First team

No surprises as Leeds release seven

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Leeds United have tonight announced that seven first-team players are not going to be offered new contracts and are free to move on, with two players being offered new deals. Another six youngsters are also free to leave. The only two young professionals to be kept at the club are ‘keeper Alex Cairns and defender Afolabi Coker.

The first-team players that are no longer going to be Leeds United players are as follows – Jamie Ashdown, El-Hadji Diouf, Adam Drury, Paul Green, Danny Pugh and Luke Varney. Michael Brown has also been released despite reports that Massimo Cellino was considering giving the veteran another year. Charlie Taylor and Ross Killock have been offered new contracts but there’s no indication as to whether either will accept the clubs terms.

The youngsters list includes Simon Lenighan, the Turner twins (Nathan and Lewis), Richard Bryan, Smith Tiesse and Gboly Ariyibi – who we signed just last December.

A transfer list is set to follow this, with players such as Steve Morison, Lee Peltier and David Norris expected to depart this Summer.

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  • leeds oldie says:

    Agree with most maybe have kept brown to coach the youngters but would have let morrison go
    Lets hope now all the moaners will stop and let BMcD get on with assembleing a squad that will compete in this division
    We must not expect promotion this season , if we get in top 6 all well and good but we have to be sure we can stay in the premier thats why a 2 season plan would be better for the club and supporters to get a better balanced team see a you genuine supporters next season
    Moaners stay away

    • ellamforengland says:

      If we can build a squad that can get us into the top six next season I cannot see why we should not push for promotion. Personally I’ve never gone for the consolidation view because I still believe a promoted Leeds would immediately attract the top half premier league players. Not saying we can compete with the top 6 straight off but we would not have to settle for trying to build a squad around championship players like our friends Norwich. Having said that though , I would have liked to have gone up with Howson, Snods, Ross and Gradel to start the building with!

  • Andy says:

    A good start to a much needed cull at ER. Very much doubt B McD will be around for much longer, but to be honest he has achieved little. He has been hampered obviously with off field events, but with the exception of Smith all the players he has brought in have underachieved. On another point can’t understand why we need to spend a fortune on London based and extremely expensive legal teams. What,s wrong with a Yorkshire firm? Is Cellino, Bates mark 2 ? Promising the earth and just plundering the club.

  • VikingTor says:

    Agree, moaners can sod off

  • Chris Keene says:

    We have to be realistic about the squad we can afford & Cellino is right to sort out the business side first. We can’t afford to leak money at the rate we have been doing, so cutting the wage bill is paramount, enabling us to bring in some new young blood, whilst developing the best of our Academy players. I’d love to see a similar purchasing policy to the one we followed under Howard Wilkinson when we were in a similar position, because just think what we could do with a Strachan, Jones & Chapman in our ranks next season! MOT.

  • Cliff says:

    The question is, were those released with the agreement of MCdermot or without his consultation?
    Considering all the press regarding McDermot’s absence this was probably done without him. If this is the case you kind of get the feeling it won’t be Mc Dermot rebuilding the team.
    And, presuming the releases were not done with his agreement are they the players he would have released?
    If this is the case (coupled with being ordered back off holiday) any self respecting manager would walk. That’s what I am expecting – then Cellino won’t have to shell out severence pay.

  • geoff123 says:

    Massimo Cellino is here (you know what a new broom does) It gets rid of all the dirt from the corners and sweeps cleen. Leeds United need this expect more sweeping in the future. Lets start the 14/15 season and get ready for a better future under massimo i cannot wait to read what happens next as for the future well the sky,s the limit as i see it. I cannot wait until 28th may when we start again onwards and upwards Massimo Cellino you have my vote.I also agree on the recalling of staff and players from the 28th may.

  • I’d of like to see Brown-eh on a player-coach transition to be honest. He always gave us his all. Would no doubt be able to provide our academy with advice, experience and help. Look how good Naylor’s been for us.

    The others, thanks but no thanks. Sooner Varney was out the better with his carry on!

    Cheers for your blogs mate!

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