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Liverpool sack off Kewell and make Riise available

It will come as no great surprise to hear that Harry Kewell is leaving Liverpool after five seasons at the club. When the Australian arrived from Leeds United in 2003, he was regarded as one of the hottest players in the Premier League but perpetual injuries have seen him play just a minor role for the Reds every season. Amazingly he did get to start the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul before being subbed due to (yes, you’ve guessed it) injury.

Sky Sports reports that Rafael Benitez has given Kewell and his agent short shrift over the possibility of a new deal and that the winger will be moving to pastures new in the summer. It appears that a certain Norwegian full-back with a penchant for scoring spectacular own goals could be joining him.

“We have tried to come to an agreement with the player and his agent, but that has not been possible,” said Benitez.

“Kewell will leave the club at the end of his contract.

“With Riise and the rest of the players they have one or more years left on their contracts, so he is still our player at the moment and he knows if we receive a good offer - good for him and the club - it could be…

“But he is still our player and I am really pleased with him because he is a fantastic professional,” added Benitez.

Presumably Liverpool fans won’t be sad to see Kewell leave Anfield, although the same might not be said of Riise, who has done pretty well during his seven years at the club. The Norwegian has managed 33 goals for the Reds, which isn’t bad for someone who’s played mainly as a full-back.

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Leeds United Go To Elland Back Over 15 Points

Just as you thought their fall from grace was complete and they were focusing on climbing back up the football league, Leeds United are still refusing to let things lie.

Seemingly taking a leaf from the Sheffield United book of ‘How To Fight A Court Case You Won’t Win And Tarnish Your Reputation At The Same Time’, the Yorkshire club are still fighting the Football League for their 15 point deduction which occurred back in August 2007.

An independent tribunal considering the penalty is set to start today. The three-man panel reviewing the deduction is expected to make their ruling before Leeds travel to Millwall on the 19th of April, and if they receive all 15 points back, a win at The New Den would clinch 2nd place and automatic promotion back to The Championship.

If that were to happen League One promotion rivals Carlisle United and Doncaster Rovers have already said they will start legal proceedings and may more could follow suit.

However, the chances of that happen is slim but, according to leading sports lawyer Richard Cramer, it is still possible for Leeds:

A few weeks ago, I thought it was bleak, but having seen the legal documents, I think the prospects have improved. I think there’s probably a 25-30% chance of winning.

They may carve it up - they might say ‘Well hold on, 15 points is too much, we’ve got to give them something’ and bring it down to eight, seven or six.”

Thursday’s Transfer Rumours

Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o has added to the garrulous Nou Camp gossip layer cake that Didier Drogba will no doubt leap out of in the summer by claiming that the Ivorian would be welcomed with open arms at the Catalan club. (Daily Star)
…Meanwhile, Barca defender Lilian Thuram may leave the Catalan giants and waltz over to Arsenal to take up a player-coach role. (Daily Telegraph)

Lanky Portsmouth striker Kanu is mulling over a move down under to Australian club Gold Coast Galaxy, who unfortunately have links with the LA Galaxy. (Various)

West Ham boss Alan Curbishley will make a summer move for Chelsea midfielder Steve Sidwell, and he will bid £5 million for his services. (Daily Mirror)

Liverpool to make a profit on something! The Anfield club may sell ‘keeper Nikolay Mihaylo to FC Twente, especially as the big spending Dutchmen are willing to shell out £4m on a player that Liverpool spent a mere £225,000 on. (The Sun)
…And the spawn of Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish (no we’re not talking about the “stunna” Kelly Dalglish) – tepid footballer Paul Dalglish has been snapped up on trial by Leeds. (The Sun)

And over on the other side of Stanley Park…Everton are wincing at the thought of an audacious Cardiff City loan bid for striker Victor Anichebe. (Daily Mirror)

Dwight Yorke is playing every minute like it’s his last at the Stadium of Light, his Sunderland contract runs out in the summer and he wants to impress Roy Keane. (Various)

Aston Villa’s Martin O’Neill will be given a huge war chest marked “transfers”, in a bid to gatecrash the Big 4’s stranglehold on the Premier League. (Daily Star)
…While Villa ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen has turned his nose up at a potential loan move to Barnsley. (The Sun)

Alan Smith pleads for more leniency from the referees

Newcastle United midfielder Alan Smith has have to miss a number of games this season because of suspensions and the former Leeds United and Manchester United whinger is not ready to admit that all this is down to his fault. On the contrary, he is quoted by NUFC as saying that referees need to more lenient.

Smith says that referees are sometimes too harsh on the players and dish out the straight red all too eagerly. Smith also remarks that under such circumstances it is becoming extremely difficult for the players to go into tough tackles.

So what do you think? Is Smith right? Well, for anyone who has watched football, it is mandatory that tackles are always allowed and if you talk about leniency, then maybe the Premiership referees are so when you compare to their counterparts in Spain or Italy. At the same time, we must keep in mind that Smith has earned those cards because of his reckless tackles.

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Will Wise appointment stifle Keegan at Newcastle

The Daily Mail reports that Dennis Wise sauntered out of Elland road after he was offered a ‘directorial role’ at St James’ and it isn’t hard to see why Wise leapt at the chance to take on this £1.5million a year position.
Mail journo Colin Young writes:

“While Newcastle’s new boss Kevin Keegan was made aware of the seemingly bizarre appointment, it was driven by St James’ Park chairman Chris Mort.

“Keegan was reluctant to discuss Wise’s new role which, surprisingly, is expected to be based primarily in London and involve little contact with the first-team coaching staff. Instead, Wise will help oversee a number of key projects, including recruitment plus the youth and academy system.”

But will Dennis Wise’s presence, even miles away from Newcastle in the capital, put a distracting shadow over Keegan’s tenure? Keegan himself didn’t think so, saying:

“I’m very happy. I’ve spoken to Chris and, really, it’s a distraction we don’t need because I want to focus all my attention on Arsenal — but it’s not a distraction in a negative sense.”

Keegan’s just being polite though, isn’t he? Surely this will put unnecessary pressure on him, and would Wise really move to a desk job unless he had been offered the St James’ hotseat in the future?

Watch Newcastle live online

Wise could be about to team up with the ‘messiah’ at St James’ Park!

Surely nobody saw this one coming? Kevin Keegan has only just reported that Alan Shearer doesn’t see himself as a Newcastle number two (look how long it took Gordon Brown to get the top job), although the Yorkshire Evening Post have just broken the news that Dennis Wise could be about to team up with the ‘messiah’ at St James’ Park!

The Premiership club are understood to have offered Wise a position within Kevin Keegan’s regime, and sources on Tyneside suggest Newcastle officials are confident of completing a deal subject to agreeing compensation with Leeds.

However, it appears that Wise would become a director of football rather than an assistant manager at this most ’special’ of clubs. Are Leeds about to lose their manager to a Premier League club after already seeing assistant manager Gus Poyet leave Elland Road to team up with Juande Ramos at White Hart Lane?

Watch Newcastle live online

Is David Bentley the best January acquisition ever?

The Times has lovingly compiled the Top 25 January signings, and in at number one is David Bentley’s transfer from Arsenal to Blackburn. Times journo Tom Dart writes:

“Already on loan, Blackburn made the deal permanent two years ago. Whatever the undisclosed fee was, it was a bargain – Bentley blossomed and was in the England squad within 18 months.”

The Top 5, according to Dart is:

1. David Bentley - Arsenal to Blackburn (undisclosed)
2. Emmanuel Adebayor - Monaco to Arsenal (£7m)
3. Scott Carson - Leeds United to Liverpool (£1m)
4. David Nugent - Bury to Preston North End (£100,000)
5. Theo Walcott - Southampton to Arsenal (£5m, rising to £12.5m)

So agree with this top five? Enjoy it? The Times will bring you the 25 worst January transfers next!

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Watch Arsenal live online

Leeds are about a million times bigger than small club Derby!

…So says Leeds manager Dennis Wise who has declared that any rumours linking top scorer Jermaine Beckford with a move to Pride Park are a load of rhubarb as Leeds are a considerable bigger club than Derby County. When talking of any potential Beckford move Wise harrumphed to the Telegraph:

“Derby haven’t put in any enquiries. And if I’m being totally honest why would you go from Leeds to Derby? You wouldn’t.

“This is a much bigger club than Derby. I understand where we are and where they are.”

Poor old Derby, earlier this season they were crowned the crappest ever Premier League team before they had even completed a full season, and now Wise has declared matter of factly that Leeds are clearly a far bigger club than Derby. Leeds were Champions League semi-finalists in 2001 before being relegated twice - but will they ever be able to claw their way back, and will they meet Derby on their way up?

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Are these the 10 hardest men in football history?

The Sun reckons that the ten ultra-violent hard men below are the 10 hardest men in footballing history, what do you think?

Top 10 Hardmen

No10: John Terry
No9: Ron “Chopper” Harris
No8: Vinnie Jones
No7: Norman Hunter
No6: Roy Keane
No5: Stuart Pearce
No4: Romeo Benetti
No3: Dave Mackay
No2: Andoni Goicoechea
No1: Graeme Souness

Picking through this top ten The Sun have attempted to cover all bases in the nutter stakes but there can be lots of areas of complaint - what about Duncan Ferguson Tommy Smith, Julian Dicks or Billy Bremner, do they deserve to be in the list? And should John Terry be in at number 10, and most questionable of all, is Graeme Souness really the hardest footballer ever?

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Watch Derby County live online

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Leeds lose in the cup yet again!

Leeds are an infallible winning machine in the league, but in the cup it is a very different story. Last night was the final nail in the coffin as Hereford beat them 1-0 at Elland Road, Lionel Ainsworth’s goal after three minutes enough to guide them through to the second round. Dennis Wise said:

“We just didn’t perform. Credit to Hereford because they got what they wanted early on. We didn’t pass it well enough. We had chances as well but didn’t take them. There was so much wrong with the performance and we looked knackered. We had more than enough to get through but we haven’t performed.”

But will they really care? Surely this year is all about the league for Leeds and the cup would just distract them and make them even more tired, like Wisey says. Now they can concentrate fully on promotion, or will they start to take their cup form into the league?

Leeds out of the Johnstons Paint thingy

It seems the only reason that Leeds are any good is they are so wound up about that points penalty, that’s what we take from their defeat in the Johnston’s Paint thingy after tepid performance in the FA Cup at the weekend. But there is more to it than that, as the Yorkshire Post reported.

“Goals from Ben Furtcher and former York City striker Andy Bishop were enough to condemn Dennis Wise’s side to a first defeat on home turf in eight months but the first-half double from the Bury duo told only half the story of a thrilling night.

Leeds, who had taken the lead through Leon Constantine after just eight minutes, had to play more than half the game with only 10 men after Filipe Da Costa was sent off on his full debut for a needless kick at a prone opponent.”

Sounds nasty, who’s his manager again? Oh right, of course. But Leeds fans won’t care too much.

Bury now stand just three games from a possible trip to Wembley in the final, though as disappointed as United were at the final whistle the overriding priority this season remains promotion.

And, let’s be honest. That’s a forgone conclusion.

Leeds play in first round of FA Cup, no longer underdogs

Leeds have lapped up all this underdog talk this season, don’t pretend you haven’t noticed. So, Leeds fans, what do you do now you are the overwhelming favourites to beat Hereford in the first round of the cup? You can’t go on about your points deduction, or your wonderful fans turning out in droves (well, ok, you can go on about that, but please, DON’T), maybe you should be supporting the natural underdogs Hereford? We all remember them right?

The Bulls created one of the great cup shocks of all time when, as a non-league club, they beat top-flight Newcastle in the third round in 1972.

Come on lightning, do your job, twice. But little Dennis has a plan. You see, if his first team would be strong favourites, how about his reserves?

Leeds boss Dennis Wise is set to give some first-team fringe players a chance to impress.

Midfielder Andy Hughes is nursing a sore groin and looks likely to be given chance to recover, but skipper Alan Thompson could play some part after recovering from a calf injury.

Radostin Kishishev is still nursing a muscle strain.

Leon Constantine could be handed his first start since arriving from Port Vale, with Jonny Howson, Paul Huntington, Filipe Da Costa, Curtis Weston, Robert Bayly and Ben Parker all hoping to feature.

Gah! Now we don’t what to do. Outsmarted again.

Leeds finally beaten by top club Carlisle, is the run over or just a blip?

All good things have to come to an end, The Big Breakfast, the band Sleeper and (we thought) the Wispa. So what can we learn from that Leeds fans? Perhaps a Facebook campaign could get your unbeaten run reinstated, otherwise just deal with it. Your season has entered it’s second phase.

Great teams prove themselves in adversity and now, without their assistant manager and on the back of a 3-1 defeat to Carlisle Leeds will have to prove they have the mettle to continue their record breaking season. But how did it all happen? The Telegraph were there to tell us:

When Jermaine Beckford guided a left-foot shot past Carlisle goalkeeper Keiren Westwood in the 28th minute, the need for a composed Leeds side to rely upon the last-minute antics that had proved so productive for them this season seemed wholly unnecessary.

Out of the muddle of mediocrity, though, Carlisle fortunes were revived when Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s hopeless free-kick was cleared to Simon Hackney, who executed an unerring 25-yard volley to level just after the hour.

“That [abject free kick] just about summed up my day,” admitted a candid Bridge-Wilkinson, omitting that he was pivotal in two later goals that carried Carlisle to a victory which took them to the top of League One while curtailing Leeds’ unblemished start to the season.

The diminutive midfielder’s centre from a short corner allowed Joe Garner to head a second at the near post and in the time added on, normally the witching hour for Leeds to reap rewards, he dummied two defenders at another short corner and finished from a tight angle to becalm home tensions among the capacity 16,668 crowd.

And with that Leeds found that League One isn’t the push over they thought, but is this just a blip or have they been found out?

Leeds finally sign former Leciester and Charlton midfielder

Quite a few Leeds fans have appeared out of the woodwork this season, adopting a Yorkshire accent and claiming to be ‘back from ‘t pit’ when in fact they have spent the last few years following the Premier League and distancing themselves from Yorkshire’s third best team. And it is not just fans that are queuing up to jump on the Leeds bandwagon, it’s players too.

The Yorkshire Post report:

“RADOSTIN KISHISHEV has returned to Leeds United on loan. The 33-year-old Leicester City midfielder has joined Leeds on an initial one-month loan deal after falling out of favour at the Walkers Stadium.”

All good news for Leeds and a sign of how much more attractive they have become to players in the last few months, you see:

“The Bulgarian international spent the final two months on loan at Elland Road from Charlton Athletic last season and made a huge impression despite United being relegated. United wanted to sign the midfielder in the summer, but the lure of Championship football proved too great.”

We’re fans of the genuine passion of lower league football but we’ve never heard anyone reference the “lure of the Championship”.

Leeds Showing The Spirit Of A Champion (Or A Promoted Side)

In the nineties it was offered said that Manchester United were lucky, after all they always got that last minute goal that saw them escape with three points when they hadn’t looked to deserving of it for 89 minutes (or 97, in some cases). But it wasn’t luck or coincidence, it was the ability to fight till the whistle and all those sorts of things that PE teachers tell you to do. Anyway, ten years later and the club showing that United spirit are their best buddies Leeds, who got another late(ish) winner at Brighton this weekend.

As the game drifted towards the last ten minutes at 0-0 up popped the Cantona of the lower leagues, we’ll let the Yorkshire Evening Post take up the story (in some sort of strange broken English):

“TRESOR Kandol came up with a trademark late goal to put Leeds United with two wins of the top of League One. It was win number ten in United’s indomitable start to life in League One, and takes them to ninth in the table, six points shy of leaders Leyton Orient.”

Has Dennis got the team so motivated and driven that this will be the story of a promotion season? There’s a long way to go yet but if they can keep popping up with the kind of results usually reserved for league champions then they can’t go too far wrong.

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