Nicked from Waccoe who nicked it from the SC site.............. Happy new year to all.
First off enjoyed the game yesterday for the first time in ages. Without massively overating an average performance and a scrappy win it was a real release of joy when the final whistle went. Anyway, for the first time in a while I managed to hit the corporate trail yesterday and tried to get as much information as I could from press contacts and anyone else linked to the club. So here goes... Spoke to Robbie Elliot, who was a happy man after a solid debut. He said he had enjoyed his trail at the start of the season and 'probably' would have signed for us then but Sunderland came in for before we had constructed a contract offer and therefore HE made the decision to go there first. Said that it meant he could stay in the same house, kids at school etc. Anyway things have turned a bit sour since Keano came in, Elliot said hes an 'Arrogant Bastard' who won't listen take any feedback from even the older pros at the club but 'seems to get things done.' So after all that he was due to Join LA Galaxy last week but after that fell through his agent actually contacted Wise to see if Leeds still had any interest. There was another player, a first team regular who wasn't playing yesterday, who I had a quick word with. I won't mention his name because of what he said and the fact that he is a top bloke. Anyway I asked him if Gary Kelly was injured and he replied 'Er.. yeh, in fact hes so injured that I very much doubt he will play again this year, but not injured enough to stop him coming to the christmas party, if you know what I mean.' Wouldn't elaborate on that. The big story doing the rounds was about Killa. A deal is 'very likely' to go through with the Blunts but the real issue is what we will get in return. Killa will be valued at around 2.2 million in the transfer. We are interested in 4 players in return for each of which we have apparently been told a value: Lucketti - 200k Unsworth - 500k Kabba - 750k Iffil - 600k Its getting very complex because Wise is waiting to hear from other targets before finalising which players he wants in that deal. i.e now we have Elliot he may no longer pursue Unsworth etc. The likelihood is that we will take Iffil and probably Lucketti + 1.4 million. Heard conflicting stories about Healy. A usually reliable press source has 'heard' Wise now wants him to stay and this was proven by his appearance yesterday, but most others including a couple of the payroll at ER think he is on his way. Villa, Wigan, Sheff United were mentioned and the fee likely to be 750k-1.1m. Talks have taken place with Tore Andre Flo and he HAS been made an offer to join us. Poyet is big mates with him and wants to give him a weeks intensive fitness regime to get him back to peak fitness is he comes in. Apparently he has asked for a couple of days to think the offer over as he has other offers from USA and Dubai(??) The Kandol deal could turn into a fiasco. Wise was desperate to bring him in on loan deadline day. Barnet didn't want him to go as he was their leading scorer etc. In order to seal the deal at the time we did it was written in to the loan that barring 'serious injury' we would sign Kandol on Jan 1st for 200k. Based on performances since then Wise and Bates have got itchy feet on this one. Bates reckons he can wriggle out of the deal and as yet we haven't completed it. It could get messy. Another target was/is Will Hoskins, top scorer for Rotherham. Bates thought he had a deal set up 6 weeks ago to sign him in Jan for 750k but in the last few weeks Rotherham have come back to us and told us we will now have to pay 1.5 million. Therefore at this stage we are likely to miss out. Made an enquiry for Taylor from Oldham and tried to strike up some sort of part exchange with Gregan going the other way but Oldham wanted silly money. They are however still interested in signing Gregan. Warner going back to Fulham today, Horsefield and Ugo already sent back to respective clubs. Sullivan likely to kept no1 jersey until end Jan at least. At the end of January Wise will make the decision to either try and sign Stack on a permanent, if his regains full fitness by then or to try and sign either 1 of 2 eastern European goalies that we have on trial or Peter Brezovan who is on loan at Swindon. Brezovan would be his first choice however he is currently injured and Leeds could only sign him if Swindon decline to take up the first option on him, which Wise put in to the loan deal. Wise very impressed with Marques performance yesterday and he could keep his place alongside Heath who is a very firm favourite of Wise's. Cresswell is badly injured and unlikely to play again this season, there are genuine concerns that he may never fully recover from the damage sustained to his knee. He hasn't even had his operation yet, after which he could face 6 months out. Poyet and Wise are both likely to sign on as players although neither are likely to feature unless and injury crisis strikes. Poyet has played in the last 3 'behind closed doors' games at Thorpe Arch, which are used to assess the constant stream of trialists. He is still very fit and one ex-YEP journo reckons he still has what it takes to play at this level but would rather concentrate on coaching but will play if he 'has to' this season. That's all I got yesterday, nothing earth shattering I know but just a few interesting insights into what's going on. Also the 'down sizing' was supposedly lifted from the Service Crew site - if you look on the FT site, there ain't anything there Roy _________________________________________________________________ Find Singles In Your Area This Christmas With Match.com! msnuk.match.com _______________________________________________ the Leeds List is an unmoderated mailing list and the list administrators accept no liability for the personal views and opinions of contributors. Leedslist mailing list [email protected] http://list.zetnet.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist 'I am in shock,' said Ferguson.
