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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.

Image via Wikipedia

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?

Carlisle Utd 0 Leeds Utd 2 (2-3 on aggregate)
League One Play-off semi-final 2nd leg

Carlisle United - Westwood, Raven, Livesey, Murphy, Horwood, Dobie, Lumsdon, Bridge-Wilkinson, G Smith, Hackney, Graham. Unused subs - Howarth, Arnison, Thirlwell, Taylor, Madine.

Leeds United - Ankergren, Richardson, Huntington, Douglas, Prutton, Beckford, Howson, Johnson, Michalik, Kilkenny, Freedman. Unused subs - Marques, Carole, Kandol, Hughes, Lucas.

Justice was served in a large measure last night when the team that got 91 points on the pitch during the season and missed the League One title by two points got to the Wembley play-off final. 

The 2-0 Leeds Utd victory over Carlisle United came courtesy of local Leeds lad Jonny Howson scoring in each half.

It was a stunning victory - an adjective often over-used in football but appropriate for this match. Howson scored with 90 minutes and 40 seconds on the clock just as the stadium announcer had said that there would be only one minute of added time. The referee played an extra minute after the goal and Carlisle managed to get the ball in the box but didn’t threaten the Leeds goal and then it was all over. Leeds fans and players celebrated and the Carlisle Utd players were understandably shocked, some in tears.

The fact that there was so little added time was due to the spirit in which the game was played. The game had no bookings - surely a record for a second leg play-off match - and no substitutions. I cannot remember the last time I saw that in a game.

Carlisle United and their fans must feel like they have had something taken from them but in truth the job was only half done after the first leg victory and the overall result was fair.

Carlisle had a better chance than Leeds of securing automatic promotion during the regular season and blew it at the death.

They dominated the 1st leg at Elland Road but didn’t play to the final whistle and how important Dougie Freedman’s goal was to be. Last night was the reverse of the first tie, with Leeds dominating the match for long periods with Carlisle limited to a handful of chances compared the hatful they made in the first leg. The Leeds midfield played the ball around last night, having been AWOL in the first leg. The Leeds fullbacks, Bradley Johnson and Frazer Richardson were more effective in defence in preventing the crosses that had made Carlisle so dangerous in the first leg and both were tireless in attack, Johnson hitting the post late on with a header and Richardson linking up with the attack and pumping in cross after cross. Jonathan Douglas deserves credit for his hard work in front of the defence too. Worthy of mention was Carlisle-born Paul Huntington who suffers dog’s abuse all night from the home fans but that would have been light relief compared to the threatening phone calls he received earlier in the year from the brain-dead sections of Carlisle’s support - no one savoured the Howson goal more than Paul.

In the end Carlisle Utd were undone by not playing to the final whistle again, when extra-time was surely in the mind of everyone on the pitch including the Leeds home-grow hero Jonny Howson.

The result still doesn’t mean Leeds United are promoted but a trip to Wembley is a fitting reward for the loyal and active support given by tens of thousands of Leeds fans up and down the country this season. It is justice.

Meanwhile spare a thought for Lord Mawhinney who will have spent a sleepless night trying to work out how he can avoid being present at the League One play-off final or what it will be like to spend the worst two hours of his life on national and international television being verbally abused by 50,000 Leeds fans. Let’s hope that as he pours the gin on his cornflakes this morning the wretched little man considers the “revolver in library solution” and does us all a favour.