A third of the way through the January window and two days before we resume league fixtures against Leeds and no movement on the transfer front, in or out, by Cardiff City yet. This comes as something of a surprise when you consider some of the things which were being said before January 1 and how many were presenting one signing in particular as a done deal – there’s still plenty of time for it to go through, but, clearly, it’s not the formality it was being presented as.
This weekend sees the reverse fixtures from the opening day of the season when City went up to Leeds, led 2-0 at he interval and were only pegged back to 2-2 well into added time. When you compare the two teams, Leeds should be beating City twice quite easily this season (this is true most of the time as well), but, whatever happens on Saturday, yet another campaign will have passed where they have been unable to do that – when you consider that we’ve played each other so often during the time, City’s league record against Leeds in the twenty first century is one of the most remarkable things about the club during this period..
Can we continue to be a bogey team for Leeds? Two things give me some hope that we can come out of 23/24 undefeated in our encounters with them. First, Leeds’ ordinary away form and, second, things like the remarkable 3-3 draw at Elland Road in December 2019 when a City side that looked on for a thrashing against the eventual Champions that season at 3-0 down early in the second half, came back to level things up despite having Sean Morrison sent off at 3-2. Things like that suggest that there is a “Cardiff factor” with Leeds, but I must admit to bafflement as to why that should be.
Anyway, here’s the usual seven questions on upcoming opponents, with the answers to be posted on here on Sunday.
50s. No 60s question this time, we’ll go back to the previous decade to ask what I think is quite an easy question – what very exclusive Leeds related club only had Ron Stitfall, Danny Malloy and Brian Walsh as members?
70s. He scored for Leeds in a European final and ended his career with spells at Walsall, Bradford City and Doncaster, who am I describing?
80s. Me and a nerd invade Leeds and end up playing in defence. (5,6)
90s. Released by Leeds without playing a game for them, one of his five international goals was scored against Portugal. He’s represented three of the four Welsh EFL sides and played his last football in 2019 for Cornish side Callington Town before steering a team to a title in the second tier of Bulgarian football – name the individual involved.
00s. The first goals of his career were both scored at Bootham Crescent against York City and the last one was scored while playing for Leeds some fifteen years later in 2005. Although he certainly had high spots during his career, he is also the holder of two unwanted records – the first one is jointly held and relates to the Premier League and the other involves international football in that he was the first player to score a goal in an international played in a famous stadium, but, unfortunately, it was into his own net. Who is he?
10s. Ghostly inertia?
20s. Mail goes backwards when sent by barrel maker.
answers.
50s. They were the only City players to be selected for all three of the Third Round FA Cup ties played in consecutive years at Elland Road – remarkably, City won each of the games, played between 1956 and 1958, 2-1!
70s. Midfielder Mick Bates made not far short of two hundred league appearances for Leeds, but the fact that it took him between 1962 and 1976 to accumulate such a totals tells you that he was more of a squad member than a regular in the great sides of that time. However, in 1971, Bates was really at the centre of things as he scored one of the goals in a 2-2 draw at Juventus in the first leg of the Fairs Cup Final that helped Leeds win the trophy on the away goals rule when the second leg at Elland Road finished 1-1.
80s. David Rennie.
90s. Northern Ireland international Warren Feeney never played for Leeds’ first team, but he did make City and Swansea’s senior elevens, as well as managing Newport County for a spell. Four of the five other sides Feeney are Northern Irish with the exception being Bulgarian team Pirin Blagoevgrad who he was in charge of between 2018 and 2021.
00s. Nathan Blake’s first career goals earned City a 2-1 win at York in October 1990 and he scored against Coventry in one of two games he played on loan to Leeds in early 2005 – it was the last goal of his career. Blake jointly holds the record for the most relegations (five) from the Premier ;League, while his own goal for Wales against Finland was the first goal scored in an international played at the Millennium/Principality Stadium.
10s. Casper Sloth.
20s. Liam Cooper.
