Warnock Edging Closer to Leeds Exit

Where were Leeds in the table when Warnock took charge? Eighth wasn't it? Where are they 10 months later? Fifteenth.

Now of course the die hard blinkered flat caps will say that all is not lost, that a few results will see Leeds climb the table, that when the takeover happens, Leeds will do a Reading - but that is ignoring all the facts. This is a shit team, and it is a team in Warnock's own image.

How many points is it from the last five games exactly, all against teams outside of the top six? Three. Three points from the last fifteen! That isn't the platform for a promotion push, it is relegation form, especially when you take into account the quality of the opposition.

This is Leeds United for pity's sake. This is a club that was once one of the biggest in the country, a team that won league titles and reached the final of the European Cup. And Warnock lauds an away draw at Brighton and sets up to share the points at Burnley! How the mighty have fallen!

Look at the stats from tonight's game. True it was only 1-0, but Burnley had 16 shots to Leeds' 8, with the Clarets getting nine on target to the Whites' five. It's a crude measure I know, but that suggests Burnley were twice as effective as Leeds when they had the ball.

And it's not as if this is a young Leeds team which will improve as it gains in experience. Three players were 34 years of age or older, and a fourth was over 30. The average age of the starting 11 was 28 and, apart from Diouf, Tonge, Kenny, and Brown, none of them have Premiership experience - and those four have all been relegated from the Prem!

How many players is Warnock planning to buy in January exactly? This team has had less shots on goal than ANY other team in the division, with the lowest number of shots on target too. The midfield is crap, the forward line is little better, and the defence are nothing to write home about either.

Leeds are now NINE points adrift of an automatic promotion place and are already playing for a play off place at best. But that looks optimistic to me. It's true that this is a crap division, but tell me, if Leeds are below half way in the table come the start of January, who will want to join them even if the Arabs chuck money at a bid for promotion? And even if, by some miracle, Leeds fiddled their way to promotion via the playoff, how would this rabble survive in the Prem? The squad is mediocre by Championship standards for pity's sake! But you can't buy their team spirit according to Warnock. God's knows why when the team are so prone to bottle it!

But Leeds are still in the Capital One Fan Cup and are dreaming of doing a Colchester when the mighty Chelsea come to town! Some consolation!

If Gulf Finance House are serious about buying Leeds, they must be asking questions about Warnock now. Would you trust your money to this man given his record over the last 12 months? Old Big Gob has spent his career at clubs like Shafting United, QPR and Crystal Palace for a reason. He is all mouth and no trousers, a Brian Clough without Clough's ability. And sooner or later the Leeds fans are going to wake up and realise that Emperor Warnock has no clothes.