Amid all the excitement of the takeover, we have the small matter of a game tomorrow afternoon. After the lacklustre showing on Tuesday Neil Warnock will want to see a much better performance against Birmingham City, but he’s got one or two injury problems to resolve before kick-off.

The manager told the Yorkshire Post “I was frustrated on Tuesday and I made my feelings known but you shouldn’t ever get too down. The next game’s always on the horizon. We’ve got to be brighter and want it a little bit more tomorrow but I really don’t see a problem.” But he then went on to offer a bizarre excuse for the poor showing against Charlton.

“At this time of year, when the drizzle and the damp starts, when it’s getting dark early and the frustrations of every-day life kick in, you’re going to get horrible games.” Well, yes, but it’s also autumn in south-east London so it was the same for both teams, so that’s no reason why we should come close to losing at home to a team near the bottom of the table.

I thought his team selection on Tuesday was a little odd, but maybe he was rotating the squad a little, due to the number of games we have coming up over the next few weeks. As far as tomorrow is concerned he said: “Picking my team will be as late a decision as I’ve made all season. If anyone’s got a slight chance then we’ll leave it to the last minute.”

Randy Austin is still struggling with an ankle problem, and he was the subject of a complaint from Warnock to the Jamaican FA, after the midfielder played in their world cup qualifier last week when he was injured. Lee Peltier is also a doubt with a dodgy ankle, and although a scan showed there was no serious damage, there is some swelling that will need to come down before he can be considered. Michael Tonge could be back in the starting line-up, provided his injured shoulder doesn’t give him too much grief.

It’s difficult to know what to expect from our visitors, who have been very inconsistent for most of the season. They’re currently sitting uncomfortably in 20th place, and their results so far have included a humiliating 5-0 home defeat by Barnsley, followed by an excellent win at high-flying Brighton the following week. On Tuesday they went 3-0 down at Millwall, only to fight their way back to a 3-3 draw.

So it’s no surprise that their manager Lee Clark told his club’s official site that he wants a repeat of their second half performance at the New Den. "At a place like Millwall it would be easy to throw the towel in. Cowards would have just cowered in the corner and accepted what they’d got, but real men come out with their chests out and have a right good go and we did that.”

"Leeds are a strong powerful team with an experienced manager, so it’s very similar to what we’ve just come from on Tuesday. Between now and Saturday the players have to be highly recovered because they need to play at a high tempo. That’s my ideal way of playing - high tempo, front foot football”. And as our own manager also likes to see plenty of commitment, we can obviously expect to see the game played at a furious pace.

At least we won’t have to worry about Nikola Zigic, who scored all four goals as the Blues won 4-1 at Elland Road last season, as the giant Serbian striker is suspended. The Blues will also be without Peter Lovenkrands and defender Pablo Ibanez, who are both injured, but Jonathan Spector is available after he served his suspension during the Millwall game.

It’s going to be hard to predict a result for this one, as it partly depends on which Birmingham City turn up. Somehow Leeds are unbeaten in seven matches, despite having been a bit off colour in at least the last three matches, so we need a big improvement tomorrow. I think we’ll just about scrape the win we need to keep ourselves in touch with the play-off places.

Photo: Action Images

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