Leeds banter 10

31 Mar 2026 18:11:09
I have to say, maybe I am in the minority on this, but this weekend, we are in one of the oldest and most revered football competitions. How amazing would it be to be in the hat along side the likes of Arsenal, Citeh, Chelsea or Liverpool.

We would pick up so many neutrals as the underdog. Leeds would be a team held up as what can be achieved. Leeds Leeds Leeds.

31 Mar 2026 18:21:58
Can't argue with that Vid. :)

31 Mar 2026 18:41:20
Leeds United getting to a Wembley FA Cup semi-final would be an absolute first for the club and for all Leeds United fans!

Older fans, such as myself, have been fortunate to have seen a fair few Leeds United FA Cup semis in the 1960s, 1970s, and even 1980s, but those ties were not held at Wembley.



Bring it on, I say!

Let's beat dem Hammers and then I would absolutely love Leeds United to be drawn and beat Chelski in semis at Wembley!

31 Mar 2026 18:57:52
We can't nil nil draw our way to the FA Cup final, so no goals, no final, plus we have an incompetent coach.
Nothing to look forward to.
Forget it.

31 Mar 2026 19:14:48
Nil nil then win on penalties OP.
Sorted!

01 Apr 2026 12:55:40
OP, please can you add a profile pic of Eeyore? Your outlook reminds me of him so much!

01 Apr 2026 18:19:02
Alf, I was trying to lead Baz into a false sense of security, confuse him a little with a deadly pessimistic post.
His negative, constantly moaning head just thought it was a normal post though!

We'll beat Wet Spam this weekend, going for Calvert-Lewin goal to seal our victory.

01 Apr 2026 18:32:02
The Eeyore profile pic would be apt, Alf.

01 Apr 2026 21:31:28
FA Cup takes second place for me. Making sure we stay in this league is our top priority. Don't give much away at the weekend, hit them in the league, get 3 points is what we should be looking at. And, before the two, just in, it's my opinion.

02 Apr 2026 15:29:23
We are in the FA Cup every week, no point winning it then getting relegated. Sort the cake out first, you can have the icing later.

03 Apr 2026 07:08:29
Yes Baz, potentially the FA Cup semi-final and Wembley, all possible with the incompetent Daniel Farke and our useless current owners who don't care about the club.
How is that even possible?
So hypocritical, and it is so predictable coming from you.



Bring it on, I say!

Some on here would say it's only down to luck and, despite our coach and current owners, that we progress in the Premiership and reach a semi-final of the FA Cup.
Interesting thought processes.

03 Apr 2026 13:17:03
In the FA Cup this season we've beaten lower league teams and three Championship sides so far. Hopefully we can beat a current EPL side, West Ham, in the quarters.

31 Mar 2026 14:13:20.
Looks like Spuds have brought in Rdz. Should we be worried?

31 Mar 2026 15:03:59
Concerned, yep.

But, I would have been even more worried if Dyche had come in for the 7 games.. Spuds need to stop shipping goals, and he would have probably improved them on that.

31 Mar 2026 15:36:25
Don't think it matters who they bring in, 7 games is no timescale to wave a wand. It's more about the players, who is fit, who is up for a scrap, where are their leaders.

A manager, whoever he is, will take time to instill his philosophy and ideas. Their enemy is time. The Forest game was huge. Lose the next game, it's 6 left, etc. Tick tock.

31 Mar 2026 16:02:22
No timescale, yes, but they don't need to win a whole lot of games to be safe.
Don't think we can pour scorn on our fellow bottom feeders, as we are all in a pickle.

Regardless of Zerbi needing time, we need goals, and that's a serious problem also.



It's going to wire, probably even last day.
I have never bought "we will win enough home games" narrative, so if we lose another 1-2 we could very well move into 3rd spot to drop.

Squeaky bum time for sure.

31 Mar 2026 16:27:23
Was just commenting on Spuds, Chris, our situation is equally perilous unless we can start scoring, as you rightly point out, and get some points in the bag. If I was pouring scorn I would have pointed out Spuds approached RDZ after he left Marseille in February; he turned them down. They approached him after the Liverpool game; he turned them down again.

Now he accepts? They must have, in the words of Don Corleone, made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Smacks of desperation. What others do is up to them, what Leeds do is another matter, but we have continuity and the squad to finish the job, in my opinion, of course.

31 Mar 2026 16:36:57
We may not have the quality in our team, but we have bags of fight in all our players.
Are all the Spurs players up for a fight?

31 Mar 2026 16:51:21
I think fight is certainly part of it, and in recent games Spuds look like they have just given up and are resigned to their fate. The immediate challenge for RDZ will be to make the players care again and want, really want, to fight for the team and themselves.

No doubt many think they will just be sold, and that might impact their desire for a scrap, but who knows?

31 Mar 2026 17:21:52
There's not just the fight but also the massive spotlight on them, with their new manager.
Nerves and pressure will be at their maximum, not just the players but their fans as well. If they go a goal down in any of their final games, the tension will be ramped up to its limits and beyond.
Rather be us than them.

31 Mar 2026 17:24:46
My coaching pal at Brighton confirmed Rdz certainly is not missed at Brighton, known to be very petulant and sulks if he doesn't get his own way, nobody doubted his talent and tactical nous, but nobody missed the mood swings.

Agree with Baz.

(Ouch!) I would be more worried had Arry or Dyche gone in there with only 7 games left.

I'm more worried about our own drop off in form, especially in terms of goals. We need a bit more bravery from our coach, draws won't cut it.

31 Mar 2026 17:57:12
Good man, Class. Makes sense.

01 Apr 2026 08:40:08
I doubt very much Sean Dyche would have got anything out that Spurs team of inflated egos.
He had the best squad of quality players at Forest and failed.
Dyche gets a better tune out of lower quality scrapers.
I wished they had chosen him because 100% they would've gone down.

31 Mar 2026 13:44:21
So who would we all play in the FA Cup game?

First team?

Reserve team?

Don't care as long as we don't get any injuries?

31 Mar 2026 14:12:22
Said all the way through. We ain't gonna win it. Who cares. Throw the reserve team at it. Focus on prem.

31 Mar 2026 14:33:52
Noooooo, Aus, lol. Whoever we play, we should just go for it from the off, aint no point being coy. Make em av it, and if we die by the sword, so be it, but please dont fall on our sword and go out without a whimper.

Winning is a great tonic, and if we can progress, get a bit of confidence and then gain some points in the league before the semis, its a different story. But yes, I would agree, rest some players, give Willy, Piroe, Ao etc game time.

31 Mar 2026 14:40:16
How's that work for Gunners, Vid? They can play their u21 and trash us. And when has Farke gone for it? Be real, mate. I'd rather reserve the starters.

31 Mar 2026 15:06:12
What Davey said, re intent and purpose.

I wanna see Farke send out a team to go for it; the club, fans and team need a lift.

31 Mar 2026 15:28:31
Lol Aus, you cannot compare us to Gooners, it's silly. If you read the last part of my post, I am agreeing with not playing regular starters for the Spam game. But our squad has ability in it, and what a great lift it would be for everyone if we reached the semi finals!

01 Apr 2026 14:57:31
Strongest team, no game then for eight days.

30 Mar 2026 07:16:24
Shoulda signed a striker in January.

30 Mar 2026 09:50:32
Shoulda coulda woulda.

30 Mar 2026 10:02:13
Shoulda always played AO and Willy in preference to BA, Gruev and DJ, but, hey, time will tell if those decisions were wrong or.. lucky.

30 Mar 2026 12:01:21
Oh Class, that word lucky is a bit unfair on Farke if he does keep us up.
I fear for him on that one, that if the mission is accomplished, there will be a section of Leeds fans that will give Farke and his coaching staff zero credit for doing the extremely difficult task of keeping us up in our first season back, and, unfairly in my opinion, slap a lucky tag on his back.



Surely Leeds fans won't go that low?

30 Mar 2026 12:05:52
Time has already told us, Class.
If we stay up, it doesn't take away or excuse wrong decisions.

30 Mar 2026 12:39:49
Not necessarily lucky, but I think Farke has underperformed. Staying up is the bare minimum expectation and performance metric, so yes, well done, but could do better, and I think a more competent manager would have seen us safe already.

30 Mar 2026 13:55:07
Stats show, and I know a lot of you blokes like stats, that over the entire Premiership existence, I believe there is only approximately a one in three chance of staying up in the first season, and over three seasons, newly promoted teams have a 60% chance of returning to the Championship.

Why fans, and that is especially a number of Leeds fans, believe it is pretty much a given that we should stay up is, in my mind, quite incredible.

In fact, to some it should be quite easy to steer well clear of relegation!

Shall we just give underachieving Farke a slightly over average lucky label or a fully lucky label?

Nothing ever surprises me in football.

30 Mar 2026 14:25:39
Alf, with a more competent coach, as you call it, perhaps we are virtually down already, like Wolves and Burnley.
Competent coaches are overrated, didn't you know.

30 Mar 2026 07:39:15
{Ed's Note - Davey Sulls has posted a new article entitled, My Liverpool Summer Plan: Coach Change and Four Signings

29 Mar 2026 22:09:28
44 days the same as Clough still not sure which was the worst decision, hiring Cloughy of firing him 😁😁.

29 Mar 2026 22:28:11
Hiring Clough (esp without Peter Taylor) was worst.

30 Mar 2026 15:08:17
After his well-known insults directed at Revie's team, he should have never got near the job. Johnny Giles was the man to take over.

30 Mar 2026 18:11:30
Definitely, Feath.

Clough may well have worked another couple of years down the line (as Baz said, needed Peter Taylor with him) .

29 Mar 2026 16:01:48
Bad news Spurs have sacked their manager. It always happens before we play a team. 🤦‍♂️

29 Mar 2026 17:29:20
We play them in May, don't we?

29 Mar 2026 17:41:32
That could be a very important game if they get someone who can gel the team, as we have failed to win games.

29 Mar 2026 17:49:08
Sean Dyche is 2/1 fave for Spuds job. If he takes on job, Spuds will stay up imo.

29 Mar 2026 18:16:54
Ugh.very disappointing news. he was doing a great job for Leeds, Florist and West Ham EPL survival hopes

30 Mar 2026 06:29:14
Stats show that changing your coach this late in the season nearly every time does not prevent relegation. We’ve had the same experience.
Hiring and firing coaches several times in a season is disastrous for a club. It’s simply not the answer to a club spiraling down, and I don’t understand why that is not obvious?

30 Mar 2026 07:14:28
So no club changing manager in March has stayed up after being in bottom 5. You quote stats but don't give them or examples. Hope you are right though, Opti. That's obvious.

30 Mar 2026 07:36:55
Didn't say no club, Aus.
It's very hard to find stats for a club one point out of the relegation zone, and changing its manager in virtually April.
I checked some time ago for clubs changing their managers at different points of the season, and being actually in the relegation zone.
This late in the season, the odds are very small.



If I was given a million pound bet on whether W.Ham or Spurs would survive, I'd be putting that bet on W.Ham every time.
Spurs are going down in my estimation. Their turmoil is not solely on the wrong coach; their problems lie deep within their club.
As far as I'm concerned, it will take nothing less than a miracle to keep them up.

30 Mar 2026 08:40:01
Agree, Opti, and I hope, and everyone I speak to, hope Spuds go down. 🙏🙏

30 Mar 2026 14:08:20
I'd pocket the million quid and not place a bet, the odds are too close on any of the 4 teams involved.

29 Mar 2026 12:35:34
Ideas for next season.
Time limit say 8 seconds on throw ins.
Retrospective cards/bans on players diving.
Something to be done on keepers pretending to be injured but I’m unsure what?
And finally Leeds to hire a new manager!

29 Mar 2026 13:43:35
And all subs on 60 min unless real injury and miss a game.
Gk injured off for a minute before allowed back on.

29 Mar 2026 13:58:47
Learn lessons from other sports;

Hockey - ball hits your foot, accidentally or otherwise, it's a free kick/penalty to the opposition (we adopt that approach to any handball situations) .

Rugby - player gets injured, play continues regardless. The physio/trainer comes on and sorts him out, whilst the rest get on with the game (apply the same approach in football - only those who are genuinely injured will stay down) .

Rugby (and most other sports for that matter) - only the captain can approach the ref, and has to call him 'sir'. No one else allowed within 510 metres unless summoned by the ref (this was supposed to be happening in football, but we've slipped back into our old ways with half a dozen players standing around the ref every time something goes against them) .



Re-introduce the practice adopted by UEFA a few years ago of having an extra official behind the goals watching out for pushing/pulling/grappling offences when corners or free kicks are being taken - VAR are useless at spotting them, needs a man on the ground looking out for such offences.

There's probably a lot more, but that's enough food for thought for now.

29 Mar 2026 14:11:40
Some great ideas, and I agree that the game can learn a lot from other sports, but the power people seem too stubborn or blinkered to accept that fact!
The GK faking injury to allow a team talk can be easily rectified by a liner / 4th official doing his bloody job!

29 Mar 2026 14:11:58
That should read 5/10 metres, not 510! That would be halfway across the car park. :)

29 Mar 2026 14:32:25
Excellent suggestions, Cleggy.

29 Mar 2026 15:47:18
Corkey, keeper faking injury will have to go off the field as any other player. A team member will have to step in until the keeper is back on the field, and will have to enter the field of play from the halfway line.

Once he is back on the field, the stand-in player will not be able to touch the ball with his hands. This will stop the cheating, as that's what they are doing. This will stop overnight.

29 Mar 2026 16:18:31
Biggest one for me, timekeeping. Take it from the ref, all together, copy rugby: stop clock for all injuries, and ball out of play above 30 secs.

And, just for the crack, keep playing until the ball goes out of play after the buzzer for the final time has sounded.

29 Mar 2026 16:40:36
Imho, there are a few things they can do.

Consistency in offside being flagged, blatant rugby tackles at set pieces.

Handball is handball, but the problem with that is players will be flicking the ball into opponents' arms every chance they get.

Make VAR an extra official just like the TMO in rugby, and open the ref's mic so that we can all hear the language the little boys are using.



They are proposing 6 seconds for throw-ins. It starts when a player picks up the ball.

And, of course, a new dynamic manager for the Peacocks.

30 Mar 2026 11:21:24
Some interesting rule updates for the World Cup, some of which address the above:
- Five-second countdown on throw-ins and goal kicks
- Substitutions must take 10 seconds or less
- Injured players must leave the field for at least a minute
- Video Assistant Referee (VAR) can now review second yellow cards and corner kicks

Of course it remains to be seen if they are consistently implemented.

30 Mar 2026 14:27:13
1. Any grappling in the box that's not worthy of awarding a penalty should still get a yellow card. A few repeat offenders getting second yellows would soon force a change in tactics.
2. Judge offsides with a "clear daylight" gap based solely on the position of the torso, so getting rid of those stupid offside by fingertip or toenail incidents. Consider limiting them to a zone 18 yards from the goal line, by extending the edge of the penalty box right across the pitch.
3. Restore the handball rule to its original intention of only penalising deliberate contacts, not unintentional ones, and get rid of all the nonsense about arms being in a "unnatural" position.
4. Appoint dedicated timekeepers to log time to be added on based on breaks in play as signalled by the referee. Added on time to be displayed on a screen at the end of normal time, a hooter sounded when time is up, and play ending when the ball next goes out of play.

This works fine in Rugby League.
5. Limit VAR decisions to 1 minute. If a ruling can't be made in that time, the on-field decision stands, and add ex-professionals to the VAR team, to get a players' perspective on incidents. Also allow a limited number of "coach's challenges" for VAR to rule on, say one per half and one more if there's extra time. Challenges to be retained if successful, or forfeit if unsuccessful.
6. Simulation in the opposition penalty box to try to win a penalty to be a mandatory red card offence.
7. Stop giving drop balls when the ball hits the referee. He is part of the field of play, so just play on.
8. Finally, and most importantly, referees should make themselves available after every match to answer questions from the media and explain their decisions.

30 Mar 2026 19:21:54
Love 6 and 8, JR.

29 Mar 2026 07:12:08
Rumour City getting 60 point deduction. I wish.

29 Mar 2026 09:00:36
I've read that in several different places, but it's probably just getting regurgitated from the original source.
It's unlikely, but given the charges, the punishments already dealt to others, surely there is no other outcome but a huge fine and a very significant deduction?

29 Mar 2026 10:24:30
The decision, or rather lack of the long overdue decision/punishment for Citeh, brings the whole of the EPL structure into disrepute, not that they will care one jot up in their very plush ivory towers.

When you compare the recent financial slap on the wrist penalty issued to Chelsea, in comparison to Everton's point deduction, which so nearly cost them their EPL status, you can see the top six tail wags the dog in the Premier League hierarchy.

If, and it's a multi-billion overpaid legal teams, the EPL will unlikely issue a points deduction to Citeh during a season whilst there is a risk of impacting TV revenue for the highly unlikely title run-in.



Apparently it's difficult to get all the necessary individuals together at one time, in order to issue Citeh's final sanction, due to busy conflicting diaries!

The real reason is fear of years of an incredibly expensive legal challenge from Citeh's bottomless pit funded legal teams.

Another reason, I prefer the Championship, but of course I understand the desire to be in the best possible league.

29 Mar 2026 16:04:14
Baz, mate, some don't like your post or should I say being put right. 🤣🤣🤣

30 Mar 2026 14:33:01
Great, they're on 61 pts now, so that would put them bottom and certain for relegation along with Wolves and Burnley, and the 4 teams just above them are all virtually safe. 😂🤣😂🤣