Yorkshire Radio presenter Ben Fry started by asking the chairman if the break between now and the Hull game next Tuesday will help give the players a breather…
Ken Bates: Well I think it does more than that actually. It gives players who may have been carrying niggly knocks 10 days to recover and have more treatment and as you say, generally recharge their batteries before the Hull game. The Hull game is a very important one. We need a win there.
Ben Fry: You mention the Hull game, they’re in reasonable form at the moment having lost only one in 12. It seems like Nigel Pearson’s got them back on track now so I suppose it’s probably a more difficult game than it looks on paper?
KB: Yeah but on the other hand in the reverse order they are looking at us – we’ve only lost one in 14. And we have lost three games away all season which is also a very good performance including of course drawing at Arsenal. So we don’t want to draw at Hull, we want to win. We gave away two points against them earlier in the season and we can’t afford to do that again. It should be a good game, an exciting game, particularly if our boys get back on course.
BF: Now one player who has left Leeds United in the last seven days is Andrew Hughes. He has gone on an 18 month deal to Scunthorpe. Chairman, he seemed to have a special relationship with the fans. They were very disappointed to see him go and of course, while wishing him all the best, he was a special character.
KB: Oh Andy was, as you say, a very special character. I can still remember him after we won promotion last year behaving in a somewhat inappropriate manner but then I’m told my speech was in the same vain so odds are even there. I’m sorry Andy’s gone but we had to look to the future. His contract was up at the end of the season. I don’t think he figured in our plans for next season because all the time we’re looking to strengthen our squad so we can get better players. So when the opportunity came for him to go to Scunthorpe and get him a new contract, we were very pleased for him. We wish him well.
BF: Now just five days left in the transfer window, have you noticed increasing calls from agents and more calls from clubs? Is anybody starting to panic?
KB: Talking to all the people at the club, I don’t think there is any panic anywhere. We have been reviewing our options, watching alternative players play to see how we can improve and if we can improve our team. I don’t want to be taking people just for the sake of taking them on. The other advantage of this break this weekend is that after the Portsmouth game we’ve now had a good six or seven days to review, whether by video or by reports or discussions, the options open to us and what we do and don’t want to do. So I think there is a possibility that the club will be signing one or more players before the end of the month. There’s no panic. After all, on February 5 you can start signing people on 93-day loans so this transfer window is a bit over-exaggerated anyway. But no, there’s no panic. Calls from agents… well they’re probably calling everybody at the same time. We’ve got 18 games to go, Simon knows what he wants and I hope to have discussions with him tomorrow or the day after on what the consensus of opinions is with him and Gwyn Williams and the backroom staff.
Courtesy of WACCOE and TSB's Fax Man. Fax Man on TheSquareBall
4 Comments:
no panic NEVER is if you have to spend money you old coffin dodger
but there will be if obrien (remember our defence before he arrived) or becchio get injured, we are light in midfield etc etc, do you want to give yourself a better chance of promotion or NOT, time to stop the nonsense and invest in the future of leeds united not a load of white elephant hotels
Agree - need RB cover, CB cover and Paynter hasn't proved he's capable of stepping in. Loans will do.
Bromby's RB cover, Collins CB cover, i don't want to see more signings that warm the bench, get a defensive midfielder in for the love of god!
Us and Leicester leading the way for Johnson..
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