League One Leeds here for last Turf Moor friendly

Last updated : 27 July 2007 By Tony Scholes

It is pretty pointless telling you about the sort of summer our opponents have had, it has been well documented, it is still almost impossible to predict the outcome yet as it stands they still have the same people in charge of the club as was the case when they swiftly went into administration before the end of last season to avoid the ten point penalty for this coming season.

Leeds United has all been about administration, KPMG, Ken Bates and Caribbean companies this summer, and with the situation as it is they haven't been able to sign any players as yet although some have managed to fly the nest, and who can blame them with not having been paid last month.

David Healy's gone to Fulham, Robbie has come back to Burnley and Kevin Nicholls, who even preferred a return to Luton, has signed for our neighbours Preston. They've even lost youngster Danny Rose to Spurs as players get out whilst they still can.

What a remarkable few years it's been from Ridsdale's goldfish through to Bates and administration. In 2001 they played a Champions League semi-final against Valencia and they were still playing UEFA Cup football two seasons later. By April 2004 they were winning their last Premiership game against Blackburn but just six months later they were second best as the Clarets won at Elland Road.

Despite reaching the Championship play offs in 2006 the decline had really set in by then with Bates having acquired the club and a struggle in 2006/07 was never a surprise. The struggle continued, and continued until eventually relegation was confirmed and they are now League One Leeds playing in the third tier of English football for the first time in their history.


One to Watch

Not many of their side from the play off final just over a year ago are still with the club, but one player who is, and will be in the squad for the game tomorrow is Eddie Lewis who has been with the Elland Road club for two years after leaving Preston on a Bosman.

He was a target for Burnley boss Steve Cotterill then but there was no way we could afford the wages Leeds were offering, and neither could Preston, and he joined Leeds in the hope of a return to the Premiership.

That's where his English career started back in March 2000 when he became Paul Bracewell's last signing for Fulham. Bracewell brought him from San Jose Earthquakes for a fee of £1.3 million, but in two and a half years with the London club he failed to establish himself in the first team.

It was in his first full season at Fulham that he first played against Burnley, coming on as a late substitute for Louis Saha on what was our last visit to Craven Cottage in September 2000. It was one of only sixteen league appearances for Fulham, and half of those were from the bench. His only goal for them was in a League Cup win against Derby.

Despite his lack of first team action, Weary Whinger Craig Brown paid half a million pounds to take him to Deepdale in September 2002 and in almost three years with Preston, if nothing else, he perfected the art of winning penalties against Burnley.

He scored just the one goal for Preston against us and he's repeated that with his current club, scoring their first in the 2-1 win at the Turf in the 2005/06 season. Now aged 33, he's about to play League One football for the first time in his career.


Team News

The Leeds team is going to be one made up of players still on the staff, some trialists and players apparently waiting to sign for them. That's how it has been throughout the pre-season. Richard Cresswell could get his first game in the pre-season but they are without Gylfi Einarson, Shaun Derry and former Port Vale striker Leon Constantine who are all injured. They have named the following squad.

Scott Loache, Nick Hamman, Frazer Richardson, Robert Bayly, Matt Heath, Rui Marques, Ben Parker, Eddie Lewis, Sebastien Carole, David Prutton, Jonathan Douglas, Alan Thompson, Jonathan Howson, Curtis Weston, Ian Westlake, Fabian Delph, Richard Cresswell, Jermaine Beckford, Tresor Kandol, Tom Elliott.

Click HERE to see the full League One Leeds squad

Burnley will check on both Robbie Blake and Kyle Lafferty ahead of the game but it could be that both are given more time to recover from their thigh and back injuries respectively. We'll also have to take a look at the defenders with both Stephen Foster and Wayne Thomas having had stitches following a clash of heads on Tuesday at Bradford City. Burnley will select from all the available fit players from the squad which is:

Gabor Kiraly, Stephen Foster, Jon Harley, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson, Ade Akinbiyi, Andy Gray, Wade Elliott, Brian Jensen, Steve Jones, John Spicer, Chris McCann, Kyle Lafferty, Alan Mahon, Jay Rodriguez, Robbie Blake, Besart Berisha, Stephen Jordan.


Last Time Round

Ian Moore - two goals including one from the spot
Four years ago then Premiership Leeds visited Turf Moor for a friendly that turned into a cracker for the fans and on more than one occasion lost the 'friendly' tag and on another day could well have seen a couple of the visitors sent off.

Over 9,000 saw the Clarets go in front with Richard Chaplow's first ever goal for the first team. It was a simple finish for Chappy after some superb work by Ian Moore who had a very good game. After an equaliser from Mark Viduka it was Moore who put the Clarets back in front after Robbie Blake, who was at his best that day, set him up.

Viduka and Michael Duberry were guilty of terrible challenges but no action was taken other than the free kicks and just before half time it was 2-2 when Alan Smith netted a second for Leeds, and then just before half time two dreadful challenges from Zoumana Camara and David Batty in quick succession led to a mass brawl with Clarets' boss Stan Ternent telling referee Tony Leake not to send anyone off.

Leeds didn't deserve to be level, and the Clarets made them pay in the second half, adding two more goals. Both were from penalties converted by Blake and Moore but the second one came with a heavy price. Duberry caught Gareth Taylor in the eye leading to an injury that would rule him out for a few weeks. By the time he was fit he'd been sold to Nottingham Forest.

It was a toss up for man of the match between Moore and Blake who were both in top form ahead of the new season.

The teams were;

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Lee Roche (Dean West 61), Graham Branch, Arthur Gnohere, Mo Camara, Paul Weller (Tony Grant 61), Richard Chaplow, Glen Little (Alan Moore 61), Ian Moore, Gareth Taylor, Robbie Blake (Matt O'Neill 65).

Leeds United: Paul Robinson, Danny Mills, Ian Harte, David Batty (Stephen McPhail 61), Michael Duberry, Zoumana Camara (Matthew Kilgallon 61), Gary Kelly (Nicky Barmby 61), Jody Morris, Mark Viduka (James Milner 45), Alan Smith (Simon Johnson 85), Jason Wilcox (Rodrigo 45).