Good Morning. It's Thursday 12th December, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road
Pope hints at January exit for BamfordBBC Radio Leeds journalist Adam Pope has raised further question marks about Patrick Bamford's future at Elland Road following the Whites 3-1 win over Boro midweek.
Bamford 31, has only played 77 minutes of league game time all season, despite staying reasonably fit this season. Lack of pace, movement and consistency have restricted him to the odd cameo role; but with a 'Whoscored' rating of just 6.06 (22nd), surely his squad place is now at risk!
After once again being left on the bench, Bamford cannot be content, especially for such an important game. He has 18 months left on his contract, but with exorbitant wages of £70,000 a week (according to spotrac.com), moving him on, especially when he still has eighteen months on his contract will not be easy!
Leeds have a habit of keeping players beyond their shelf-life, with Cooper, Ayling and Klich being good examples, albeit faithful servants who had seen better days. Farke must be ruthless in his decision making. If a deal can be done with Bamford, he will need a replacement. According to Popey:
“To not pick him [Bamford] ahead of Joseph for a big game tonight – he’s the one who didn’t perform against Boro when he did get his first start and only start this season earlier on in the campaign – that sort of says something, doesn’t it, of where Farke sees Bamford maybe.
“He can’t cast him out, he’s not going to admit that, is he? But, is there something happening with Patrick Bamford in January, you wonder.”
Wilder hits back at Keys following parachute payment commentsSheffield United Manager Chris Wilder has hit back at Richard Keys following his comments suggesting a direct correlation between parachute payments and the promotion race in the Championship.
Keys believes parachute payments not only "distort competition" but also reinforce a hierarchy within the league that seems to favour clubs with more substantial financial resources. This perception adds weight to the criticisms surrounding the integrity of the promotion race, especially as it appears to favour teams with recent top-flight experience.
Speaking to the Star, Wilder has come out swinging, accusing Keys of lazy journalism, adding:
“Absolute nonsense. It's just a lazy, lazy assumption. Listen, we have a competitive wage bill. The work we did in the summer was small fees, frees and loans and we brought some decent figures in as well. It's always a cheap shot that people can use, if you do a bit of digging you'll see.
“We've got some good players and kept some decent players, there's no doubt about that. And the owner and the board backed us getting those players in. But you just have to take that with a pinch of salt and crack on. I'm just interested in the group at the moment and how well they're doing. It doesn't distort it.
“Look at that West Brom team; there are some boys still there that we couldn't touch a few years ago. The [John] Swifts and the [Jed] Wallaces and Mikey Johnston, and other players that we went after. I'm not going to get into all that, but it's a lazy assumption.”
