Good Morning. It's Tuesday 6th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Leeds are in good hands with Radrizzani Soccer finance expert Kieran Maguire has labelled Andrea Radrizzani as being 'extremely smart' and what he lacks in personal wealth, he makes up in experience. “He is certainly at the top rung in terms of people involved in the executive side of the game. “He’s been on both sides of the table to a certain extent in terms of buying and selling commercial deals. “He also knows what he’s looking for as a broadcaster so he can see if he’s getting the best value for money in terms of top-tier deals like this. “He’s an extremely smart bloke and that is beneficial for Leeds because he certainly doesn’t have the same level of ultra-high net worth as some of the other owners in the division. “He isn’t at that particular table in terms of personal wealth, but his background is hugely beneficial to the club.” The 46yo, founder of global media giants Eleven Sports, has just added 'Team Whistle' to his portfolio in recent days. They are a New York based digital sports and entertainment company, as the Leeds Chairman reaches into the online North American market. please log in to view this image The fitness levels you have to get to are ridiculous - Huggins Bright academy prospect Niall Huggins has detailed how Bielsa's intense fitness regime has seen the left back promoted into the first team. Born in York, Huggins has risen up the ranks at Thorp Arch since the age of nine. Eleven years on, his hard work and dedication has paid dividends as he breaks through to the senior squad, as well as the Welsh U21's. "For me that first season [with the 23s] was a tough one. The fitness levels you have to get to are ridiculous," Huggins said. "The summer after, it was hard because of COVID but programmes got sent through, we had to stick to them to make sure we get as fit as we can and for me it's just been about improving my fitness. "I think the reason I went up to the 23s was my technical ability but to push that step forward at Leeds now you have to be able to run, you have to be able to do everything intensely, everything as fast as you can. "Obviously they're really strict on your body fats and weight targets, we have to hit them all the time and if you're not then unfortunately you might end up not playing - it's that strict. "They want you to be at the top of your game and for them that means they want you to be on target to keep the intensity up for the full 90 minutes." "It all comes down from him through his staff. It's all the same sort of principles - everything has to be high intensity. "A lot of it is down to how intense it all is. The training, the games, the amount you're running and your high speed - things like that. "How you pass the ball. The way we work in training all improves that with the drills we do. "The manager has helped me improve loads at Leeds and the style of football we're playing obviously helps the first team a lot and down to 23s level and throughout the academy, it's had an impact on us all and obviously I've improved a lot from it." please log in to view this image Top Leeds Utd bargains Last night on match of the day, Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker gave their top 10 bargain transfers of all time. Leeds featured twice. They bought Lucas Radebe in 1994 from the Keiser Chiefs for just £250,000, and they sold Eric Cantona to Manchester Utd for 1.2m two years previously. Who would make your top 5 Leeds bargains of all time? please log in to view this image
Morning all... Beckford - Undisclosed fee Becchio - Free? Strachan - £200k Radebe - £250k In no particular order
Morning all I agree with Ristac on Beckford because we got him for a packet of crisps and a pint in reality. Wealdstone had plenty of clubs chasing him but he chose Leeds who were not offering the best money, but JB wanted Leeds, so a deal was done that meant Leeds played Wealdstone in a pre season friendly in the future as part of the deal. I remember being at the game and speaking to JB when he was doing his walk and he was asked by Jonty I think, why have you turned down the new contract, and he replied that he was on £6kpwk and thought he deserved a pay rise but Bates offered him no pay rise and a year extension which is a pay cut, because Bates wanted to sell him, but he was going to sort Bates out even if it hurt him. Another former Wealdstone player was bought for £650k and was the final piece of the jigsaw that got us the title and promotion. Vinnie Jones who played 46 games for us that season only missing one game. He showed the team how to fight and showed the fans heart, he also showed Batty and Speed what a midfield player is all about. He lost his place to those boys so went to the Blunts, but boy what a signing he was
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/luciano-becchio/transfers/spieler/71020 https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/jermaine-beckford/transfers/spieler/38874
The Huggins interview shows just why our 23s have walked the league again. Its not just that we bought a few outstanding kids, its because they are way fitter than any opposition and the tactics they use have not been seen at this level before. Remember the kids play against many first team players from prem clubs, players coming back from injury or need a game because they've been sat on the bench. Bielsa runs the club with an iron fist and accepts no passengers and wants everyone to learn different positions as well as play the same way as the first team at every age level
Did anyone notice Calum Robinson's goal against Chelski, he was pointing with his arm and it was a mile offside (just like Bamford against Palace). VAR never even looked at it, have they changed the rules or am I missing something?
. Morning all. They paid £25,000 for Bobby he was still one of the top half dozen inside forwards in the country. What a bargain he was, he showed the young Leeds team what it was all about.
I had a chat with Niall and asked him to mention the fat % and fitness stuff again... just so we had something to reference next time someone says Roberts is fat and unfit
What about sniffer Clarke,it might have been a decent fee back then at 165,000 but what a bargain he turned out be....Clarke 1-0 still sounds great
Harrison out injured against City so I will make a prediction: if Alioski is moved forward and Dallas moves to LB, there is no place at Leeds next season for Costa and Poveda Bielsa played Huggins against Arsenal so maybe let him have a go at LWB or LW against City. Moving Raphinha to LW to accommodate Poveda or Costa on the right weakens the team
A bit before my time, but surely John Charles was the best bargain ever? My choice is Billy. Beat that!
I thought it was players who we got from other clubs and who went onto be huge influences for us. Those two greats you mention started off playing for us. Just read back and I mis read it....