After all the glamour and excitement of playing an FA Cup tie on national TV there might be a sense of anti-climax as we face Blackpool tomorrow night, but at least there will be plenty of media interest in the managers of the two clubs.
Despite all the calls for his head from the fans, Warnock appears to retain the confidence of the board for the time being, but acknowledged at a press conference today that if things don’t improve he won’t get an extension to his contract when it runs out in the summer. And although most of us think our realistic chances of a top six finish were ended by that defeat at Middlesbrough, the manager was still suggesting we could get there.
"I won't be here next year if we don't get promotion, so it's not rocket science, we've got to keep looking at the picture and going for it in every game now. Blackpool's important and then we've got another tough one at Blackburn on Saturday. The next three or four games are vital really, we've got to get some points on board to give us a chance to get up there”.
Thanks to the special offer on ticket prices we will have a bumper crowd for this game, and Warnock wants us to get behind the team rather than shouting at him. “It's an intimidating place to come when they get behind you at Elland Road, we've got to use that - two of the next three games are at home - and we've got to try and use that environment, rather than against us we need to use it to our advantage and get some points on the board”.
The team news is that Paul Green could be back after missing the Man City game with an ankle injury he picked up just before the match, while Sam Byram and Rodolph Austin are both expected to recover from the knocks they picked up during that game. As it’s a league match Paddy Kenny is expected to return to the starting line-up.
Visitors Blackpool are no strangers to managerial changes themselves, with Paul Ince being the third occupant of the Bloomfield Road hot-seat this season, and he can be sure of a hostile reception from the Leeds crowd, for obvious reasons. This will be his first game in charge and his first decision will be whether to recall his son Tom, who was dropped for their game at Ipswich on Saturday.
At the start of the season they appeared to be among the promotion contenders when they won their first three games, including a victory over good old us, but have since dropped down the table to a disappointing 15th place. On their official website chairman Karl Oyston was suggesting that Ince is the man to turn it all around.
”I’m pleased that we’ve got someone who is very enthusiastic and wants to bring disciplines that I think we’re lacking. We definitely needed a change of direction in many ways”. Maybe so, but Ince has had mixed results in his managerial career so far. He started by doing a great job at Macclesfield and in his first spell at MK Dons, but looked out of his depth at Blackburn, then in the Premier League. After a poor second spell back at MK he had been out of a job for more than 12 months since leaving Notts County.
The seasiders have no new injury problems, although defender Bob Harris will be missing once again.
I reckon Leeds can sneak a narrow win in this game, but I said that last season and we went on to concede five, thanks to the Paul Rachubka horror show. That couldn’t happen again. Could it?