Leeds United promotion train pulls into Manchester instead of Sheffield

Oh dear God. What happened there then? The Leeds United McFeelgood Factor Sleeper Express to the Premiership, Europe, Infinity and Beyond must have been re-routed (as in route as opposed to rout - no hang on as in rout as opposed to route!) to the Etihad instead of Hillsborough by mistake!

With Leeds fans who visit this site still gloating over West Ham's mauling by Manchester City, McDermott's Merry Men have only gone out and lost by exactly the same score! Nobody saw that one coming did they?

True Leeds came in to the game without a win in any of their last five games and on the back of a humiliating defeat at fourth division Rochdale, but fans remained upbeat, especially after the capture of Kebe and Stewart on loan at the end of last week. Surely now the promotion train would pick up a head of steam as the Bald Controller ordered everybody on board and blew his whistle for the second half of the season.

After all, this is now McDermott's team! The ghost of the Warnock has been exercised, with Kebe, Stewart, Wootten, Smith, Murphy, Hunt and Zaliukas all signed by Friar Brian and young Mowatt brought through from the youth team. Dear God, that means McDermott could field a team with only three of Warnock's players if he wanted to - and that could include McCormack, Podgy and Byram.

But the ugly truth is that the players brought in seem to be  little better than the players Old Big Gob left behind. Hunt can't get near the team - and with very good reason. Wootten is showing exactly why Manchester United didn't want him. Smith is tall and puts himself about a bit (a bit too much today it seems!) but is raw and nowhere near Premiership quality. Murphy is average. Zaliukas is, well, Lithuanian! And Kebe and Stewart are no great shakes which is why Palace and Hull don't want them!

Look at the table and you see Leeds down to eleventh place and whilst that still represents "steady progress" on last season, it is not what the majority of Leeds fans were hoping for at the start of the season, and not what they were expecting two weeks before Christmas.

The automatic promotion places, which were within reach five games ago, are now an impossible dream and even the playoff places are a win and a draw away, with a clutch of clubs in a better position to capitalise on a slip up by sixth placed Brighton than Leeds. And more worrying still, this six goal thrashing means that Leeds have the worst goal difference amongst the teams in the top 13 positions!

Of course, there was an excuse of sorts today, with the dismissal of Smith, but Leeds have failed to beat 10 men this season and West Ham showed at Cardiff today that ten men can outscore eleven if they are properly organised and have some quality in the ranks. So really, the red card argument doesn't wash. the dismal truth for Leeds fans is that, for the second game in succession, the team performed abjectly, displaying not only a lack of quality but, more worryingly, a lack of desire and spirit.

And most depressingly of all, it was not Manchester City who hammered six goals past Podgy, but Sheffield bloody Wednesday - hardly the Barcelona of even the Championship!

Leeds fans are rightly getting restless. They turned on McDermott at Rochdale and their mood will be ten times worse tonight. Poor Friar Brian seemed to understand from the off that keeping the "vile animals" on board was imperative, but with the McFeelgood Factor Sleeper Express well and truly wrecked today, he faces a huge challenge if he wants to rattle through to promotion on a runaway train of optimism.

But Leeds fans must hold their nerve. Rome wasn't built in a day, and even Revie struggled early doors. Friar Brian needs time. Although Warnock will be enjoying a chuckle tonight, and though sacked by Wednesday, Dave Jones will no doubt be raising a glass in celebration too!