Big build up in Leeds

There's a big build up in Leeds for tomorrow's match at The Valley. If you go here you can read the forecasts of Leeds fans, meet referee Lee Probert, and learn about danger man Nicky Bailey and his feared accomplice Deon Burton.

One piece of good news ahead of the match is that Sam Sodje has recovered from his knee injury and is available to face his former club. I have no particular recommendations on selections, except to say that I think that there is a case for starting Kyel Reid for his attacking threat. Given that we need Semedo, Racon may have to retreat to the bench.

I would also keep Darren Randolph in goal, notwithstanding that Elliot once seemed to be an inevitable first choice.

Although winning tomorrow would help Millwall, I would rather face a somewhat faltering Leeds in the play offs. I think that they would lose it if they have to go through the play offs again.

Having said that, I am not particularly optimistic about the match. Our defence has become more solid and we have a midfield that is capable of sparkling. The problem is up front, notwithstanding the worthy efforts of Burton and Forster. One is never clear where the goals are going to come from and there is always the chance of conceding.

The consensus among the Leeds 'jury' is 1-2 to them and they may well be right. I think it will be 1-1 until the 96th minute when Leeds will score the winner.

Leeds prepare to take three points

Leeds United manager Simon Grayson had anticipated that both Leeds and Charlton would be promoted by this stage of the season and the match between the two clubs on Saturday would have no great significance. This has proved not to be the case. Read here about how Leeds are preparing to take the three points they need: Leeds

There's a big match in the Championship on Sunday. Read Sheffield Wednesday boss Lee Stafford giving it large to the Glaziers: Palace

Promotion imperative, says Murray

Addicks chairman Richard Murray has told the South London Press that the club will almost certainly be forced to sell their star players in the summer if they do not win promotion from League One. Nicky Bailey has recently been the subject of interest from Burnley.

Murray insists making an instant return to the Championship is 'imperative' for the Addicks' medium-term future, since they face losing a number of key men in the summer if they are still in the third tier in six months' time.

The Charlton supremo commented, 'The differential between League One and the Championship in terms of TV money and gate receipts is about £4million per year, and that is not something that can be sustained over a long period. That makes a huge difference to the squad we can run with.'

I understand that the Charlton playing budget is currently around £6.5m a year, a little short of the £7m the directors put in earlier in the year. In contrast the wage bill at Swindon is believed to be £2.8m a year.

Leeds can now concentrate on the league after losing to Carlisle on penalties in the paint drying trophy. Apparently just before the end of the game the referee had to intervene after Leeds players fell out with each other over a misplaced pass. Southampton now look like favourites to win the Johnstones Paint Trophy and they also have their cup match against Pompey on Saturday to look forward to.

Swindon beat Oldham 4-2 last night, suggesting that we did quite well (or were lucky) to hold the scoreline against us to one on Saturday. If Swindon move their two games in hand they will move above Charlton. The fact that they conceded two late goals against Oldham does, however, suggest a somewhat suspect defence.

Beckford withdraws transfer request

Jermaine Beckford has withdrawn his transfer request and has informed doubting Leeds fans that he gives 100 per cent every time he puts on the shirt: Beckford

Whether this is the end of the wobble at Leeds remains to be seen, but there has clearly been some unhappiness in the camp, possibly not assisted by the tactful interventions of Ken Bates. As one perceptive Addick fan commented, Leeds fans are a bit like Spurs fans. They expect constant success and the moment something goes wrong they start to turn on the team.



BTW, sorry that we don't have a match report from the weekly clash on the Scillies yesterday. Radio Scilly sports show host Merryn Smith was supposed to send us one but instead took a deckchair down to the beach near his home. Jammy so-and-so. He is training hard for the London Marathon, though, and in due course I will give details of the charity he is supporting.

Beckford on his way

It seems increasingly likely that Jermaine Beckford will leave Leeds for Newcastle, provided a fee can be agreed for the player who is out of contract in the summer. Leeds will then lose a player of near Premiership quality, so they may falter a little in the second half of the season, but not enough for us to catch them.

I was amused to hear Leeds fans describing Beckford on 606 as 'not a Leeds player'. Given that they got him for £45,000 and his goals-to-games ratio, this seems to be rather surprising. Their complaint was that 'he did not track back', but I would be quite happy to have a striker of his calibre even if he didn't help out in defence (anyway it means you have an outlet when breaking).

Even more amusing was to hear Manchester United fans demanding that Fergie be sacked, while the shell shocked supremo was complaining that the five minutes of time added on did not meet the requirements of 'Fergie time' (which has been shown to be a statistical reality).

Over at Palace, the manager and players haven't been paid again, but Warnock is not blaming the Orange One. However, a fire sale of players seems likely:
Broke

Hearts owner asks: do we need McLeod?

Once again it seems that Izale McLeod's fitting for his kilt and sporran may have been premature. Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov has questioned the need to bring Izale McLeod and Steven MacLean to the club: 'I do not see anything except publicity for those players. Maybe Csaba Laszlo decided they needed a PR manager. I am not convinced we need them,' he said.

But Hearts manager Laszlo, who admits he was attracted by McLeod's Scottish surname, said of the strike duo: 'They don't need a PR manager if you look at their CV. If you look at the table, we have played 18 games and scored 21 goals. That shows where we have problems.' He may find he continues to have them.

Elsewhere, Newcastle's interest in Jermain Beckford seems to be firming up, while Middlesbrough are said to be ready to make a £3m bid for Leeds striker Robert Snodgrass.