Good Morning. It's Wednesday April 1st, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Soccer chiefs locked in talks regarding specially designed zorbing suits
Soccer chiefs are locked in discussions with both health authorities and Premier League clubs regarding specially made zorbing suits to protect players from the deadly coronavirus once the season recommences. In the past week, several top flight clubs have expressed their concern about the safety of their players once the season recommences.
The Premier League are desperate for the 92 remaining top flight fixtures to be completed before mid July, or they'll have to forfeit £750m to Sky Sports. The unique lightweight creation would be oval in design, and three foot in circumference meaning two players cannot get closer than six feet apart. A spokesman was quoted as saying...
To avoid any unnecessary health risks, we have been investigating ways we can provide a safe and secure environment for all players concerned. Many may see this as eleberate, however the design allows the players almost the same movement with minimal restrictions.
Shackleton to be the next Lewis Cook
Former Leeds forward Noel Whelan believes that Jamie Shackleton has what it takes to become a Premier League star, and even compares him to former fans favourite Lewis Cook...
I’m sure he’s going to end up as a Premier League player, I’d love to see that happen. He’s got a wealth of talent under his belt and is one player I think could probably thrive.
A little bit like Lewis Cook when he was at Leeds, he can do it with Bournemouth in the Premier League. He’s been hampered with injuries but they’ve got a real top-class midfielder on their hands.
I think Jamie Shackleton has got the same ingredients in his DNA.
Terriers owner Phil Hodgkinson - Town are better than Leeds in most positions
Huddersfield Town owner Phil Hodgkinson believes his side were only beaten by Leeds United because they had a superior system but went on to say, man for man, his side had better players! The local businessman who built up a fortune through 'Pure Legal' went on to say...
The ambition for the club is there but you have to accept… it's not a money thing. When we got promoted we got promoted because we had a manager who had a system that was better than the players we had, which is what is happening at Leeds.
Bielsa's way of playing [is better than that squad]. If you look at that Leeds game, if you cut those two squads together, I would not say, in my personal opinion, that Leeds have got better players than us barring one or two. I believe we've got better players in most positions. "But on the day the way they played, they just outplayed us, it was the way they played.
That's no criticism of our manager at all, quite the opposite, but they just had a better system.
Bielsa offered to give up his entire wage packet to help Leeds
Leeds Utd journalist Phil hay has been speaking on the Ornstein and Chapman podcast about Marcelo Bielsa's current predicament at Leeds Utd. Bielsa is out of contract in the Summer, and with out a firm date when or even if the remainder of the season were to recommence, the Argentine would be within his rights to walk away. However, as the former Chief football writer for the YEP explains, that if not an option for 64 year old.
He’s got a contract until the end of the season and he’s going to fall into this large category of people or are either on loan or out of contract at the end of June as it stands. And there is, I think, going to have to be some negotiation across the board with football clubs about how they’re going to handle this.
I mean, I would think, being the honourable guy that he is, he would not want to walk away from this if the season needed to be extended and I don’t think he would consider doing that [leaving].
I was told that he had offered the club to forgo all of his wages in the form of a deferral, not a pay cut, but to forgo all of his wages until this was done and dusted, again just to help financially. Him and his staff were part of the agreed deferral last week.
