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January 31: Rumours from Maine Road would seem to indicate that Joe Royle might be keen to add to his collection of ex-Leeds players by signing Alfi Haaland. Haaland is not getting any first-team chances, even with Batts unfit, so a move would make a lot of sense if he is to force his way back into the Norwegian national side.

January 31: Michael Duberry has recovered from the head injury he sustained in his vain challenge to stop Paul Merson creating Villa's 3rd goal yesterday, and he's insisting that Leeds will bounce back after their poor second half performance - and post-match lashing from DOL, who was not at all pleased. This was another one of those "our worst performance of the season" quotes from the manager - but those of us who remember the Liverpool game at Elland Road might point out that at least we made a fist of it for 45 minutes at Villa Park.

January 31: Just a quick note for those planning to travel (or listen) to the Man U game: kick-off will be at 11:30 in the morning to avoid trouble. Sounds like an excuse for a Saturday night up in Leeds....

January 30: Leeds are once again being linked with Porto's Brazilian striker Jardel. If there's a forward in the world we've not been linked with, I'd like to know his name so I can be the first to break the news of who we're really signing. This is getting to be like the Fotherby days again with us being linked to everybody and anybody - but at least we don't have a money-grabbing chairman charging off on junkets around the world announcing that he intends to sign X and the returning with shrugging shoulders instead of a contract.

January 30: Leeds dominated the first half but then went to sleep in the second as they went down 3-2 at Villa. The ref was abysmal, but that's not an excuse. Stephen McPhail once again showed that he can turn it on for 45 minutes - but not much more. But he wasn't alone: Wilcox, Bridges and Huckerby all disappointed in the second half and Villa deserved the win. The ref needs to answer some serious questions about his choice of card colour for Carbone's late and high tackle on Bakke, or why David James escaped without a card when he handled the ball outside the area - but we're now only left with the UEFA Cup or the league, and the squad and DOL need to do some serious thinking if they want to win one of those.

January 30: Gary Kelly had his house pelted with rotten eggs and vegetables while he was away the other day. The incident is being linked with the recent arrest of Lee Bowyer and Jon Woodgate - though quite why an attack on someone else's house should be seen as revenge for the original attack - with Woody and Bowyer still not charged - I'm unclear.

January 29: Former Leeds striker Bob Taylor came off the bench to score a pair as Bolton came from behind to knock out Cambridge and qualify for the quarter-finals.

January 29: Leeds were knocked off the top of the league today as Manchester United got a late winner after Boro were reduced to 10 men and had a penalty saved. Quite how the ref decided not to send off Jaap Stam for the penalty incident and Roy Keane for the furore that followed is a mystery to me and the 61000 Man U fans who were crammed in to Old Trafford - I'm sure they'd be happy to see the FA's commitment to fair play and appropriate use of video evidence applied here.

January 29: Michael Duberry will miss.....the Mike Tyson fight tonight. He was desperate to get to the big fight, but with the Villa game being put back tomorrow for TV, he's had to skip a late night in Manchester. Alan Smith is back from suspension - but David Hopkin is now suspended. David Batty remains on the injury list for a while longer.

January 28: The reserves went down 3-2 to Bolton last night, despite a pair of goals for Darren Huckerby. Making their first appearances for Leeds were Danny Milosevic and Norwegian triallist Tommy Oren. Martin Hiden played, but Robert Molenaar was rested, and Tommy Knarvik's recovery from a long-term injury received a setback when he had to leave the field after just 5 minutes.

January 28: The Youth team weren't that impressive last night, and could only beat Colchester 4-2 on penalties in the 4th round of the FA Youth Cup after the game had finished 0-0. They now face Wimbledon in the next round.

January 27: The home game against Arsenal on April 15 has been put back (surprise surprise) for Sky coverage on the Sunday.

January 27: Harry Kewell, along with the British-based players - has been left out of next month's 4-cornered tournament involving the Socceroos. Looks like we're starting to see the beginnings of a sensible compromise in action.

January 27: South Africa won their second group game, beating the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0, so it looks like Lucas will be out there for a while longer...

January 26: David Batty has started proper training again but is unlikely to play in the reserve match against Bolton - so his chances of appearing in the Villa game now look slim. Realistically we should be aiming to get him back for the Spurs game so he's had a bit of match practice by the time we play Man U. Dwight Yorke is almost certain to miss that game due to international commitments.

January 26: Peter Ridsdale once again hit out at the abuse being directed at Bowyer and Woodgate and questioned their chance of a fair trial after Sunday's demo by the Anti-Nazi League. Meanwhile the police are now describing the attack as racist - but added that this was primarily because that was how the community was viewing it. They also pointedly mentioned that there were apparently up to five attackers involved, which doesn't exactly exonerate Woodgate and Bowyer but it does raise the interesting question of why only those two have been arrested to date.

January 25: Leeds will be organising a tribute dinner to honour John Charles, who is currently recovering after a bout of chemotherapy to combat bladder cancer. Charles was named as Leeds United's Player of the Millenium - the dinner will be hosted by Michael Parkinson, and should feature a variety of past and present stars from Elland Road.

January 25: JFH could be in trouble with the Spanish authorities after the cameras caught him apparently elbowing one of his opponents at the weekend. He's scored 18 league goals since he left us, but Atletico have only recently climbed out of the bottom half of the division.

January 25: Three young players from Eirik Bakke's old club, Sogndal, are training with Leeds this week and one or two of them might get a run out in the reserves fixture to get a better idea if they'd have a chance of making it over here.

January 25: Peter Ridsdale today said that he was worried that Jon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer might not receive a fair trial after all the negative publicity and press pre-judgement on the case.

January 24: Not much to report today. Lucas Radebe came through the first game of the African Nations Cup unscathed as South Africa strolled past Gabon. Meanwhile, after a couple of half-decent games, Jason Wilcox is being touted by the press as Kevin Keegan's saviour on the left side of the park. Could do a lot worse Kev....

January 23: Leeds almost completely dominated the first half and went in a goal up after Jason Wilcox scored a screamer from 25 yards. In the second half, Sunderland were in the game much more - and it was slightly against the run of play that found Michael Bridges on the end of Wilcox's cross. When Kevin Phillips robbed Jon Woodgate to score his 20th goal of the season and bring it back to 2-1, it looked like it could be a close one, but Leeds hung on to the end and will remain top for another week.

January 23: You've got to be kidding department: Inter are reported to have offered £10 million plus Baggio for Harry Kewell. If they think that's a fair trade, they need their lumps feeling. In more realistic transfer speculation, David Robertson has once again been linked with a move back to one or two Premier League teams in Scotland.

January 23: UEFA have formally cleared Leeds of any wrongdoing associated with the Spartak tie in November. They have firmly refuted all of Spartak's slurs and allegations about Leeds attempting to manipulate the venue and timing of the game.

January 23: The Man U date has finally been set - sort of! If Leeds beat or draw with Villa in the FA Cup, the game will be played on Wednesday 16th February - but if we lose, we'll be using the weekend reserved for the 6th round games and playing on Sunday 20th February. That's a tough one for me: I want to see us go through in the cup, but I probably won't be able to make the Man U game if it's midweek...

January 22: Leeds will be without Alan Smith, and Sunderland will miss Niall Quinn in tomorrow's game. With Lucas Radebe also absent, Michael Duberry should line up at centre back, and there may also be some involvement for David Hopkin, who will begin a 3-match ban for his red card in the reserves after this game.

January 22: Peter Ridsdale has said that he is devastated by the accusations against W&B - after all the hard work that the club has put in to its anti-racist campaigns. However he did say that he understood that the attack was not believed to be racially motivated. He also said: "My hope and my belief is that both players are in a position where charges will not be brought" - which hopefully might indicate that they were present at rather than active in the attack. Assuming, of course, that the PR and the club are in full possession of the facts.

January 22: Woody and Bowyer: a summary. After receiving a couple of emails on the subject, I've re-read some of what I've written below, and just want to clarify my position and thoughts. Firstly the facts: an Asian man was beaten up by one or more people outside the Majestyk in Leeds. Jon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were arrested and questioned under caution about the incident and released on police bail. And if either of them took part in the attack, they deserve punishing to the full extent of the law. But then the facts start getting cloudy - quite possibly because this story is brought to you by our good friends the sports journos, not their crime-reporting colleagues. Every day, the sports pages are full of speculation, rumour and counter-rumour - passed off as fact and conveniently forgotten about by the following day. Unfortunately, the same standards have been applied to this story. To take some of the issues in turn: was it a racially-motivated attack? Just because the people involved were of different races doesn't make it so. The first reports had the victim in hospital close to death with a fractured skull and broken legs. By the time he came out, the hospital clarified that he'd got a broken nose, cracked jaw and fractured ribs. Leeds were alleged to have received death threats - but the club subsequently denied that they'd received anything as serious. In the end, the facts will come out and hopefully someone will be prosecuted. Until then, the less speculation that appears in the press, the better.

January 21: Newspaper reports of death threats against Jon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were a little exaggerated, according to the club. There had been some negative - and indeed nasty - letters and faxes received, but nothing as serious as that. Players have been reminded of their responsibilities and warned that people might look to try to start trouble with them in certain situations. Meanwhile, Fila might look to pull out of a boot deal with Jon Woodgate. Speaking of deals, the family of the attacked student claimed to be too distraught to speak to the press about the ordeal. One reporter who was at the family's house did claim that they weren't so distraught that they couldn't face speaking to three Sunday tabloids about it - but maybe he was just bitter that they wouldn't speak to him. We'll see on Sunday....

January 21: The Youth team drew 0-0 - and both sides missed penalties - in the FA Youth Cup last night, so will replay at Colchester next Thursday, KO 1900.

January 20: Both Labour and Tory councillors ended up sitting outside during a planning meeting on the future of the proposed arena and leisure facilities at Elland Road. The two Labour councillors declared an interest as season ticket holders, and the two Tories said that they felt that all councillors had an interest, since the council has a £2.5 million shareholding in Leeds Sporting. In their absence, the committee gave approval in principle for two hotels, a 10,000 seat sports arena, shops, bars and restaurants, a 4,000 seat auditorium and parking space for nearly as many cars to be built alongside the ground. Local residents are still not totally happy with the scheme, but Leeds Sporting are looking to fund an extension of the residents-only parking scheme to help cope with the anticpated increase in traffic.

January 20: Jamie McMaster is back in the poaching news, with accusations that he should only have been allowed to play for Scotland, not England, instead of Australia. At least this time it's the English FA that are taking a kicking, not us...

January 20: Peter Ridsdale has made it clear that the decision on whether or not to play Woodgate and Bowyer on Sunday will be left to DOL. He's also pointed out that they've not yet been charged, and that nobody should pre-judge the outcome. Either way, if they have any involvement in the incident - even if they didn't commit the actual assault - they can expect a large club fine. Apparently the victim is now out of hospital - a recovery that the readers of some newspapers will see as nothing short of miraculous, since he was described as being in intensive care and in serious danger just one day ago by some of the more balanced members of the press.

January 19: With the commotion over the possible involvement of Jon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer in an assault, a big question mark is raised over the team selection for Sunday's game at Sunderland. With Lucas Radebe away, and with DOL maybe reluctant to play Woodgate, we will almost certainly see Michael Duberry at centreback - but will he be partnered by Danny Mills, Martin Hiden or Gary Kelly (with Hiden or Alfi Haaland at right back)? Or will this see the return of Robert Molenaar or the debut of Danny Hay? Tune in on Sunday to find out....

January 19: The Youth team will be in action tomorrow night at Elland Road as they face Colchester in the 4th round of the FA Youth Cup. Tickets are priced at

January 19: Leeds reserve side - strengthened by the appearance of Michael Bridges - beat Blackburn 1-0 last night with a goal from David Hopkin. Robert Molenaar completed another full 90 minutes, and Tommy Knarvik also saw some action. The next reserve game is at Bolton next Tuesday.

January 18: The arrival of Danny Milosevic could result in the - temporary - departure of Paul Robinson. Leeds may look to loan him out to a Nationwide League club to get first team experience, while retaining Milosevic as the substitute keeper for Leeds' first team games.

January 18: Tony Yeboah has been linked with a return to England - but this time playing for Chelsea. His contract in Germany is up at the end of the season and his agent indicated he'd been approached by a major English club.

January 18: David Hopkin's 3-match ban for the incident in the game against Liverpool has been confirmed by the FA. It means he'll be unavailable for the games against Villa, Liverpool and Spurs.

January 18: Jon Woodgate and Lee Bowyer were arrested this morning in connection with an alleged assault outside the Majestyk night club in Leeds. The victim ended up in hospital with head injuries, but it's not fully clear at present what role Woodgate and Bowyer are alleged to have played in the incident. Peter Ridsdale has made it clear that the club will support the players if they are innocent, but will institute internal disciplinary proceedings against them if they are found to have breached club regulations.

January 17: Robert Molenaar, Martin Hiden and David Hopkin could be joined by David Batty for the reserve team game against Blackburn on Tuesday.

January 17: Kevin Evans has gone on loan to Swansea City for a month. He was born and brought up in Carmarthen and will be hoping for a bit of home-town support when he turns out for the Swans and tries to get some first-team experience.

January 16: That paragon of virtue and honour, Ken Bates has blathered on at length about how Leeds are behaving so badly in our alleged interest in Chris Sutton. Apparently we inquired and were told to go away unless we were prepared to put a bid in writing. Because the cost of writing the letter would have been more than we prepared to bid for Sutton, we declined. He also complained that we'd talked to the press about the bid, and that wasn't on - he said, in an interview with the press.

January 15: DOL has publicly disagreed with Peter Ridsdale on the subject of a winter break - pointing out the benefits that Man United will have gained from their "holiday" in Brazil. When they return to face Arsenal on Monday week, they won't have played a competitive match for two weeks and should be nicely relaxed - unlike all the rest of the clubs who had to stay behind and rejig their fixtures to fit in with their plans.

January 15: Danny Milosevic, the 21-year-old Australian keeper, has signed a 3-year deal with Leeds. His former club, Perth Glory, will receive £100,000. Milosevic is seen as Mark Bosnich's successor - and hopefully we'll be able to frequently and magnanimously release him for international duties as long as Nigel Martyn and Paul Robinson stay fit.

January 15: Former Leeds skipper Gary McAllister scored the 100th league goal of his career today as Cov beat Wimbledon 2-0.

January 14: A very quiet news day today. Lucas Radebe has said how happy he'd be to see South Africa win the African Nations Cup (well duh!), David Batty continues to make progress coming back from injury (but Sunderland is still a doubt) and Peter Ridsdale has come out against having a winter break.

January 13: Leeds are likely to appeal against David Hopkin's sending off in the reserve game the other night - people who were there were of the opinion that he was unlucky - being sent off for having to fend off David Thompson, who had chased him across the pitch and started hitting him.

January 13: The latest stop on Mark Jackson's loan ranging is Barnsley - maybe he'll find a permanent place this time.

January 13: Rumours linking Leeds with a cut-price bid for Chris Sutton - surely surplus to requirements at Chelsea now - have been firmly denied by Peter Ridsdale. Even if they paid us to take him I'd strongly doubt he'd be worth his place on the payroll.

January 12: DOL is down with the flu (he looked like death warmed up on Sunday) and has been banned from seeing the team in case he infects them. Meanwhile, Batts is eyeing an early return to the first team - maybe even for the Sunderland game. We know he's keen, but let's hope that's not too soon - we need him for the rest of the season, not just one game.

January 12: Robert Molenaar played in last night's reserve game against Liverpool and came through broadly unscathed. Unfortunately Lee Matthews and Martin Hiden both picked up knocks - hopefully neither too serious. Unfortunately, David Hopkin got involved in a scuffle with Liverpool's David Thompson and both were sent off. This will probably mean a 3-match ban, which - under the bizarre rules of the FA - must be served in first team games, not reserve games like the one he picked up the ban in.

January 12: Yesterday's victory for Aston Villa means that Leeds will play the FA Cup 5th round tie at Villa Park on Sunday January 30 - kick off at lunchtime (1400 - but that could change) live on ITV.

January 11: Leeds Ladies made a good start to their FA Cup campaign last night with a 9-0 win over Stockport County.

January 11: Robert Molenaar continues his comeback from injury with a possible appearance in tonight's reserve game against Liverpool. He'll be joined by David Hopkin, making his return after a few weeks out with a hernia op.

January 11: Leeds' 5th round FA Cup tie against Villa will now be shown on Sky - but we'll have to wait and see what tonight's result is before we know whether it will be on Sunday lunchtime or Monday night. Meanwhile Jason Wilcox has been heaping praise on Harry, likening him to Shearer at Blackburn (whinges, dives, scores - well, maybe one of those anyway). This praise wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that H's move to centre forward might just open up a regular position on the left wing, would it Jason?

January 10: Plenty of praise in the papers for the team today - and DOL hints that he can see Harry Kewell being used more as an out and out striker. Whether this is a long-term thing or just something to get us through until we spend some money is unclear, but with Jason Wilcox on the left, DOL has a ready-made replacement for Harry's normal position.

January 09: We've been drawn away at Aston Villa in the 5th Round of the FA Cup. The tie will notionally be played on Saturday January 29, but expect it to be put back to the Sunday or Monday to be one of the 3 games televised by Sky and ITV.

January 09: Man City took an early lead from a massively offside goal, but Leeds came back strongly and completely dominated the game. Ian Bishop must have thought he'd scored the goal of the round - until Lee Bowyer smashed the fourth goal in from 10 yards out after a good run from Kewell. Harry was unlucky not to get a hat-trick - hitting the inside of the post in the dying moments of the game. The game really showed the differences between Division One and the Premier League - City may be top of their league but they just gave us too much space and paid the price. Now for a nice two-week break....

January 08: Eddie Gray has tipped Man City for promotion to the Premier League (but hopefully no more progress in the FA Cup) and Danny Granville and 36-year-old Richard Jobson are both looking forward to renew their acquaintance with Leeds at Maine Road tomorrow. With Darren Huckerby doubtful due to injury, Harry Kewell could start up front with Alan Smith - which could create a space on the left for Jason Wilcox to start.

January 08: There's a good long article in today's Guardian on Lucas Radebe - well worth a read.

January 07: David Batty has returned early from his planned 12-day stay in France. The specialists out there examined him and decided that there wasn't much more they could do for him out there than could be done for him back home. Leeds physio Dave Swift is not setting a particular target date for his return, anxious to avoid raising expectations and rushing him back only for him to break down as he did against Leicester.

January 07: Bizarre striker rumours (part 98). George Weah, now well down the pecking order at Milan (and 34 years of age to boot) is looking for a move from the San Siro, and his agents have allegedly contacted Leeds and other English clubs with a view to taking him on loan for the rest of the season. What next? The return of Yeboah? Meanwhile David Robertson - who is suffering from a bout of flu at the moment - is being linked with a loan move to Hibs. Hope it works out for him - he might not be the most talented player we've ever signed but he's a trier and a nice bloke.

January 07: Lee Chapman is planning a return to Leeds in his new career as a restaurateur. He plans to expand his successful London Teatro restaurant and private members club by opening a Leeds branch in a new riverside development. Getting in to the club in London is a bit of a challenge - there's already a long waiting list and is all rather showbiz, but the restaurant does decent food and wine and Chappy is hoping the Leeds opening will be the first of several across the country over the next couple of years.

January 06: Leeds are being linked with two more strikers. Cedric Roussel of Coventry is the first - but he's on loan there until the end of the season and is likely to make the move permanent - although his success has led his Belgian employers to suggest that they might like the fee to increase somewhat from the initially suggested £1.5 million. Meanwhile GG is facing more player unrest - this time from Steffen Iversen, who is said to be unhappy that he's only(!) on £4,000 a week and would be looking for an improved contract or a move - even though he has over two years to run on his current deal. Sounds like more press stirring to me.

January 06: DOL has said that he'd love to be given the opportunity to manage the Eire national side - and then said he thought it needed 15 years of being a top team manager to prepare for international management but he wouldn't mind the opportunity "around 50". He's currently 41, so let's hope he makes the most of the next 9 years and wins plenty of silverware to put him up for the job.

January 06: Tickets for the Roma home game are now on sale to season ticket holders, priced at £18 and £9 to concession holders. The day trip package to Rome is being pitched at £225. Now, if I can go and get a return flight for under a hundred quid right now, that must be a very special match package they're putting together. Fatted calves and caviar en route no doubt...

January 06: David Batty is in the south of France having a 12-day programme of treatment on his niggling calf injury. He was never really likely to make the Man City game, and with a break afterwards before the Sunderland game it makes a lot of sense to give him the maximum chance to finally shake off the injury. Stephen McPhail is only rated 50-50 for Sunday with his dodgy ankle but it's looking likely that South Africa will grant Lucas Radebe a 24-hour extension so he can play. Michael Bridges will also be missing due to suspension.

January 05: Does Peter Ridsdale have unrealistic expectations? Like every fan, he wants to see his side do well, but recent pronouncements leave you questioning how close a relationship with reality his dreams are likely to have. He's said that he's disappointed that the Revie side didn't win more - we all were - but he sees DOL's team as adopting a more positive approach. It's admirable - and will be put to the test over the next couple of months as injuries and suspensions start to bite.

January 05: Leeds today launched a formal partnership with Irish side Home Farm. The Dublin club, which has previously supplied Leeds with players such as Gary Kelly and Stephen McPhail, had a similar agreement with Everton a couple of years ago and will act as a 'feeder' club for Leeds.

January 04: Stephen McPhail is hoping to be back for Sunday's game at Maine Road - which will be screened live on Sky Sports. Lee Bowyer will return from suspension, and with a bit of luck the South African FA will agree to Lucas Radebe delaying his departure to the African Nations Cup by a couple of days to play in this game. Batts and Hoppo are still some way from returning. but after several appearances on the bench, Martin Hiden must be close to a recall - particularly if Michael Duberry's less-than-convincing performances continue.

January 04: DOL once again squashed the Robbie Fowler rumours (and tonight's news that he's broken down again must surely scotch that for this season at least) but surely he's got to get his chequebook out soon. Jabba says: Carl Cort scored his 13th goal of the season on Monday and Wimbledon's owners are keen to make a sale or two to help balance the books a bit. He wouldn't be cheap, but he's played for England U-21 and is the sort of player who would give us a bit more weight and variety up front.

January 03: The Scottish FA are apparently (and somewhat belatedly) complaining about England's decision to cap Jamie McMaster in their U-16 squad. Time for Soccer Australia to add their whinges to the pile I think....

January 03: The lack of depth in the squad was shown up today as Gareth Southgate took advantage of the completely unjustified banning of Lucas Radebe to score twice from set pieces. Both Radebe and Lee Bowyer were booked for fair challenges by Graham Barber against Leicester - which brought about an automatic ban for both players. With David Batty, David Hopkin and Stephen McPhail all injured, the midfield was seriously short of weight and experience, and Alfi Haaland's second appearance of the season was as effective as his first in Sofia. It's not the end of the world - and with poor results from Arsenal, Sunderland and Liverpool it's not particularly damaging - apart from the fact that it gives Man U a massive boost and leaves them very much in pole position.

January 02: Happy New Year to everyone - just got back from a short break and there's not much news. Some bloke in a pub told me we'd signed Stan Collymore on New Year's Eve - but that was more of an April Fool than a Halloween horror. Players are looking a bit thin on the ground for tomorrow's game - fingers crossed we'll bounce back with a win against Villa.