A look ahead at Leeds!

Destination Leeds - Elland Road.
Yorkshire beckons tomorrow as Newcastle head to Leeds to take part in their penultimate pre-season friendly.

Sources from within Leeds confirm that around 17,000 tickets have been sold so far with 4,000 of those tickets being sold to Mags. I’ll be there and I can’t wait as we are likely to see a team that is closer to the one that we kick-off the Premier League season with in just two weeks time.

The players are back from America and the reserve squad is back from Holland which gives Alan Pardew far more options in terms of picking a team as he once again call upon the likes of Joey Barton, Yohan Cabaye, Mike Williamson and Nile Ranger whilst Danny Simpson will once again return to first team duty after jetting home from the US for the birth of his daughter. Ryan Taylor and James Perch both return from injury for the trip to Elland Road.

Absentees include Cheik Tiote, who is busy trying to sort out his Visa problems, along with Hatem Ben Arfa, Danny Guthrie and Shane Ferguson who will all be out with respective injuries.

With regard to getting there if you’re going to the match my advice is simple – leave early and give plenty of time!

I’ve been driving to and from Leeds most of the week and it’s pretty busy at the best of times. Add to that the fact that 50,000+ people will be making their way to Party in the Park just a few junctions North of Leeds (J46) and you can see why I’m saying leave plenty of time.

If you’re going to try and dodge around it by using the A64 then bear in mind that roadworks are in place on the ring road and delays are expected so you could be caught in traffic both ways unfortunately.

For those who aren’t going the official Leeds website will allow you to view the match, if you subscribe to LUTV. It’s probably not what many of us want to do but I remain hopeful that some kind soul will stream it so that everyone can enjoy it. We will of course update as and when we can find anything worth tuning for.

We will have a match article up tomorrow but with most of us away at the match it probably won’t include team news, although I’m sure you Eager Beavers will be on it as soon as it becomes available anyway and I very much doubt you’ll have to scroll through many comments to get to the teamsheet.

On the match I guess I’d like to see more of the same as we did in Columbus. A good performance, a win, and most importantly no injuries! Leeds will give us a tough test in my opinion and it’s the kind of friendly you want two weeks away from the start of the season.

There will be added bite to the match as Alan Smith is “going home” and may feel the wrath of some of the Leeds faithful who haven’t quite forgiven him for popping along the M62 and switching white for red in the process. From our perspective it will be two years to the day since the passing of Sir Bobby so I expect plenty of vocal tributes from the travelling Toon Army.

Kick-off is at 2pm UK time so don’t forget to adjust your clocks/watches/phones/whatever to reflect that fact wherever you are in the world.

Howay the lads!

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

51 thoughts on “A look ahead at Leeds!

  1. I have a lot of memories of Elland Road.

    The most striking one being that the Leeds fans can be a right set of bastards on their day 😆

    I like Leeds as they are a club other teams seem to passionately hate from their dominance in Bremner’s era. They are a team every set of fans want to beat when they travel away and I was over the moon when they dumped Man Utd out of the cup!

    I used to goto Elland Road a lot with my old man as he was a Leeds season ticket holder and remember getting cans of Heineken out the back of The Peacock pub across the road when I was about 14 for £3 a can.

    Vomitted all over the stadium toilets that day after a 2-1 win in which Pedro got a goal. I was sat in the Leeds end and my old man was in bother off the service crew after my brief celebration for the goal.

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  2. always been a ground ive hated,well there fans more than the ground really,dont think the club has lost that “dirty leeds tag”they always had

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  3. Service Crew 🙄 😆

    Not done Elland Road yet so it’s a step closer to the 92 I guess. Spent a lot of time working around there though in Holbeck so I know my way about 🙂

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  4. Leeds fan…

    Have you got any players we can loan from you?

    Bates won’t spend any money on our team this year (he’s happy to invest 7m in new executive boxes though) and we need new players ASAP if we are to do anything this year.

    Leon Best maybe for a few months?

    And no, we don’t want Smithy back. Not cos of Man U but cos he’s lost it now. Shame he was a great player for us when we were famous 😉

    Always had respect for the Geordies – remember at Wembley for the Mercentile classic we were next to each other and joined forces for a sing song.

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  5. Not sure the Service Crew exist any more. A few old heads come out for the big games but that’s the case everywhere now.

    Won’t be any bother tomorrow….unless you lot come on the pitch! lol

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  6. Not Best. we need him 😛
    Perch, Xisco, Sammi Ameobi, Donaldson, Airey ,

    You can have any of them on loan 🙂

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  7. according to wikipedia we have signed an argentine striker Mariano Pavone on a free for a year, he is absolutley rubbish!!! Wheres melvut erding when you need him

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  8. Also I believe Alan smith still can play football just nt in England.maybe the club can promote him to serie A italian clubs.i am sure some of them may be interested in him. And Italian clubs have that sort of facilities to prolong a footballer career. 😉

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  9. How come Routledge is not wanted up there? Thought he always looked a decent player?

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  10. Leedsfan – Routledge is great in the Championship, but beyond that he is pretty pap. Would be great for a team looking for promotion, but just don’t hold out hope that he can cut it at PL level if he works out.

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  11. He’d cost £2m too which is about £1.8m more than we pay for players right now.

    Anyway good luck with the season and enjoy sunny Yorkshire tomorrow!

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  12. Leeds fan, we’re talking over 10 year ago when I last went to Elland Road, the S.C were still pretty vocal back then.

    I remember Nigel Winterburn taking some serious abuse warming up as a sub one game 😯

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  13. Leedsfan

    I think Toonsy’s being fair.

    With us, Chris Hughton would have given him a chance and believed in the player which would have upped his confidence etc etc.

    Pardew arrived, never gave him a chance, after a week or two discarded him like a dirty sock.

    Before he got here he was unlucky with injuries.

    Now if you’re looking for a gem you could get cheaply from us – try Ryan Taylor – brilliant free kicks 😆 and super player 😈

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  14. My word Moreno

    Is this the morning after the night before when you published “the reality check blog”

    Oh dear , I dying for you, you must be soo embarrassed – yikes 😆

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  15. * Toonsys being UNfair I should have said!

    And Toonsy really rates Ryan Taylor too so there’s a bit of balance for you 😆

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  16. alreet lads , first time ive been on here 4 a few days been in hospital with me dodgy stomach!!

    any transfer news?? i hear erding is looking doubtful 😕 seems hes never been botherd about a move to us like!! lets just hope we have another striker in before arsenal!!!

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  17. Hey Army, really sorry to hear you’ve been so ill.

    Did you look over any of that information I posted the other day about Crohn’s & the new tests proposed for treatment? It involved something that sounds revolting, but promising: ie, introducing intestinal worms.

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  18. Leedsfan – I’d take 200,000 for Routledge and thrown Smith and Ryan Taylor in with the deal 😉

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  19. Embarrassed? Yes I am, that so many of my fellow excellent Newcastle fans keep getting shafted and coming back for more with cap in hand.

    Embarrases me to death!

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  20. Hi all. I’m at the Emirates cup watching NY rd bulls v PSG
    Erdinc, matuidi, menez, all starting for PSG. Henry not starting for NY.

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  21. just seen an interview with tavernier he was born in leeds so he supports it,but i bet the kid will be itching to score for the toon!!!!!!!!

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  22. Erdinc ‘s been anonymous, just had a good chance. Blasted wide… Menez and matuidi have been ggood. Red bulls 1-0 up .

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  23. Yea, erdinc looks like a poacher/finisher, not exactly a dribbler or passer. Movement is there, but the supply’s been poor

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  24. He just doesn’t seem keen enough, seems like we’re relying on PSG trying to ship him out rather than him moving here….To put it into perspective, Cabaye was willing to give up a key starting place in the French Champions squad to come here and not even get a guaranteed starting spot….Erdinc doesn’t seem bothered 😕

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  25. Well, hard to say much about him from that performance. He didn’t really have clear chances. The PSG midfield didn’t provide him with much service.

    On the other hand, I’m delighted with a CLEAN SHEET for my local team and good old Lindpere took his goal very well.

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  26. Army, maybe yer doctor hasn’t heard of the treatment/testing, so you may want to mention it to him.

    Ah, who am I kidding? A civilian like me overhearing something on the radio by chance… your docs are probably miles ahead of it.

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  27. Leeds Fan – I’d say Routledge is worth 2m, he’s super pacey and has a trick or two, can cause probs for any defence…. however, it’s once he gets past his man when the problems start – his crossing, decision-making and passing in the final third is laughably bad.

    Loan players (all young uns and fringe 1st team) – maybe u can take….

    Donaldson (CM these days, nice passer with solid technique and an eye for goal – was a striker during his academy days),
    Richardson (CM, not seen him play to be honest – was plucked from local sunday leaguers Walker Central last year… but ended up making the bench in the Prem a few times at the end of last season),
    Airey (CF, think Carroll-lite)
    Dummett (LB, played in our last tour game in the states and just been called up to the Wales U-21s)

    Looking forward to finding a stream the morra! Howay the toon……

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  28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EsOelLU-s0

    Would like all you guys to see it.Its a video of Toon shirts which were donated to poor locals and numerous children in the state of Goa in India.Makes your heart warm to see these them wearing the black and white.. 🙂

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  29. FSOTC any chance of reposting the link for the Chrons stuff! My wife has just been diagnose with it and I really don’t know that much about it.

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  30. Sure thing–as I was telling Army, I just happened to be listening to the USA’s National Public Radio last week and on their program, Science Friday, they talked about it. It was sheer chance–my wife and I had rented a car and were driving around on a Friday afternoon and for some reason it stuck in my head. Then, by random chance, Army was writing that he’d been sick w/Crohn’s and FLASH–the light went on in my head!

    Here’s a transcript of the conversation, not all of which is relevant, but what the hell?
    http://www.npr.org/2011/07/22/138610583/exploring-the-wild-life-of-our-bodies

    And also, just by chance, on July 25th, the Boston Globe (a respected pare, state-side) posted this news item on it:
    http://articles.boston.com/2011-07-25/business/29813486_1_parasite-cells-patients

    So it seems the stars are aligned for you a bit… Hope it helps.

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  31. Deep@40, great video and hopefully they will all follow the team from now on and also a reminder of how good our Adidas kits were, not keen on the current Puma products which are not the same quality.

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  32. id like to see krul
    tav willo collo feguson
    barton cabaye
    marveaux gutierez
    ba best
    that would be canny for leeds i think mabe 1 or two mite come from bench

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  33. i’m going hopefully there will be two strong teams out so it will be a good match! Hoping there will be no more injury’s though! I was looking forward to watch Ben Arfa 🙁

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