Hello Fledglings!

Welcome back to Season 13 and the toil of the league champions, Leeds. Last time out, Niall found himself in unfamiliar territory in/out of the relegation zone. There’s a reprieve though, as form in the Champions League is good – relieving some board pressure.

This is how the squad looks; filled with regens bursting with potential. Campos, Panucci, Neville, Adams, Hierro, Leonardo, Enrique, Shearer and Fowler some of the regens on show. Can Niall get some more out of them?

A perfect way to start is a late goal to get Niall’s league cup campaign up and running. Lardin junior scores whilst Enrique junior gets injured.

A tasty draw for round 4!

The league form continues to stutter as Panucci junior’s goal from right back is cancelled out against Sheffield Wednesday.

A see-saw Champions League game sees a Kluivert double, and what the #DirtyLeeds faithful think is a late equalizer. Ivan Alonso bangs in a quick reply to silence the away fans and inflict a defeat.

Defeat means Inter and Athletico both leapfrog Leeds and there is work to do against Inter and Slovan Bratislava to come!

Niall finally celebrates a league victory as Trez scores a double. The youngsters are left out (with exception of Enrique junior at right back) and it works. Leeds remain in 17th, but now four points ahead of the relegation places.

Spurs are bottom of the league, so this is an important victory. I can’t believe I’m ‘talking’ this way… we should be flying – not sinking!

Niall sticks with the experienced pros, and they do a job against Slovan Bratislava. Four goals and precious points!

Athletico beat Inter, so we remain in second. If we win, it’ll still be tight to finish as a best loser.. let’s see!

Ah, back to old ways. Let’s hope Tony Adams’ regen is not out for too long.

Me too.

The Old Trafford crowd are treated to a nil-nil bore draw in the league cup fourth round. We both miss two of the five regulation penalties before getting knocked out in sudden death.

Disappointed with league performance. Now disappointed with cup form. Am I in danger of getting the sack?

I add another regen with the hope of finding a spark. Welcome Brian Laudrup’s offspring, Stefan Borup!

Borup goes straight in the side against European chasers Aston Villa. Borup scores our third, as the lads battle back from a 1-0 halftime deficit. If we keep grinding out wins, we’ll keep climbing.

We fly to Italy for our final Champions League group game of the campaign. Inter went down to ten early, and then to nine on the hour. We throw the kitchen sink at Inter- including a final half hour keeperless…. It was not to be.

We remain in second, but it’s not enough to qualify as a fastest loser.

I am hurting. Out of Europe, out of the league cup and stuck in the lower end of the league table.

Some job news comes in the inbox…

Palace, in the Division 1 playoff hunt, and a team on Neil Warnock’s achievement spreadsheet. Could it be time to abandon the fledglings at Leeds, and lick our wounds back in Division 1?

Merry Christmas #DirtyLeeds fans…

I’ve done it. Resignation letter submitted. Love letter published in the Yorkshire Post. Bags packed and off to London.

I have no shame in saying it was time to jump ship. A failed attempt in the Champions League and patchy league form meant I’d have to write off the season, give the youth some experience and pin hopes on FA cup success… Now, I can try to fulfil the last of the three D1 promotions and start again.

We have a nice war-chest to begin with.

And two spaces to fill. I welcome back Freddy Asprilla to the fold, with star players Mehmed Lazic and former Plymouth youngster Damien Kelly the stardust with which to build around. I think Worthington liked his versatile players!

This is how we’ll line up for the season. I saw friend of the blog @9798Nikolai post this formation in a Barcelona save he serialized on twitter. I thought it fit our squad, as we have an abundance of central defenders!

We open with a 2-0 win at Oldham, courtesy of Freddy Asprilla and defender Jimmy Middleton.

We then start our FA Cup campaign with a comfortable win against Kettering. Asprilla scores again after early goals from Lazic and Welsh attacker Adrian Graham.

Leeds turn to John Barnes to lead their fledglings through their development.

Mehmed Lazic makes it three wins from three as a solid start continues. Lazic, incidentally is earning £50k p/w more than double our next highest earner Asprilla on £20k p/w.

A tight win against Walsall next, and Lazic’s run goes on.

After the game I welcome my former captain Kirk Sorvel to the club. Sorvel first led my Nottingham Forest team in the 2000-01 season and has subsequently followed me to Plymouth, Crewe, Leeds and now Palace. Villa paid £6.5m for him, and he played 19 games in two and a half seasons. Welcome, Kirk!

Our left-sided forward Gerry Cooper nets a hattrick against Preston in the 4th round of the FA Cup.

Copper’s stats don’t set the world alight, but he was scoring goals for Worthington, and continues that with me.

The lads draw 0-0 with Sheffield United, before beating Doncaster 2-0 thanks to a goal from defender Rob Rudge and an Irish youngster Thomas Burns I signed on a free.

Burns is 17, and in the Irish u21 set-up. He can shoot, is creative and good off the ball. Any ideas who this could be? [Keith O’Neill, or David Connolly maybe?]

Palace have now brought up 32 league games and have clawed Leicester back from 10 points to 6.

Join us next week as we play through the end of the Division 1 season with our new club, and continue to make in-roads in the FA Cup. Oh, and we have a surprise encounter in Europe to look forward to…

Yup. You may remember that Palace beat my Leeds side in the FA Cup final last season? I’d certainly forgotten – and it’s a welcome surprise!

Until next time!