"We have had further positive

discussions with the Supporters Club

^? i

^about their relationship with Leeds rward"

THE PLAY
Firstly, I would like to pay tribute to the entire squad for their performance on Saturday. Ross McCormack's thirdminute injury upset all Neil's plans and he had to think on his feet to re-organise his whole strategy. The players responded magnif cently and gave their i allfor the whole game and it is a reflection oftheir wholehearted effort that Cardiff still couldn't score in open play. A dodgy penalty and a free-kick gave them the win. The players came away battered and bruised (some more than others) with their heads held high. Yes, Neil is looking for loan players but there is no point in making signings for the sake of doing so. They have to be better to help strengthen the squad, notjust make up the numbers. Rumours abound and continue.to circulate about the proposed new investment in Leeds United. Despite the conf dentiality agreement, stories keep i appearing with varying degrees of accuracy as evidenced by the statements put out by LUST, including a TV interview, some months ago that a deal was "imminent". It wasn't then and is progressing slowly now. In football, everybody expects everything now - but the real world is different. Time does not always have the same urgency to others. Let me illustrate this. Last February, we agreed to talk to another Middle Eastern party from a different country to those we are talkingto now. When in June we announcedthat we had signed an exclusivity agreement with the potential investors, the first party introducer went bananas, threatening to report Shaun Harvey to me, the Football League and (interestingly) to LUST! They had not taken their interest forward for nearly four months at that stage. The current situation is that as I write, the appropriate documents have not been f nalised between the lawyers i (although of that, more later). Meanwhile, we continue to run the club and the kids on the Monaco beach have appreciated the free pens! Ignore the speculation which is simply ignorance based on ignorance. Terry Wogan, an unlikely philosopher, wrote in The Times recently: "People believe what they want to believe regardless of the facts!" The international fixture dates have already seriously disruptedthe domestic football season, firstly with the meaningless friendly fixtures in the week before the season started, interrupting vital final training sessions for no reason other than financial gain for those countries involved. Meanwhile the clubs pay the wages and get no compensation ifthe players come back injured. If small countries need financial assistance then FIFA should give it direct from the billions they have generated from the huge World Cup prof ts. i There is another way to reduce the international f xture i list. UEFA already does it at club level, when they have the Champions League for the elite and the Europa League for the next tier of clubs. At international level the f xtures i are clogged with the likes of Luxembourg, San Marino, Liechtenstein and the Faroe Islands to name but a few. These countries should play in a qualifying competition with say, the top two competing in the main competition on the following occasion. I have been campaigning for this for years, yet without success. Perhaps LUST could sort it out with all their contacts!