Hello and welcome to Season 2 of my African Odyssey in Yorkshire. Last season my Leeds team finished midtable and crashed out early in both cup games. I have 4 seasons left to achieve something resembling glory, so I need to think about improving the squad…

I’ve brought in a few familiar names, but also taking a punt on a few unknowns. Eagle-eyed readers will notice I forgot to make Angola an EU nation so he’s a showing as a Foreigner – no matter, he’ll be playing lots hopefully.

I’m hoping Song can get a tune out of the defence and Quinzinho knows where the net is.

Someone who already knows where the net is, is Tony Yeboah – a hatrtrick on opening day bodes well….

Koumba has a rocking start replacing the long term injured Lucas in defence and taking the captains armband.

From the high of an opening win to the complete low of losing at home to Spurs. Koumba wasn’t a perfect 10 this particular Wednesday.

Everything is put right away to Man City 4 days later. Quinzinho opens his account with 4 goals! He’s a new terrace hero, but needs a nickname. The Mighty Quinzinho? No, I’ll settle for The Quicker in favour of his rotund namesake, The Micker.

The Quicker is at it again against Boro, but as with last season, we’re just too porous in defence for comfort. How long do I stick with the tried and trusted 2-3-1-2-2?

Well, the Quicker would like to stick with it a bit longer judging by this showing, what a start he is having! 10 goals in 3 games is phenomenal. This guy could be a hero for ages.

The Quicker obviously over exerted himself celebrating his Andy Cole 5 Goal haul but we have enough all round fire power to sink Bolton with a rare clean sheet to boot.

Javi and the Frog are no match for Baka and The Quicker – ok it’s only a penalty but they all count. Wolves look like they could do with some Portuguese reinforcements.

Last season, the League Cup gave us some respite from weekly league hammerings, now it’s just an opportunity to score more goals. Turns out you Can beat a bit of Bully.

The Quicker is back on it but a quick-fire second half double threatens to threatens to derail our good form until Garba and Baka seal the deal.

Seems that win over Wednesday might have been more lucky than I realised. The Quicker scores again but we concede two and have no response for Liverpool.

It’s even worse at home to Chelsea – game lost in 6 second half minutes of chaos. I don’t even think Baka slotting the pen would have made much of a difference.

Luckily we can always count on the League Cup and The Quicker gets two more goals on his tally chart. Still, conceding two to York is more than a little worrying.

A clean sheet for all of two minutes at Highbury. The second half was a pretty dull affair, I was hoping we could nick a win but a point will have to do I guess.

I had genuine hopes of getting a win over Man Utd, but Schmeichel is almost impossible to score against. Then you factor in Scholes and it’s always just Mission Impossible.

Lets finish this part with a defeat shall we, just for fun? Penalties, injuries – the early season promise is fading like the summer sun right now…

13 games and where do we sit in the table? Eight and 10 points off the top, that’s where. We’re conceding an average of 2 goals a game at the moment but scoring 2.5. Whichever way you look at it, it’s not really progress. Yes, we have a new cult hero in The Quicker but I’m not sure the board or the fans will stomach another season of mid-table obscurity…

Join we next week to see if The Quicker is still scoring and whether anything can be done about our defence. It’s your defence Matty, you have to do something about your defence!.

Spotlight on: Quinzinho

Quinzinho, or Joaquin Alberto da Silva to give him his real moniker was a bit of a journey man striker, mostly in the Portuguese and Chinese leagues.

In the 97/98 season he was on loan from Porto at Rio Ave where he scored 8 goals in 24 games. Never really ousting Jardel at Porto a series of loans and moves around followed taking in Spain and China before winding his career down back in Angola.

The Quicker sadly passed away in 2019 from a heart attack at only 45. His son, Xande Silva plays in the MLS but did have short spells with West Ham and Forest.

The Quicker lives on though in this blog, already making a name for himself with hefty goal hauls!