Sherwood should end the humiliation and walk out on Spurs now!

Poor Timmy. It seems as if the briefing against him has started already. The red tops are running stories today about Van Gaal joining after the World Cup, and there are suggestions that Levy is unhappy with Sherwood's "abrasive" style and his team selection.

None of this is a surprise, of course. Timmy and a few blinkered Spurs fans seem to be the only ones who can't see what is going on. With Spurs on the shoulder of Liverpool as we enter the final lap of the season, it was nothing short of incredible that Tottenham banked rather than spent money in the transfer window, with the decision not to replace Defoe bordering on the criminally incompetent.

Yes Adebayor is playing well at the moment, but how long will that last? The guy is moody and prone to idling when things go against him. Thus far, he has responded well to lippy Timmy, but that's because he was rotting in the stiffs until AVB was shown the door. But sooner or later, Sherwood will say something that Emmanuel does not like, and then all the commitment currently in his play will evaporate.

And meanwhile, asides from the penalty spot, Soldado looks as deadly in front of goal as Carlton Cole!

And Timmy's option? Young Kane.

As I blogged yesterday, this is not a squad capable of challenging for a top four finish and campaigning in the Your Ropey League - and Levy knows that. So the only explanation for Tottenham's inactivity in the window is that Sherwood is a caretaker with no access to the bank vault.

And the articles this morning confirm that. How else can you explain Van Gaal's comments when pressed on the matter of Tottenham? He as good as confirms that he is on his way when he says:

"Am I still in contact with Spurs? There will come a moment that I can talk about that. Look at my CV. I have won a trophy every season during my club career. I am a winner and craving a trophy. This is why I am sick of being a national coach. I only see the players eight times a year. I am not enjoying the job of national coach at all. After the World Cup I want to coach a big club again and win trophies. Otherwise I will retire."

Now his arrival will probably be very good news for Spurs fans, but where does this leave Timmy? Capoue has already slated him in the French media and claimed that the "English" don't understand European players. This should have triggered the Frenchman's exit in the January window - £8.5m was on offer - but Van Gaal probably rates him and has his own shortlist of players to be brought in this summer - including his preferred strikers.

So Timmy Time is ticking down and the poor sod is just minding the baby until Levy demotes him or shows him the door. What hope has the poor sod got if things start to go badly? The players will know what's going on. Bloody hell, you wouldn't put it past Levy to have a word with Capoue and say, "Just hang on in their son, Van Gaal rates you even though this clown doesn't".

It is all so undignified and if Timmy has any pride he should storm into Levy's office and tell him where to shove the caretaker's mop and broom!

Latest amazing twist on McDermott's sacking at Leeds

Well we all thought Cellino was behind the sacking of Friar Brian, a reasonable assumption given he told the press that he had no other choice other than to remove the Bald Controller because he had done everything possible to get himself the sack. But no, we were all wrong. Cellino, apparently, was only removing him because GFH Capital wanted him out!

Too incredible to believe? Not if you live in Cellino's world! Because that is his latest madcap claim as he tries to cover his arse and, no doubt, avoid legal action. Just how brazen is this guy? In a complete volte face, he now claims "GFH are still running Leeds United. They did not want Brian as manager but didn’t have the courage to sack him."

Wow. So now the joint owners of the club are at one another's throats, hurling allegations at each other! I bet the Bahrain Bank Built on Sand are chuffed to bits at this slur - being an investment bank, a suggestion that they lack the courage of their convictions is pretty bloody damaging. How long before the owners currently running the club are suing the guy who, if all goes to plan, will soon be running the club, one wonders?

How Master Bates must be loving this!

Leeds United exemplify football’s culture of amorality, duplicity and incompetence.

Don't blame me for the headline, it wasn't written by me, but by The Independent, not generally known as a scurrilous rag! The article by Michael Calvin is quite a read as he lays into GFH Capital, Bates, Haigh, Cellino and Shaun Harvey - everybody indeed except Friar Brian who, on the basis of this article, should be canonised sometime soon. Saint Brian, the patron saint of gross injustice or of the Feel Good Factor perhaps.

If the headline taken from the article isn't tasty enough, try "If a man of Cellino’s character and reputation can pass the League’s so-called Owners and Directors Test, its 96 sections, countless  sub-clauses and 10 reasons for disqualification are not worth the paper on which they are written."

Or how about, "Let’s call it the Curse of Ridsdale’s Goldfish. The myth of a club which trades on their former prominence was exposed by the wasteland which confronted McDermott when he arrived late last April with a supposedly strategic brief to rebuild Leeds from the bottom up over three years."?

Mind you, this bit is spot on too: "Management has always been a charnel house, and had McDermott been sacked after punishing defeats by Rochdale and Sheffield Wednesday, the football world would have shrugged and moved on. But the callous and cowardly nature of his dismissal, enacted without the knowledge of existing board members, demands scrutiny."

And I love this bit: "Rarely has regime change been so shameless and shambolic. McDermott’s human touches, such as allowing staff to bring children into offices during school holidays, will be much missed. A climate of fear and confusion has returned."

I like the cut of this Calvin's jib! He even dismisses the thumping of Huddersfield as "a suitably perverse 5-1 win."

Earlier this week I predicted that Cellino would turn Leeds into a comedy horror show, but I didn't expect it to happen overnight! There's even a dispute over who picked the team, with Gibbs claiming it was McDermott and suggestions elsewhere that Uncle Festa made a couple of changes.

What a mess. Marching on Together? The club is tearing itself apart!

Sherwood's Tottenham Hotspur Come Up Short at Hull City

How much did Soldado cost? What is Adebayor being paid in wages? And between them, they couldn't muster a single goal at Hull City, with Tottenham rescued from embarrassing defeat by a Paulinho goal.

And what is the only alternative to penalty king Soldado and the moody Adebayor? That would be young Kane, a promising but very raw talent. Now you are not telling me that this is a squad equipped to challenge for a top four spot and press on in the Your Ropey League!

But according to Timmy, he didn't need any new players in January, despite agreeing to allow Defoe to move to Canada. Really?

So what happens if Soldado and Adebayor get injured exactly, or with his place in the team now almost guaranteed, Adebayor chooses to idle. Surely Tottenham needed at least one more striker during this window, especially if Timmy persists with two up top?

Look at the facts rather than what Timmy claims and surely it is obvious that Levy wasn't willing to trust his caretaker with a transfer budget. Long's goal today showed that you don't have to spend megabucks to pick up a decent understudy, although with Soldado virtually goal less other than from the penalty spot, it may not be an understudy that's needed.

Despite Moyeschester United's on going struggles, Spurs slipped further behind in the race for the Champions League today and it's not difficult to see why: compare Tottenham's 31 goals scored in 24 games with fourth placed Liverpool's 57 from 23 and it's amazing that the points gap is as narrow as it is!

No need for new signings? Pull the other one Timmy!

Leeds 5 Huddersfield 1 - Decision to sack the unsacked McDermott vindicated?

Football's a funny old game isn't it? With Leeds fans up in arms about Crookillino taking over the club and showing their support for sacked boss Brian McDermott both before and during the game with Huddersfield, one vital detail seems to have passed unnoticed: Cardiff bid somewhere between £4m and £6m for McCormack yesterday, and the offer was turned down.

Now, would GFH Capital have turned that bid down? They grabbed less than 50% of that for Becchio and accepted the hopeless Morison as part of the deal this time last season, so its probably pretty safe to say no. In fact, quite a few Leeds fans might have said yes to that kind of money!

But with Crookillino promising to pump money into the club, Cardiff were told to take a running jump. And with McCormack smashing home another three goals today, that is looking a pretty good decision at the moment.

McCormack will, of course, come out and say something like, "That was for Brian" but it's a bit late for the Leeds players to be playing for Nice Guy Brian now - unless, in the mad mad world of Leeds United, the decision to dismiss McDermott is overturned.

What's even stranger is that this was a return to the McDermott blue print. Whereas the last two teams were packed with Warnock's yard dogs, today's team featured Mowatt, Murphy, Kebe and Stewart. Did McDermott pick the team before he was sacked? Probably.

But he wasn't in the dressing room at half time was he? And it was presumably what was said in the break that turned a faltering performance into a rampant runaway victory.

So a new era has started with a 5-1 win and those in the McDermott lobby now have a few awkward questions to answer - and victory at bottom of the table Yeovil next week wouldn't make it any easier for them to defend their man. McDermott staked everything on the Feel Good Factor, but there was no Feel Good Factor inside Elland Road at kick off, and look what happened! Maybe angering these players is the way forward!

Unfortunately for Leeds, today's result hasn't really done a lot for the club's chances of being in the Prem next season, courtesy of wins for Blackburn, Ipswich and Reading. The gap to the playoffs is still eight points and Leeds are still only in tenth place in the table. But then that is the McDermott legacy after 9 months in control - 9 months of standing still given Leeds were still in the hunt - just - at this stage of last season with Warnock in charge.

What would be really funny, of course, would be for McDermott to come back and for Leeds to lose at Yeovil next week. Stranger things have happened at Elland Road!

Sherwood denied key to Tottenham Hotspur transfer war chest

Timmy is putting a brave face on things, but the failure of Spurs to buy anybody in the window tells you everything you need to know about the probable length of his tenure. I posted yesterday that Timmy Time ticked down several heartbeats as Manchester City completed their 11-1 aggregate win over Spurs; well his departure in the summer was all but announced when the key to the vault was kept hidden from him throughout the month of January.

In fact, Tottenham's squad has actually been weakened, with Defoe heading off to the footballing Mecca that is Toronto and Holtby joining the footballing bingo hall that is Fulham.

Timmy, of course, maintains that he didn't want anybody and even suggests that had players been forced upon him, he would have refused to pick them. You can hear him even now. "Messi? He aint a forward as such and he aint a midfielder either. Wouldn't get in my team. No way. Ronaldo? He aint a centre forward as such and he aint an out and out winger either is he? Real Madrid can keep him."

So Timmy has set his stall out. He wants defenders what defend, forwards what attack, wingers what cross and midfielders what do a bit of everfink except keep goal. So, jumpers on the ground for goal posts guys, let's pick sides, no offside for now, and off we go!

Managing a football team in the C21st aint rocket science; just ask Timmy!

Shame on Leeds. New era begins disgracefully.

Well, welcome to the new Cellino era! Even before he has his foot officially through the door, he's sacked his first manager - the affable, thoroughly decent, honest, dedicated, hard working Brian McDermott; and replaced him, for the time being, with Uncle Festa.

And on what basis? Because McDermott is not a lap dog and refused to fetch the stick when Cellino threw it! Leeds fans hated the overbearing style of Bates, well believe you me, they haven't seen anything yet!

Remember, Cellino hasn't even been ratified and sanctioned as the new owner but the only reason he has given for McDermott's dismissal is that he refused to follow unacceptable orders and had the audacity to speak to the press. Well, he probably breached his contract when he did that but look at the level of provocation. He knew he was on the way out as soon as the sale of Reg Varney was cancelled. How could he manage a player he so obviously wanted to sell?

And on what basis has Festa been appointed? He's a mate of Cellino's! Has he guided a team to promotion from the Championship? No.  So what are his qualifications exactly? Assistant manager at Cagliari for two seasons and head coach at Lumezzani - and in case you have never heard of them, Lumezzani are the Italian equivalent of Port Vale! Just perfect.

So the man who has sacked 36 managers has started as he means to go on. McDermott has gone already and Festa will follow within the next 9 months - because he's a consiglieri not a son of the Sicilian Godfather.

It's going to be a rocky ride on the Leeds United Feel Good Factor Sleeper Express to the Premiership, Europe, Infinity and Beyond from here on in.

And poor Brian? Not so long ago he could walk on water, now he sleeps with the fishes!