Lucas

Can see Carlos Corberan at Leicester to be fair. He's done some pretty impressive jobs at Huddersfield and West Brom given what he's inherited and at some stage, he'll get a crack up there with someone. He'll know his parameters and will feel he can operate within them, budget wise, current squad and of course, impending points deduction. He always has his teams set up really well. You can see him making Leicester defensively a harder team to score against. But, it also totally smells of relegation for them already. Never a good sign when you go up and you can't keep the manager that got you there.

The sheer amount of TV games has ruined it. Initially when Sky came in, it was one game on the Sunday at 4pm and one game on the Monday at 8pm. You looked forward to watching it more because there was less games on. I think it meant a bit more when your game was picked for TV too. Bit more hype about it as it wasn't so regular, even if it was West Ham v Norwich coming to you live from Upton Park on a Monday Night. They built it up in a way you looked forward to it. Now pretty much half the games are on Sky and TNT and well, let's be honest, you can virtually watch any game you like by any means with streaming. They have sucked the life out of it. So when they do pick a Burnley v Bournemouth to screen, you just aren't arsed for those teams. And one of my biggest pet hates is the kick off times. That 12:30 one is rarely decent and that atmsophere's are always a bit sleepy and half arsed. That one should totally be abolished and is not needed.

Not had any yet but I definitely will closer the time. Just got this feeling for Portugal to do something. Think they are hovering at around 8/1 at the moment, and I do like the France v Portugal 16/1 odds (Rematch of Euro 2016 Final) as a little fun punt. Kane, Mbappe and Lukaku to be their teams Top scorer in a treble is currently just in and around 4-1 and that feels a good bet to me to cover your stakes for other bets.

It feels like the time is right for him to move on and blossom elsewhere. It's been too stop start at Arsenal for him and even he must look at players like Cole Palmer who move somewhere else early doors and establish themselves. 23 years old, lots of time left but no where near consideration at England level which has to be the ambition. But rather than Fulham, I think he'd be a great fit at Villa if they came back in. Champions League Football now and they got to look at shifting to that next level of regularly challenging for it. Could see Emery getting loads out of him there.

I'm resigned to the fact he'll go but what really, really grinds with me is how Leeds never play hard ball enough and get what the player is worth. Traditionally, We tend to buckle and give our assets away too easy and for a guy who won best the Player of the Year award in the league and have the numbers he's had, still all at only 22, so he's going to get better, I can just see us giving him away cheaply. What annoys me more is when I see what others seem to sell players for and there's no doubt, Summerville will make that step up no problem so we must be vigalent. I saw Palace were linked to Job Bellingham and Sunderland were wanting £20m. I mean jesus, he's done nothing to warrent that and we're talking about a player whose shown to be a level above him for sure so £30m just feels too low to me. That's a bargain in this day and age. Ideally I'd want another £10m. Can't see it.

Cautiously optimistic. Major positives. There's no doubt financially it's great for us. £60m in the first season then £200m spread over three years. This will now allow us some wriggle room we perhaps might not have had with potentially keeping players we thought we may need to sell, the most notable one being Archie Gray. Very lucrative deal for a team in the Championship and will allow us a solid chance to get back where we belong next season. Commercially, the club will benefit massively if they manage to gain promotion next season also. This only shows our pulliblng power and proves we are still recognised as one of the countriy's bigger clubs despite not being in the top flight. It's so annoying we couldn't go up this season because all our ducks were in a row ready to kick on under the 49ers but these things happen. Major fears were that this could lead to us selling off our name, ground, moving away from a traditional all White kit etc, but this has all been quashed by Paraag Marathe, our chairman. Red Bull will have a minority stake in the club but hold no power in changing any of the above. They will however be oir shirt sponsor which will be a bit of an eye sore tbh but bearable. There will be no board representation from them either. It would be extremely naive to assume it's all sunshines and rainbows. I'm sure the long term plan could well be to increase their stake further and further till they get to the point of taking over the club but you cannot panic over something that might not even happen. I think given the disappointment of Sunday, they club have clearly timed this press release well to raise spirits and positivity ahead of next season and get the fans on board. It won't completely numb the feeling but it will soften the blow and negativity towards what the Summer initially looked like for the club.

Madness from Chelsea. Don't really understand how they come to the conclusion replacing Pochettino with Maresca is the move. I know Maresca won the league first time of asking but it was heavily expected with a team that were everyone's favourite and he very nearly bodged it but for the inadequacies of others. I don't know if he demonstrated enough variety tactically and if the slow build up possession play is what Chelsea will want but we shall see. Maybe it does work? I'm not 100% sure the pressure cooker at Chelsea is the best place for someone that is still learning the game, and I wonder if he get's the time he'd deserve to give it a fair crack but then, when has anything ever made sense there? What will be interesting is where Leicester go now? Immediate thoughts are maybe Potter but could do worse and get Moyes, especially if your main aim initially is just to stay in the league.

He will be missed. Good luck to him, cracking personality to add to their squad and settled in well there quick. Will get a great ovation at ER next season no doubt.

19th 22nd

Fair play to Southampton. They beat us three times so you'd have to say that Russell Martin had Farke's number. I don't think they necessarily have a better team than us but tactically they are more astute and do not just rely on individuality like Farke seems to. They will need to invest but of the three that came up, I'd back them to finish higher over Ipswich and Leicester, assuming the latter get their points deduction. Taylor Harwood-Bellis is a class young CB and Walker Peters was the best FB in the Championship quality wise. If they sign him permanantly, Downes is a very tidy midfielder too. Other than that, you've got question marks over a few if they can handle the step up so heavy investment is needed, especially in the forward roles. Amazing how we've dodged promotion though. Could not have bodged it more, it was literally in our hands and kept getting thrown back to us to finish the job. Just didn't have the minerals. That International break ruined us completely. You get your day happen at least once but ours seems to always pass us by. If there is another team that deals with as march heartbreak, I'd love to know.

Always. I've never known a club like it. Said we'd choke playoffs and we did. 6 out of 6 now, 3 losing finals, not even scored one goal in any of those finals either. The club is cursed but also carries a losing mentality, much like the England National Team. Gutted but half expected it. We were poor and lost a final to a side that were extremely beatable on the day. That said, they took their chance and defended like their lives depended on it. Got to admire that and if we did lose out to anyone, at least it was them and not someone whose spunked it being miles behind. You just knew in this one off season where there were four outstanding teams, we'd be the one to lose out. Of course we'd beat Top 2 home and away, accumulate 90pts and still dodge promotion. It's what we do. The best thing now is that the club sorts out who is going as soon as so it don't drag on, doesn't dally about with Farke's position and starts rebuilding so that we actually get a team a full pre season and a team in place to start the season in a good position. You look at the names in this league and it feels a bit weaker so who knows. The first 6/7 weeks of the season without doubt has ended up costing us automatic promotion, it cannot happen again.

Is that meant to be Bayer Leverkusen mate? 22nd 17th

Credit to Arsenal for holding their nerve and winning their last 6 games. They didn't throw it away, they just made City win it and finishing two points behind is no mean feat. They have actually improved on last years tally by 5pts so they've made another stride forward. To think, City won their last 9 League games, and won 57pts out a possible 63 from Christmas onwards. That's what they had to do to win the league. That's just insane form really. Bar a penalty shootout, you'd 100% have backed them to do a back to back treble too, so what can you do when your up against that? Thank god we've seen the three come up disappear quickly. Luton provided entertainment and fair play to them for that but two teams have been given points deductions and stayed up without any kind of nervous, squeaky bum time moment near the end. That says it all about the quality of the relegated sides. Aston Villa deserve enourmous praise for getting Champions League. They have been brilliant and Villa Park will be excellent under the lights midweek next season. How Emery did that with so many injuries and a wafer thin squad is beyond me. My final message is Chelsea. Pochettino has to stay. He's had one PL defeat since February, got his side to one cup final, nearly two, probably should have been, and for all the bad press and criticism they have had, he's given them belief and confidence to kick on next season. Minus the injuries, they would defintely be in that Top 4 discussion.

That'll break a few hearts and put a few noses out of joint across the country I imagine. Did not expect that tonight from us though given our history, if truth is told. We're notoriously cagey in games like this. The key was the early goals and getting the crowd into it. Suddenly everyone wants the ball again, passes are crisp, the energy is back and the confidence is high. That Meslier save was massive for us at that moment in the game too to keep momentum. In the end, five or six wouldn't have flattered us. One more big performance needed in the biggest game of them all. Can we do it? Do we have the minerals? Either way, we'll go into it now as favourites off the back of this game and it's pressure on us to succeed. But we want it so much. Dunno what to predict with this Leeds side but I feel if we play without fear, we're far more dangerous than when we think about things too much. Maybe the bigger pitch will suit our widemen more? We'll see. Now the nigh on impossible task of getting a ticket for the final begins...

21st 8th

In

100% None of the sides look super confident. Feels like it's a bit of a leveller for Norwich and West Brom against the two supposed stronger sides. Speaking for ourselves, think we're playing a bit with the stabilisers on, that 2nd half we'd have gone on to win pre international break I think, but we seem very timid at the moment. Clearly we played today to nulify them and back ourselves at home although I felt Norwich were massively there for the taking if we were a bit more braver and decisive on the ball. I guess it's a good result not losing away and you want to stay in these ties long as possible but I think we got to really come out Thursday night and hit them hard, get the crowd onside and them on the backfoot, or it's going to be another one of those slog's.

Ah yeah fair, a team who finished 17pts behind another deserve to go up over them because they've been grinding it out for years? Same team that's been up and down from the PL more times than a whore's drawers, and only relegated in 2021? Yeah, ok. Good example.

West Brom? Lenny Henry? Tell me you can't stand Leeds without telling me you can't stand Leeds

Congrats to them, they did well to hang on all things considered. I think they rode their luck quite a bit mind and it definitely felt like the EFL bent over backwards to help them out, especially Sky with the TV schedulling, but credit to them for not bottling it when it counted. Because of the Football they play, they will create chances which is good for them. But they will likely get annihilated defensively. We put 8 past them over two games, can only imagine what others might do. The good thing for them is they have the backing to push the boat out a bit and I'd expect them to aim for Championship quality players with a scattering of PL experience and the odd 'foreign' punt. Keeping someone like Omari Hutchinson will be massive for them because others will be lining him up now for sure. As a PL 'original in the 90's' it's nice to see them make it back given the club carries a fair bit of history too. Always nice to see someone different back and they've been out the frame for a while. Portman Road will be packed out and they'll travel well too.

Think it'll be an absolute travesty for West Brom or Norwich to go up having finished so far behind. Could take maybe 7-8pts ahead of them both and losing out but 15-17pts gap is massive. I'll be jealous if it's Southampton because but if it is them, at least they only finished 3pts behind and they did the double over us. You can tolerate that a bit more. I think the only fans that will probably want us to win them will be Portsmouth, simply because they'll be licking their lips at the thought of the South Coast derby returning next season.

I do think it's harsh for sure. The thing is though, the owners will say he's been backed. And when you have ambitious owners like they do, the line is thin between success and failure. They started off the season buying a few players, most notably Philogene from Villa, and then in January, they pushed the boat out by signing Carvalho, Zaroury, Ryan Giles all on expensive loans. Let's also remember that back in January, they were a point off Sunderland in 6th and 3pts off West Brom in 5th so they were pretty well set but they chucked in some pretty average results. Did they underperform? Probably. Would be fair to say people would have expected more. They gave themselves too much to do too late really. But I would say having watched Hull, they went 6 games with no win between February and March and the biggest issue was lack of a finisher. They missed a proper striker in the box. Maybe had Delap been fit that would have done the job. For me, Rosenier probably came out the season with a 7/10. He's just missed out on the playoffs in what was a very competitive season so I'd have allowed him some grace given how strong the three that came down were. He won't struggle for a job, infact I'm sure someone will snap him up quick possibly Sunderland maybe. I do think Hull being Hull, probably have someone lined up and it could be a reasonably big name for the league so we will see.

Why Leeds will not win the Playoffs... Exhibit A. Our historic Playoff Record. '06 Championship Final, Lost to Watford. '08 League One Final, Lost to Doncaster '09 League One Semi, Lost to Millwall '19 Championship Semi, Lost to Derby Exhibit B. We are completely out of form. 4pts from our last 6 games. Out of all the playoff teams, our form has dropped off a cliff. It's very hard to win tje playoffs coming in completely cold to not winning games. Confidence is low. Exhibit C. Textbook Leeds Season Only Leeds could get 90pts and not get promoted. That total would be easily good enough for Top 2 in any other season. Infact, we will become only the second team since Sunderland in '97, to get 90pts in a season and not go up. It's absolutely written that we will now fail. Exhibit D. The Leeds United Factor Out of all the clubs, Leeds will always carry the most pressure going into playoffs because of the size of the club and the expectancy levels they carry. On pretty much most occasions, Leeds players have shown they cannot handle the pressure. As you can see, I've zero confidence in us winning them. Nothing is really pointing in our favour. You need a bit of luck to get through these and that's something we've generally lacked on the really, really big moments. Being honest, I think we 100% deserve to go up, Farke's done an amazing job in the circumstances. But as we know in Football, it never works that way.

Jesus, did not know that. Mental. Not sure if we'll ever see another season like this one again. Any other season we'd be up, any other season. All feels very Leeds like. I think Saints will win playoffs as well. Heartbreak loading...

18th 15th