I'm not online 100% of the time (and even if I were, my bosses would take a dim view of me spending time updating the web pages in real time), so for the absolute latest news, check out the "professional" links.

November 30: The Russians are spouting off again about Leeds' "dirty tricks" - allegations which have been refuted point by point by Peter Ridsdale and club secretary Ian Sylvester. Peter Ridsdale has indicated he'll be complaining to UEFA and leaving it with them to sort out.

November 30: The youth team got over the first hurdle in the Times-sponsored FA Youth Cup last night, with Dale Crawford tapping in the only goal in a 1-0 away win.

November 30: Batts is more than doubtful for Thursday - he's not even travelling! Without him and Lucas maybe Alfi will finally get a chance...

November 29: Phew! Since I can't make it out to Sofia on Thursday, it's just as well that Channel 5 have announced they'll continue to support us and will be showing the game live at 1800 GMT. See you all in Extra Time at the Barbican!

November 29: When Batts was subbed yesterday I thought it was because he was about to lay out Kachloul - but it turns out it was an achilles flare-up and he could be doubtful for Thursday.

November 29: They take two and a half quid of us for the programme, three quid for Leeds Leeds Leeds and now they're aiming at the pocket money market with "Super Leeds" - a 32-page mag targetted at the younger fan for £1.50. Lots of pictures, few words - I'm surprised they're not aiming it at Daily Star readers ;-)

November 29: After pulling out of the FA Cup in order to swan off to Brazil for a Mickey Mouse tournament (and thereby causing the cancellation of the league game at Elland Road), Man U are suggesting that we might like to play them on the weekend of the 4th or 5th round of the cup because they happen to be free that week. It could turn out to be played right at the end of the season and turn into a real title/European decider at this rate.

November 29: Spartak once again try to whip up a psychological battle in advance of the game. Apparently Leeds offered them "financial inducements" to play the game at Anfield. Maybe it was pointed out to them that they'd get the money from a 30000 or so crowd instead of 2000 in Sofia (which bearing in mind they can't pay their heating bills would seem to be a good thing). Either way, Peter Ridsdale is threatening them with legal action and points out that they suggested it first!

November 28: With more than a small slice of luck, aided by a couple of goal-line clearances, and abetted by the willingness to play for the full 95 minutes, Leeds went back to the top of the league today with a 1-0 win over Southampton - Michael Bridges scoring his 4th of the season against the Saints in the 93rd minute. They were a little unlucky to have Patrick Colleter sent off late on, but Mark Hughes should have walked, along with Hassan Kachloul and possible David Batty - who was subbed very shortly after an off-the-ball incident with Kachloul in the first half.

November 26: With Michael Duberry suspended and Lucas Radebe unlikely to be risked less than 24 hours after playing for South Africa, who will be Jon Woodgate's centre-back partner on Sunday? With the nippy Pahars up front, maybe Gary Kelly could switch to centreback with Danny Mills at right back. Or will this be a chance for Alfi Haaland to show his versatility? Martin Hiden has played a full game for the reserves, but is nowhere near match fit yet.

November 26: Peter Ridsdale has indicated that the club will refund £100 to the fans who travelled to Moscow for the aborted game, with a further £50 off if they choose to go to Sofia. Whether or not Leeds gain any compensation from Spartak is open to question - and not very likely.

November 26: Spartak vice-president Grigory Yesaulenko accused Leeds of crying off Thursday's game, noting that Real Madrid's "real men" had played in Kiev when it was cold. But maybe it wasn't quite as cold as Moscow, maybe the pitch wasn't frozen solid, and maybe the Swedish ref - who will be no stranger to cold conditions - had his own interests as well as those of the players at heart when he decided that trying to play football on a rock-solid pitch in sub-zero temperatures was not a good idea. Whatever, it was the right decision and must dig UEFA into action to ensure that teams that are unable to provide guarantees on things like undersoil heating and pitch conditions in general will automatically forfeit the right to play at home. Leeds have never played Spartak, but DOL has faced them before - losing 2-3 with Arsenal in 1982.

November 25: Peter Ridsdale has said that he'd be happy to wake up in twenty years time and hear that David O'Leary was the longest-serving manager in football. He's already on a 5-year deal, and Ridsdale remains committed to providing the transfer funding and personal package to keep him at Elland Road.

November 25: S***-stirring agent department: Harry Kewell's manager at IMG has hinted that H is less than happy with the way the Leeds board have treated him (though he's also miffed at Soccer Australia), and maybe the possibility of him moving might have been brought forward as a result.

November 25: Port Vale have put the mockers on Leeds plans to continue the cut-price cup ticket run by insisting that tickets are priced at £20 and £10 instead of £12 and £6 as has been the case so far. They should bear in mind that (a) it's nearly Christmas so people will be strapped for cash anyway and (b) if you were being choosy about which game to attend would you pick Port Vale for twenty quid or Spartak for twelve? The East Stand Upper will be closed for this game since the club don't anticipate a stampede for tickets...

November 25: To nobody's great surprise, tonight's game was called off and will now take place in Sofia next Thursday. As a result of this, the Worthington Cup game with Leicester goes back to December 15, and the game at Derby is put back to the Sunday (December 5). If we get past Leicester, Round 5 will be on December 22. As if we needed more fixture congestion! UEFA and the Russians must have known there were going to be problems before yesterday, so why did Leeds (and 500 fans) have to waste their time and money flying out there? Leeds have said they'll see what they can do to help the supporters who flew out there for the game, but they're facing serious financial losses themselves - not least because of the cancelled Worthington Cup game at Leicester which was due to be on Sky.

November 24: Leeds failed to complete their training session in Moscow today with the pitch frozen solid - despite the fact that the Russians had turned on the undersoil heating a week ago. The Leeds medical staff were worried about what injuries they may pick up - it will be bad enough playing the game, never mind "warming" up!

November 23: DOL has had another go at UEFA over the farcical situation of Champions League failures dropping into the UEFA Cup - that should help them see our point of view when we run into trouble with them :-) And Nigel Martyn has noted that since we're now a month further into winter, and with the night-time temperatures heading towards -17C, the players will be wearing a few extra layers. Let's hope the fans don't freeze too!

November 23: Lucas Radebe hopes to complete some record-time globe-trotting by playing for Leeds on Sunday the day after he's played for South Africa. Nobody doubts his commitment to both causes, but maybe he should be given a rest....

November 23: Leeds' reserve game against Newcastle on December 8 has been postponed to February 8 due to the fixture congestion.

November 22: Leeds' "forgotten man" - Norwegian midfielder Alfi Haaland who didn't even make the bench on Saturday - has vowed to fight his way back into the team. Haaland is a popular player with the fans, but faced with David Batty and Lee Bowyer ahead of him in the pecking order, he'll have a tough job - maybe he'll get a chance in the Worthington Cup next week.

November 21: Former Leeds hit-man Tony Yeboah bagged a hat-trick to help SV Hamburg to a 5-0 win and 2nd place in the German 1st Division.

November 21: Alan Smith revealed that he's yet another one of the youngsters playing through the pain with an ankle injury picked up in the pre-season. He's hoping to avoid an op and would benefit most from some rest - but with the fixture list so crowded over the next few months there's little chance of that.

November 21: The U-17 side went down 4-0 against Sunderland, but up-and-coming youngsters Warren Feeney and Harpal Singh were both on the mark as the U-19s drew 2-2 with the Wearsiders.

November 21: We were very nearly the last team out of that hat (and thus facing the lucky losers) but in the end we have been drawn against Port Vale at home on December 12. We'll be looking to do better than we did in 1996 when we needed two attempts to get past them - but it's yet another game in an increasingly crowded schedule: it will be our 5th game in 15 days.

November 20: Once again a far from convincing performance today, but on the balance of play we deserved the 2-1 victory (well we deserved a 2-0 until Bradford put a bit of pressure on us in the last 5 minutes) and at the end of the season it's the 3 points that count. Another superb performance by Batts, and a strong showing up front by Michael Bridges - though Alan Smith must start bringing home the bacon if he wants to justify his place in the starting line-up. If my addition is correct, today's booking makes it 5 in the league for Lee Bowyer, so he'll probably miss the Derby game.

November 19: Transfer rumours department: Spanish "wonder kid" Jordi Ferron is still interesting Leeds - but he'd cost us £3.5 million, and is currently on loan from Barcelona at Liga leaders Rayo Vallecano. Maybe a bit much to pay for another bench-warmer....

November 19: So who will replace Harry against Bradford? Probably the most obvious answer would be to play a McPhail/Batty/Bowyer/Bakke midfield with Bridges and Smith up front, and keep Huckerby in reserve to cause havoc when the Bradford defence inevitably tires. We should have a full house at the back with Ian Harte, Gary Kelly and Jon Woodgate all recovered from injury, so we're hoping for a bit more solidity than was shown at Wimbledon.

November 18: In a bid to ensure that Leeds don't score any goals in Moscow next week, the kick-off has been put back by an hour and will now kick off at 1700 GMT - which should be just about the time the ball starts freezing to the pitch in Russia. Coverage on Channel 5, so those of us who can't make it over there will be forced to endure Jonathan Pearce....

November 18: Right. That's it - I'm never drinking another can of Foster or XXXX again (well, I don't drink it anyway and they're made in the UK but that's not the point). FIFA have acceded to Soccer Australia's request to ban Harry Kewell from the Bradford game on Saturday. Harry should sit down with Scarsella and the morons from SA and explain to them in no uncertain terms that he will be available to play in real games when he is fit and if he needs a few days to recover from an injury that will make him miss a game down under he does not expect to be restricted from playing. Otherwise he should walk away and pledge himself to England - we need a left winger. These petty morons have shown sod all interest in the player's development, and it would be interesting to see if the FIFA ban would stand up in the European Court, since it is a clear restraint of trade and should not be enforceable. At the risk of sounding over-confident though, at least it's "only" Bradford. We can expect them to make a big effort for this game - particularly with David Wetherall, Lee Sharpe and Gunnar Halle in their line-up but should have the class (and the rested players) to overcome them. Apart from a couple of wartime games and a Full Members Cup tie in the early 80s, Bradford have never won at Elland Road, so let's hope they don't break that streak.

November 17: Ian Harte and Gary Kelly both hope to be fit in time for Saturday's game against Bradford, despite missing the Republic's two play-off games against Turkey.

November 17: Several regular first-teamers turned out for the reserve side last night as they beat Barnsley 4-2. Alan Smith, Darren Huckerby and David Hopkin were joined on the scoresheet by Harpal Singh - but Michael Duberry picked up yet another booking (that's 6 in total this season, 4 from reserve games).

November 17: Matthew Jones has been named Welsh Young Player of the Year by Welsh sports writers.

November 16: Eirik Bakke will play for Norway's U21 side in a game in Spain tonight. Bakke is the team captain, and will be looking to improve on their performance in the first leg of this game - they trail 1-3 in this play-off for the European U21 Championships and the Olympics.

November 16: The reserves will play Barnsley at Elland Road tonight - KO 7 p.m.

November 16: Nigel Martyn may get a chance to face Scotland in the play-offs after all as David Seaman is still carrying an injury and is a doubt for tomorrow.

November 16: The Tore-Andre Flo rumours may be about to resurface, since he is now being linked with a move away from Chelsea - possibly abroad - after becoming fed up with the squad system there. He'd be available for £8 million - which is a lot but wouldn't break the bank and we might even manage to get him on board in time to face Chelsea before Christmas...

November 15: More Australians? Danny Milosevic is the keeper for Perth Glory (where we got Danny Hay from) - and he's also the Olympic team keeper - and he'll be in Leeds for a 2-week trial at Elland Road. He'd have to be very impressive to unseat Paul Robinson who has performed very well when required to replace Nigel Martyn - and at least we shouldn't have too many issues about releasing a goalie for an international.

November 15: Alfi Haaland has expressed his concern that his absence from Leeds' starting line-up may cost him his place in the Norway squad for Euro 2000. The Norwegian coach has been vocal in the past in Tore-Andre Flo's direction about the same subject, so it's hardly surprising Alfi is worried: it would probably take a long-term injury to David Batty and one of David Hopkin, Lee Bowyer and Eirik Bakke to give him a chance of a steady run in the side.

November 15: Lucas Radebe has been included in South Africa's squad to play in a friendly against Sweden on Saturday week, so it looks like he'll miss the Southampton game on the following day. Hopefully he'll not be too exhausted by all the travelling, since Leeds will be in Moscow on the Thursday (though he is suspended so might not travel), then face Leicester in the Worthington Cup on the Tuesday. His place at centre back will probably go to Danny Mills with Alfi Haaland as emergency cover, since Michael Duberry will be suspended for that game.

November 15: Peter Ridsdale is playing down Leeds' interest in McCulloch - pointing out that DOL is looking for experience to go alongside the existing young players. Of course he may just be bluffing....

November 14: DOL is interested in Motherwell's 21-year-old striker Lee McCulloch. McCulloch has 3 years to run on his deal and has already been the subject of a £500,000 bid from Hearts, but Leeds are believed to be ready to match Motherwell's valuation of nearly three times that amount - but they may face some competition since Rangers are also interested..

November 14: David Batty revealed today that he has been suffering from a heart condition for nearly a year. He damaged his heart when he broke his ribs last season, and has been taking steroids to control the problem - pericarditis - since then.

November 13: Leeds have been linked with Spurs' Darren Anderton who will be out of contract at the end of the season. He's a good player who will give us an added dimension on the right, but we want to make sure his contract states that he only gets paid for the games he plays in: we supported Lee Sharpe through a long convalescence and got sod all back, and we don't want to do the same here.

November 13: No place in today's England side for Nigel Martyn - but as it is, Seaman had almost nothing to do so no major harm done.

November 12: Rewriting the past department: JFH reckons that the two seasons he spent at Leeds (in which he scored over 40 goals and won his first international cap) actually damaged his career. From zero to hero to big-headed short-memoried money-grabbing tosser in just 24 months....

November 12: Leeds reckon they can win a legal battle with Soccer Australia, since they have the written agreement that Harry Kewell would only be required to play the first of the two games against Brazil, so would have been released more than 5 days before the Bradford game. With the absence of Kewell and Ronaldo, the games' organisers have now thrown open the gates and will allow free admission since they can't really justify the cost with some major Oz stars missing and Brazil sending what is in effect their junior team.

November 12: Robert Molenaar started running yesterday as he starts what is hopefully the final leg of his long comeback from an injury sustained at Highbury last year when Anelka fouled him and got away with it.

November 11: The first of the U-21 play-off games has been postponed after Yugoslavia made some last minute demands that hosts Luxembourg could not meet. Wilko is most upset, but maybe the delay will mean that some of the injured Leeds contingent will be available.

November 11: Ugo Ehiogu might not score much at Scrabble, but we might be interested in picking up the unsettled Villa player (but surely not for £7 million).

November 11: HK update: Soccer Australia invoked the 5-day rule and FIFA reminded Leeds of their obligations. Leeds are pointing out that by insisting Harry play in the 2nd game, SA broke their agreement, so the rule should not apply. John Aloisi of Coventry (and Oz) injected a bit of sense into the debate by suggesting that it might be beneficial for the general good of the game down under if SA were to organise a series of friendlies to be played in Europe: they'd have better opposition and the clubs would be happier to release their best players.

November 10: Expect a below-capacity crowd at the weekend, since Bradford have failed to sell nearly a third of their 5000 allocation and since we'd generously offered them the South Stand after they said they could fill it, Leeds will be left out of pocket as a result.

November 10: Contrasting ex-player news today: JFH has been called up to the Holland squad after a recent run of goals, and Brian Deane has been charged by the FA after his elbow appeared to make contact with Sunderland's Paul Butler at the weekend.

November 10: Soccer Australia are now threatening to end Harry Kewell's international career if things carry on as they are. Good. That means we'll have no more of this interminable wrangling every time SA line up a pointless friendly against other U-21/Olympic sides (oh, didn't we mention that Harry would have been facing a bunch of unknowns instead of pitting himself against Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Roberto Carlos?)

November 10: Spartak have now confirmed that the game will take place in Moscow, KO 1600 GMT. Tickets for the home game are now on sale, once again priced at £12 and £6 with a view to getting as many folks as possible in to Elland Road. Spartak's top scorer, Andrei Tikhonov, will miss the first leg after receiving a red card in the Champions League. Lucas Radebe will also be missing after reaching 3 yellow cards.

November 09: Spartak Moscow have had an offer - which they seem amenable to - to play the first leg of the UEFA Cup game somewhere warmer. Which is good. In Vladokavkaz, 30 miles from the Chechen border. Which is less good. Peter Ridsdale has indicated that we will strongly object to such a switch.

November 09: The Oliver Bierhoff rumours of a couple of months ago have revived with the elimination of AC Milan from both the Champions League and the UEFA Cup. I can think of many worse players we've been linked with and it would be interesting to see this develop further.

November 09: The Australia/Harry situation appears to have gone critical with Scarsella and co distorting the facts, ignoring the truth when it is presented to them and threatening to invoke the FIFA '5-day rule' to pull Harry out of the Bradford game. The facts that (a) the Brazil games are friendlies so they can't, (b) we'd agreed to release him for the first of those games - which is more than 5 days before the Bradford game anyway so it looks like they can't count, never mind act reasonably, and (c) it was the player himself who decided not to travel since he wouldn't be fit to play by next Saturday have once again been overlooked. Harry wants to play for his country, but realises that his career and his fortune will be made on the other side of the world. If Soccer Australia force him to choose one or the other, which way do you think he'll jump?

November 09: Gary Kelly has pulled out of the Republic of Ireland squad with a hamstring injury (which will no doubt clear up in time for the Bradford game).

November 09: The reserves lost 0-1 to Sunderland last night, and worryingly, Michael Duberry picked up a booking. This is yet another one of those arcane rules where bookings for the reserve team may lead to a suspension - but you can't use a reserve game as the suspension game for the player even if, like Alan Smith last season, the majority of the bookings are picked up at that level. He'll miss the Southampton home game as a result of this - could have been worse I suppose...

November 09: Leeds Youth team will travel to Ipswich on November 29 to play in the 3rd round of the FA Youth Cup.

November 09: The FA are concerned that there may be a conflict of interest between BSkyB's 9.9% stake in Leeds and that which it holds in Man City and are seeking assurances from the club that this will not be an issue before the teams are allowed to enter the FA Cup. Strange - I don't seem to recall that being an issue when ManU (in whom BSkyB also have a stake) entered the Worthington Cup. Nor for UEFA when Rangers and the other clubs in which ENIC has a large stake entered European competitions. Or any problems with ManU's agreement with Royal Antwerp. Am I sounding persecuted again?

November 08: Michael Bridges and Lee Bowyer will withdraw from the England U-21 squad for next week's play-offs. Bridges missed the game at Wimbledon with a back injury, and Bowyer aggravated his long-standing groin injury and had to leave the fray after an hour. Depending on who you listen to, Jon Woodgate may or may not be okay for the game, despite the clash of heads with John Hartson that left him with a gash above his eye.

November 08: After all that fuss, Harry Kewell won't be playing for Oz against Brazil next week after all - he's picked up a calf strain, and the immobility of the flight would ruin his chances of a recovery. Leeds apparently gave him permission to travel but he decided not to. Needless to say Basil Scarsella, the outspoken head of Soccer Australia was quick to spout off some abuse at Leeds when not in full possession of the facts, but Leeds' previous experience with this individual over Harry and Jamie McMaster have shown that the truth and reality are two subjects in which Scarsella doesn't specialise.

November 07: DOL reckoned that the travelling and tiredness were the main factors in Leeds defeat today - and got his excuses in early for the trip back to Moscow later in the month which will see Leeds play on Thursday, Sunday and Tuesday as they pursue the UEFA Cup, League title and Worthington Cup against Moscow, Southampton and Leicester. Following Man U's withdrawal from the FA Cup and elimination from the Worthington we could easily end up playing more games than them by the end of the season.

November 07: Wimbledon 2 - 0 Leeds. Excuses? Well, Michael Bridges was missing, but with the exception of Nigel Martyn and David Batty, the rest of the team seriously underperformed against a team that was just too keen to win. No complaints about the ref - in fact we were lucky not to have a penalty awarded against us, but when you waste all of your corners and only manage 2 vaguely on-target chances in the 2nd half, it's not big surprise that you don't come away with three points.

November 06: Leeds were edged out of top spot today by Manchester United as they beat Leicester while Leeds had an extra day's rest before playing Wimbledon tomorrow.

November 06: Lee Bowyer will be facing a season on the edge after the club doctors decided he needs to undergo an operation on a groin injury. He picked up the injury in the pre-season and aggravated it in an England U-21 game. He's now missing the odd training session to preserve his fitness, but should make it through to May without a major absence.

November 06: The league game against Southampton has unsurprisingly been put back to the Sunday as a result of Leeds playing in Moscow in the UEFA Cup on the Thursday.

November 06: Hey - somebody out there likes me. See what Football Review had to say about this site.

November 05: Danny Hay will miss a month or so after dislocating his shoulder while playing for the reserves.

November 05: Phew! That was close! Another undefeated month goes by with Leeds top of the league and looking good for Europe, but the Carling Manager of the Month Award (aka Kiss of Death) has gone to Peter Reid at Sunderland.

November 05: So perhaps I will get to go to Moscow this year after all. We've drawn Spartak in the 3rd round of the UEFA Cup, away in the first leg (25 November) and at home for the second (9 December). Spartak didn't do that well in the Champions League - managing just a single win against group whipping boys Willem II.

November 04: Kevin Keegan once again abdicated all common sense and failed to pick Lee Bowyer for the squad for the play-offs against Scotland. Included are Dennis Wise, Paul Ince and the injured (and judging by his performance in Poland) total waste of space McManaman. Oh well, at least that gives the U-21 side a chance: there are 6 Leeds players in the squad, with Jon Woodgate added to Bowyer, Robinson, Mills, Bridges and Smith from the previous game.

November 04: Well, it looked like it might be a close thing for the first 10 minutes or so, with lots of pressure from Loko. But then a penalty from Ian Harte was followed by a well-taken double by Michael Bridges before half time, and the second period was taken on cruise control. Better still, Judas George was kicked out by two injury time goals. On the downside, Lucas Radebe's booking means he's picked up 3 and he now misses the first leg of the next round.

November 03: Leeds are being taking to court by a German broadcasting organisation that claims that they have the right to transmit United's home UEFA games and not BSkyB. Some sort of agreement was apparently reached prior to the Lokomotiv game, but they still want compensation for the Partizan game.

November 02: Leeds flew out to Moscow today, armed with thermals and a defensive line bolstered by the return of Michael Duberry. Although it would probably be a mistake to just sit back and defend the lead, we don't want to be too adventurous and blow it completely.

November 02: Zaza Dzhanashia and Yuri Drozdov of Lokomotiv Moscow are injured and unlikely to be fit for Thursday. Drozdov looked like one of their better players in the first leg so let's hope this is true.

November 02: Leeds' game against Blyth Spartans which was due to take place on November 14 has now been postponed.

November 02: Leeds, Harry and Oz part 32. The contract: Leeds are committed to releasing Harry for FIFA-sanctioned tournaments only. The FIFA rules: national sides can call on their players for up to 7 games a year. Something Soccer Australia forgot to mention: when Harry last played for Oz during the summer, he was on the receiving end of a dreadful foul tackle that resulted in him being carried off and caused no small worry about his future - playing against a FIFA World XI I seem to recall. Unfortunately the lawyers appear to be involved now - so you can disregard all hope of a sensible solution. A sensible compromise would be for DOL to allow him to fly out for the first game - and if, playing in this meaningless friendly, he gets injured and screws up our UEFA Cup and Championship chances as a result, we sue Soccer Australia until they can just about manage to field a team in the Mid-Pacific Sunday Morning League.

November 01: So will Peter Ridsdale's promise of a price freeze be worth the paper it wasn't printed on? When he came out "for an important announcement" at HT on Saturday, it was built up as if he was about to announce we'd signed Heskey or similar. As it was, there was much happiness, but what about those of us who are not only bondholders (so face a 100 quid rise with the end of the discount next year) but also are in the 'seat for the price of standing' deal that was done to fill the East Stand. £46 to £146 a year is one thing, but if I'm forced to pay £350 for a seat when my job means I'm likely to miss at least 3 or 4 home games and I might as well buy tickets on a match by match basis.

November 01: Scandinavian speculation is rife at the moment, with Leeds allegedly watching Ole Martin Arst of Ghent - the leading scorer in Belgium (another Norwegian...).