Hadn't really seen this anywhere before and just saw it on Sky Sports.

Harte to Levante

So Ian Harte's off to Spain and that makes yet another exit from the Yorkshire club--and I once again doubt that the Whites will be recouping anything of a transfer fee.

Does anyone have a list of players who have left the club in the past two seasons? It's got to be more than an entire squad of players. All that I could come up with: Nigel Martyn, Paul Robinson, Jonathan Woodgate, Dominic Matteo, Ian Harte, Olivier Dacourt, Jason Wilcox, Nicky Barmby, Stephen McPhail, Lee Bowyer, Harry Kewell, Robbie Keane, Alan Smith, Mark Viduka, Michael Bridges. That, of course, does not include any of the loans Leeds brought in and subsequently let go (a list that includes Bravo, Camara, Lucic, Sakho and Olembe). Quite amazing if you ask me.

I just had to post this.

Matteo joins Paul Dickov and Javi De Pedro as Rovers boss Graeme Souness' third new signing this summer. Most impressive is that the three have cost a total of £150,000, so is Souness the new wheeler-dealer king of the Premiership?

Link here.

As a result an emergency meeting is currently taking place to decide exactly who else has to leave the club, from tea lady to players.

As a consequence the youth and reserve set ups are under threat as they simply cannot afford to run them.

I'll admit that this will sound a bit cutthroat... but if Leeds really are teetering over the edge, even with their youth setup, then it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea for Rovers to get in there with bids for a few Leeds youngsters, e.g. Kilgallon.

Nice call, Kamy, as always.

Great to hear that Matteo's joining on a free, and as long as his wages aren't astronomical then it was another brilliant piece of business. Three quality signings who will all at least push for first team places for a grand total of £150,000... whoever made the observation that Souness works best with a tight transfer budget is spot on.

If, as Rev said, Yorke and Todd can be offloaded to ease the wage bill, I would not at all be surprised to see another signing before the end of summer.

This just might be the most asinine argument I've ever heard.

Kezman is very good.l

Good signing for Chelsea.

He's good, but I don't think he's world class. If Chelsea are serious about going for the Premiership and the Champions League then they should be looking at the players a level above him.

you are saying they should buy only stars?

Don't agree with that!!

Kezman is very good but can get better.

Mourinho did that with Nuno Valente, Paulo Ferreira (that he bought) and Maniche, Ricardo carvalho, Helder Postiga improved their game a lot.

This isn't Porto, this is Chelsea.

That's no knock on the reigning European champs... I'm just pointing out that Mourinho is not working with a limited budget here, he is not managing in the Portuguese league and he will certainly not be allowed any room for error. His work at Porto was masterful, but the pressure he'll be under to achieve success at Chelsea will be absolutely astronomical.

With a trigger-happy Abramovich at the helm of the club, Mourinho can't afford to "improve the game" of good players... he needs world class stars who can help him win silverware in order to keep the Mad Russian placated.

Am I saying that Chelsea should only buy stars? At this point, absolutely. Their squad is already too deep, and for once the "don't buy unless it's better than what you have" philosophy rings solidly true. What does Kezman provide that Mutu, Crespo, Forssell or Gudjohnsen couldn't?

Don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but Chelsea have allegedly agreed on a fee with PSV Eindhoven for Mateja Kezman.

Sky Sports

No word on the size of the fee, but whatever it is, I simply can't understand what's going on. I've heard nothing but good things about Kezman, but he had been linked with Newcastle and Birmingham (read: places where he could have gotten a game), so to go to Chelsea is a bit puzzling in my mind.

Some people have got to remember that a 30yr old centre back still has probably at least 4 good yrs at the top to go.

Bingo.

I hadn't been too keen on the Matteo signing at first, but the more I think about it, I realize that 30 is not really that old for a defender. Assuming he is indeed healthy, he's certainly got quite a few years of top level football left in him. Yes, I would have preferred a young defender because of the future they might have--Kevin Hofland springs to mind--but Matteo has at least three good seasons in him (and possibly more if Craig Short is an example to go off of).

The articles everyone's posting are quoting a price of £1 million, which seems a bit high to me. £500,000 or even £750,000 are a bit more reasonable given Leeds' situation, and of course Rovers must keep an eye on Matteo's wages... but assuming those things happen, it's another solid deal this summer.

The fact that he signed a two-year deal is excellent news. Had Rovers put a three year offer on the table for Dickov it would have been too long in my opinion, but two years is the perfect amount of time for Dickov to be here before he steps aside to make room for the (by then hopefully) emerging Derbyshire, Barker, and Garner.

The name that leaps out from that list there is Gallas on loan. Would absolutely love that. Strong, quick and composed - everything you look for in a centreback.

Exactly. Which is why I wonder why he's on that list at all... surely some mistake 1864? If Chelsea think they are in a position to loan out Gallas then they are absolutely ludicrous.

Oh and by the way, just to echo everyone else's sentiments... £13 million for a freaking right back?!?!?!?!?

ROVERS INCREASE PEDERSEN BID!!!!

http://www.skysports.com/skysports/article...1138335,00.html

According to reports in Norway, Rovers have tabled a new offer of £1.5 million for the Tromso winger, although £600,000 of the fee is appearance related.

First of all, Tromsø are crazy if they actually believe they can hold out for the £2.3 million or so they're quoting in the press--this isn't three years ago and young unproven players just don't get sold for that much anymore.

Anyway... if the information from that Sky Sports article is correct, Rovers offered even less than £1.5 million total with their original bid--and their second bid is exactly £1.5 million all told. My point is this: assuming that those numbers are accurate, the club is handling this situation well and we don't have to worry about them blowing £3 million on a young gamble of a player.

Rest easy.

Instead of analysing this transfer too much we should just ask ourselves the question "Who would you prefer, Yorke or Dickov??".

The 100k fee is nothing when you look at what we are paying Yorke to sit around and do nothing.

For me it's smple...

If he comes to replace Yorke, it's a good buy.

Cheap and he works on the field.

If he cames to replace Cole, bad buy. Cole still has one or two good years in front of him.

We can't ignore the fact that Stead may be found out a little next season - so a willing experienced hardworking striker to play alongside Cole while Stead and Gallagher continue their education for £100k. For me it's an absolute steal - and like Gray could turn out to be an inspirational signing.

Don't get me wrong, i love the idea of youth coming through the ranks and succeeding for Rovers. We've produced some fantastic youth players in the past and they've don'e excellent for us.

BUT - we haven't got any youth players of good enough quality yet. The likes of Barker and Garner are coming through but not right now.

For the time being, we have this proven goal scorer with the work rate of about 70 horses. So lets enjoy the few years of service he gives us whilst Barker and Garner are getting older and ready for the big time.

I just read through the entire thread and I can't say anything that hasn't been said already. If anyone wants to know why this is a good signing, you can find the reasons in the preceding four quotes. Finally, I'll say one more time what Oklahoma said (and what I've said from the very beginning) because it bears repeating:

If Dickov is being brought in as a replacement for Cole, then yes, a mistake is being made. If, as it seems, Dickov is being brought in to take Yorke's place, then it is an excellent move. End of story.

Too right. I hold my hand up with the constant miss spelling of Damien but I thought I was getting the hang of Andresen and Gallagher. To be honest Philly you've completely shattered my confidence - instead of encouraging me you've knocked me for six. I'll be afraid to make another mistake now. Oh well.

I'm sorry, bob, I readily admit that I was a bit harsh there. All the anxiety over Pedersen has really gotten to me.

Actually, I might be able to put your spelling prowess to use. Can you lend me a hand with this little puzzle? (I've been mulling over it for awhile but haven't been able to come up with the solution).

Quizz time.Which is the odd one out???

Leicester  city?

Portsmouth?

West Brom?

Blackburn rRovers?

Everton?

Birmingham?

Thing is we've been in exactly the same situation before with Damian Duff so we know how you feel.

Come now, bob. For the last time, it's DamiEn. You know, like AndREsen. And GallaGher.

You're a disgrace.

I'm just using what AESF said (I'm assuming that he didn't just make it up):

"Is there any club that you could never join?" asked the presenter of Soccer AM a year ago.

"Manchester United," was Smith's immediate reply back then.

Don't be a silly Euro billy.

Smith is just like anyone else who has been offered the chance to treble his wages and play for one of biggest and best employers in his industry.

Just ask Damien Duff.

Perhaps, but Duff didn't leave for a bitter rival after saying that it was the one team in the world he would never play for.

This wouldn't be nearly as appalling had Smith not openly professed his undying love for Leeds throughout his career. All the "I bleed white" talk proved to be complete and utter bull****. It's one thing to leave a club; it's another to leave the club that you profess love; and it's quite another to leave your "beloved" club for a bitter rival.

What makes this most sickening of all for me was that I really believed Smith. Duff left reluctantly, thanking Rovers fans as he left and thereby leaving the door open for a possible return someday; Smith didn't seem to think twice about the consequences of his actions, slamming shut the door behind him.

This whole episode just goes to show that it's a much different world we live in today.

After watching the Champions League final, I really feel that Chelsea would be crazy not to hire Mourinho.

In my mind there wasn't really a gulf in class between the teams--true, Monaco may not be a very defensively-gifted side, but with Morientes, Giuly (and later Prso), Rothen, etc., they probably had more attacking flair than Porto. The victory for Porto came down to the tactical masterclass of Mourinho.

Call Porto whatever you like--boring, defensive, ugly to watch, what have you--the fact is that they got results. Mourinho was able to win the Champions League with a team full of good, but not great, players. No knock on Porto, as they are certainly a talented side, but Derlei, McCarthy, and Deco are simply not as talented as Duff, Crespo, Lampard and company. If Mourinho can implement the same type of lock-down defensive system at Chelsea that he used at Porto, the sky is absolutely the limit for the club.

That being said, it'll be interesting to see how he would get along with Abramovich and his "I'll buy whoever I want to since I'm the billionaire" attitude.

After all at the end of the fifteenth century, by far the largest and most powerful nation in Europe was....

Lithuania (it even had a Black Sea coast)

Well I'll be damned... you learn something new everyday I guess. Also...

In 2012 (earlier if Bush gets re-elected) China will overtake the USA as the world's largest economy.

Well done, philip, a clever bit of American political humor all the way from Malta. Made me laugh at least!

Guardian says O'Leary had him watched on Thursday and will be putting in a £2m bid. Prepare for disappointment.

With Barry and Whittingham, I don't see why O'Leary wants another left winger.

But then again, it was O'Leary who decided he needed Robbie Fowler when he already had about 403 strikers on the Leeds roster. So you never know.

And that combined with O'Leary's quote from earlier this season (can't find the whole thing, but I distinctly remember him uttering something about wanting to "do a Leeds" with Aston Villa) is what pisses me off.

I like O'Leary and think he's a pretty good manager, but he certainly gets a little trigger-happy with transfer money. I would hate to see him ruin Rovers' chances to sign Pedersen because of his "kid in a candy shop" mentality on spending money on new players.

Given that sufficient funds were available who would you like to be signed.

Rumors are we have around 15million to spend pre-season. My personal choices would be, Robbie Keane, Jermaine Pennant, Geremi (loan), Muzzy Izzet, Danny Mills and possibly Ian Harte (all of the players we have been linked with). Should be a good side should we manage to get them.

I realize that Brum have had a good season, but does anyone else think that Robbie Keane and Geremi might be a little bit out of their league?

I just have a feeling that Tiny will play and will be solid at the back in a 2-0 Blues victory. Sure hope I'm wrong, but at least Rovers don't need a result from this one to avoid relegation.

Pre Todd falling out with Souness

"Brilliant - player of the year by far"

Post Todd falling out with Souness

"Rubbish - never liked him - glad to see the back of him"

Maybe Todd shouldn't have spat the dummy out of the pram but it's very sad to see him leave the club after the season he's had unless we've got someone better lined up. You can hardly say Amoruso and Short are reliable injury wise.

And commercially, surely to god we could have got back the 750k we paid for him?

Exactly.

I for one am sad to see Todd leave the club. He was a rock in defense when no one else seemed to be able to put it together, and up until a few weeks ago he was in all likelihood the player of the season.

Of course, you can't keep around a player who's fallen out with the manager, and Todd certainly does share some of the blame for his spat with Souness, but all the man ever wanted to do was play football. He'll probably catch on with one of the promoted sides and, if he can keep his temper in check, do a fine job for them.

Best of luck in the future Andy.

Poor Alan Smith.  Now he can throw a bottle or two into the stands for a different team.  He's a spoiled player with hardly any professionalism in him.  The fact that he cried at full time at the game doesn't touch any heart strings with me. I feel more for Wolves and Leicester going down than for Leeds. 

But that being said, Let the rape and pillage of the Leeds squad begin!

A typical newbie comment.

Sorry Todd, I didn't mean to insult your girlfriend Alan Smith. But really, the guy plays a GAME for a living and he cries because he's getting relegated? Yes relegation must be a gutting feeling, but its not like his playing career is over with. At any rate, if he'd have given his all throughout the season, maybe he wouldn't be in this position...I doubt it, but you never know...

Guys, this is the kind of stuff that no one likes reading, so let's not degrade ourselves into flinging personal insults at each other.

Sorry to get this thread back on topic, but whether or not you like Alan Smith or Leeds, you can't deny that the guy really cares about his club. Yes, he'll still be in the Premier League next year, and yes, he'll still have a nice paypacket, but his sorrow is real and you can't deny that.

A great picture, LeChuck, one that really says it all for Smitty.

Both Fenerbahce and Besiktas have expressed interest in taking Viduka although Leeds are resisting....at the moment.

Interesting to see that the Premier League sides are laying low for now.

I would, however, expect a flurry of activity before the end of the month if things stay as they are.

Soccernet article

Interesting article.  It doesn't really state anything new, but it does make the point that relegation will basically spell the end of the club as we now know it.  If the club can stay out of administration and scrape out of the bottom three, the author thinks that Roman Abramovich: The Sequel (but with different characters) will come to their rescue.