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Three players will be departing Elland Road this week.  The release of the squad numbers yesterday presaged Gary McAllister’s thinking about certain personnel and their imminent exit from Leeds before the start of the  2008-09 season.

Unsurprisingly, they are all midfielders - an area at Leeds United that is enormously overstaffed at present.

First to leave is Curtis Weston. Initially he is going on a 28 day loan to League Two side Gillingham FC. As Weston, squad number 41, hasn’t started a league match since the opening day of the2007-08 season it is unlikely we will see him don a white shirt of Leeds again.

Second out of the door is young, 20 year-old, Irish midfielder Robert Bayly. He is joining Darlington for a trial next week. It is understood that Darlo are looking with a view to a permanent signing. Macca has made it clear he needs to get rid of two or three players before the season starts so he can make another signing and loan deals will not achieve his aim.

The final midfielder to leave Elland Road and reduce the budget will be Seb Sora. The Finnish winger has not played for the first team yet but, nevertheless, is on trial at Scottish Premier League new boys Hamilton Accies. They face their first game in the top-flight for 20 years next weekend. Sorsa has already played one game for the Accies on trial and is due to face Linlithgow Rose on Tuesday.

Ian Westlake has been the subject of an inquiry from a Lancashire team but as yet nothing formal is happening. The closer the season comes the less willing Leeds are to consider trials for players that should command a starting place in other teams based on their performances in a Leeds shirt. Leeds are expecting a move for Westlake around transfer deadline day.

Macca remains keen to bring in another two players to Elland Road. With the Bothroyd farce ended by Leeds Macca still has the option to go for Dougie Freedman but the recent signings of Becchio, Showunmi and Snodgrass mitigate against it. Freedman will not come to Elland Road to end his career on the bench, however much Leeds might wish it.

After so many signings Macca needs to look to his defence which is as sparse on cover as his midfield is overloaded with it! Macca appears to have been impressed by the trial of ex-Celt Paul Telfer.

Macca spoke about Telfer and said, “I’ve got a decision to make, and it’s one I’m keeping close to my chest at the moment.”

“He’s an incredibly fit guy and he made the most of his time with us. It’s something we’re weighing up.”

Paul is a known quantity to Macca having played under him at Coventry City and has the required versatility to provide cover for Frazer Richardson and the centre halves.

There has been little comment on the present lack of defensive depth at the club.

All transfer eyes have been on the signing of strikers this summer.

But it seems strange that we have four goalkeepers but only six defenders for four positions! Bradley Johnson can provide cover or sorts for Sheehan and so you could say we have seven defenders, including young Scott Gardner. However we still have six strikers in the squad for two starting places!

This imbalance in the squad needs to be addressed quickly and so we expect any further signings to be at the back.

To bring in Freedman and have the same number of defenders as strikers would be madness with the limited budget that McAllister is supposed to have been given following play-off failure in May.

As Telfer said, “Leeds have a budget which they need to stick to so a lot will probably depend on that, but I enjoyed my trial and I felt fit.”

What a difference a year makes.

It was the news that the annual Elland Road open day (dubbed the “Sunday Funday”) will take place on August 3rd this year and that the club are hoping beat the 3,000 attendance figure for last season, that set me thinking about the changes over the last year. Beating that attendance shouldn’t be difficult considering the different circumstances that prevail at Leeds United compared to just a year ago…

Twelve months ago an unpopular Dennis Wise, seen more as an ex-Chelsea player than Leeds Utd manager, was suffering fans’ protests at pre-season friendlies. He had to put a team together in just eight days following a relegation season and weeks of legal wrangling over administration and there was a real doubt that the team would even start the season.

Finally, the club faced what many felt would be certain relegation into the fourth tier of English football following the imposition of an unprecedented 15 point penalty, by the vindictive Football League, before the club to get its “golden share” back.

Pass the valium!

Fast forward twelve months and the club achieved 91 points on the pitch and missed the championship of League One by one point. Because of the 15 point penalty the Leeds fans got to see Leeds United play at the new Wembley rather than next season in the Championship.

But off the pitch Leeds Utd fans set over twenty new League One attendance records and had the highest single attendance, average attendance and aggregate attendance in the whole Football League, including the Championship clubs - despite the police moving over 50% of kick-off times at away grounds to try and reduce the numbers of Leeds fans attending. In fact half-a-dozen Premier League chairmen would have swopped their clubs’ dismal attendances for that of the United faithful.

On the pitch a new local hero emerged, Jonny Howson and Paul Huntington rose from the reserves to shake off the Carlisle United boo-boys and keep his place through the play-offs and on to Wembley. The previous season had seen Jermaine Beckford star in a promoted Scunthorpe United side as Leeds were being relegated; this year he won the League One Player of the Season Award in the white shirt of Leeds United.

In February Dennis Wise was replaced with the surprise choice of Gary McAllister who introduced a new passing game at Elland Road and made one low-key signing - Dougie Freedman - a striker in a squad that boasted Beckford and Kandol - but it was a masterstroke and the Leeds fans got one more, unlikely, hero in one of the most incredible season’s in its history.

The reviving stature of Leeds United was demonstrated at the end of May when Andy Robinson left new League One Champions Swansea City and Championship football next season to join Leeds United back in League One. Anthony Elding rejected a summer move to Crewe Alexandra, prefering to stay and fight for his place.

Although there will be departures of Dennis Wise’s signings - Matt Heath has already joined relegated Colchester United - Gary McAllister knows that he does not have to sell our best players, as has occurred in recent seasons, and he has a reasonable transfer budget that has come from the pockets of the Leeds faithful turning up in droves at Elland Road rather than borrowed from the banks.

To paraphrase a famous saying, twelve months is certainly a long time in the history of Leeds United and I think the club can look forward to a record attendance at the 2008 “Sunday Funday” at Elland Road, and deservedly so this time.

Despite a storming finish to the 2007-08 season with Leeds United and a Wembley appearance, former loanee Dougie Freedman has told The Croydon Advertiser that he has yet to speak to Crystal Palace Manager Neil Warnock to sort out his future since his return to Selhurst Park.

Such inexplicable treatment of a player who has reiterated his commitment to Palace on a number of occasions and is meant to be part of the coaching set-up at Palace only offers hope to the thousands of Leeds fans who saw the impact the 34 year-old Scotsman had on a stuttering team last season and who would like him to sign on permanently at Elland Road.

Dougie has made it clear that for family reasons he would like to see out the remaining 12 months on his Crystal Palace deal. But he also gave hope to Leeds fans when he made it crystal-(palace)-clear that if he doesn’t play he will walk.

“I’ve not spoken to Neil Warnock since the end of the season,” Freedman told The Croydon Advertiser.

“I’ve heard that there’s a meeting scheduled but I’ve not heard from the manager. As far as I know I’m still reporting for pre-season training on July 2.

“I want to stay at the club (Palace), that’s for sure.

“If the manager turns round to me and says he wants me to fight for my place then I will do that. But if he tells me that there’s no chance of me playing then I’ll have to look elsewhere.”

Apparently Neil Warnock needs to work on his man-management skills, but that’s not news, but Palace are selling tickets for Freedman’s testimonial so what is Freedman meant to read into that - a golden goodbye? (hopefully, from a Leeds UnIted perspective!)

Despite his age would Leeds fans want to see him in the side from the start next season?

Leeds United Elland Road manager Gary McAllister is offering over £700,000 up front for former Hibs star Derek Riordan, who is currently bench-warming at Celtic Park.

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Derek featured in just eleven games in all competitions for Celtic last season, whereas at Hibs he was a virtual-ever present in the first team, scoring a nearly a goal every two games in the SPL.

It is reported that Celtic want £1m for Riordan whom they signed on a free transfer. Riordan was a hot property two years ago when he signed but having started him in just fifteen games in two season they have devalued their property badly.

Burnley are also being linked to Riordan in the Scottish media but there is little evidence from Turf Moor itself - the rumour seems based mainly on the making of a failed £400,000 bid for Riordan last season. But it is highly unlikely that Burnely see a player who didn’t make a dozen outings last season as even more valuable now!

McAllister sees fellow-Scot Riordan as someone who could set League One alight next season, following the desultory finish to the campaign from Beckford and Kandol, just as Scot Dougie Freedman did at the end of the season. However, at 25 years of age Derek is nine years younger than Freedman but much more experienced than Kandol or Beckford.

Although the accepted “wisdom” is that Burnley are in pole position because of being able to offer Championship football next season, and Riordan is better than a League One standard, it is McAllister who has the transfer funds in place following the Wembley play-off bonus.

Meanwhile, Burnley need to see out the end game of the potential move of their striker Kyle Lafferty to either Wolves or Rangers. With Burnley playing mind-games over the Lafferty valuation and having failed to come up with the transfer money for Riordan last time, Celtic will welcome a decisive bid for the want-away striker who has just 12 months left on his contract.

Of course there are two other factors in the equation - will Riordan’s agent see both his and his client’s financial future better served, long-term at Leeds United or Turf Moor?

And finally, where do you think ex-Leeds captain and current Celtic manager Gordon Strachan would recommend if asked by Riordan?