12 Sept 2007 :: by
Simba
Roundup of today's stories:
The nemesis of Leeds Utd in the 1973 Cup Final against Sunderland, striker Ian Porterfield is dead at 61. Porterfield's goal combined with Montgomery's unbelievable save from Lorimer was the undoing of Revie's great Leeds side against Bob Stokoe's second division Sunderland. Porterfield went on to manage a plethora of teams including Chelsea FC - in the days before the club turned into Russian billionaire's plaything.
Chelski's owner Roman Abramovich learned an important lesson this evening when he reportedly offered the Russian team £1m if they beat England at Wembley. Sadly for the Russian billionaire
his side were humped 3-0 by a revitalised, Lampard-less, England and he discovered that money can't buy you everything. Reports that John Terry, who played for England last night, will resume training down a Siberian salt-mine today are said to be wide of the mark. A spokesman for Roman said "Mr Abramovich has offered the use of his holiday home for the exclusive use of the Chelsea England players for a mid-season break. Gulag Abramovich offers a wide range of sub-zero sports in the perpetual darkness of the Siberian winter. " he smarmed. "Armed guards will ensure their stay is not interrupted by autograph hunters, paparazzi or Red Cross parcels." he concluded.
Congrats to Scotland on beating the World Cup runners up 1-0 (again) to head up their qualifying group of death. Their 1-0 victory was only the second time in 13 years that the French have lost at home and the first Scottish victory in France since 1950. Evertonian James McFadden's goal was a sensational 30 yard strike that deserved to take the points. The Tartan Army was in full cry and occupied half the Parc des Princes (a place of unhappy memories for Leeds fans) and even the pre-match Marseillaise seemed to have Scottish accent to it! On matters Scottish...
News that Sir Alex Ferguson had been smacked in the goolies was treated with guffaws by most non-Salford supporting footie fans, along with the general comment of "what took 'em so long?" But that fact that Fergybum is a 65-year-old pensioner took some of the gloss off it - it would have been a lot funnier if Sir Alex was still in his prime - but then no one had the guts to do it. Ironically his attacker was a fellow Scot - described in court as a "fighting drunk". 
Sir Alex's attacker at the train station wasn't a footie fan though (no sign of Celtic/Leeds leanings then!) - he was just a Scottish itinerant; a fighting drunk; an appalling recidivist who racially abused the police arresting him - and then he was defended, at the public expense, by a black lawyer of African descent! If that wasn't ironic enough consider that there are so many footie fans around England and Scotland who will consider that they have legitimate reasons to want to bop Fergy one and then he gets randomly clobbered by a pratt who probably didn't know who his victim was - just another pensioner assaulted by another ex-con, high on drink - an everyday tale in modern Britain where Labour "is tough on crime and the causes of crime". Great sound bite - pure fiction of course - the same thing happened to my elderly father who was attacked by a convict who had been paroled that morning!!
I wonder if B-liar and Brown actually cringe when they are reminded of that sound-bite? They probably will when Ferguson, a well-known Labour supporter, tells them to "Go f*** yersel'" when they send around the begging bowl before the next election for money to spend on spin - (officially authorised lies)
- to cover up their total ineffectiveness in the face of a tidal wave of violent crime. For example: "Fewer fighting drunk Scotsmen on the streets of London" i.e. they are now detained awaiting trial for successfully attacking OAP football managers on the streets of London! (No doubt the CPS will ultimately find a way to not convict owing to a lack of evidence or the court will send him on an anger management course or an alcohol dependency rehab course and the fighting drunk will be free to emerge from his cardboard box to pound other unsuspecting commuters when he feels like it). [Article continues below:]
[Cont'd from above] Closer to home now - and strikers Jermaine Beckford and Tresor Kandol are to be offered new deals by Leeds United to ward off interest from clubs in higher leagues. Three-goal Jermaine Beckford's contract expires at the end of next season, while four-goal Tresor Kandol is under contract until the end of the 2009-10 season. Wise said to the official Leeds website, "At this moment, they are my future strikers for this football club and, hopefully, they will get us where we would like to be. I've told the club that we need to sort them out and look after them because they deserve it." Older Leeds fans will recall that this was the reasoning behind Peter Ridsdale issuing new improved contracts every year to David O'Leary's starlets - they didn't stop a single one of them jumping ship and in many cases lumbered us with under-performing players on unaffordable wages who we could not even give away! It maybe that the club is jumping the gun here out of fear. If we got promoted this season would either be good enough in the Championship?
The transfer saga of Filipe da Costa drags on as Leeds await FIFA clearance so that the winger can play in League One. There is a dispute between Ionikas, his old club and the player over whether he is still under contract. Meanwhile he took part in a friendly Reserves 2-1 win against Chesterfield on Tuesday. He scored the first goal from a free kick and Robert Bayly scored the winner.
Dennis Wise is reported to be using the emergency loan system to try and recruit Sunderland's midfielder Graham Kavanaugh.
Wise has already secured the services of 29-year-old, former Sheffield Wednesday, Barnsley and Preston North End goalkeeper, David Lucas on a short-term contract as cover for newly signed Alan Martin. Martin, who was signed from Motherwell despite interest from Glasgow Rangers, has Scottish youth international commitments and so Wise needs cover for his cover for first choice Casper Ankergren! Lucas will have the squad number 25.
The first home reserve fixture of the season, against Rotherham United has been put back twenty-four hours to Wednesday 10 October 2007 due to a clash with the Johnstone's Paint Trophy match against Darlington on the original Tuesday date.
United's League One match against Bristol Rovers this Friday evening could be a record break-breaker. Leeds fans have snapped up all 1200 away tickets for the game and if all the Rovers' season-ticket holders turn up the attendance will top 12000 for the first time for a Rovers game at the stadium. Of course it is more than just the visit of Leeds creating the demand - Rovers, like Leeds, are unbeaten in League One this season and had a good victory against Kevin Blackwell's Luton Town last Saturday.
The match against Rovers could see the return of captain Alan Thompson to the Leeds side. He missed the victory over Hartlepool United owing to a groin strain and is still experiencing problems twisting and turning. Further good news is that Jonathan Douglas will definitely be in the side as he will return from international duty with the Republic of Ireland without injury as he was an unused substitute in their 1-0 defeat to the Czech Republic.
A group of middle-aged Leeds United fans have sent money to Jamaica to help
buy boots and kit for a football team called Leeds United who play in the Jamaican St Elizabeth Parish Division One league.
They read an appeal for help in the YEP and decided to donate £350 they had left over in the kitty after paying for pitch rental for their weekly kick-about at the Weeton Hall playing fields near Lawnswood.
