in my books. We scored 13 goals in 6 games whilst conceding just 7, with four coming against a top class side in Liverpool against a young and inexperienced keeper like Will. We have also seen a lot of youth talent emerge with Lewie Coyle being a standout. Along with the under 21s and under 18s being assessed I got to see the talent we already have in the first team. I was incredibly impressed by Stuart and his performances across the four games he played, grabbing 3 goals an assist and one player of the match, the man was one of the best players during the period. Other names to include in the list of those impressing are Gaetano Bearadi, Charlie Taylor and Lewis Cook. Gaetano grabbed four assists whilst Charlie got three which is exceptional for full backs and exactly what I wanted from them. Lewis although not grabbing any goals or assists playing as a defensive midfielder managed the highest passing rate in the team getting a terrific 90% passing rate, whilst also winning around 4 tackles per game on average. Another positive is no injuries were suffered during Pre-season to add to that of Luke Murphy a player I unfortunately haven’t been able to asses yet due to his twisted knee. Overall I’m highly satisfied with Pre-season and I hope we can continue to do as well this season.

Very successful pre-season mate, scoring twice against Liverpool shows the attacking power of your side!

Nice preseason there just have to turn it into league form

On the eve of a new era here at Leeds United, with new boss John Barnes set for his first competitive match against Burnley in the Sky Bet Championship. We managed to grab an interview with the new gaffer to discuss the upcoming season and how he has been feeling so far at the club.

LUTV: Hello John, so tomorrow is the big day, a first competitive match as the Leeds United boss. How well prepared are you and the boys?

John Barnes: Afternoon! Yes, it’s a day I’ve been excited for ever since my appointment over a month ago! The boys are looking good, training has been great throughout Pre-season and on top of that we have a real feel good morale around us at the moment. Of course with me being a new manager here the lads are still getting accustomed to the way we want to play but signs from the Pre-season matches certainly say we are on our way to where we want to be!

LUTV: You mentioned that youre a new arrival and so far this window we have only seen one player arriving in Stephen Ward from the team you play tomorrow Burnley. How is he settling in so far?

John Barnes: Yes Stephen joined us last week for a very reasonable £375k. When I first joined the club the two things I felt we lacked was experience and a back up left back, with this deal we have gotten both. Stephen is 29 years old now and has tons of experience in the English game, including 4 years in the premier league. Alongside this he has played in 29 international games for Ireland which is a very impressive feat. We are very happy with the deal as not only does Stephen bring all of what has been mentioned before but he also becomes a mentor to some of our younger players, especially young Matty Downing who only turned 16 on the 19th of July. Stephen is doing a great job at settling in here so far and hopefully he can make a massive contribution this year.


LUTV: With Stephen coming in as the only transfer so far, can we look forward to anyone else joining us at Elland Road?

John Barnes: Of course we are always looking to strengthen the squad so maybe. Obviously I cant announce the particular details but yes we do have some deals in the pipeline and deals that are very close to being announced. Hopefully we can see one or two more players become Leeds men in the next couple of weeks.

LUTV: So with new players coming in, surely some players need to leave to settle the balance. Who is looking likely to be sold?

John Barnes: Obviously, once again I cant give out all the details of deals, but we have listed Souleymane Doukara and Ross Turnball to be sold and some interest has been shown in each player but no formal bids have been made as of yet!

LUTV: Moving on from players and onto your backroom staff, we saw an incredible turnover in members! 5 left the club and 7 new members joined with the latest being fan favourite and former captain Richard Naylor. Why were there so many changes?

John Barnes: As a manager I want my own backroom, not a former managers, mine! I feel its key to have a group of people around you who you trust and believe in your philosophies so that’s why. I’m delighted with all of the new additions especially Richard as he brings that know how of the club to the rest of the backroom which could be key in the long run!



LUTV: Pre-season went down in many fans minds as a success. How would you analyse it?

John Barnes: Pre-season was great in my opinion. As I said post Thackley game, the boys look ready! We are excited and cant wait to get out there and show what we are made of!

LUTV: You’ve said countless times you believe Leeds can be a playoff side this year. Is that something you stand by a day before you frist game?

John Barnes: Yes for sure! I honestly believe this group of players is a quality group and has the ability to do great things. Hopefully we show this off this year.

LUTV: How to evaluate your first months fixtures here at Leeds?

John Barnes: We have a reasonably long month to kick things off, six games in total. We play some top side in Burnley and Derby and the others we face aren’t half bad either. We also have a 1st round Capital One Cup game vs Notts County which will be interesting. But I am optimistic and excited to get stuck into things.

LUTV: We have one final question as we know you are a busy man and need to finalise preparations for tomorrow, What are you thoughts on Owner Massimo Cellino so far?

John Barnes: From the brief disscussions I’ve had with him he seems like a decent guy, he’s the man that’s bought me here so I am forever grateful. I’ll have to be off now as we have a big game tomorrow. I hope you and the fans enjoy the season and support us to the very end!

LUTV: Thanks John, we are sure we are in for a great season under your guidance!

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