Leeds United- The future's all White

This is the new story as detailed in my previous thread, Leeds United- Movin' on up

Tues 18th Oct 2011
LEEDS SACK GRAYSON

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As many had anticipated, Leeds United Simon Grayson's time with the club has been brought to a close this evening. It comes on the back of a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Birmingham City at St Andrew's, which continued a winless run that has lasted since August and has seen Leeds lose eight and draw two. The former Blackpool manager was dismissed alongside his assistant Glynn Snodin, and his Ian Miller.

This dismissal has been the curtain call on an otherwise happy spell at his boyhood club for Simon Grayson who got Leeds back into the in 2010 and almost got them playoff spot a year later. In a statement, the club had this to say:

"With all due respects to Simon, our form of late has been nothing short of woeful and attending a Leeds has now become a chore rather than a leisure activity. We feel the time is right to get a new manager in so that he can steer the club in the right direction as early as possible. We would like to thank and congratulate Simon for everything he has achieved with this club, a personal highlight for me (Shaun Harvey) was the 1-0 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup. We all have to move on at some pooint and Simon leaves with all of our best wishes"

Sat 22nd Oct 2011
TOWNEND HIRED AS NEW LEEDS BOSS



Ex-Leeds United and England centre-back Josh Townend has been appointed as the new manager in charge of Leeds United this morning. He has taken charge with immediate effect, giving him just hours for him to prepare his side for the game against Hull City this afternoon.

The 46-year-old earned a tough-tackling gentleman reputation during his time with Leeds from 1982 to 2002, due to his robust tackling style of play- which unfortunately earned him 5 red cards and 31 yellow cards in his playing career- as well as the way he handled his opponents after challenge, such as helping them to their feet or seeing them off the pitch if they were stretchered off.

During his international career, he made 42 caps and scored 14 goals- the most scored by an England defender- as he appeared in Italia 90, Euro 92 and 96 as well as making one appearance off the bench in the quarter-final defeat against Brazil at the 2002 World Cup.

A press conference has been scheduled for tomorrow and the media will undoubtedly be desperate to hear wha he has to say.

Tues 25 Oct 2011
TOWNEND THROWN IN THE DEEP END

Despite not having any managerial experience, new Leeds Josh Townend has been thrown into the deep end right from the off when he took over 3 days ago. He had very little time to prepare his for the game against Hull on the same day he became manager on Saturday and he's had to bing in his own staff. In addition to this, the transfer window is shut which means he is going to have to scrape the barrell for loanees and free transfers if he wants to bring in additional immediately.

However, to his credit, he has overcome these difficulty to the best of his ability. This was outlined on Saturday when without an assistant manager or first team on hand to help out, his team pulled off a 2-1 win at home to Hull, their first since August when the game looked to be heading for a draw after Jack Hobbs grabbed a late equaliser, only for Mika Vayrynen to snatch a deep into added time.

Furthermore, he has done well with backroom staff. He has now drafted in Terry McDermott as assistant , who had been assistant to Lee Clark at Huddersfield Town. He has also brought in two coaches, Tosh Farrell who had previously been a at Everton training with the strikers- he even coached Wayne Rooney when he was coming up through the ranks. The other coach is Ian Chapman who specialises in defence , but unlike his colleague Tosh Farrell, he arrives without such a glorious CV, spending time as a coach firstly at Gillingham and then Brighton- but Townend however still believes this man can still do a good job of the .

Thu 1 Dec 2011
NOVEMBER 2011 (AS WELL AS END OF OCTOBER)

Leeds 2-1 Hull

Blackpool 0-3 Leeds

Leeds 2-2 Ipswich

Bristol City 3-1 Leeds

Coventry 2-3 Leeds

Leeds 3-1 Cardiff*

Leeds 3-0 Millwall*

All in all a decent start for Townend's Leeds, some impressive wins in there but the Blackpool result was particularly impressive. The strikers just need to find some consistency and Leeds can climb back up the table.

*You may or may not have noticed that these results have changed. This is because my dad confiscated my laptop one night and shut it down without saving my progress so I had to play those two again- honest.

NB- I also removed details of the goalscorers as it would be a drag to do this for the rest of the season.

DECEMBER 2011

Brighton 2-3 Leeds

Leeds 2-0 Portsmouth

Burnley 3-2 Leeds

Leeds 2-0 Doncaster

Leeds 2-2 Middlesbrough

Another fairly productive month and we put up a particularly impressive battle against Brighton after going behind twice. We also came from 2-0 down to snatch a draw at home to Middlesbrough which was also fairly pleasing.

JANUARY 2012

Watford 0-2 Leeds

Leeds 1-2 Everton

Leeds 1-1 Peterborough

Derby 2-0 Leeds

Leeds 0-1 Southampton

Quite a disappointing start to 2012, would have liked to at least get a draw against Southampton after the possession and chances we had. Hope to do better in February.

FEBRUARY 2012

West Ham 1-1 Leeds

Leeds 3-3 Leicester

Crystal Palace 2-1 Leeds

Reading 1-1 Leeds

Leeds 1-0 Barnsley

Another disappointing month with only one win from five. Form MUST improve going into the last two months of the season.

MARCH 2012

Leeds 0-3 Birmingham

Nottm Forest 0-1 Leeds

Hull 4-1 Leeds

Leeds 1-1 Blackpool

Ipswich 2-0 Leeds

Leeds 2-2 Bristol City

Cardiff 1-2 Leeds

Leeds can now kiss any remaining playoff hopes goodbye as a dreadful February and March have seen them slump from 10th to 18th, 15 points clear of the relegation zone, although it is looking unlikely that will happen. Lets just see out April and pray that next season is a lot better.

APRIL 2012

Millwall 3-0 Leeds

Leeds 2-0 Coventry

Leeds 0-2 Brighton

Portsmouth 2-2 Leeds

Leeds 2-0 Burnley

Doncaster 4-1 Leeds

A rather embarrassing defeat against a relegated Doncaster side which had perfectly summed up a rather unspectacular season for the whites. A summer of change is needed urgently and if there is none, the dream could be over for Josh Townend before its even started.

Thu 1st Jun 2012
TOWNEND PROMISES OVERHAUL

Leeds United manager Josh Townend has promised Leeds fans a complete summer of change after he returned from holiday today, following a dreadful season which saw the whites finish 16th and beaten 4-1 at the hands of Doncaster.

"I would be telling a lie that could put a politician to shame if I said we could do better if we kept the side the same. I've told quite a lot of players what's what with who they will be playing for this year."

"I have signings lined up and I can already announce my first tomorrow"

"Trust me, you'll love him"

Fri 2nd Jun 2012
LEEDS SNAP UP DEFENDER FOR FREE
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Leeds United have today announced the signing of Queens Park Rangers centre-back Peter Ramage. The 28-year-old has signed up on a pre-contract deal which will see him offcially become a Leeds player on 1st July.

Ramage has had a tough time breaking into the side since Neil Warnock's arrival at the London club and has made just 4 appearances for the side since summer 2010. Before that, he was a regular at the back, making 64 appearances and scoring 2 goals in 2 years. Last season, he spent time on loan first at Crystal Palace where he made 21 appearances, and then at Preston where he made 16 appearances and scored 2 goals.

Fri 9th Jun 2012
TOWNEND ON SPENDING SPREE AS LEEDS SIGN SIX (AND SELL FOUR)
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Adrian Mariappa
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Gauthier Pinaud

Martin Taylor

Prince Buaben
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Jordan Spence
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David Wotherspoon

Leeds United have signed six in one day, stating their clear intentions to go through with a summer of change.

Out of those six , three of them came from Watford in the form of centre-backs Adrian Mariappa and Martin Taylor as well as centre-midfielder Prince Buaben. The three were all transfer-listed by request after Watford were relegated to League One last season.

Leeds also signed Hearts' right-winger Gauthier Pinaud, Hibernian right-back David Wotherspoon as well as landing a coup in versatile young West Ham Jordan Spence.

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Andy O'Brien
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Paddy Kisnorbo

Paul Connolly
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Andy Lonergan

As well as signing , Leeds have also moved some of their own on today, with the sales of Andy O'Brien to Sheffield Wednesday, Paul Connolly to recently promoted Ipswich, Paddy Kisnorbo to Southampton and Andy Lonergan to West Bromwich Albion.

Townend admitted he was sad to lose Lonergan, but stated he wanted an even better and it seemed unfair to leave someone of the ex-Preston man's ability on the sidelines as backup.

Sat 10th Jun 2012
LEEDS SIGN KELLY
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Leeds United have made what is already their 8th signing this summer by securing the signature of Kilmarnock centre-midfielder Liam Kelly.

The 22-year old signed for Kilmarnock from MK Dons in the summer of 2008, and made 83 appearances, scoring 12 goals. Kelly was part of the Kilmarnock side that finished in 9th in the Scottish Premier League last season, 9 points clear of relegated Motherwell.

SHARP COMPLETES LEEDS SWITCH


Leeds United have completed the signing of 26-year-old Doncaster Rovers striker Billy Sharp. The striker has been in high demand after finishing as the Championship's top goalscorer last season with 24 goals from 39 appearances and the fans will be delighted that the whites have beaten Bolton, Sunderland, West Brom and newly promoted Ipswich to his signature.

The transfer is thought to have cost the club a lot of money and the initial fee is rumoured to be worth £1m in addition ot monthly installments of £2m over 4 years. As for the contract, the ex-Sheffield United man has put pen to paper on a 2-year deal with wages rumoured to be in the region of £22,000 a week.