Leeds United players
2005-06 season
Coca-Cola Championship
Midfielders

Bakke The Gormless Eirik Bakke Midfielder Squad Number: 19 International: Norway full & U-21 Brought to the club for £1.75 million on 25/5/1999, as one for the future, Bakke quickly established himself in the team. Unfortunately his performances since O'Leary left have not been of the previous standard. More recently he has alienated fans and club with his behaviour. He was convicted of drunk driving and made a palaver out of the court case instead of just pleading guilty. After being banned he was caught driving in Norway. He explained a local policeman had said the ban didn't apply to Norway. Wrong!!! Given the club's recent bad publicity with certain Newcastle United players, and the driving ban, you'd have thought Bakke would have kept his head down and tried to appease his employers? Wrong!!! After being diagnosed with a knee injury late in the 2002-03 season, Leeds medical staff told him to rest it over the summer break. What did he do? Played three times for Norway! Result? Ten minutes on the pitch at York in a pre-season friendly, during which he scored. After the game we don't see him again pre-season because the Leeds staff diagnose he is suffering from patella tendonitous. Prognosis - out for 6 months! Irate Leeds Directors threaten to sue the Norwegian F.A. for a million pounds. As usual we hear no more and Leeds United are a player down for half a season due to FIFA's ridiculous games of power politics and a spoilt player who should try and remember who pays his wages. Consequently, during the relegation season, 2003-04 he makes ten ineffectual Premiership appearances. www.leedsutd365.co.uk 2003-04 rating: Gormless After relegation Leeds fans were delighted when Everton made a bid for Bakke. We get a transfer fee (most O'Leary players went for nothing) and we get his silly Ridsdale-agreed wages off the books. Wrong!! Bakke decides he wants to stay with the club (the wages more like) and get us back into the Premiership. A few weeks later and cruciate ligament damage meant he joined the other highest wage earner at Leeds, Seth "Sicknote" Johnson, on the treatment bench for six months. A bankrupt club is now paying £60,000 a week to two players who would not leave their wage packets if you put a bomb under them despite not doing what they were amply paid to do - keep Leeds Utd in the Premiership. 3rd Nov, 2004 Eirik Bakke makes his return to first-team football in the 1-1 draw with Brighton, 29/1/2005. He comes on for the last three minutes and manages to get himself booked. Amazingly he gets a rapturous welcome from the Elland Road crowd who, one thinks, must have the memory of a goldfish. Update 3rd Feb 2005 Eirik Bakke made a couple of appearances at the start of the 2005-06 season, but true to idiotic form after a couple of games he was called up by the Norwegians (must have run out of whales and seal pups to kill) for some meaningless friendly; the club said don't go , but the numpty went anyway and within seconds of coming on as a substitute at the start of the second half Bakke got injured! But to make matters worse he played on! In light of the above history this was unforgivable ingratitude by the turnip. This was the last straw for the club and for the pratt - he was shipped out to Villa on loan as soon as he returned. The deal would have been permanent but Villa could not afford his wages!! So we'll probably see the mental midget returning to us in January 2006 - what's the bet he's injured by then? Update 9th Sept 2005

Jonathan Douglas   Jonathan Douglas   Real name Jonathan Douglas   Height 6'0"   Weight 173lbs   Date of birth 22 Nov 1981   Place of birth Monaghan   Position Midfielder   Nationality Irish   Int. Caps 2   Signed on 19 Aug 2005   Fee On Loan from Blackburn   Term n/a   Squad number 20 Jonathan was signed on the same day that we sold Matthew Spring to Watford. Presumably as midfield cover. He started in the 2-0 League Cup victory over Oldham and made the bench for 2 Championship games in August 2005. His home debut was in the 3-3 draw with Brighton (10/9/05) in which he scored the sensational added-on-time equaliser to cement his place in Elland Road folk-lore! Last Update: 10 Sept 2005

Shaun Derry of Leeds United   Shaun Derry   Real name Shaun Derry   Height 5.10   Weight 10.13   Date of birth 06 Dec 1977   Place of birth Nottingham   Position Midfielder   Nationality English   Int. Caps None  Signed on 18 Feb 2005   Fee Undisclosed   Term 2½ years   Squad number 21 The signing of Shaun Derry was a direct sign of the huge change that had come over the wreck that was Leeds United AFC. We attempted to sign him back in November 2004 but the Board that saved Leeds from administration struggled and ultimately failed to come up with the finance needed to complete the deal. Humiliation followed as the deal had already been made public and the player was already training with the Leeds squad! Since those dark days Ken Bates has taken over and, with an infectious confidence now pervading the club, he has provided funds that have enabled Blackwell to finally complete the Derry signing. Shaun signed a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee. As Leeds Utd is once again a private company expect more "undisclosed transfer fees" as Ken Bates keeps his financial cards close to his chest. Last Update: 18 February 2005

Eddie Lewis   Eddie Lewis of Leeds United   Real name Eddie Lewis   Height 5'9"   Weight 167lbs   Date of birth 17 May 1974   Place of birth Cerritos, CA, USA   Position Midfield (Left)   Nationality American   Int. Caps (Goals) 49 (4)   Signed on 24 June 2005   Fee Free   Term n/a   Squad number 11 Eddie Lewis signed for Leeds United from Preston on a free transfer as he was out of contract. In the previous 2004-05 season he had been influential in Preston North End's successful season which saw them reach the Coca-Cola Championship play-off Final, where they lost out to West Ham. Interestingly, he turned down a new contract with Preston because he felt Leeds United offered him a better chance of reaching the Premiership next season. He will play on the left side of midfield. Last Update: 6 August 2005

Danny Pugh   Danny Pugh Position: Left-Back/Left-Wing Squad Number: 12 International: none Kevin Blackwell's first signing as Leeds United manager. Danny signed on a two-year contract at Elland Road. He arrives in Yorkshire as part of the deal that took Alan Smith to Old Trafford. Being part of any deal that took Alan Smith away from Elland Road would, up to last week, be to effectively end your Leeds career before it started as far as the fans were concerned. However, since Smith's hypocritical move to the Scum, Pugh will now be seen in a very positive light as he chose to leave the Reds and come to Elland Road. The 21-year-old made seven first team appearances for Manchester United, including three in the Champions League. Kevin Blackwell said Danny offers him a lot of options: "Danny is a young up and coming player who I was aware of and he has the hunger to do well that I want to bring to this club. "He hasn't had a lot of first team experience but he knows that if he does well then he will get the chance to play regularly. "He can play in a number of positions and that could prove very useful to us. I have already mentioned that bringing him in allows us to fill that left hand side and move James Milner, a right-footed player, to the right wing or even upfront." Reading what Danny has to say in response, he could certainly make a living as a diplomat. In the following interview with the official Leeds web-site he pushes all the right buttons: "I've had a look around the place today and got a good feeling about it. I'm just looking forward to getting started here now. I got to a stage at Manchester where I needed a change and I think this is the perfect place for that change. "Obviously when you are at a club you want to play as many first team games as you can, that's what you are judged on, I would have liked to have played more games but it didn't happen and I believe I can do that here now. "High standards have always been expected of me at Manchester United since I've been there, and hopefully that's what I can bring here and carry it on."   Danny Nets vs Terriers   "I met Kevin today and I was very impressed with him, he's very enthusiastic and you can tell he wants to take the club forward and that's what I am looking forward to as well." Danny follows some illustrious footsteps in making the short trip from Manchester to Leeds, such as, Johnny Giles, Brian Greenhoff, Gordon Strachan and Lee Sharpe. All those players were taken to by supporters at Elland Road, and he's hoping to follow suit and with his attitude we have no doubt that he will. "I don't know how the fans will take to me, but if I am performing well on the pitch then I am sure they won't have a problem with me. It won't matter then who I played for before - as long as I am doing a job for Leeds United it will all go well. "If I have half the impact of someone like Gordon Strachan then I will have had a great start. "It's definitely a challenge, but I'm looking forward to that challenge and hope I can succeed here. If I can play as many games as possible and establish myself as a regular then I will be happy. I know it's not going to be easy to get into the side but I will work as hard as I can." June 2004

Gylfi Einarsson   Gylfi Einarsson Position: Attacking Midfielder Squad Number: 16 International: Iceland full (7 caps at end of Jan 2005) Born 27th October 1978 in Iceland he began as a trainee with KR Reykjavik. Signed on a free transfer from Lillestrom of Norway on 1st Jan 2005. He was brought to the attention of Blackwell by a Scandanavian Leeds fan! A regular scorer for Lillestrom he scored the headed winner against Burnley at Turf Moor on 5th Feb 2005 which was only his third game for Leeds and only his second as a starter! Given the lack of punch from our current strikers his contributions from midfield are much needed. Frank Sinclair of Burnley was also sent off for kicking out at him following a midfield clash in the same game! 6th Feb 2005

Matthew Spring   Matthew Spring Position: Midfield Squad Number: 17 Place & DoB: Harlow; Sat, 17 November, 1979 Height: 5' 11" Signed: 1/7/2004 Sold: 19/8/2005 One of many summer signings that arrived at the start of the 2004/05 season on a free transfer, Matthew Spring was seen as a key addition to the "Blackwell Revolution". However, injury and personal tragedy meant that Spring got very little first team action during the 2004-05 season. Meanwhile as the club's finances strengthened under Ken Bates Kevin Blackwell was able to bring in midfielders like Shaun Derry, Einarsson, Eddie Lewis and Steve Stone and Spring was seen as surplus to requirements. He was sold to Watford at the start of the 2005-06 season and immediately began to show Blackwell that he had made a mistake in selling him. He played the day after his transfer and bagged a goal! Matthew Spring may well prove to be the one that got away. Here's his Leeds United playing record: League: Played 4 (9) Goals 1 League Cup: Played 2 Goals 0 9th September, 2005

Simon Walton   Walton, Simon Position: Central Defence, Midfield Squad Number: 18 International: N/A Made his debut, aged 16, in the centre of midfield for Leeds Utd versus Claudio Raneiri's Valencia in a pre-season (2004-05) friendly. Memorable as he scored a penalty and then got sent off! He immediately became a crowd favourite replacing the recently departed Alan Smith in their affections. He was rapidly signed on a a full professional contract and he became a Blackwell midfield regular at the start of the season and against Portsmouth in the Carling Cup, in October, he played in the centre of defence after Butler and Kilgallon were suspended. October 2004

Jermaine Wright   Jermaine Wright Position: Midfielder Squad Number: 7 International: 28-year-old Jermaine Wright was out of contract at Portman Road after rejecting Ipswich's contract offer at the end of last season (2003-04). The midfielder was an ever-present in the Blue's run to the play-offs, and he collected five goals along the way. In an epic 51-game season Jermaine can boast to never having been cautioned during the campaign! The Greenwich-born player has been with Ipswich for five years following a move from Crewe, and just last week Ipswich manager Joe Royle confirmed that his old club Everton was interested in buying him Height: 5' 9" Weight: 10st 3lbs Date of birth: 21-10-1975 Games 03/04 - 51; Goals 03/04 - 5 Cards 03/04 - 0 y 0 r 29th June 2004 Update: 13th September 2005: Jermaine Wright signed a three month loan deal with Millwall. He has only appeared three times this season for Leeds (including the opening game against Millwall).