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Cleggy's rumours posts with other poster's replies to Cleggy's rumours posts
04 Jul 2026 09:48:57
I must say, apart from the obvious (Haaland, Messi, Mbappe and Kane) , I've been struggling to spot anyone who has really stood out for me at the World Cup - or should I say, anyone that we could afford!
I'm rather more optimistic that our recruitment team have been turning their attention away from the American continent and focusing on Europe in an attempt to snaffle up a few more top signings like last season.
Another Bijol, Stach and DCL would do very nicely, thank you.
Must add, delighted with Harry Wilson - excellent signing.
And here's one from left field (and will take cover immediately after mentioning him) - Mason Mount.
Yes, he is from the dark side (but then so were Johnny Giles and Gordon Strachan, and they certainly never let us down) .
Yes, he'll be on big money but how ambitious are we? He might want to renew his partnership with Wilson?
And yes, his injury record is abysmal (but then so was DCL's until he came to us) .
As I say, very left field but if all of the above reasons turned from negative to positive you've got a top drawer player who on his day can produce the goods at the highest level.
Off to put on the tin hat!
1.) 04 Jul 2026 14:22:28
You must be being selective in your World Cup viewing. I can proudly announce I've watched every single game in some format, and there are heaps better than we have at available price. Just need to look at less popular teams to get value.
Austria. Kongo. Switzerland varde nz. Aus. Pretty much, every nation has better than we have in all positions. Affordable too. Our recruitment is not up to it.
09 May 2023 21:06:55
Does anyone know if we are allowed to pick any of the returning loanees for the final three games?
Thinking of Cresswell, Shacks and Hjelde as they won't be involved in the play-offs.
{Ed002's Note - No, they are not available.}
Cleggy's banter posts with other poster's replies to Cleggy's banter posts
11 Jul 2026 23:05:11
Who is the England football manager?
Just thought I'd ask the question because I've seen Beckham on screen more often than Tuchel in the first half!
Message to the TV director - please stop showing the bloke who never got past a quarter final. If you want to focus on a winner, take a camera round to Geoff Hurst's house!
1.) 12 Jul 2026 09:18:38
Relax, Cleggy, pal, and enjoyyy the fabulous England win.
Pretty sure TT would not care how many times the cameras focused on him (or Beckham) during the match, so why should we..
Most importantly, QF job well done..
Next Argentina and Messi.. who?
We are winning it, fellas!
2.) 12 Jul 2026 11:26:35
Becks is Football's Mr Big in Miami, so the US camera crew were always going to home in on him.
3.) 12 Jul 2026 12:58:00
Strangely enough we have bored OUR way thru to semis. Seriously hoping we smash argies but alas. Most likely hammered by France or narrowly beaten by Spain. Not been the same as Italia though. Lacks the passion.
4.) 12 Jul 2026 14:06:18
Cone off it, Aus. I enjoyed the Italia 1990 WC, but the atmosphere and passion at this WC exceeds it imo.
.The results and matches for England at this WC also exceed 1990. ..the heroic win in vs Mexico at their home stadium for starters.
5.) 12 Jul 2026 14:10:12
England will beat Argentina (unless there is atrocious refereeing) .
But yes, a final vs Spain or France would be tough, but it's a match England can win.
6.) 12 Jul 2026 15:46:53
We can beat Argies, and mebbe Spain too, but France will be v tough. If Spain beat France in the other semi, I do believe we have a chance of beating them in the final - fingers crossed.
7.) 12 Jul 2026 17:46:56
Don't you get dizzy changing positions so quickly, Baz, you originally tipped Spain, France and Brazil with Japan as dark horses.
And that England may depart in the quarter finals.
Now you're constantly advocating England will win it as though it was your far reaching prophecy, some u turn that.
Ever considered a career in politics?
8.) 12 Jul 2026 18:15:42
Yessssss, Class, pre tourno I predicted England would only reach quarters.
But, as I explained in my previous post immediately after England's win in Mexico, I have changed my mind. England will win it.
I have already reiterated and acknowledged. It's not my pre tourno prediction.. things can change.
Enjoy it fellas (well Aus might not) . ?
..
9.) 12 Jul 2026 18:16:25
..Japan were indeed dark horses. Played well generally. Unfortunate to be eliminated.
10.) 12 Jul 2026 23:22:12
I was amazed at the Mexico stat at the Azteca Stadium, incredible run, and for a team of Mexico's ability, it seemingly made it sound even better. However, a quick Google and the teams they beat, other than Brazil, I would hardly say are up to much.
Honduras (x8)
Jamaica (x8)
El Salvador (x7)
USA (x7)
Panama (x6)
Canada (x6)
Costa Rica (x5)
Trinidad and Tobago (x3)
Bermuda (x2)
Belgium (x2)
Brazil U23s (x2)
Haiti
Guatemala
Iraq
Bulgaria
Martinique
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Bolivia
Brazil
Guyana
New Zealand
South Africa
Czechia
Ecuador.
11.) 13 Jul 2026 00:23:49
Yep, but considerable respect for Mexico still managing to beat all of these teams..in 70 matches.
None of these teams could hold out for even a draw.
Many on this list are decent to good teams, not top drawer, of course, but at the very least decent/competent and capable of drawing and winning.
12.) 13 Jul 2026 08:07:51
You can only beat what's put in front of you. A list of teams beaten by England would include major footballing nations like Andorra and San Marino. Sure, there are loads of minnows on that list, but also quite a few middling teams.
The list of PL talent in their lineup tells us they ain't a bad team, and with the home (and altitude) advantage it was a good win for England.
13.) 13 Jul 2026 10:03:00
100% JR.
14.) 13 Jul 2026 16:37:00
Have to agree with Aus, boring. Can't wait till the next round. Leeds still clearing out players, should have thought that would have all been done by now. We are also looking to spend 34 million on a player that won't leave, must be left in our kitty.
15.) 14 Jul 2026 07:27:17
You are so wrong about the Italia World Cup 1990, Baz. I was there, and I can tell you the passion and emotion, with the added Gazzamania, far outstrips what this World Cup has presented so far concerning England and England fans.
Southgate's 2022 World Cup doesn't even come into the question.
I can't speak about the fans in the US because I've not been there, but, from an England fan's perspective, I doubt very much it is as fervent.
Very different style of football, comparing then to now, but all I can say is, for me, it was an unforgettable time in my life.
As an England supporter at home, I imagine it will only eclipse Italia 90 if we win it, and that is looking very daunting, with the very impressive French very likely awaiting in the final if we get past Argentina.
07 Jul 2026 07:33:47
If England don't win, Belgium have just become my second favourite team.
Overturn that one Trump!
1.) 07 Jul 2026 08:24:10
Belgium have been moved to a new base in El Salvador!
2.) 07 Jul 2026 09:30:16
The Balogun saga probably gave the Belgians added incentive, but had the exact opposite effect on the Americans who produced their worst performance so far. After the tournament, FIFA must be told by member countries that this does not happen again.
3.) 07 Jul 2026 10:36:00
Love your undying optimism, Cleggy.
4.) 07 Jul 2026 12:22:02
Actually, Aus, stranger things have happened than this England team winning this WC.
Beating Norway is entirely feasible, and more likely than not, imo.
A semi final vs (probably) the Argies will be a challenge, but Cape Verde demonstrated very well, Argies aren't great.
A final vs France or Spain would be tough, but it's a one off game and both are beatable.
5.) 07 Jul 2026 13:31:46
So that's three stranger things have happened, Baz. I admire yours and Cleggy's optimism.
6.) 07 Jul 2026 13:14:00
My oh my, Starmer intervened with FIFA over KO time for last game, so it's just 1 person whose done it, that's going to hurt some people's narrative
7.) 07 Jul 2026 14:27:52
Well, Chris, if that's right, then it's also wrong. I don't get how any of this can happen. This is sport. Don't like it, and not happy at all. Politics should stay out of sport.
8.) 07 Jul 2026 14:43:56
Aussie, the Fosters will be on you when England win. You'll love it. ?
9.) 07 Jul 2026 14:34:29
Point being Aus, you can wager a hefty price, silence will now be deafening from some when the ridicule cannot only be thrown at Trump
Guardian after reporting
Starmer got involved
Just waiting for the
But.
But.
But's now is all ???
01 Jul 2026 00:17:14
Just finished watching France v Sweden and it's given me an idea.
We sell all of our current squad (the lot, all 25/ 26 of them) .
We buy the entire French squad.
We win the Premier League by Christmas, plus the League and FA Cup etc.
We break every scoring record in the book in doing so.
We qualify for the Champions League and are gifted a spot at the next World Club Championship.
There are, unfortunately, a couple of major flaws in my idea -
We would bankrupt the club as well as the entire 49ers Enterprise (several times over) simply trying to buy those players.
And secondly, the amount of financial rules on over-spending we would break would see us start the following season in the 10th or 11th tier of English football!
But my God it would be worth it - what a team! The frightening thing is in the second half especially, Sweden didn't really do anything wrong! The French were just that good!
I do hope there's no one from Man City reading this because they could probably afford to buy the French squad and would never be found guilty of breaking any rules in doing so. :)
1.) 01 Jul 2026 06:52:59
France were clearly the better team and deserved to win, but they also got very lenient treatment from the Dutch referee. I counted at least 3 incidents, which, to my untrained eye, merited the award of a yellow card.
2.) 01 Jul 2026 07:35:07
Swedish defenders were shocking. Stood there like IKEA wardrobes!
Get stuck into em!
England v France Final??
3.) 01 Jul 2026 08:56:14
Can't see England getting past Mexico in the Azteca to be honest. Hope we do, but they have lost 2 of 89 in that venue.
4.) 01 Jul 2026 10:07:29
This WC is utter Ben White. Commercialism has ruined this tournament for me, and I have watched practically none of it.
Uzbekistan & Iran in World Cup??
Once, there was a time it was the best teams in the world, now it's ruined, sadly.
5.) 01 Jul 2026 10:53:27
How come Mexico have managed to work it that they play every game up to the last 16 on home turf, all bar one of them at the Azteca?
6.) 01 Jul 2026 12:51:00
France are truly next level. The team to beat, imo. Another flaw is that it probably wouldn't meet the home grown quota.
7.) 01 Jul 2026 14:24:11
France are next level, Alf. Extreme quality. It would be a major shock if they don't stroll this. Uzb have the best goal in the tournament, in my eyes, Chris. There have been many quality strikes, mind.
8.) 01 Jul 2026 14:38:14
JR, isn't that called home advantage? See WC 66 and EC96?
9.) 01 Jul 2026 15:30:31
Host nation, JR. Canada recently became the only host nation to play a game away from home soil, I believe.
11 Jun 2026 15:43:37.
As a complete aside to the World Cup, the unspeakable behaviour of David Sullivan at West Ham!
Being banned from attending your own club's women's matches!
And the complicit nature of West Ham officials/management who didn't make this public knowledge!
Then there's Karen Braddy who hopefully will get her comeuppance when all of this comes out.
If she knew about it, why didn't she say something, and if she didn't know then a plea of ignorance is not acceptable. You're a director of the club for Christ's sake.
What a thoroughly nasty, vile episode this is rapidly becoming.
1.) 11 Jun 2026 17:21:47
He has been banned from attending WHU Women's and youth team games since 2023. Brady must have known that. She resigned in April, so did she have an inkling these allegations were coming out?
2.) 11 Jun 2026 19:52:23
Reminds me a little of Al Fayed's Fulham and what went on there. I've no idea the specificity of what's going on with Sullivan, but the parallels are obvious, sadly.
3.) 12 Jun 2026 11:48:51
Is anyone surprised by all this Sullivan stuff?
A massive porn baron in the 80s and 90s, he was always a shady character. Strange how it is all coming out in the media now, forty years later? Well, not that strange, really, as potential historical crimes are all the rage.
10 Jun 2026 18:29:06
Before the World Cup starts tomorrow, name your best ever Leeds United World Cup X1.
Must be 442 or 433.
Must have been a Leeds player when they appeared at the World Cup - you have to state the year they appeared. For example, you can't name someone who was brilliant at a WC then signed for Leeds afterwards (Roque Junior in 1994 springs to mind - not that anyone in their right mind would name Roque Junior but you get the idea.)
Good luck guys.
:)
1.) 10 Jun 2026 18:56:40
For clarification, went to the WC or played at a WC?
Norman Hunter would be the example, Cleggy.
2.) 10 Jun 2026 19:05:53
Great question but way too much like hard work for me.
3.) 10 Jun 2026 19:18:15
Harvey 1974
Kelly 1994
Charlton 1966
Hunter 1996 (Radebe 1998 if not eligible)
Harte 2002
Bremner 1974
Adams 2022
Lorimer 1974
Aaronson 2022
Clarke 1970
Hasselbaink 1998.
4.) 10 Jun 2026 19:35:52
You can have went as well as played. Remember, we are trying to find those who excelled at a WC in a Leeds shirt. Sorry for any confusion.
5.) 10 Jun 2026 19:38:51
I've gone for:
Harvey 74
Mills 02
Cooper 70
Charlton 66
Radebe 02
Hunter 70 (played in midfield when he came on)
Bremner 74
Lorimer 74
Clarke 70
Charles 58
Jordan 74.
6.) 10 Jun 2026 20:01:29
Good question, Cleggy. Yours is the best selection (so far) .
I quite like Canada's choices, maybe not so much Adams and BA. Ideally, supreme talents Strach and Gsry Mac would be in the mix.
But, the Scottish coach Andy Roxburgh made a right mess of his disastrous WC 1990 final squad selections.
7.) 10 Jun 2026 20:32:34
Ok, here goes, but I ain't putting down the years.
Harvey
Kelly
Cooper
Big Jack
Hunter
Bremner
Frank Gray
Ferdinand
Jimmy
Clarke
Charles.
8.) 10 Jun 2026 20:40:00
Jeez, Cleggy, follow your own rules ffs haha.
Wasn't Charles a Juventus player in 1958?
9.) 10 Jun 2026 21:43:06
Ooh, you've got me there, Canada. I'll have to look that one up.
It's such a shame that players such as Eddie Gray 74 (injury) , Arthur Graham 78 (amazingly not selected) , Reaney 70 (injured) , Madeley 70 (booked a family holiday after not making the original selection) never got to go, plus the likes of McQueen not getting a game in 74, Currie 78 when England failed to qualify, and Giles (before the Republic became a force) .
Hopefully the four guys we've got at this year's event will all have decent tournaments.
10.) 10 Jun 2026 21:47:10
My apologies, Canada, you're quite right. He left to go to Juventus in the summer of 57. For some reason, I got in my mind it was 58 - my bad!!
11.) 10 Jun 2026 21:47:23
My god, Baz, how did I miss Stachan and Mac, embarrassed. ?
12.) 10 Jun 2026 21:53:02
Hmm, Baz, I missed them because they didn't play in a WC when Leeds players did. Mac didn't even play in one, apparently.
13.) 10 Jun 2026 22:48:38
Yes Canada, as I stated above, coach Andy Roxburgh and Scotland had a disastrous WC finals in 1990.
Not even selecting an in the form of his life Strachan, and bench-warming McAllister.. he got what he deserved.. nowt.
14.) 11 Jun 2026 01:56:32
Here's my selection, Cleggy:
Nigel Martyn 1998/2002
Danny Mills 2002
Jack Charlton 1966/1970
Lucas Radebe 1998/2002
Tony Dorigo 1990
Gordon Strachan 1982/1986
Billy Bremner 1974
Norman Hunter 1966/1970
Peter Lorimer 1974
Alan Clarke 1970
Joe Jordan 1974
Like you, John Charles was one of the first names on my team sheet til I realised he'd left us by 58.
In 1958, Charles was injured in the final group stage match and missed the rest of the tournament, although Wales still qualified for the knockout stage.
Wales were eventually knocked out in the quarter final by Brazil thanks to a goal from some guy called Pele, and Brazil went on to win the World Cup. The Welsh manager later said "With John Charles in the side we might have won." What a player that man was.
15.) 11 Jun 2026 10:13:55
Interesting post, JR, re 1958 WC and JC.
16.) 11 Jun 2026 11:38:12
Under the rules at the time, at the end of the group stage, Wales and Hungary were dead level and had to play an extra playoff match. Hungary knew that JC was the biggest threat to them and targeted him heavily, and as a result he was injured and had to withdraw.
Despite the Hungarian thuggery, Wales still won, but the injury prevented JC from playing in the subsequent quarter final against Brazil. Would they have won if he'd played? Who knows, but a match with him on one side and Pele on the other would have been a mouthwatering event.
17.) 11 Jun 2026 11:54:28
A good team there, Jr. I think we could put two strong sides out.
26 Jun 2026 18:39:47
Please let it be true, Alf.
03 Jun 2026 18:42:22
Seen him a few times - he's got at least one mistake in him every game. We don't want another Pascal - we need an upgrade with every signing we make.
12 May 2025 14:55:05
Yes please - he'll do nicely.
27 Aug 2024 12:35:23
Wilder blowing a gasket, never:) ) ) ) ) ) )
Oh dear, how sad, never mind:)
31 Jul 2024 17:05:38
Please, no!
11 Jul 2026 20:07:17
Just spotted it too, Ealing.
94 - good innings. Mad as a box of frogs, of course, but he probably saved us at a time when no one else wanted to know!
10 Jul 2026 12:13:00
I think most of us have questioned Farke at times during his tenure - we live in a throw away world, if something doesn't go our way, then get rid of it immediately!
However, he has done a first rate job for us.
He got us out of the Championship (which is notoriously difficult) and kept us in the top flight (also notoriously difficult for promoted teams) .
He's had the balls to change a system when it wasn't working into a new system that worked very well.
He's taken a number of players who many thought were questionable, and turned them into the type of player we all knew they could be (DCL being the perfect example) , and, finally, he gets what it is to be Leeds United.
Sorry, Dave, but as Class has said, you are entitled to your opinion, but please try and have some confidence in DF - slowly but surely, he's proving himself to be a worthy manager of our club.
09 Jul 2026 07:44:46
Quite agree, Aus. I have a horrible feeling we are going to leave everything till the last minute again - players coming in after the season has started.
That has the knock-on effect of trying to get us playing like a team with several new faces on board.
It's late September/early October before things settle down and everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing.
Come on, Leeds - World Cup nearly over, let's move things on at a pace!
05 Jul 2026 20:52:18
Ooh Baz, JKA!
Just sent a cold shiver down my spine!!
02 Jul 2026 16:45:17
Good knowledge, Yorker. Depressing reading, but still good knowledge. : )